In 1983, all hell broke loose when a new toy hit stores in the United States. Cabbage Patch Kids were so popular that people were getting injured when they tried to buy them. But Martha Nelson Thomas, whose original design she said inspired the dolls, received little credit. She watched on as sales of the toys generated hundreds of millions of dollars. Martha’s close friend, Meredith Ludwig, told Madeleine Drury the story of how the strange-looking dolls became such a sensation. (Photo: Martha Nelson Thomas with her doll babies. Credit: Guy Mendes)

On 26 November 2008, 10 gunmen from the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba carried out coordinated attacks on Mumbai's busiest hotspots including the Taj and Oberoi hotels, a train station, hospital, and Jewish community centre. One hundred and sixty-six people were murdered in the attacks, which lasted for three days. The city was locked down as police searched for the gunmen. Only one, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, was captured alive by police. He was sentenced to death and executed in 2012. Dan Hardoon speaks to Devika Rotawan and Arun Jadhav, who came face to face with the militants. (Photo: Buildings under attack. Credit:Getty Images)

In August 2003 Europe was hit by the hottest heatwave for hundreds of years. Tens of thousands of people died. Not built to withstand two weeks of extreme heat, Paris turned into a death trap for its most vulnerable citizens. The temperature reached 40C. Many elderly people died in their apartments alone. The government was criticised for its handling of the crisis. The head of the national health authority resigned shortly after the end of the heatwave. Emergency doctor, Patrick Pelloux, who was working at St Antoine Hospital in Paris, tells George Crafer what he encountered. (Photo: Paris looking hot. Credit: Getty Images)

On 22 November 1963, United States President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Lucy Williamson looks back to 8 November 1960, when Richard Nixon and JFK went toe to toe at the polls in a battle to become the next president. The narrow success made Kennedy the youngest man ever elected to the role. Close aide and speechwriter Ted Sorensen was with the politician on the night of the election. This programme was first broadcast in 2010. (Photo: US President-elect John F Kennedy shortly after his election in 1960. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

In 1987, a tea shop in Taiwan named Chun Shui Tang began selling pearl milk tea, or bubble tea, as it’s often called. It would revolutionise the tea-drinking world. Ben Henderson speaks to Liu Han-Chieh, the shop owner, and Lin Xiuhu, who first added the drink’s signature tapioca balls. (Photo: Bubble tea. Credit: Chun Shui Tang)

In 1964, Zambia became a republic. It was the ninth African state to leave British colonial rule. Simon Kapwepwe was one of the leaders in the fight for independence, along with his childhood friend Kenneth Kaunda, who became President in 1964. Simon’s daughter, Mulenga Kapwepwe, speaks to Laura Jones about her father’s role in naming the country and her memories of that time. (Photo: Sign welcoming people to Zambia in 1965. Credit: Lambert/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 2000, the pioneering underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio made one of the greatest ever submerged discoveries. He found evidence that the remains he had found off the coast of Egypt were from Thonis-Heracleion, an ancient Egyptian port lost without trace. Before the foundation of Alexandria, it had flourished at the mouth of the Nile between the 6th to 2nd centuries BC, a city twice the size of Pompeii. He tells Josephine McDermott about the incredible artefacts he has found including the moment he realised he was at the foot of a five-metre tall statue of a pharaoh. (Photo: The pharaoh statue discovered off the coast of Egypt. Credit: Christoph Gerigk, Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation)

The Bolivian Water War was a series of protests that took place in the city of Cochabamba in 2000 against the privatisation of water. People objected to the increase in water rates and idea that the government was “leasing the rain”. In April 2000, President Hugo Banzer declared a "state of siege" meaning curfews were imposed and protest leaders could be arrested without warrant. During a violent clash between demonstrators and the military, teenager Victor Hugo was shot dead by an army captain. Union official Oscar Olivera tells Vicky Farncombe how Hugo’s death motivated the protesters and brought about an end to the privatisation. (Photo: Demonstrators wave the Bolivian flag as they participate in a strike against water utility rate increases. Credit: Reuters)

In 1951, Rosalind Franklin began one of the key scientific investigations of the century. The young British scientist produced an X-ray photograph that helped show the structure of DNA, the molecule that holds the genetic code that underpins all life. The discovery was integral to the transformation of modern medicine and has been described as one of the greatest scientific achievements ever. Farhana Haider spoke to Rosalind's younger sister, Jenifer Glynn, in 2017. (Photo: Dr Rosalind Franklin. Credit: Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images)

In 2010, a previously little-known Icelandic volcano erupted twice, sending a huge plume of volcanic ash all over Europe. The ash cloud grounded flights for days, causing disruption for millions of passengers. Reena Stanton-Sharma talks to Icelandic geophysicist and Eyjafjallajökull-watcher, Sigrun Hreinsdottir. This programme was first broadcast in 2022. (Photo: The awesome power of Eyjafjallajökull. Credit: Getty Images)

In the 1970s, engineer Sheldon Kaplan and his colleagues were tasked with creating an auto-injector pen to be used by US soldiers needing a nerve agent antidote. The Pentagon called it the ComboPen but, in 1987, it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the EpiPen, for patients with allergies. The device is carried by millions of people all over the world as it can quickly and easily deliver a shot of adrenaline to anyone at risk of death from anaphylactic shock. Sheldon Kaplan died in 2009 and was inducted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2016. Sheldon’s son Michael Kaplan and colleague Michael Mesa tell Vicky Farncombe the story behind the pen.

