A New Approach to Shakespeare

The Royal Shakespeare Company opened in Britain in 1961 and changed theatre forever.

• 9 mins

The Children's Crusade

Thousands of black children protested on the streets of Birmingham Alabama in May 1963.

• 9 mins

Takeshi's Castle

A new sort of game show started on Japanese TV in May 1986

• 9 mins

WW2: Prisoner on the High Seas

A surprise attack, a ship lost, a crew captured - memories of a merchant navy veteran

• 9 mins

When Margaret Thatcher Came to Power

The British politician was the first woman elected to lead a Western European country.

• 9 mins

The First Diagnosis of Autism

The condition was first described in 1943 by child psychiatrist Leo Kanner in the USA

• 9 mins

Africa United

How 32 newly-independent nations came together to plan the future of their continent.

• 9 mins

The Last King of Bulgaria

Bulgaria's former King Simeon II wins the country’s parliamentary election in 2001.

• 9 mins

The First Foetal Surgery

On the 10th May 1981 a baby was born after a successful operation while in the womb.

• 9 mins

The Walker Spy Ring

In 1985 members of the US spy ring were arrested for selling Navy secrets to the USSR.

• 9 mins

The Dambusters Raid

The famous British raid on German dams during World War Two.

• 9 mins

The First Montessori Nursery

In 1907 Italian doctor, Maria Montessori, radically changed the way young children learn.

• 9 mins

May 1968 Paris Riots

A riot policeman's view of the violence which swept through France in 1968.

• 9 mins

Look Back in Anger

The play Look Back in Anger changed British theatre when it was staged in 1956

• 9 mins

Defusing Nuclear Bombs: The Goldsboro 'Broken Arrow'

How Lt. Jack ReVelle disarmed two thermonuclear bombs which crashed in North Carolina.

• 9 mins

President Suharto Resigns

On May 21st 1998 the president of Indonesia resigned after 31 years in power.

• 9 mins

China's Barefoot Doctors

In 1968 Chairman Mao sent thousands of young people into rural China to work as doctors.

• 11 mins

Pakistan's Theatre Revolution

The launch of Ajoka, the group which pioneered theatre for social change in Pakistan.

• 9 mins

Deaf University Protest

How deaf students forced their American university to appoint a deaf president.

• 11 mins

Lesbian Protest on BBC News

On 23 May 1988 a group of lesbian activists invaded a BBC TV news studio as it was on air

• 9 mins

The Rajneesh Poisoning Scandal

How the followers of an Indian guru tried to poison their opponents in Oregon, USA.

• 11 mins

Shoah the Film

Shoah, Claude Lanzmann's epic nine-hour film on the Holocaust was released in spring 1985

• 9 mins

Wine Shock: The Judgement of Paris

How California stunned the French wine world in the 1970s.

• 11 mins

The BBC at Caversham

For 75 years the BBC ran a monitoring service based in an English stately home.

• 9 mins

Canadian Indigenous Protest

Plans to expand a golf course led to a stand-off between Mohawks and Canadian police.

• 11 mins

The First Bicycle Sharing Scheme

In the mid 1960s a Dutch engineer came up with a scheme to share bikes and cut pollution.

• 9 mins

The Thalidomide Trial

Executives of the German company that made the drug Thalidomide went on trial in May 1968

• 9 mins

Free Health Care For All

In 1948 Britain launched the National Health Service, NHS

• 9 mins

Isaac Asimov and Science Fiction

The American writer and scientist considered one of the greats of Science Fiction.

• 9 mins

Lyuba the Baby Mammoth

How a herdsman found the perfectly preserved body of a 42,000-year-old baby mammoth.

• 9 mins