The authorities said he'd starved himself to death, but he died from head injuries
Over 50 years ago a white journalist tried living as a black man in America's Deep South.
The people of South Central Los Angeles took to the streets in fury at police brutality
Debra Hocking was taken from her indigenous Australian family as a baby.
During World War II, African soldiers were a vital part of the Allied forces in Burma
It is 40 years since a video game was invented which would change the way we play.
In December 1999 a young Dutch man won the first ever Big Brother reality TV show.
In 1980 thousands died in the Nigerian city of Kano in an uprising by an Islamic sect.
40 years ago the US launched its heaviest aerial bombardment of the Vietnam War.
On December 25th 1989, Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu were executed by firing squad.
The British popstar Dusty Springfield went on tour in apartheid South Africa in 1964
In the 1990s it became clear that a brain disease could be passed from cows to humans.
In December 2003 Colonel Gaddafi announced Libya was giving up trying to make WMD
The story of the last US space mission to the moon 40 years ago
In 1912, Britain's top palaeontologists were hoaxed by a "missing link" in human evolution
How exiles from the Nazis helped British intelligence listen in on German prisoners-of-war
Twenty years ago underwater excavations began which unearthed a 2000 year old palace.
In the late 1960s a young black American woman rolled up in 'Swinging' London.
How a huge cache of papers showed the true extent of torture across 1970s South America.
The story of the 1992 film which launched Nigeria's hugely successful movie industry
A German teenager managed to evade Soviet defences to land in Moscow's Red Square.
On 6 December 1989, a college shooting in Canada left 14 women dead.
How the worst smog in living memory lasted five days and killed thousands of Londoners.
In 1932 a row between England and Australia over cricket became a diplomatic incident.
In December 1984 thousands of people in the Indian city were killed by a chemical leak.
The story of Christine Jorgensen who had surgery to change her sex from a man to a woman.
In November 1979, Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US embassy in Tehran.
The story of one of the most prolific art forgers of the 20th Century.
In November 2005, doctors in France carried out the first ever face transplant.
In November 1975, an incredible mutiny took place aboard a Soviet warship in the Baltic.
20 years ago the world's first webcam was set up - and it was pointed at a pot of coffee.
Lee Harvey Oswald had spent two years living in the USSR after serving there as a Marine
In 1969 the first President of Uganda, Edward Mutesa, died in exile in London.
How a fire devastated Queen Elizabeth's weekend home in 1992.
In November 1971 a young American artist decided to get a friend to take a shot at him.
How the Mexican-American trade union leader Cesar Chavez inspired Latinos in the 1960s.
The Filipino stone-age cave dwellers who fooled the scientific community.
Created to tackle China's expanding population, but how was the one-child policy enforced?
It's 27 years since over 20,000 people died when a volcano erupted in western Colombia.
In 1984 doctors in California tried a revolutionary operation on a two-week-old baby girl.
The memories of a German Jew who grew up across the street from Adolf Hitler.
The original story of betrayal at sea - from contemporary eyewitness testimonies.
One of the longest-serving leaders of the Soviet Union died on the 10 of November 1982.
An incredible plot to kidnap, drug and repatriate Nigerian exile Umaru Dikko in 80s London
In the 1930s the Nazi party hatched a secret plan to breed an elite Aryan race.
The great British war photographer Don McCullin remembers the Vietnam war.
In 1985 a Frankfurt theatre attempted to stage a play by the controversial German writer.
It is 95 years since the October Revolution which led to the creation of the Soviet Union.
Allen Ginsberg first read his poem Howl, in San Francisco in October 1955.
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev finally offered to withdraw nuclear missiles from Cuba
In the autumn of 1980 one of the longest wars of the 20th Century began.
It is 10 years since Chechen rebels took an entire theatre full of people hostage.
On 24 October 1929, the New York Stock Exchange began to plummet.
The gradual build up of weaponry - Soviet built ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads
It's 15 years since an extraordinary building was opened in a Spanish industrial city.
The last serious attempt to end Colombia's long civil war was more than a decade ago.
British troops liberated Greece from the Nazis in October 1944.
CIA expert Dino Brugioni interpreted the ariel photographs of missiles in Cuba
It is 35 years since the opening of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.
It is 25 years since the most in-depth and expensive survey of Loch Ness.
How the Soviet dissident smuggled his writing to the outside world.
In 1965 the Latin-American revolutionary went to fight with rebels in the Congo.
In 1985 a luxury cruise liner was held by Palestinian gunmen in the Red Sea.
