In 1984, a diplomatic dispute broke out between Canada and Denmark over the ownership of a tiny island in the Arctic. The fight for Hans Island off the coast of Greenland became known as the Whisky War. Both sides would leave a bottle of alcohol for the enemies after raising their national flag.  What could be the friendliest territorial dispute in history came to an end in 2022, with the agreement held up as an example of how diplomacy should work. Janice Fryett hears from Tom Hoyem and Alan Kessel, politicians on either side of the bloodless war. A Made in Manchester Production for the BBC World Service.  (Photo: Tom Hoyem with a Danish flag on Hans Island. Credit: Niels Henriksen)

The Whisky War: Denmark v Canada

History as told by the people who were there.

History

Society & Culture

In 2009, the Indian government embarked on an ambitious task to register all of the country's billion-plus citizens with a unique digital ID.  Aadhaar - which means foundation in many Indian languages - became the world's largest ever biometrics project. It allowed millions of people to open bank accounts or access a mobile connection for the very first time.  But the project also attracted considerable opposition from privacy advocates and civil rights groups, who brought a case that went all the way to India's Supreme Court.  Dan Hardoon speaks to Nandan Nilekani, who chaired the Aadhaar project. (Photo: Aadhaar system. Credit: Getty Images)

How a billion Indians got a digital ID

In 1963, Dr Jose Ignacio Barraquer Moner performed the first surgery on a human eye aimed at correcting short-sightedness.  The ophthalmologist had been developing his technique for years, believing that there was a better solution for blurry vision than wearing glasses. But he had to move from Spain to Colombia to begin his experimental surgery which involved dry ice, a watchmaker’s lathe and rabbits. The idea was to change the shape of the cornea – the front layer of the eye - to focus vision. First, he sliced off the patient’s cornea then dunked it in liquid nitrogen, before using a miniature lathe to carve the frozen cornea into the right shape. Next, he thawed the disc and sewed it back on.  Jose’s initial surgery was performed on rabbits, but in 1963 he carried out the first procedure on a human patient, a 9 year old girl. It was a success, and soon doctors from around the world were flocking to Colombia to find out more. Barraquer called this procedure keratomileusis, from the Greek words for “carving” and “cornea.” The technique was the forerunner of Lasik eye surgery when the lathe was replaced with lasers. Jose’s daughter, Carmen Barraquer Coll followed her father into ophthalmology and tells Jane Wilkinson, how he inspired her. (Photo: Lasik eye surgery in 2009. Credit: BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images)

The pioneering eye surgery that led to Lasik

In the 1980s, a thirst for caffeine caused an unusual global collaboration. Coffee-loving East Germans were left without after a crop failure in the world’s biggest exporter of the drink, Brazil. So the East Germans hatched a scheme, linking up with fellow communist state Vietnam to create a mass of coffee plantations. The man behind the plan, Siegfried Kaulfuß, tells Michael Rossi about the scale and success of the endeavour. (Photo: Siegfried Kaulfuß with Vietnamese coffee farmers. Credit: Siegfried Kaulfuß)

East Germany's coffee from Vietnam

When a new show called Friends hit American TV screens in September 1994, it made household names of its cast. Over 10 series, it charted the lives of six young New Yorkers, through marriages, divorces, births and deaths.  The final episode was broadcast on 6 May 2004. In 2014, executive producer Kevin Bright told Farhana Haider how the show was born - and how it became one of the biggest comedies of all time. (Photo: The cast on the last day of filming. Credit: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images)

Friends: The making of a smash hit

Thirty years on from the opening of the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, we look at the moment the two halves of the tunnel were connected in 1990. Graham Fagg was the man who made the breakthrough, and the first person to cross by land between the two countries in 8,000 years. In 2010, he told Lucy Williamson about the festivities of that day. (Photo: The moment of breakthrough Graham Fagg greets Frenchman Philippe Cozette. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

The Whisky War: Denmark v Canada

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