20th Century

A runner is helped across a finish line

21 key moments in the history of the modern Olympics

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With the Olympics underway in Tokyo, Chris Harding looks back at 1964 – the last time Japan hosted the competition. (Image by Getty Images)

How the 1964 Tokyo Olympics redefined Japan . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Meg Foster discusses the bandits that lived outside the law in Australia’s bush – from Ned Kelly to surprising lesser-known figures. (Image by Getty Images)

Australian bushrangers: folk heroes or common criminals? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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As the world’s best athletes congregate in Tokyo for the 29th Summer Games, David Goldblatt answers your questions on the history of the Olympics. (Image from Getty Images)

Olympic history: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medal winners on a podium

Q&A Who won the first Olympic medal? And what was the prize before that?

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Michael Burleigh discusses some of history’s key political killings, from Julius Caesar to Abraham Lincoln. (Image from Getty Images)

How assassinations have changed history . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A man runs on an athletics track with a crowd behind him

Harry Edward: Britain’s first black Olympic hero

Crown Prince Olav on his ice yacht (Getty Images)

From Hollywood to war heroes: 10 Olympians who were more famous outside sport

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Belgium and the Netherlands compete in a tug of war at the Antwerp Olympic

Olympic oddballs: 5 unusual Olympic sports from the past . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mao Zedong applauds a parade of Red Guards in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. These young militants followed Mao’s call in early August 1966 to defend the party from a ‘white terror’. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Reign of the red terror: Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution

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Alex Renton shares the story of his own family’s involvement in the slave trade, and considers how best to deal with this unwanted inheritance. (Image from Getty Images)

The slave trade: a family history . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Chernobyl nuclear power plant a few weeks after the disaster

What was the Chernobyl Disaster?

Tokyo Olympics 1964: Yoshinori Sakai prepares to light the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony. Born on the day that the first atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, he was a symbol of Japan’s postwar reconstruction and peace

Tokyo Olympics 1964: the Games that defined Japan

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From players who captivated audiences to composers who pushed boundaries, Susan Tomes explores the history of the piano. (Image from Getty Images)

The piano: a musical history . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Alex von Tunzelmann explores the stories behind some of the world’s most controversial statues – and gives her take on whether they should stand or fall. (Image by Getty Image)

Should they stand or fall? The great statue debate . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.