The mystery of France's lost king

The fate of Louis-Charles, imprisoned in 1795, was for years shrouded in rumour

• 9 mins

Russian ballerina defects to the west

The Russian ballerina who defected to the west

• 9 mins

The first World Laughter Day

The first World Laughter Day took place in Mumbai, India in January 1998

• 9 mins

Gürtel scandal: Spain's Watergate

How one man's secret recordings revealed one of Spain's biggest corruption scandals

• 9 mins

The hunger-striking Bolivian president

In 1984, President Zuazo went on hunger strike, in an attempt to stabilise Bolivia

• 9 mins

The Green March: Moroccans take over the Sahara

In 1975, unarmed Moroccans faced off against gun-carrying Spanish soldiers

• 9 mins

Tortured in Iran's Evin Prison

Protests after Iran's 2009 election caused one man to be interrogated for 118 days

• 9 mins

Ibadan Zoo

Bob Golding turned Ibadan Zoo into one of Nigeria's biggest attractions in the 1970s

• 9 mins

Jamuna Tudu: The real life 'Lady Tarzan'

In the early 2000s, a woman known as ‘Lady Tarzan’ fought India’s so called timber mafia

• 9 mins

Vidkun Quisling: Norway's traitor

In 1939, Vidkun Quisling asked Hitler to invade Norway.

• 9 mins

Axis Sally: World War II traitor who broadcast for the Nazis

Mildred Gillars became the first woman in American history to be convicted of treason.

• 9 mins

Wang Jingwei: China’s traitor or protector?

The national hero was branded a traitor for collaborating with Japan during World War Two

• 9 mins

The Hungarian footballer executed for love

Sándor Szűcs was hanged for trying to escape communist Hungary with his lover

• 9 mins

Jack Strong aka Ryszard Kukliński: Cold War traitor or hero?

During the Cold War a high-ranking Polish colonel passed Soviet secrets to the CIA

• 9 mins

Silenced by the Vatican

How Brazilian priest Leonardo Boff was punished for his writing on liberation theology

• 9 mins

Brazil's Landless Workers Movement

In 1980, poor rural workers occupied land owned by the rich and violent clashes followed

• 9 mins

The Arctic’s doomsday seed vault

In 2008, seeds began arriving at a frozen vault designed to save the world’s food supply

• 9 mins

First internet cafe

Cyberia, billed as the World's first internet cafe opened in London in 1994

• 9 mins

Inventing the Covid N95 mask

In 1992, Peter Tsai invented the N95 mask filter

• 9 mins

Queen of the 'fro

In 1986, Charlotte Mensah went to work in the UK's first luxury Afro-Caribbean hair salon

• 9 mins

A young mother saved from death by stoning

In 2003, human rights lawyer Hauwa Ibrahim defended Amina Lawal from death by stoning

• 9 mins

Lucha Reyes: Peruvian music star

She overcame poverty, health problems and racism to become one of Peru’s greatest singers

• 9 mins

How Rosa Parks took a stand against racism

Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat helped end segregation in the United States

• 9 mins

The Battle of Versailles: Catwalk clash of American and French fashion

In 1973 a fashion show was held in France which the media dubbed the Battle of Versailles

• 9 mins

The WW2 escape line that fooled the Nazis

In 1940 a rescue operation helped Allied servicemen escape from Nazi-occupied France

• 9 mins

Patty Hearst: Rebel heiress

In 1974, a kidnapped socialite joined forces with her captors

• 9 mins

The Juliet letters

Since the 1990s the Juliet Club has answered letters to the Shakespearian heroine

• 9 mins

The small Irish town known as ‘Little Brazil’

How Gort in the west of Ireland became home to so many Brazilians

• 9 mins

Supermalt: The malt drink created after the Nigerian civil war

In 1972, a Danish brewery created Supermalt

• 9 mins

The Soviet scientist who made two-headed dogs

Soviet scientist Vladimir Demikhov shocked the world with his two-headed dog experiments

• 9 mins