In October 1986 a CIA plane carrying arms to "contra" rebels was shot down in Nicaragua
The battle in Mogadishu in 1993 which had a dramatic impact on US foreign policy.
It is 16 years since the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital.
At the end of WW2, many ethnic Germans in Central Europe were forced to leave their homes.
In September 2000 the Israeli opposition leader visited the Al-Aqsa compound.
In September 1983 a group of IRA prisoners escaped from jail in Northern Ireland.
The story of a young girl who survived Ireland's notorious Catholic workhouses for women.
It is 55 years since a groundbreaking musical, West Side Story, opened on Broadway.
How an Oxford academic came up with a story that charmed children for generations.
In 1998 a Roman Catholic Bishop killed himself in protest at Pakistan's blasphemy laws.
Twenty-five years ago, a shipment of mules was sent from the USA to Afghanistan.
The Ethiopian soldier who became a hero in the Korean War
One girl's story of exile and soldiering during World War II.
How the American hip hop star Tupac Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting.
It is 30 years since an Australian woman was accused of murdering her daughter.
It is 30 years since a teenage Indian woman spread fear in the North East of the country.
How a London school sports teacher changed the life of the Somali-born Olympic champion.
How a Yahi Indian called Ishi emerged from the Northern Californian wilderness in 1911.
In 1981 anti-apartheid protestors used a plane to attack South African rugby players.
In 1956 a Hungarian Cardinal sought refuge in the US Embassy in Budapest.
The riot that overshadowed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968
Arnold Schwarzenegger and bodybuilding in the 1960s.
The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, killed in a car crash on 31 August 1997.
How East Timor's vote for independence in 1999 sparked violence by pro-Indonesia militias.
The death of a president that shocked Brazil.
In 1972, chess makes headlines as volatile American Bobby Fischer becomes world champion.
In August 1963, thieves stole over £2 million from a London bound Royal Mail train.
How broadcasting throughout a devastating storm made a Miami weatherman into a local hero.
The year the England cricket captain said he was going to make the West Indies "grovel".
The assassination of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotksy in Mexico City in 1940.
Jacqueline Du Pre makes one of the most famous classical recordings of the 20th Century.
The parcel bomb attack that killed anti-apartheid activist Ruth First in 1982.
How a 1968 television special revived the career of the King of Rock and Roll.
The daughter of the last British viceroy in India remembers the transfer of power in 1947.
For six years following the end of World War II, Japan was occupied by the US.
Shawn Fanning talks about how he founded the file sharing website Napster.
The Scottish anarchist and the plot to kill General Franco.
At the 1960 Olympics in Rome an Ethiopian athlete stunned the world.
It's quarter of a century since the world's most popular cosmetic treatment was discovered
How seven Soviet intellectuals held a pioneering protest in Moscow in 1968.
How an American swimmer crossed the "Ice Curtain" between the USA and the Soviet Union.
The story of a survivor of Omarska concentration camp in Bosnia.
It's 50 years since the death of Marilyn Monroe, Hollywood's ultimate sex symbol.
The story of Thor Heyerdahl's crossing of the Pacific on a balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki.
The first voyage to the North Pole under the icecap. Ken Carr remembers Nautilus's mission
It was one of the defining battles of the First World War
Eighteen years ago a little girl was raped and murdered - her killing changed US law.
How a mole in the KGB sent secrets to France and the USA in 1981.
It is 60 years since the Argentine first lady died.
In July 1978 the first baby to be conceived in a laboratory was born in England.
How the American president Theodore Roosevelt nearly died in the Amazon in 1914.
It is 25 years since the poet was imprisoned without trial in Malawi.
Beginning in the 1950s the CIA made attempts to brainwash psychiatric patients.
How the killing of a young Basque councillor sparked huge anti-ETA protests in Spain.
In July 1997 the Italian fashion designer, Gianni Versace, was shot dead.
It is 35 years since the streets of the Big Apple were plunged into darkness.
How working with Paul Simon made South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo global stars.
In July 1976 four foreign mercenaries were executed for their part in Angola's civil war.
The BBC World Service is leaving Bush House in central London after 70 years there.
The story of the American businessman who built the home of the BBC World Service.
It is 50 years since the first ever transatlantic satellite TV broadcast.
On 7 July 2005, London was thrown into chaos by four bomb attacks.
It is 50 years since the end of French colonial rule in Algeria.
Egypt now has a president from the Muslim Brotherhood - hear how it started 84 years ago.
