Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchDoi Moi: Vietnam's economic miracle
In the late 1970s, Vietnam was one of the poorest countries in the world. Its economy had been destroyed by war with the USA, a trade embargo, and th…
10 months, 1 week ago
The death of Adolf Hitler
On 30 April 1945 Adolf Hitler killed himself in a bunker in the German capital Berlin as Soviet Red Army soldiers closed in. But first he married his…
10 months, 1 week ago
Staging Othello in apartheid South Africa
In September 1987, Othello was staged at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg during the apartheid regime in South Africa. The Immorality Act, which ba…
10 months, 2 weeks ago
Coca-Cola’s ‘New Coke'
Forty years ago, on 23 April 1985, Coca-Cola decided to change the secret formula of its fizzy drink, in a bid to be market leaders.
They launched a …
10 months, 2 weeks ago
The creation of YouTube
An 18-second clip of a young man standing in front of an elephant enclosure at San Diego Zoo in California, describing their “really long trunks” was…
10 months, 2 weeks ago
Exercise Tiger: Disastrous D-Day rehearsal
In April 1944, the Allies planned Exercise Tiger to practise their landing on France's Normandy beaches ahead of D-Day. During the rehearsal, a Germa…
10 months, 2 weeks ago
The origin of World Book Day
In November 1995, a proposal of having an annual day focused on celebrating books was put forward at the UNESCO conference in Paris.
The idea came fro…
10 months, 2 weeks ago
Clearing landmines in Cambodia
Fifty years after the start of the genocide that wiped out a quarter of its eight million population, Cambodia remains one of the most heavily landmi…
10 months, 3 weeks ago
The Khmer Rouge take power in Cambodia
In April 1975 the four-year rule of the brutal Khmer Rouge began in Cambodia.
Up to two million people are thought to have died - many summarily exec…
10 months, 3 weeks ago
The invention of the white LED lightbulb
In 1993, a literal lightbulb moment led to the invention of the first white light emitting diode (LED).
These LEDs are now used to light up everythin…
10 months, 3 weeks ago