In 2004 a child sex abuse trial on a remote island in the Pacific shocked the world. Nearly half the adult male population of Pitcairn Island stood accused of rape and sexual assault. The victims and the accused were all descendants of British sailors, including the famous rebel Fletcher Christian, who'd mutinied on a ship called Bounty in the eighteenth century. Claire Bowes spoke to Kathy Marks, one of just six journalists who were given permission to travel to Pitcairn to report on the trials.

Photo: Adamstown, seen in this June 2003 photo of Pitcairn Island (AP)

On 4 November 1965, the American war photographer, Dickey Chapelle, was killed in Vietnam by shrapnel from a booby-trapped mortar. She was the first American woman war reporter to be killed in action, and had made her name covering many of the 20th Century's greatest conflicts at a time when war reporting was almost exclusively the domain of men.

(Photo: Dickey Chapelle taking photos during a US Marines operation in 1958. Credit: US Marine Corps/Associated Press)

In October 1990 the Mexican poet and essayist was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. A prolific writer, Paz was the first Mexican to win the Prize. Mike Lanchin has been hearing from Professor Jason Wilson and Mexican writer, Alberto Ruy Sanchez, who knew him well.

Photo: Octavio Paz and his wife speaking to the press in New York after learning he won the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature (EVY MAGES/AFP/Getty Images)

In 1966 China's communist leader declared the start of a Cultural Revolution. It was carried out by millions of young people, part of Mao's Red Guards. Lucy Burns has been speaking to Saul Yeung, who was just 20 years old when he joined up.

Photo: Chinese Red Guards reading from Chairman Mao's Little Red Book (Getty Images)

In November 1950, Clarence Adams, an African-American soldier fighting in the Korean war, was captured by the Chinese Red Army. He was held in a prisoner of war camp until the war ended. But instead of returning home, Adams and 20 other GIs chose to settle in China. Rob Walker has been speaking to his daughter, Della Adams.

(Photo: Clarence Adams and his Chinese wife, Liu Lin Feng, courtesy of the family)

In 1904, the great American escape artist, Harry Houdini, made his reputation with a sensational performance at a theatre in London's West End. It became known as the Mirror Handcuff Challenge. Simon Watts introduces contemporary accounts of the show, and talks to magician and Houdini expert, Paul Zenon.

(Photo: Houdini later in his career. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1965 French agents in Paris helped kidnap and disappear Mehdi Ben Barka, a Moroccan dissident and global left-wing activist. He was taken to a villa in Paris where it is believed he was murdered by Moroccan security officials. His body has never been found. The case became a national scandal in France. The BBC's Alex Last hears from Bachir Ben Barka, who is still fighting to find out what really happened to his father.

In October 1986 London's financial heart, the Stock Exchange, underwent one of the biggest shake-ups in its history. Old-fashioned practices such as the long lunches and early train home, gave way to new ways of working, and to the computer. Susan Hulme has been hearing from former stockbroker, Justin Urquhart Stewart, about the impact of those changes.

Photo: Traders in the London Stock Exchange, Aug 1984 (Victor Blackman/Express/Getty Images)

In October 1956 students and workers took to the streets of Budapest to protest at Soviet rule in Hungary. The demonstrations turned violent and for a while the revolutionaries were in control before being brutally repressed. Ed Butler spoke in 2010 to one of the rebels, Peter Pallai.

(Photo: November 10, 1956 - A crowd of people surround the demolished head of a statue of Josef Stalin, including Daniel Sego, the man who cut off the head, during the Hungarian Revolt, Budapest, Hungary.)

In World War One, thousands of troops began suffering from psychiatric disorders which were given the name 'shell shock'. It was initially thought that shell shock was caused by soldiers' proximity to exploding shells, but it soon became clear that the conflict was having an unprecedented psychological impact. Alex Last presents BBC archive recordings of WW1 veterans talking about their experiences.