The wingsuit is the ultimate in extreme sports clothing. The aerodynamic outfit allows base jumpers and skydivers to free-fall for longer before opening a parachute. The road to creating it was littered with casualties, but in 1999 skydivers Jari Kuosma and Robert Pecnik developed the first commercial wingsuits. In 2019, Jari told Jonathan Coates how exciting, but also how dangerous they can be. (Photo: Jari in his wingsuit. Credit: BBC)

The invention of the wingsuit

History as told by the people who were there.

History

Society & Culture

In 1962, a new brand of footwear launched that would become one of Brazil’s most successful and best-known exports: Havaianas. As the country’s footwear industry started to expand, one company wanted to make something that was comfortable, inexpensive, and ideal for South America's long hot summers.  Havaianas soon became the favourite of the working class because of their affordability. Fast forward almost forty years and they featured on catwalks in Paris and Oscar goody bags in Hollywood, a surprisingly journey from their modest beginnings as the choice of farmers, builders, and tyre fitters. Johnny I’Anson has been speaking to former employee and author Sergio Sanchez about the birth of a humble flip-flop, and how they became a global success story selling 250 million pairs a year. (Photo: Rows of brightly coloured Havaianas flip-flops. Credit: Miguel Schincariol/AFP via Getty Images)

How a Brazilian flip-flop took over the world

In 2001, the American Ana Montes, who was working for the United States Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested for espionage. Although the FBI knew that there was a spy they didn't know who it was. The Cubans always referred to Ana by a man's name. Former FBI agent, Pete Lapp, tells Gill Kearsley the fascinating story of how he and his team tracked down and arrested Ana, who is known as ‘Queen of Cuba’. (Photo: Ana Montes in 2001. Credit: FBI )

When Cuban spy Ana Montes was caught

In the late 1990s, a heavy metal band called Acrassicauda formed in Iraq, when the country was under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.  Over the next decade, the pioneering band found themselves on a collision course with the dictatorship militants and the west.  The band was able to get inspiration from various bootleg tapes of heavy metal's greatest acts.  Acrassicauda performed under Saddam's regime, but because of censorship restrictions, they had to write a song that praised the dictator.  Johnny I'Anson speaks to bass player, Firas Al-Lateef. (Photo:  Acrassicauda perform in Iraq in 2004. Credit: Getty Images)

Baghdad heavy metal

It's 20 years since elections in French Polynesia in 2004, where the independence movement stunned the France-aligned government of the day, propelling pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru to the presidency.  It was a landmark in the country's politics, where protests against French rule had increased due to the practice of using Polynesian islands for nuclear tests. Antony Geros, who helped lead the independence movement, recounts that night to Lizzy Kinch.  This is a Whistledown production for BBC World Service. (Photo: Antony Geros. Credit: Getty Images)

How nuclear testing changed politics in French Polynesia

On 14 May 1948, the state of Israel was proclaimed. Tears and applause met the declaration, witnessed by 200 dignitaries, but fighting intensified in the days that followed. In 2010, Arieh Handler and Zipporah Porath spoke to Lucy Williamson about that day and its fallout. (Photo: Young Jewish people celebrate the new state. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

The invention of the wingsuit

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