Episodes

‘The Hank McCune Show’ – an otherwise unremarkable footnote in American TV history – became the first single-camera sitcom to deploy a pre-recorded laugh track (aka ‘canned laughter’) on 9th September, 1950. The giggles and applause came courtesy of Charlie Douglass, who made a career of capturing audience reaction in his ‘laff box’, and then […]

Now celebrated as the most famous statue in the world, Michelangelo’s David was first unveiled in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria on 8th September, 1504. Originally intended for the roofline of Florence’s cathedral, David’s immense size and weight—over five meters tall and weighing more than five and a half tons—was relocated to the square. But its

Fred van der Weij, a Dutch electronics engineer with a craving for healthier chips, spent years tinkering in his garage to create the “frit air” – launched by Philips as the “Air Fryer” at Berlin’s IFA technology trade show on 3rd September, 2010. The inventor’s prototypes were made from wood and chicken wire – and

Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad was 64 years old when she became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the use of a shark cage for protection on 2nd September, 2013. Nyad completed the 110-mile swim from Havana to Key West in approximately 53 hours. It was her fifth attempt to swim through

How come baseball, that most American of games, is even more popular in Japan than in its home country?  It’s a story with roots into the nineteenth century, as Arion, Olly and Rebecca discover while  they investigate the events of September 1st, 1964, when the San Francisco Giants introduced their newest player, Masanori Murakami, during

Over 1,300 athletes from 12 countries gathered at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco for the first-ever Gay Games, on 28th August, 1982.  Intended as the “Gay Olympics,” the event had to change its name at the last minute after the US Olympic Committee sued. But the opening ceremony was electric, with none other than Tina

The shortest war in history began at 09:02 on 27th August, 1896 – and was over 38 minutes later – when The British Empire, at the peak of its power, flexed its military might over the African island of Zanzibar. The drama began when the pro-British Sultan Hamad suddenly died, and his cousin Khalid bin

Equally beloved at office boardrooms and toddler birthday parties, Colin the Caterpillar – a £7 swiss roll cake with white and milk chocolate and buttercream – was launched at an unsuspecting public by Marks and Spencer on 26th August, 1990. At the product development stage, he was going to be a fish – even though

The ‘Great Moon Hoax’ was published by the New York Sun on 25th August, 1835, claiming over six instalments that renowned English astronomer John Herschel had spotted bat-men, unicorns, and bipedal beavers on the lunar surface. Despite the absurdity of the claims, the tale was so wild and well-written that many readers bought into it.

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction was released in Britain on 20th August, 1965 – having already reached No. 1 for four weeks Stateside.  With its distorted guitar riff, raw energy, and thinly veiled sexual frustration, it became the Rolling Stones’ biggest global hit – but initially could only be heard on pirate radio stations in