Episodes
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Ninety years ago, the first surviving quintuplets were born in a small village in northern Canada.
The Dionnes grew up in a specially-adapted nursery where millions of people could visit them.
But, years later they struggled to adapt to life back with their parents which led to a fight for compensation.
This programme was produced and presented by Simon Watts in 2012 using BBC archive.
(Photo: The quintuplets on their fourth birthday. Credit: Bettmann via Getty Images)
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In 1964, JoĂŁo Goulart, the president of Brazil, was overthrown in a military coup.
In the repression which followed, hundreds of people were disappeared or killed, and many more detained and tortured.
Carlos Lamarca was a captain who deserted the army and joined in the armed struggle against the military regime. He was shot dead in 1971.
His friend and fellow fighter, JoĂŁo Salgado Lopes, tells Vicky Farncombe about their time together hiding in the Caatinga, the Brazilian outback.
(Photo: Wanted poster of Carlos Lamarca. Credit: Memories of the Dictatorship)
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In 1984, Nike signed rookie basketball player Michael Jordan and created a shoe in his name â the Air Jordan.
The unprecedented deal would change sports marketing forever.
Former executive Sonny Vaccaro was the man who persuaded his bosses to put all their marketing budget on one untried player.
He became convinced of Michaelâs talent after seeing him make the winning shot in a college game.
He tells Vicky Farncombe about the challenges of persuading Michael â an Adidas fan â to sign, and how the Air Jordan's controversial black and red colour scheme upset the National Basketball Association (NBA).
(Photo: Air Jordans. Credit: Getty)
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In 2001, more than 700 pairs of Imelda Marcosâs shoes were put on display at the Marikina Shoe Museum in the Philippines.
The wife of the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos, became famous for buying shoes, while millions of Filipinos were living in poverty. Itâs thought she had in around 3,000 pairs.
Ella Rule has been through the archive to tell the story of Imelda and her shoes.
(Photo: Imelda Marcos' shoe collection. Credit: Christophe LOVINY/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
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How the Dassler brothers created two global sportswear firms.
In 1948, Adi and Rudi Dassler who lived in a small German town fell out. They went on to set up Adidas and Puma.
Adi Dassler played a crucial role in West Germany's victory in the 1954 World Cup with his game-changing footwear.
In 2022, Reena Stanton-Sharma spoke to Adi's daughter Sigi Dassler, who remembers her dadâs obsession with sports shoes and talks about her fondness for rappers Run-DMC, who paid tribute to her dadâs shoes in their 1986 song My Adidas.
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In 1962, a new brand of footwear launched that would become one of Brazilâs most successful and best-known exports: Havaianas. As the countryâs footwear industry started to expand, one company wanted to make something that was comfortable, inexpensive, and ideal for South America's long hot summers.
Havaianas soon became the favourite of the working class because of their affordability. Fast forward almost forty years and they featured on catwalks in Paris and Oscar goody bags in Hollywood, a surprisingly journey from their modest beginnings as the choice of farmers, builders, and tyre fitters.
Johnny IâAnson has been speaking to former employee and author Sergio Sanchez about the birth of a humble flip-flop, and how they became a global success story selling 250 million pairs a year.
(Photo: Rows of brightly coloured Havaianas flip-flops. Credit: Miguel Schincariol/AFP via Getty Images)
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Bata was a Czech company which pioneered assembly line shoemaking and sold affordable footwear around the world.
The factory near London was opened in 1933 and it became key to its expansion.
In 2018, Dina Newman spoke to one of its senior engineers, Mick Pinion, about the company's remarkable history, including how it sold millions of shoes in Africa and Asia.
(Photo: mobile shoe shop selling Bata shoes. Credit: Getty Images)
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In 2001, the American Ana Montes, who was working for the United States Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested for espionage.
Although the FBI knew that there was a spy they didn't know who it was. The Cubans always referred to Ana by a man's name.
Former FBI agent, Pete Lapp, tells Gill Kearsley the fascinating story of how he and his team tracked down and arrested Ana, who is known as âQueen of Cubaâ.
(Photo: Ana Montes in 2001. Credit: FBI )
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In the late 1990s, a heavy metal band called Acrassicauda formed in Iraq, when the country was under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.
Over the next decade, the pioneering band found themselves on a collision course with the dictatorship militants and the west.
The band was able to get inspiration from various bootleg tapes of heavy metal's greatest acts.
Acrassicauda performed under Saddam's regime, but because of censorship restrictions, they had to write a song that praised the dictator.
Johnny I'Anson speaks to bass player, Firas Al-Lateef.
(Photo: Acrassicauda perform in Iraq in 2004. Credit: Getty Images)
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It's 20 years since elections in French Polynesia in 2004, where the independence movement stunned the France-aligned government of the day, propelling pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru to the presidency.
It was a landmark in the country's politics, where protests against French rule had increased due to the practice of using Polynesian islands for nuclear tests.
Antony Geros, who helped lead the independence movement, recounts that night to Lizzy Kinch.
This is a Whistledown production for BBC World Service.
(Photo: Antony Geros. Credit: Getty Images)
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On 14 May 1948, the state of Israel was proclaimed.
Tears and applause met the declaration, witnessed by 200 dignitaries, but fighting intensified in the days that followed.
In 2010, Arieh Handler and Zipporah Porath spoke to Lucy Williamson about that day and its fallout.
