The Coronation of Jean-Bédel Bokassa

On 4 December 1977 Jean-Bédel Bokassa was crowned Emperor of the Central African Republic

• 9 mins

The Armenian Earthquake

A catastrophic earthquake hit northern Armenia on December 7th 1988, hear from a survivor

• 9 mins

Adopted By The Man Who Killed My Family

Ramiro Osorio Cristales was five when his family was massacred by the Guatemalan army.

• 9 mins

Angela Merkel's Rise to Power

Angela Merkel rose to power in German politics after the fall of her mentor, Helmut Kohl.

• 9 mins

Cicely Saunders And The Modern Hospice Movement

The British woman who revolutionised the treatment of dying patients around the world.

• 9 mins

When China Joined the WTO

China had to open up its strict communist system to join the World Trade Organisation

• 9 mins

Apollo 8

How the first mission to orbit the Moon captured the world's imagination in December 1968

• 9 mins

Englandspiel: The Deadly WW2 Spy Game

How Britain sent dozens of Dutch agents to their deaths in Nazi-occupied Netherlands

• 9 mins

China and Japan at War

Japanese troops reached the Chinese city of Nanjing in December 1937.

• 9 mins

The US Apologises for Wartime Internment

Japanese Americans win an apology and compensation for World War II internment.

• 9 mins

Theatre in the Sahara

Theatre director Peter Brook led a troupe of actors across the Sahara desert in 1972

• 9 mins

Hacking The First Computer Password

Scientists at MIT in the 1960s had to share computer time - but some people wanted more.

• 9 mins

The Woman Who Wrote Mary Poppins

Writer PL Travers created a children's classic when she invented a magical nanny.

• 9 mins

Stopping The 'Shoe Bomber'

How a passenger helped subdue shoe-bomber Richard Reid on an American Airlines flight.

• 9 mins

Scotland's Stone of Destiny

On Christmas Eve 1950 four students took the 'Stone of Destiny' from Westminster Abbey

• 9 mins

UFO Sightings: The Rendlesham Forest Incident

At Christmas 1980 strange objects and lights were seen over a military base in England.

• 9 mins

The Soviet Afghan War Begins

The world held its breath in December 1979 as Soviet troops poured into Afghanistan

• 9 mins

Trautonium: A Revolution in Electronic Music

Meet the trautonium, the early electronic instrument promoted by the Nazis.

• 9 mins

When Animals Go To War

In December 1943, a British charity created gallantry medals for animals serving in war.

• 9 mins

Rebels Rout The Army In El Salvador

The storming of the El Paraiso base by Marxist rebels in December 1983.

• 9 mins

Brazil's Marijuana Summer

In 1987 thousands of tin cans full of marijuana washed up on the beaches in Rio.

• 9 mins

Barbara Cartland - Queen of Romance

The romantic fiction writer is thought to have sold hundreds of millions of books

• 9 mins

Ceausescu's 'House of the People'

The vast building that symbolised the excesses of Romania's brutal former dictator

• 9 mins

Vikings in North America

The Canadian discovery that proved Vikings had crossed the Atlantic 1000 years ago

• 9 mins

The Doomsday Seed Vault

In 2008, the first global seed vault was opened to safeguard the world's crops

• 9 mins

Fidel Castro Takes Havana

The end of the US-backed dictator and the start of communist rule in Cuba in January 1959

• 9 mins

When Stalin Rounded Up Soviet Doctors

Hundreds of Soviet doctors were imprisoned or shot in the last year of Stalin's rule.

• 9 mins

Diary of Life in a Favela

The poor black single mother who stunned Brazil with a book about her life in 1960.

• 9 mins

'Fat is a Feminist Issue'

Susie Orbach's book led people to rethink body-image from a feminist perspective

• 9 mins

Judy Garland's Final Shows

The world famous singer's final performances were in London in January 1969

• 9 mins