Many people make resolutions for the New Year, but research shows that most fail to keep them. If you want to make your vows of self-improvement come true, you must follow some simple but crucial guidelines.

The International Day of Non-violence is celebrated every year on 2 October. This United Nations observance was inspired by the work of Indian political activist Mahatma Gandhi who championed non-violence as the best way to fight against oppression and injustice.

The 21 st edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was held this April in the Colorado Desert. Coachella is considered one of the most successful and influential music festivals in the world.

This year, several sections of the world’s longest footpath, the England Coast Path, will open to the public. This is good news for everyone who, over the past year, rediscovered walking for pleasure, a simple and healthy activity with a noble tradition that goes back to the Romantic movement.

From 20 September to 2 November, Japan will host one of the world’s greatest sporting events: the men’s Rugby World Cup. Over almost two hundred years, rugby developed from a boys’ school pastime to one of the most popular sports on the planet.

Thirty years ago, a British computer scientist called Tim Berners-Lee went to his boss with a document titled “Information Management: a Proposal”. Tim was working at the CERN laboratories in Geneva and he wanted to help CERN scientists share the information regarding their experiments. Tim’s proposal, that his boss called ‘vague but exciting’, would become the WWW.

On February 15, thousands of UK school children will go on strike, and there will be a global student strike on March 15. All these kids are protesting against politicians for not doing enough to fight climate change. These and other inspiring initiatives are the product of children who have discovered that one is never too young to make a difference.

Last 12 November Stan Lee passed away. Lee was one of the most important authors in the history of comic books. He invented dozens of superheroes, such as The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man and the X-Men. He did not simply create new characters with special powers, he also made them relatable and three-dimensional. His work helped comics become a complex and respected art form.

When the teenager Boyan Slat realized how much plastic pollutes our sea, he decided he had to do something about it. With ingenuity and determination, and thanks to the help of thousands of people, he built a special ship that he believes can clean the sea. On September 9 his 600-metre-long invention left San Francisco on its first incredible mission.

Modern Christmas celebrations owe a lot to an English novella written more than 170 years ago: Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. This story of redemption has touched the hearts of millions of readers around the world. It has helped to redefine what we mean by the Christmas spirit.

In 1973 Great Britain joined the European Economic Community, which later became the European Union (EU). Last year it decided to leave. Britain’s exit from the EU – Brexit in short – is a long and difficult process that will end up taking years to complete. Brexit is the latest chapter in the long drama between the UK and the Continent.

Columbus Day, the American national holiday that celebrates Christopher Columbus, is becoming increasingly controversial. Over the past few months, statues of Columbus have been vandalised across the United States, and many American cities have stopped celebrating the Genoese explorer. These events are part of a larger story that deals with history, culture, racism and changing values.

On April 22, Earth Day was celebrated in more than 200 countries around the world. This yearly event was first held in the US in 1970. Earth Day wants to promote the protection of the environment. Its organizers say that we all have to act, and act now. We stand on the edge of environmental disaster and what is at stake is our very survival.

Last month, the most famous family in the world was probably that of Robert Kelly, a previously unknown professor of a South Korean university. Kelly and his family were the protagonists of one of the most viral TV fails in history, viewed around the world million of times. Interestingly, their family blooper raised not only laughs, but also some serious social debate about racial stereotypes.

On 20 January the presidency of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, comes to an end. His successor is businessman, television personality and billionaire Donald Trump. Few took him seriously when he decided to run for President, but his campaign proved very successful. Learn more about the American general elections and President-elect Donald Trump.

On 13 October the Swedish Academy announced the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel Prize is the most important literary award in the world and this year’s winner was the most controversial ever. Not only because he was the first songwriter to win the Prize, but also because for weeks nobody knew if he was going to accept it. Learn more about the Nobel Prize in Literature and this year’s winner: American rock legend Bob Dylan.

This year’s Halloween was a little different: lots of people didn’t dress up as monsters, but as scary clowns. The scary clown craze began months ago and it spread quickly across the US and the UK. Dozens of scary clowns appeared out of nowhere to frighten people. Learn more about this strange phenomenon and about the ancient art of clowning.

History books tell us that the Roman Londinium was a provincial town at the very edge of the known world, very different from the international London of today. A recent archaeological find disagrees, promising to rewrite history, not just of London, but of the whole ancient world.

Twenty years ago, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the UK won only 1 gold medal, finishing 36th in the medal table. After hitting rock-bottom, something changed: the UK started a dramatic climb to the top. This summer, at the Olympics in Rio it came 2nd with 27 gold medals. How did this amazing transformation happen? Learn the secrets behind the world’s new sporting superpower.

Strange but true: Queen Elizabeth II has two birthdays and the reason is… British weather! Find out about this strange, century-old tradition, and learn more about an extraordinary and record-breaking Queen.