The First Tanks

Tanks were first used in warfare on 15 September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme

• 9 mins

The Capture of Abimael Guzman

In September 1992 security forces in Peru arrested the leader of the Shining Path rebels.

• 9 mins

The West Australian Gold Rush

In September 1892 gold was discovered in Western Australia

• 9 mins

Voting Against the War on Terror

Only one Congresswoman voted against the 'war on terror'. Her name was Barbara Lee.

• 9 mins

Domestic Violence in Brazil

In 2006 Brazil passed the ground-breaking "Maria da Penha" law to tackle domestic abuse.

• 9 mins

The First Legal 'Physician-Assisted Suicide'

On September 22nd 1996 an Australian doctor helped a cancer sufferer to die.

• 9 mins

The Curious Story of Mary Toft

In September 1726, a woman called Mary Toft claimed she was giving birth to rabbits.

• 9 mins

Outback Internment

During WWII, Britain deported some civilians classed as 'enemy aliens' to Australia.

• 9 mins

South Africa's 1985 State of Emergency

In the dying years of Apartheid, the white government was desperate to keep control.

• 9 mins

The Attica Prison Rebellion

In 1971 inmates rioted and seized control of the US jail, taking guards hostage

• 9 mins

The Mayak Nuclear Disaster

On September 29th 1957 there was a major nuclear accident in the Soviet Union.

• 9 mins

Sir Stanley Spencer

He was one of Britain's most admired 20th century painters. His daughters remember him.

• 9 mins

The Founding of Mensa

In 1946, a chance encounter between two men launched the high IQ club, Mensa

• 9 mins

The Poisoned Painkiller

In October 1982 seven people in the US died after taking painkillers laced with cyanide.

• 9 mins

Thai University Massacre

On October 6th 1976 Thai security forces opened fire on student demonstrators in Bangkok.

• 9 mins

Exposing Child Abuse in the Catholic Church

In 1994, a TV programme in Northern Ireland lifted the lid on clerical child sex abuse.

• 9 mins

Good Vibrations

In October 1966, the Beach Boys released their "pocket symphony" Good Vibrations.

• 9 mins

Irina Ratushinskaya

The dissident poet was released from a labour camp on the eve of a US-Soviet summit

• 9 mins

The Spanish Influenza Pandemic

In 1918, more than fifty million people died in a global flu pandemic.

• 9 mins

Chile Votes Against Pinochet

In 1988 Chileans voted to end the brutal 15-year military rule of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

• 9 mins

The Last Day of Lebanon's Civil War

In October 1990, Syrian jets ousted their main opponent in Lebanon ending the civil war

• 9 mins

The Hoover Free Flights Promotion

How an advertising campaign for vacuum cleaners went badly wrong.

• 9 mins

Bugging the US Embassy in Moscow

The row over hi-tech spying in America's new diplomatic building in the USSR

• 9 mins

Father Charles Coughlin - America's First Radio Priest

How a controversial Catholic priest had millions of listeners in the 1930s.

• 9 mins

The Mau Mau Rebellion

During the 1950s in Kenya, rebels known as the Mau Mau were fighting against British rule

• 9 mins

Marcel Duchamp and His Fountain

The story of the great French conceptualist artist Marcel Duchamp and his art

• 9 mins

The Aberfan Disaster

On 21st October 1966, tragedy struck a village in Wales when a landslide crushed a school

• 9 mins

Marvel Comics and 'The Fantastic Four'

In 1961 a new generation of comic-book super heroes was launched in the US

• 9 mins

Shell Shock

Veterans talk about their experience of 'shell shock' in recordings from the BBC archive

• 9 mins

The Hungarian Uprising

In October 1956 Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest to protest at Soviet rule.

• 9 mins