Episodes

Tippi Hedren, star of Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ and ‘Marnie’, was already known for her activism – primarily rescuing big cats – when, on 19th August, 1975 she visited a Vietnamese refugee camp in Sacramento, California Her nail art dazzled many of the women she met – so she set about helping them retrain as Hollywood […]

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned South Africa from competing in the upcoming Tokyo Games on 18th August, 1964, after the nation had signalled its intention to send only white athletes to the competition. South Africa attempted to make concessions – such as proposing to hold team trials abroad or including a token number of

Berliners awoke on 13th August, 1961 to find their city divided in half. East German troops had worked overnight to roll out barbed wire and barricades, turning neighbourhoods into no-go zones. It became known as ‘Barbed Wire Sunday’  Before the wall’s construction, East Germans had been bolting westward at the unsustainable rate of nearly 2,000

The ‘Get Rich Quick’ scheme pioneered by scamster Charles Ponzi came to an end with his arrest on 12th August, 1920 – but ‘Ponzi schemes’ remain a popular form of swindling to this day.  After promising his victims he could double their money in 90 days, Ponzi was charged with 86 counts of mail-fraud –

Clive Campbell, better known as DJ Kool Herc, soundtracked his sister Cindy Campbell’s back-to-school party in the Bronx on 11th August, 1973 – and in doing so, laid down the musical tropes that would become known as hip hop. With his ‘Herculoids’ sound system, Campbell pioneered speaking over records in a Jamaican style; switching between

Gertrude Ederle smashed records on 6th August, 1926, becoming the first woman to swim the English Channel – and in faster time than any man before her.  Battling six-foot waves and jellyfish swarms, the American teen zig-zagged the current for over 14 hours from France to England. Sponsored by the New York Daily News, Ederle

Harry Houdini survived 91 minutes in an underwater coffin at the Shelton Hotel, New York on 5th August, 1926.  The stunt had been arranged to counter the claims of Hindu mystic Rahman Bey, who said spiritualism was the only way to survive being buried alive. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly review the spat

The world’s first model village, Bekonscot in Buckinghamshire, had its initial public open day on 4th August, 1929. Begun as a personal project of accountant Roland Callingham, the attraction continues to capture the hearts of visitors with its intricate details and nostalgic charm. Callingham, a model railway enthusiast, created Bekonscot in his back garden; constructing

Union boss Jimmy Hoffa left his Michigan home for what was supposed to be a peace summit with mobsters Anthony Provenzano and Anthony Giacalone on 30th July, 1975. He never returned home. But Hoffa was much more than just a Mafia stooge. He’d been involved in labour unions from the age of fourteen, rapidly rising

Robert Paden-Powell took twenty boys to Brownsea Island, Poole on 29th July, 1907, to embark on a ten-day camp. The trip was, essentially, a laboratory for his subsequent books – and, therefore, the global Boy Scout movement.  Each day started with cocoa and exercises, and ended with campfire yarns. In between, there was a lot