Iran-Iraq War begins

On 22 September 1980 the Iran-Iraq war began, one of the bloodiest in recent history

• 9 mins

Festival of Light

The Nationwide Festival of Light held by Christians protested against societal changes

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The power of Jomo Kenyatta

Death pardons and chasing diplomats with sticks

• 9 mins

Chiune Sugihara: The Japanese Schindler

In 1940, Chiune Sugihara saved the lives of Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis

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Castrating Pablo Escobar's hippos

Pablo Escobar's pet hippos were found roaming Colombian waterways in 2007

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The raising of the Mary Rose

King Henry VIII's warship, The Mary Rose, was raised from the seabed in October 1982

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Dassler brothers’ rift

Brothers Adi and Rudi Dassler would go on to create global firms Adidas and Puma.

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The funk and soul club that changed Manchester

Manchester’s first racially inclusive nightclub

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The release of Gilad Shalit

Israeli solider Gilad Shalit was freed after being held hostage for more than five years

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The fall of Slobodan Milosevic

How the Yugoslavian president was forced from office in October 2000

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The Harder They Come

Jimmy Cliff spoke about the film that brought reggae music to the world in 1972

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The beginnings of Notting Hill Carnival

In 1959, Claudia Jones held a Caribbean party, planting the seeds for the famous carnival

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UK’s ‘Winter of Discontent’

In 1979, British gravediggers went on strike over pay

• 9 mins

Disney animators' strike

In 1941, the animators at Walt Disney's studios went on strike for nine weeks over pay

• 9 mins

Torturing strikers in South Korea

A strike for better work conditions became a divisive moment in South Korea's history

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Geisha mountain top strike

In 1937, geisha from Osaka sat on a mountain for a week until their union was recognised

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Cesar Chavez’s campaign for farm workers

How the leader of a labour movement became a US civil rights hero

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Cuban Missile Crisis: The photos

The CIA expert whose job was to interpret photographs of missiles in Cuba

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Cuban Missile Crisis: The showdown

The final days of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis in the Pentagon and the Kremlin

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The ‘army’ that taught Cuba to read and write

In 1961, Fidel Castro launched a campaign aimed to eradicate illiteracy in Cuba.

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Cuba's boxing ban

In 1962, Fidel Castro banned professional boxing in Cuba, causing some amateurs to defect

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Founder of the Cuban National Ballet

In 1959, Cuba’s most famous ballet dancer formed Cuba’s National Ballet Company

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Indonesia’s indigenous people take a stand

The first ever Congress of Indigenous People of the Archipelago of Indonesia in 1999

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The Iranian Revolution and women

We hear what life was like during, and after the Iranian Revolution in 1979

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Theatre siege in Moscow

It is 20 years since Chechen rebels took an entire theatre full of people hostage

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Arrested for wearing trousers in Sudan

In 2002, Amiera Osman Hamed was put on trial after being arrested for wearing trousers

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Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's career-defining speech in 2012

• 9 mins

The Little Black Book survival guide

In 1985, a guide was written for young black men in the US who were stopped by the police

• 9 mins

Albania’s Stalinist purges

In the 1970s, Albania’s Stalinist leader, Enver Hoxha, launched a series of purges

• 9 mins

Campaigning against sex-selection in India

A first-hand account of the 1980s campaign against the sex-selective abortion of girls

• 9 mins