Episodes

The strange behaviour of two young girls, Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris, sparked the  infamous Salem Witch Trials on February 29th, 1692, when a Doctor pronounced that they were possessed by Satan. Accusations of witchcraft snowballed in the Puritan community, leading to a frenzy of trials and hangings. Suspicions fell upon those who deviated from […]

New Orleans witnessed its first modern Mardi Gras procession – kick-started by a group of students eager to revive the traditional masquerade, banned for six decades – on 27th February, 1827.  The city’s parades and revelry can trace their origins back to ancient pagan festivals and European traditions, cemented by the arrival of French-Canadian explorer

President Woodrow Wilson finally signed into law a bill establishing The Grand Canyon as the USA’s 15th National Park on this day in 1919. Although preservation orders had given the Canyon some protection prior to this moment, it had been 37 years since Benjamin Harrison had first attempted to enshrine its special status more specifically.

The Cato Street Conspiracy – a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Lord Liverpool and the entire Cabinet as they attended a private dinner party – was foiled on February 23rd, 1820.  Thwarted by an informant within their ranks, the conspirators were exposed, and either deported or executed. Arthur Thistlewood and his cohorts had planned a

Edwin Land unveiled the world’s first instant camera to the Optical Society of America on 21st February, 1947. Snapping a quick black-and-white selfie, Land astonished onlookers as the image emerged within 60 seconds. Despite its initial high price and complex development process, Polaroid cameras became a sensation, selling out on their first day of release

Departing from Puerto Rico with grand plans to establish a new colony, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León set out on his ill-fated second expedition to Florida on February 15th, 1521.  Ponce de León’s reputation as a conquistador preceded him, with tales of his brutal conquests in Hispaniola preceding his quest for new lands. Despite

The frontman of Pulp, Jarvis Cocker, infamously crashed the stage of the Brit Awards while Michael Jackson was performing Earth Song at the 1996 Brit Awards on this day in London.  The incident has gone down in history as one of the most controversial musical moments of the 1990s, not least because immediately after he

Multi-talented monk Andrew of Longjumeau embarked on a daring journey to the heart of the Mongol Empire on 16th February, 1249. As Ambassador of Louis IX, he led a delegation destined for the court of the Mongol Khan Güyük – who had, awkwardly, died before he got there. Although not the first European envoy to

RERUN: TV chef Delia Smith built a stellar career on the success spawned from her first book, ‘How To Cheat At Cooking’ in 1971. So, when she published a reboot on 15th February, 2008, it seemed a shoo-in to sell bucketloads (which it did) – but not, perhaps, attract controversy (which it REALLY did). By

Luella Parsons’s reign as Tinseltown’s top tittle-tattler was severely challenged on 14th February, 1938, following the print debut of rival column, ‘Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood’.  With her fiery style and incendiary content, Hopper quickly garnered a massive audience of her own. Together, the two writers reached over 75 million readers and radio listeners in Hollywood’s golden