ON PREVIOUS DAYS:
- YESTERDAY:
The First Tour De France š² - DAY BEFORE:
When Kubrick Met Spielberg - DAY BEFORE THAT:
Introducing... The Fork - DAY BEFORE BEFORE THAT:
Henry VIII's 'Ugly Wife'
ON THIS DAY
Zeppelin Takes Flight
Airships had flown since the 1850s, but the first rigid airship to comfortably carry passengers – the Zeppelin – had its maiden voyage at Lake Constance on 2nd July, 1900.
The passion project of German aristocrat Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the āgolden ageā craft were freezing cold on-board, and precarious: the majority of them eventually crashed. Nonetheless, his pluckiness captured the German imagination, raising millions of Reichsmarks, and inspiring Hitler to co-opt the machines for political and military means.
In this episode, Rebecca, Olly and Arion consider how Zeppelinās connections to Daimler saved his start-up; explain why the Hindenburg (fatefully) ended up being filled with hydrogen, rather than helium; and reveal the plans of a Bedfordshire-based business to bring blimps back to Britainās skies…
Further Reading
ā¢ āA History of German Airship Aviationā at Google Arts & Culture:
ā¢ āThe Hindenburg Disaster in 1937ā from PennLive (2017):Ā
ā¢ The Hybrid Air Vehicles Airlander 10 – from their official website:Ā
https://www.hybridairvehicles.com/our-aircraft/airlander-10/
ON THIS DAY
Zeppelin Takes Flight
Airships had flown since the 1850s, but the first rigid airship to comfortably carry passengers – the Zeppelin – had its maiden voyage at Lake Constance on 2nd July, 1900.
The passion project of German aristocrat Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the āgolden ageā craft were freezing cold on-board, and precarious: the majority of them eventually crashed. Nonetheless, his pluckiness captured the German imagination, raising millions of Reichsmarks, and inspiring Hitler to co-opt the machines for political and military means.
In this episode, Rebecca, Olly and Arion consider how Zeppelinās connections to Daimler saved his start-up; explain why the Hindenburg (fatefully) ended up being filled with hydrogen, rather than helium; and reveal the plans of a Bedfordshire-based business to bring blimps back to Britainās skies…
Further Reading
ā¢ āA History of German Airship Aviationā at Google Arts & Culture:
ā¢ āThe Hindenburg Disaster in 1937ā from PennLive (2017):Ā
ā¢ The Hybrid Air Vehicles Airlander 10 – from their official website:Ā
https://www.hybridairvehicles.com/our-aircraft/airlander-10/
ON PREVIOUS DAYS:
- YESTERDAY:
The First Tour De France š² - DAY BEFORE:
When Kubrick Met Spielberg - DAY BEFORE THAT:
Introducing... The Fork - DAY BEFORE BEFORE THAT:
Henry VIII's 'Ugly Wife'
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OLLY MANN
Olly Mann made his name with another trivia-wielding podcast, Answer Me This! with Helen Zaltzman – and now presents The Modern Mann, The Week Unwrapped, and Four Thought for BBC Radio Four. He also has an A-Level in History, so Dan Snow beware.
REBECCA MESSINA
Rebecca got a passion for podcasting Ā working at The Week magazine and a passion for trivia appearing on University Challenge in 2011, making The Retrospectors her natural home.
ARION MCNICOLL
Arion started out in satirical news in Australia, then moved to the UK to work for ostensibly serious publications including The Times, CNN, and The Weekā¦ before realising that since around 2016 the news has all been satire really.
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