'I organised the Cuban thaw'

On 17 December 2014, Barack Obama and Raúl Castro normalised Cuba and US relations

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The Purple Heart Warriors

In WW2, a Japanese American troop was one of the most decorated army units in US history

• 9 mins

The handover of the Panama Canal

In 1999 the Panama Canal was handed over from US to Panamanian rule.

• 9 mins

The birth of reggaeton

In the 1980s, Leonardo Renato Aulder pioneered a movement in Panama with his friends

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Peshawar school massacre

In 2014, one of Pakistan’s worst terror attacks took place at Peshawar Army School

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Surviving Andes plane crash

In 1972, 16 people survived for two months in the Andes mountains after a plane crash

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Ceefax: the start of interactive television

In 1974, the BBC launched the world's first teletext service

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Poland's bleak Christmas

In 1981, the communist government of Poland declared martial law to suppress civil unrest

• 9 mins

Australian republic referendum

On 6 November 1999, voters in Australia were asked if they wanted to become a republic

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'I created MasterChef'

In 1990, the cookery programme MasterChef launched on BBC TV

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When instant noodles came to India

A turning point in Indian culinary history

• 9 mins

Chef to five presidents

Cristeta Comerford was the first woman and person of colour to the White House's top chef

• 9 mins

'Kimchi war'

In the 1990s, a diplomatic dispute broke out between Japan and South Korea over kimchi

• 9 mins

Dinner for One: How an English comedy became a German tradition

The sitcom Dinner for One, recorded in 1963, has become a German New Year's Eve tradition

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Indian Ocean tsunami - Tamil Nadu

On 26 December 2004, communities around the Indian Ocean were swept away by a tsunami

• 9 mins

Indian Ocean tsunami - Aceh

In 2004, a deadly tsunami swept away entire communities around the Indian Ocean

• 9 mins

Robert Ripley and the ‘Believe It or Not’ empire

During the Great Depression, cartoonist Robert Ripley made millions from freaky facts

• 9 mins

Klaus Fuchs: Oppenheimer’s atomic spy

In 1950, Klaus Fuchs admitted passing top secret nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union

• 9 mins

Creating Alexa

In 2000, two Polish students started creating a smart speaker which sounded human

• 9 mins

Marie Kondo

In 2011, Japanese tidying expert Marie Kondo's first book was published.

• 9 mins

Charlie Hebdo attack

On 7 January 2015, 12 people were shot dead at a satirical magazine in France

• 9 mins

The invention of the hotel key card

In the 1970s, Norwegian Tor Sornes invented the hotel key card

• 9 mins

The mystery of Raoul Wallenberg

The Swedish diplomat saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War Two

• 9 mins

The Bosphorus boat spotter tracking Russian military trucks

In 2015, ship spotter Yörük Işık saw Russian military trucks on a ship going to Syria

• 9 mins

Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal

In 1933, President Roosevelt enacted the New Deal to drag the US out of depression

• 9 mins

Confronting Betty Ford’s addiction

In 1978, former first lady Betty Ford sought help for addiction

• 9 mins

Kobe earthquake

On 17 January 1995, an earthquake devastated the city of Kobe, in Japan

• 9 mins

'I wrote Schindler's List'

Thomas Keneally stumbled across the story of Oskar Schindler while buying a briefcase

• 9 mins

Drum: Africa’s revolutionary magazine

The first African lifestyle magazine Drum, was first printed in 1951

• 9 mins

Hunting the Unabomber

In September 1995, US newspapers controversially published a terrorist's manifesto.

• 9 mins