Episodes

On 1st September 1997, as Britain was still reeling from Diana Princess of Wales’ untimely death, Elton John’s Candle in the Wind 1997 turned up on a shortlist of potential music to be performed at her funeral. The song, which had been reworked and rerecorded in just a few days, had originally been written about […]

Rerun. A giant chicken with the mannerisms of a wise-crackin’ Southern gentleman, Foghorn Leghorn first appeared in the Looney Tunes short ‘Walky Talky Hawky’ on 31st August, 1946. Directed by Robert McKimson and voiced by Mel Blanc, the character – who was inspired in part by popular radio character ‘Senator Claghorn’ from The Fred Allen

Lord Walsingham shot 1,070 grouse on 30th August, 1888 – a number that remains a world record, and, one feels, is unlikely to ever be bettered. To achieve this astonishing figure Walsingham started shooting at 5:12 AM and kept going until just before 7:00 PM. And just for good measure he shot another 14 birds

Ishi, a native American man who was widely acclaimed as the “last wild Indian” emerged from the wilderness on 29th August, 1911. His arrival came as a huge surprise to the people of Oroville, California, who had thought that his entire tribe had become extinct a good 40 years earlier. He was immediately taken to

Nissin Chikin Ramen (日清チキンラーメン), the first marketed brand of instant noodles, launched in Japan on 25th August, 1958. The product was created by Momofuku Ando, who developed the production method of flash frying noodles after they had been made, thereby drying them and extending their shelf life. His inspiration sprung from the food scarcity in

Rerun. Bandit, Admiral, wizard, pirate… ‘Eustace The Monk’ did it all – and was decapitated for his troubles, at the Battle of Sandwich on 24th August, 1217. Previously a licensed criminal for the court of King John, he became an enemy of England by switching sides and battling on behalf of the French – an

A colossal human chain, stretching 430 miles, spanned across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on 23rd August, 1989 – the anniversary of the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact that covertly carved up the region fifty years earlier. Around two million people held hands for 15 minutes, synchronised at 7pm and photographed from helicopters above. Organised by Rahvarinne of

Established in 1852, Devil’s Island, one of six penal colonies in French Guiana, was finally closed on 22nd August, 1953. Nicknamed the ‘Green Hell’ and the ‘Dry Guillotine’, it earned a reputation as ‘The Alcatraz of South America’: the world’s most brutal prison. Established by Emperor Napoleon III to remove political opponents and jumpstart France’s

CCTV footage captured middle-aged bank worker Mary Bale dropping friendly tabby cat Lola into a Coventry wheelie bin on 21st August, 2010. The video went viral, and Bale was disgraced on the front page of The Sun.  Despite her initially nonchalant response, Bale faced the full force of internet mob mentality, not to mention a

French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen became the first person to observe helium, an element never before seen on Earth, on August 18th, 1868.  Janssen had been observing a total solar eclipse in Guntur, India when he noticed a bright yellow line with a wavelength of 587.49 nanometers in the spectrum of the chromosphere of