Following the devastating tsunami of 2004, a baby hippo named Owen was rescued from the sea off the coast of Kenya. He was taken to Haller Park in Mombasa, home of a 130-year-old giant tortoise called Mzee. Owen and Mzee formed an unusual friendship and their story gained worldwide fame. Dr Paula Kahumbu tells their story to Gill Kearsley. (Photo: Owen and Mzee. Credit: Peter Greste/AFP/Getty Images)

On 9 November 1993, one of Bosnia's most famous landmarks, the historic bridge in Mostar, was destroyed by Croat guns during the Bosnian war. Built by the Ottomans in the 16th Century, the bridge was a symbol of Bosnia's multicultural past. In 2014, Louise Hidalgo spoke to Eldin Palata, who filmed the destruction of the bridge, and Mirsad Behram, a local journalist. (Photo: A temporary bridge where Mostar's historic bridge previously stood. Credit: Robert Nickelsberg/Liaison via Getty Images)

In the 1980s, a brother and sister from Pakistan topped the charts in countries all over the world with their dancefloor filler, Disco Deewane. Nazia and Zoheb Hassan were the first teenagers ever to make a hit record in India. Zoheb tells Vicky Farncombe about their rise to fame. (Photo: Nazia and Zoheb Hassan. Credit: BBC)

In 1978, British showbusiness star, Debbie McGee was a dancer with the Iranian National Ballet Company. Debbie was living in the capital, Tehran, at the start of the Iranian revolution. She tells Gill Kearsley the story of how she dealt with the unrest and escaped the country. Debbie, who went on to marry British magician Paul Daniels, said: "I would never have met my late husband if that hadn't happened... so I've got the ayatollah to thank for that." (Photo: Debbie McGee in 2018. Credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images for The Old Vic Theatre)

In August 2004, more than 300 people died when a supermarket caught fire in Paraguay's capital, Asunción. It is seen as the country's worst peacetime disaster. Tatiana Gabaglio escaped the fire. She speaks to Ben Henderson. (Photo: Mourners gathering after the Ycuá Bolaños fire. Credit: Norberto Duarte/AFP via Getty Images)

On 5 November, 1985 some of the world's top designers and music stars joined together in a special event at London’s Royal Albert Hall to raise money for drought-hit Ethiopia. The rock star Freddie Mercury and the actress Jane Seymour were chosen to model the bridal collection of David and Elizabeth Emanuel. Jane Seymour tells Josephine McDermott what it was like to play the role of Freddie Mercury's bride for a fashion spectacular. (Photo: Jane Seymour and Freddie Mercury at Fashion Aid. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1986 Dr Aleida Guevara, the daughter of revolutionary icon Che Guevara, went to Angola to work as a paediatrician. Dr Aleida was one of a number of medics Fidel Castro’s Cuban government sent to their fellow communist country in southern Africa as it emerged from Portuguese colonialism into civil war. Marcia Veiga hears how Dr Aleida treated children with cholera in a hospital in the Angolan capital Luanda. Dr Aleida also reveals how, during downtime from working as Cuba’s minister of industries, her tired father played with her by carrying her on his back as if he were a horse. The music for this programme is from Dadifox and Receba. (Photo: Dr Aleida Guevara with a patient at Luanda’s Josina Machel Hospital. Credit: Dr Aleida Guevara)

On 23 March 1962, a prototype of the first cockpit flight recorder, the black box, was tested in Australia. In the early 1950s, fuel scientist David Warren, who worked in the Australian government’s aeronautical research laboratories, attended a talk about the reasons for a recent plane crash. David thought that if only he could speak to a survivor, he’d have a much better idea of what caused the crash and could prevent future ones. This led him to develop a recorder that would collect vital information of the last few hours before a plane goes down. Today the modern equivalent of the black box is compulsory equipment on passenger planes all over the world. In 2015, David’s children, Jenny and Peter Warren, and a former colleague, Bill Schofield, spoke with Catherine Davis about how his idea changed air travel forever. (Photo: The flight data recorder known as a black box used in aircraft. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1983, scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Paris became the first to identify the HIV virus. It was a vital step in fighting one of the worst epidemics in modern history, AIDS. The Pasteur had been asked to investigate after reports of a mystery disease that was spreading rapidly, particularly among the gay community. Two weeks later, scientist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi detected the virus while working on a biopsy sample in the laboratory. She and the team leader, Luc Montagnier were later awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. But the discovery could easily have been missed, as she tells Jane Wilkinson. (Photo: French virologists Jean-Claude Chermann, Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier. Credit: Michel Philippot/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)