Episodes

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

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