In 1982 4,000 people got married in a mass blessing carried out by Reverend Sun Myung Moon
In July 1937 the female flyer disappeared in her plane somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.
During World War II, Allied bombing raids brought death and destruction to German cities.
In 1997 Hong Kong was handed back to China after 150 years of British rule.
It is 15 years since a replica of Shakespeare's Globe theatre was opened in London.
It is over 40 years since a brief but bloody war between Honduras and El Salvador.
In June 1947 the diary of Anne Frank was published for the very first time.
Reform in the Soviet Union, known as perestroika, was launched 25 years ago in 1987.
A Frenchwoman remembers life under Nazi occupation during the Second World War.
In June 1948 Soviet troops cut supply lines around West Berlin in Germany.
The biggest refugee camp in the world was established 21 years ago.
On June 18, 1982 an Italian banker was found dead in mysterious circumstances in London.
It is 90 years since one of the most influential novels of the 20th century was published.
Thirty years ago the war ended between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands.
It is 10 years since Hamid Karzai was first appointed as interim President of Afghanistan.
It is over 50 years since the great Russian ballet dancer left the Soviet Union for good.
The man behind one of the most important security breaches in US history tells his story.
How Americans lined the route of Senator Robert Kennedy's funeral train in 1968.
It's 26 years since an American intelligence analyst admitted selling secrets to Israel.
It is 35 years since the opening of the iconic modern art centre in Paris.
In 1969 an American psychologist called David Rosenhan put psychiatrists to the test.
In 1977, The Sex Pistols punk rock band mocked Britain's Silver Jubilee celebrations.
Between 1967 and 1970 there was a civil war in Nigeria over the formation of Biafra.
It is 40 years since gunmen attacked an Israeli airport. We hear from a survivor.
In May 1984 a bomber tried to kill an anti-Sandinista rebel leader in Nicaragua.
The story of the "miracle babies" who became global superstars in the 1930s.
Thirty-five years ago, gunmen took 105 young children hostage in a school in Holland.
How the legendary Manchester venue launched a dance music revolution.
Twenty years ago the anti-mafia judge was assassinated by a bomb under his car.
The USA sent two monkeys into space and brought them back alive for the first time
It is 35 years since one of the biggest movie franchises of all time hit cinema screens.
On May 18th 1980 there was a huge volcanic eruption in Washington state in the USA.
In May 1998 a nuclear arms race began in South Asia.
In May 1536 the Queen of England was executed on the orders of her husband Henry VIII.
In March 1938 Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany - one Vienna resident remembers.
In 1964, a TV documentary series introduced a group of seven-year-olds to British viewers
On May 11th 1812, the British Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, was killed.
How student protests and workers' strikes threatened to bring down France's government.
How a British psychiatrist examined the deputy Nazi leader after his flight to Scotland.
The Nigerian military stormed the musician's compound in Lagos, Kalakuta Republic
He was responsible for a series of gruesome murders in the Hollywood hills.
In May 1926 workers across Britain went on strike in support of coal miners.
Justin Fashanu, Britain's first openly gay footballer, killed himself in May 1998.
In May 1992 the Bosnian president was taken captive by Serb soldiers.
In 2002 a paralysed woman, known as Miss B, was allowed to die in a London hospital.
How walkers stormed an English peak in 1932 and started a fight for countryside access.
It is 35 years since the legendary New York night club opened its doors to cool people.
One New Zealand soldier's account of surviving the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915
In April 1937 the Basque town of Guernica was firebombed during the Spanish Civil War.
How a court case ruined the 19th century playwright and wit.
In April 1968 a politician put race and immigration at the centre of British politics.
One of the most successful TV series ever was created by cartoonist Matt Groening.
How a group of Jews escaped from a train bound for the Auschwitz death camp in 1943.
In 1997, left-wing rebels held 71 people hostage for over four months in Peru.
How dissidents in the USSR were routinely declared insane and kept in mental institutions.
It is 100 years since the great ocean liner sank on its maiden voyage.
In 1981 a Pulitzer Prize was awarded to a young journalist who had made-up her story.
It is 25 years since the great Italian author and Auschwitz survivor died.
Castro met Richard Nixon and addressed large crowds to win over critics of the revolution
In 1961, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi in charge of concentration camps, was tried in Israel.
The frantic negotiations that led to a historic peace deal for Northern Ireland in 1998.
How thousands of Bosnians tried to stop their capital falling under siege in 1992.
