20th Century - Getty Images

20th Century

Marie Tharp stands at a table, drawing her map of the Atlantic Ocean's floor

15 minutes of fameJerry Brotton chooses Marie Tharp. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A black-and-white photograph of men walking down a road lined with shops. They are armed with guns

The Irish Civil War: 100 years on. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Britain’s century of political nightmares. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Newspaper front page with headline 'Gen. Ramey Empties Roswell Saucer'

Why we should rememberThe Roswell Incident. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

15 minutes of fameRana Mitter chooses Tsiang Tingfu. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Laura Mvulu and Thelonius Monk

My history heroLaura Mvula chooses Thelonious Monk. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Montage of five British prime ministers: David Lloyd George, Neville Chamberlain, Anthony Eden, James Callaghan and Margaret Thatcher

Prime ministersFive of the greatest downfalls of the past 100 years. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Protesters urge the government to help elderly people with their energy bills at Downing Street in 2022

Inflation then and nowBritain's century of boom and bust. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

David Stirling: SAS hero or fraud?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A brief history of US abortion law, before and after Roe v Wade

Woman wearing a bikini

Why we should rememberThe launch of the swimsuit that scandalised the world

A man walking past a pile of uncollected rubbish during the Winter of Discontent, 22 September 1978

Q&AWhat was the Winter of Discontent?

An overturned vehicle on tramlines as a blockage to traffic during the General Strike of 1926

A brief history of strike action. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

From bohemian Brighton to military Plymouth: the LGBTQ history of four British cities. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

New Yorkers outside the Stonewall Inn in June 1969.

Why we should remember…The 1969 raid on the Stonewall Inn. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Marie TharpGround-breaking cartographer. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Franz NopcsaHungarian adventurer and palaeontologist. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tsiang Ting-fuChinese historian and diplomat. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 6Political tensions in the 1970s and 80s. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Book cover of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four: to the future or to the past?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An angry crowd of around 400 miners blockade National Coal Board boss Ian McGregor inside a colliery office at Ellinton Colliery, 22 February 1984

Your guide to the miners’ strike of 1984–85

Pioneering women pilots: from ballooning spectacles to flying escapades. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Your guide to George Orwell and his visions of dystopia. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A policeman searches an African-American man, 1970s

Why we should remember…Richard Nixon's war on drugs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Watergate at 50: the making of an American scandal. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

US president Richard Nixon in 1970

After Watergate: the fallout of an American scandal. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Victoria Drummond, Britain's first female marine engineer. Also seen is her ancestral home, Megginch Castle; a Second World War Allied convoy; Mount Etna, which she encountered on one voyage; and a Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at Sea, similar to the one that Drummond received in 1941

Victoria Drummond: trailblazing ship's engineer and war hero. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Architecture & hidden Jewish history in Eastern Europe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bernstein and Woodward, the journalists who broke the Watergate scandal

Your guide to the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon

Photo of Richard Nixon at a rally in 1968

Richard Nixon: the rise and fall of an American president. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.