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The first democratic elections in the USSR

Soviet citizens voted in democratic elections for the first time in March 1989.

• 9 mins

The discovery of the Aztec Moon Goddess

How an accidental discovery in Mexico led to the uncovering of the Aztecs´ Great Temple.

• 9 mins

Autism and the MMR vaccine

How a British doctor misled the world by linking the MMR vaccine with autism.

• 9 mins

The rise of Viktor Orban

Viktor Orban, now the populist Hungarian Prime Minister led a democratic movement in 1988

• 9 mins

The first home pregnancy test

A female designer working for a pharmaceutical company came up with the idea in the 1960s

• 9 mins

Drama in the British parliament

Prime Minister Jim Callaghan's desperate attempts to survive a no-confidence vote in 1979

• 9 mins

Around the world in 20 days

The record-breaking balloon flight

• 9 mins

The secret Nazi past of Kurt Waldheim

How former UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim's secret Nazi past was exposed

• 9 mins

Mindfulness for the masses

Scientist Jon Kabat-Zinn pioneered a meditative approach to treat pain and depression.

• 9 mins

Patty Hearst the rebel heiress

In April 1974 the heiress announced she supported her kidnappers' beliefs

• 9 mins

EMDR: the eye-movement therapy

A therapy which seems to work for post-traumatic stress was developed in the late 1980s

• 9 mins

The warship lost for more than 300 years

The discovery of a 17th century Swedish warship, the Vasa, in near perfect condition

• 9 mins

Abolishing the army

Costa Rica dissolved its Armed Forces after a brief civil war in 1948

• 9 mins

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou's iconic memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was published in 1969

• 9 mins

The man who made Marilyn Monroe dance

Choreographer Jack Cole had a huge influence on musical theatre and Hollywood films

• 9 mins

The Amritsar Massacre of 1919

In April 1919 British Indian troops opened fire on protestors in the city of Amritsar

• 9 mins

The man who invented wingsuits

The wingsuit is the ultimate in extreme sports clothing, for BASE jumpers and skydivers

• 9 mins

The rise of Hindu nationalism

The consolidation of the BJP as one of the major powers in Indian politics.

• 9 mins

Chinese restaurant syndrome

In the 1960's American diners began to worry that Chinese food was making them ill.

• 9 mins

Dennis Tito - the first space tourist

In April 2001 an American multi-millionaire paid Russia to send him into space

• 9 mins

The first play on Broadway written by a black woman

'A Raisin in the Sun' by Lorraine Hansberry had an almost exclusively black cast too.

• 9 mins

Auto-destructive art

Gustav Metzger and the birth of the radical new art form in the 1960s

• 9 mins

How organic farming started

Worries about the industrialisation of farming post-WW2 led some farmers to go organic.

• 8 mins

The Columbine massacre

13 people were killed and more than 20 injured in the school shooting on April 20th 1999

• 8 mins

Nato bombs Serbian TV

A survivor from the April 1999 bombing in Belgrade that killed 16 people.

• 9 mins

Britain's first vegans

The Vegan Society was established in 1944 by British 'non-dairy vegetarians'

• 9 mins

South Africa's first free elections

After Apartheid all South Africans regardless of race finally won the right to vote.

• 10 mins

Sri Lanka: A journalist's editorial from the grave

The assassination of newspaper editor, Lasantha Wickramatunga, in 2009 shocked the world

• 10 mins

The al-Yamamah arms deals

A record series of arms sales by the UK to Saudi Arabia began in the 1980s

• 9 mins

Ellen comes out

Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian on primetime American television in April 1997.

• 9 mins