(Photo: Young Jewish people celebrate the new state. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)
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In 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinians left their homes in the Middle East, never to return.
The period after World War Two in the region was tense, at times violent and politically complex.
For Israeli Jews it was finally a chance to build their own nation after the genocide of the Holocaust. But for Arab Palestinian Muslims and Christians it was a time of loss.
Some sold their land, some were evicted - many felt intimidated by the violence and changing demographics.
Rebecca Kesby speaks to Hasan Hammami who was 15-years-old when his family felt âpushed outâ of Palestine.
The interview was recorded before the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 and subsequent Israeli military operation.
(Photo: Palestinians leaving their homes in 1948. Credit: Getty Images)
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In 1992, a photograph of Princess Diana alone on a bench in front of the Taj Mahal became one of the most famous photos in the world.
Anwar Hussein was a photographer who documented the lives of the British royal family. His first visit to the Taj Mahal was to photograph Prince Charles in 1980.
He tells Gill Kearsley about his relationship with the royal family and about taking the iconic photograph.
(Photo: Princess Diana alone outside the Taj Mahal. Credit: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)
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In 2009, the Indian government embarked on an ambitious task to register all of the country's billion-plus citizens with a unique digital ID.
Aadhaar - which means foundation in many Indian languages - became the world's largest ever biometrics project.
It allowed millions of people to open bank accounts or access a mobile connection for the very first time.
But the project also attracted considerable opposition from privacy advocates and civil rights groups, who brought a case that went all the way to India's Supreme Court.
Dan Hardoon speaks to Nandan Nilekani, who chaired the Aadhaar project.
(Photo: Aadhaar system. Credit: Getty Images)
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In 1963, Dr Jose Ignacio Barraquer Moner performed the first surgery on a human eye aimed at correcting short-sightedness.
The ophthalmologist had been developing his technique for years, believing that there was a better solution for blurry vision than wearing glasses.
But he had to move from Spain to Colombia to begin his experimental surgery which involved dry ice, a watchmakerâs lathe and rabbits. The idea was to change the shape of the cornea â the front layer of the eye - to focus vision.
First, he sliced off the patientâs cornea then dunked it in liquid nitrogen, before using a miniature lathe to carve the frozen cornea into the right shape. Next, he thawed the disc and sewed it back on.
Joseâs initial surgery was performed on rabbits, but in 1963 he carried out the first procedure on a human patient, a 9 year old girl. It was a success, and soon doctors from around the world were flocking to Colombia to find out more.
Barraquer called this procedure keratomileusis, from the Greek words for âcarvingâ and âcornea.â The technique was the forerunner of Lasik eye surgery when the lathe was replaced with lasers.
Joseâs daughter, Carmen Barraquer Coll followed her father into ophthalmology and tells Jane Wilkinson, how he inspired her.
(Photo: Lasik eye surgery in 2009. Credit: BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images)
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In the 1980s, a thirst for caffeine caused an unusual global collaboration.
Coffee-loving East Germans were left without after a crop failure in the worldâs biggest exporter of the drink, Brazil.
So the East Germans hatched a scheme, linking up with fellow communist state Vietnam to create a mass of coffee plantations.
The man behind the plan, Siegfried KaulfuĂ, tells Michael Rossi about the scale and success of the endeavour.
(Photo: Siegfried KaulfuĂ with Vietnamese coffee farmers. Credit: Siegfried KaulfuĂ)
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When a new show called Friends hit American TV screens in September 1994, it made household names of its cast.
Over 10 series, it charted the lives of six young New Yorkers, through marriages, divorces, births and deaths.
The final episode was broadcast on 6 May 2004.
In 2014, executive producer Kevin Bright told Farhana Haider how the show was born - and how it became one of the biggest comedies of all time.
(Photo: The cast on the last day of filming. Credit: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)
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Thirty years on from the opening of the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, we look at the moment the two halves of the tunnel were connected in 1990.
Graham Fagg was the man who made the breakthrough, and the first person to cross by land between the two countries in 8,000 years.
In 2010, he told Lucy Williamson about the festivities of that day.
(Photo: The moment of breakthrough Graham Fagg greets Frenchman Philippe Cozette. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)
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In February 2014, Ukraineâs ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych fled the country.
His estate was abandoned by security guards, so for the first time ordinary people got to see inside Mezhyhirya, the extraordinarily extravagant home of the former president.
Denys Tarakhkotelyk was one of those early visitors, and went on to take charge of the estate. He tells Gill Kearsley his remarkable story, and how the house became known as a âmuseum of corruptionâ.
(Photo: People wander around President Viktor Yanukovych's Mezhyhirya estate. Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
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In 1936, Dale Carnegie wrote one of the worldâs most popular self help books - How to Win Friends and Influence People.
The idea was suggested by a book editor who had attended one of Daleâs public speaking courses in New York.
The result was a mix of psychology, philosophy and good old-fashioned common sense. Dale offered advice like: Smile. Give praise. Be a good listener. And remember peopleâs names.
The book went on to become a best seller. Today, more than 30 million copies have been sold worldwide, and it has been translated into 36 languages. Even the title is part of popular culture.
Daleâs daughter Donna Dale Carnegie tells Jane Wilkinson about the secret of its success.
(Photo: How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1955. Credit: Frederic Hamilton/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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