In 1982, women took to the streets to demand the right to give birth naturally
An Argentine soldier's account of invading the Falkland Islands in 1982.
It is 30 years since Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands.
How thousands of children stranded during war in Sudan were finally resettled in the USA.
A 100 years ago the British explorer died after failing to be the first to the South Pole.
How a young designer became a legend in the world of shoes.
In 1990 an Anglican priest living in Zimbabwe was the victim of a letter bomb.
The Pope's visit changed relations between the Catholic Church and Cuba's government
In 1961 President Kennedy set up a scheme to send idealistic young Americans abroad.
In the 1950s, US engineers were sent to Afghanistan to build a dam.
In March 1995 members of a Japanese cult released nerve gas in the metro.
On 20 March 2003 the US and its allies began their air strikes against Iraq.
Forty five years ago it was the biggest oil spill the world had ever seen.
On 16 March 1968, US soldiers went on the rampage through a Vietnamese village.
On 15 March 1990, a young British journalist was executed in Iraq.
In 1982 a British director found himself in a court battle over sex and nudity on stage.
Throughout World War II, Myra Hess organised concerts in London's National Gallery.
In 1929 a Russian inventor brought an electronic musical instrument to the USA.
The daughter of the Soviet dictator, Svetlana defected to the West in 1967
How scientists turned penicillin into the world's first anti-biotic medicine.
In the 1960s, the pop artist Andy Warhol, turned his attention to film-making.
It is 25 years since a car ferry capsized outside the Belgian port.
Californian computer enthusiasts met to share ideas - including the founders of Apple
On 2 March 1969 the supersonic airliner took to the skies for the first time.
It is 10 years since communal violence broke out in the Indian state.
The Bulgarian dissident was attacked with a poisoned umbrella on his way to Bush House.
On 28 February 1986, the Swedish Prime Minister was killed on a Stockholm street.
A 2012 episode looks back at the work of the pioneering designer, who has died aged 93
In the late 1920s Hollywood made the change from silent films to movies with soundtracks.
Twelve years ago Syria experienced a brief burst of political openness.
Nearly 30 years ago Moose Murders made history as the biggest flop ever on Broadway.
It is 40 years since the US President went to China and met Chairman Mao.
In February 1989, nine people were sucked out of a plane over the Pacific Ocean.
In February 1942 all Japanese Americans were ordered to internment camps.
In February 1942 Japan launched the largest ever attack against Australia.
On 15 February 1989, the last Soviet soldiers rolled out of Afghanistan.
In February 2005 a Catholic nun working in the Amazon was murdered.
It was the first time a computer had beaten a reigning world champion chess player.
In 1962 Timmie Jean Lindsey became the first woman in the world to have the operation.
It is 50 years since nine French peace protestors died during a demonstration in Paris.
On 7 February 1985 a US drug enforcement agent was abducted in Guadalajara.
How Britain mourned the death of King George VI in 1952.
The great Egyptian singer was buried 37 years ago.
It is 30 years since thousands of Syrians were killed by their own army.
Winning the chance to conceive a child using sperm from her dead husband
How a visit to America in 1842 became a turning-point in the career of Charles Dickens.
It is 40 years since 13 civil rights marchers were killed in Northern Ireland.
In January 1986 a space shuttle launch went horribly wrong.
On 25 January 1933 the last legal communist march was held in Berlin.
In January 1972 a Japanese soldier was found in the jungle of Guam.
It is one hundred years since the great American abstract painter was born.
It is 70 years since senior Nazi officials met to plan the killing of European Jews.
In January 1973 abortion was legalised across the USA.
On 18 January 1943 German soldiers began a final drive to empty the Polish capital of Jews
In 1950 a Boston gang stole over $2.5m and they almost got away with it.
In January 1977 President Jimmy Carter said draft dodgers could come home.
In January 1968 the country legend Johnny Cash recorded a concert in a high-security jail.
In January 1991 the UN Secretary General tried to avert the first Gulf War.
In 1898 the novelist Emile Zola took up the cause of a Jewish prisoner - Alfred Dreyfus.
When the Japanese Emperor died in 1989 it marked the end of an era.
Over 2000 years ago Julius Caesar made a decision which changed European history.
Taking you back 35 years when an opposition movement began in Czechoslovakia.
Fifty years ago the USA launched an ambitious attempt to control the weather.
A list of radicals in the US entertainment industry was published more than 60 years ago.
In January 1968 an American spy ship was captured by North Korean forces.
How millions of Europeans celebrated the launch of the euro in 2002.