From the coronation of the enduring British monarch Queen Elizabeth II, to the rise of Iranian dictator Khomeini, to the impeachment trials of US president Bill Clinton, Episode One counts down 101-89 events. From the discovery of King Tut in The Valley of Kings to the evacuation of Dunkirk, from the Bandung Conference to the death of Azaria Chamberlain at Uluru, our first episode spans the globe.
In Episode Two we countdown from 88 to 74 events that have shaped and influenced thought, marked wars, changed fashion, and rebuilt economies. In this episode we see the release of a book called Silent Spring that put a voice to an important plight, the doom of the Jonestown cult, and the opening of the happiest place on earth, Disneyland.
Counting down from 75 to 63 we showcase great works of art and scientific feats in space, civil wars, sieges and environmental crises. We see the construction of the Panama Canal that created a passage between two continents, the invention of genetically modified crops that changed the future of food, the kidnapping of Lindbergh's baby, and a Battle of the Sexes on the tennis court.
The battle of Stalingrad was turning point in WWII, the Rwandan genocide and Tiananmen Square massacre left millions in sorrow, and war criminals were taken to trial in Nuremberg. In Episode Four we countdown from 62 to 50 events including creation of the bra that would symbolize liberation of women, a groundbreaking heart transplant, and an Olympics disaster in 1972.
Wars, politics, revolutions and inventions - the events of the 20th century changed the way in which we live. In Episode 5, we count down from 49 to 35 events that include a Treaty in Versailles aimed at bringing peace to the world, the Watergate political scandal, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the assassination of John Lennon.
Counting down from 36 to 24, this episode includes a space venture of a shuttle called Challenger, a ship journey on the unsinkable Titanic, and a car chase of Princess Diana. We see war in Vietnam, in China, and a war upon the U.S.; the birth of the Israeli nation, and a new style of cinema with sound. Celebrity OJ Simpson is on trial, and a dictator consolidates power as Chancellor of Germany.
From the Wright brothers who flew a plane for the first time, to a country that launched a rocket called Sputnik into space for the first time, the 20th century showed our rapid advance in technological feats. We countdown from 23 to 11 events that include a new vaccination for the polio epidemic, a leap in human rights with a new Declaration, and the invasion of Poland that started a world war.
Which 10 events will stay in our minds and hearts as those that marked history? Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech influenced civil rights laws, apartheid ended in South Africa, a bomb dropped in Hiroshima, and man landed on the moon. Politics, wars, assassinations and inventions come into our count down for the Top Ten events that changed our century, our world, & our way of life.
