Episodes

Rerun: The two minute silence can be traced back to 14th May, 1918, when it was first observed in Cape Town, South Africa.  Repeated daily for a year, and initiated by the firing of the noon day gun on Signal Hill, the ‘Two Minute Silent Pause of Remembrance’, as it was known, was instituted by […]

Disdain for bad table manners reportedly led 17th Century Machiavelli Cardinal Richelieu to insist that knives should be flattened at his table on 13th May, 1637 – revolutionising dining etiquette. While some Mediaeval habits such as spitting and urinating at the table had largely disappeared by this era, finger-licking and the use of knives as

As Annette Sorensen drank margaritas in a New York BBQ restaurant on May 10th, 1997, she left her 14 month-old daughter outside, in a stroller.  She spent two days in jail, was accused of child neglect, and was separated from her baby for four days. But Sorensen, a Danish visitor to the States, claimed she

John Pemberton launched Coca-Cola from a pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on 8th May, 1886. Legend has it that a serendipitous mishap had led to the addition of carbonated water, transforming the medicinal tonic into a fizzy beverage that would capture the public’s imagination. But in fact, Pemberton’s original formula – Pemberton’s French Wine Coca –

Rerun: During the Siege of Malaga, on 7th May 1487, Queen Isabella of Spain commissioned bespoke bed-wagons to transport injured soldiers from the battlefield to specially-erected tent hospitals, the world’s earliest ambulance. Despite this innovation, it was hundreds of years before the concept – and the word ‘ambulance’ – gained common currency worldwide, notably thanks

The first ‘spam’ email, sent to ARPANET users on behalf of the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), landed in Inboxes on 3rd May, 1978. Marketer Gary Thuerk was responsible for the idea – but his execution was flawed, as he inadvertently filled the body of his message with email addresses, overflowing from the To and CC

Accessible and rigorous, the King James Bible was published on 2nd May, 1611, at the behest of the Monarch after which it was named – and perhaps even he would be surprised at the book’s extraordinary success. Advancements in printing technology made copies affordable, the expansion of English colonialism propagated it across the word, and

Eleven year-old Johnny Clem formally became part of the Union Army on 1st May, 1863 – though he had already been participating as a Drummer Boy for the 22nd Michigan Infantry in the American Civil War for two years. Clem’s youthful determination and bravery propelled him into the spotlight of national fame – but he

Rerun: The advertising industry underwent a minor revolution on 30th April 1952 when Mr Potato Head starred in the first ever nationally televised ad campaign for a toy, unleashing the demon force of kiddie pester power on an unsuspecting world. Unlike regular toy dolls, a Mr Potato Head wasn’t self-explanatory, so toy company Hasbro decided

Peter Mark Roget waited until retirement to compile his personal collection of synonyms into a book for publication: the first edition of Roget’s Theasurus, released on 29th April, 1852.  Despite initial scepticism from critics, who couldn’t grasp its practical brilliance, the public embraced the new format – despite its unconventional organisation, in which synonyms were