In May 1969 the New York Times revealed that US war planes were secretly bombing Cambodia. It was a major escalation of America's war against the communist Viet Cong. Neither the US Congress nor the American public had been told. William Beecher was the reporter who broke the story.

Photo: An American B52 bomber in flight during the Viet Nam war.

In 1981 the British government was faced with prisoners on hunger strike. The Irish republican activists were demanding to be treated as political prisoners not criminals. Several of them died in Northern Ireland - hear from one who survived.

(Photo: Protestors wearing balaclavas in support of the hunger strike. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Twenty-one years ago, a priceless modern art collection was donated to the US National Gallery of Art. The donors were Herb and Dorothy Vogel – a former postal worker and a retired librarian. They had spent over four decades building up the collection – which was crammed into their tiny Manhattan apartment.

(Photo: Herb and Dorothy Vogel. Copyright: Fine Line Media, Inc.)

On May 7th 1963, Luciano Pavarotti first perfomed on a British stage, in Northern Ireland. He was relatively unknown in those days but as a young singer who performed alongside him remembers, his talent shone out to everyone who heard him.

(Photo: Margaret Smyth as Kate and Luciano Pavarotti as Capt. Pinkerton, Belfast 1963.)

In May 1967 campaigning began across Australia to consolidate Aboriginal rights in the country. It took a referendum to change the constitution before they were regarded as legally equal citizens.

(Photo: Aboriginal man playing a didgeridoo. Copyright: BBC)

On April 30th 1945 as Red Army soldiers closed in on the German capital Berlin, Adolf Hitler killed himself. But first he married his lover Eva Braun, and dictated his will. Hear from one of the secretaries who was in the bunker when he died.

Photo: Getty Images.

In May 1968 Europe was rocked by demonstrations by students calling for a revolution. The protests had started a few weeks earlier in West Berlin, following the shooting of German student leader Rudi Dutschke.

(Image: Gretchen Klotz-Dutschke(L) Rudi Dutschke(R) Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

In April 1959 Dame Margot Fonteyn was part of a bizarre plot to topple the government of Panama.

The ballerina's husband, Roberto Arias, the son of a former president, led the failed coup.

Dame Margot bought hundreds of uniforms for the rebellion in New York.

Photo: Dame Margot Fonteyn and her Panamanian husband (McCabe/Express/Getty Images)

In 1967, the world heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali, refused to be indicted into the American military. His decision to follow his conscience and not serve in Vietnam galvanised radicals across the US.

Simon Watts speaks to Dr Nathan Hare about a visit by Muhammad Ali to Howard University at the height of the outcry over his refusal of the draft.

(Photo: Muhammad Ali in training. Credit: R McPhedran/Express/Getty Images)

It is 30 years since a German magazine and a British newspaper spent millions on what they thought were Hitler's private diaries. Although they had been verified by eminent historians, they turned out to be simple fakes.

Image: Hitler, Credit: Press Association