Podcast Episodes

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 …

1 year, 5 months 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…

1 year, 6 months 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…

1 year, 6 months 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…

1 year, 6 months 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…

1 year, 6 months 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…

1 year, 6 months 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…

1 year, 6 months ago

The Bali Nine drug smuggling case

In April 2005, nine young Australians were caught trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin out of Indonesia.

The Bali Nine, as they became known, faced a ma…

1 year, 6 months ago

Germany’s ‘Green Belt’

In December 1989, Germany’s ‘Green Belt’ was born.

For more than 40 years, the country had been split by a 1,400km border and, in the decades the so-…

1 year, 6 months ago

Oklahoma City bombing

On 19 April 1995, a huge truck bomb killed 168 people in a government building in Oklahoma City, US. There were 19 children among the dead and more t…

1 year, 6 months ago