Episodes

President William Howard Taft became the first Commander-in-Chief to throw the ceremonial first pitch on 14th April, 1910. Taft’s participation cemented baseball as the quintessential American sport, in a period when it was still shedding its dodgy image. The game’s enduring popularity ensured that the tradition persisted for over a century, with each president adding […]

The foundations of modern copyright law were laid on 10th April 1710, when the Statute of Anne came into effect. Before the Act, anyone could copy and sell books without giving a penny to the author; now, writers would be protected from being completely exploited by (British) publishers for an initial period of 14 years.

The only sitting U.S. president to ever be arrested was Ulysses S. Grant, who was busted THREE TIMES for the same crime: speeding. The first was 9th April, 1886, when he tore through Washington, D.C. in a horse-drawn buggy. General Grant scoffed at the idea of getting arrested and simply rode off: the 1860s version

George Michael and Andew Ridgely, aka British duo Wham!, became the first Western group to play a gig in Communist China on 7th April, 1985. The event, staged at the People’s Gymnasium in Beijing, was primarily a strategic move aimed at breaking the band in the United States; the brainchild of the band’s managers, Gordon

Fleetwood Mac’s iconic breakup album ‘Rumours’ hit No.1 on the U.S. album charts on April 2nd, 1977, and has never really left the public consciousness since.  With banger after banger—Dreams, Go Your Own Way, The Chain—it resonated across generations, but perhaps especially with the band’s boomer contemporaries, many experiencing troubled relationships of their own. At

The Mille Miglia – a daring, 1,000-mile race across Italy – was first held on March 26th, 1927. Using ordinary dirt roads as the racetrack, competitors tore through cities, mountains, and countryside at unprecedented, breakneck speeds. Townspeople lined the streets, waving flags and throwing flowers, as glamorous Bugattis and Alfa Romeos roared past. The first

Fugitive Ronnie Biggs – infamous for participating in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, then escaping from Wandsworth Prison – was rescued by Bajan police after being kidnapped in Brazil today in history on 24th March 1981. A media frenzy ensued as reporters awaited his arrival, thanks to a tip-off by the operation’s leader, John

Las Vegas was a struggling mining outpost until March 19th, 1931, when Nevada Governor Fred B. Balzar signed Assembly Bill 98, also known as the Wide Open Gambling Bill: legalising casino gambling, and setting the stage for town’s transformation into Sin City.  When the Boulder Dam project began, drawing thousands of workers nearby, Fremont Street

Marie Stopes’ “Mother’s Clinic” opened its doors in Holloway, on March 17th, 1826. Stopes was a trailblazer, her birth control clinic providing working-class women with access to contraception and advice for the first time. However, her organisation’s full name – “The Society for Constructive Birth Control and Racial Progress” – reveals her disturbing underlying belief

As the Dixie Chicks’ lead singer, Natalie Maines, made an off-the-cuff remark at a London concert on 12th March, 2003, she could not have known the comments would haunt her band (now known as ‘The Chicks’) for decades.  Just days before the US invasion of Iraq, and to cheers from the British crowd, she said