Episodes

Socialite, wit and fashion influencer Beau Brummell fled to France on 16th May, 1816, in order to escape his creditors, from whom he had racked up around £600,000 of gambling debts. Staying at Dessin’s Hotel, he entertained in his apartments while learning French and writing his memoirs, biding his time until his bestie George IV […]

Ellen Church became the first ever airline stewardess on May 15th, 1930 – when she took to the skies with a Boeing Air Transport flight from Oakland, California to Chicago.  A licensed airplane pilot, she’d approached the airline to inquire about flying planes, but, when she was told that in fact they didn’t employ women

Richard the Lionheart was a bachelor into his thirties, but finally got hitched on May 12th, 1191, at the Chapel of St. George at Limassol, Cyprus. His Bride? Berengaria of Navarre, daughter of King Sancho VI – a key ally in extending his Kingdom across Europe.  Sure, he may have already slept with her brother,

Rerun. At a cost of £2m, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical ‘Cats’ premiered at the New London Theatre on 11th May, 1981 – and the world had never seen anything like it. With a cast including Brian Blessed and Elaine Paige, the original production was innovative, sexy, creepy, bizarre – and an enormous gamble for the

Evan ‘The Strangler’ Lewis took on English wrestling champion Jack Wannop on May 10th, 1888 at Chicago’s Battery D Armoury: the first, and much-anticipated, wrestling ‘Championship of the World’. Lewis was banned from performing his signature move – similar to a rear naked choke as seen in mixed martial arts now – but nonetheless secured

Punch and Judy shows, a staple of the British seaside, evolved from the ‘Pulcinella’ marionette shows performed by Italian puppet showman Pietro Gimonde, first spotted by diarist Samuel Pepys in Covent Garden on May 9th, 1662. The show was so popular that Gimonde was summoned to give a Royal Command Performance for the King. Traveling

Trainspotter Keron Thomas was just 16 when he impersonated a subway motorman and took control of an A train in New York City on May 8th, 1993. His actions went unnoticed by his passengers, who were safely picked up and discharged at 85 stops along the route – until he slightly exceeded the speed limit,

The Magna Carta would not have become law unless a group of Barons had first renounced their allegiance to King John on 5th May, 1215. Primarily protecting their own interests, they were keen to prevent John burdening them with ever-higher taxes to fund his seemingly endless Wars.  Even once agreed, the now-revered document contained some

In a full-page ad published in the Hollywood Reporter on 3rd May 1938, the Independent Theater Owners Association blamed declining ticket sales on some of the era’s biggest names in cinema, including Mae West, Greta Garbo and Katharine Hepburn – all of whom were labelled “box office poison.”  The attention-grabbing tagline quickly took on a

Scientists from around the world gathered in Rome on 2nd May 1922 to agree on a definitive list of 88 constellations, which up until then had been an astronomical free-for-all. The collection of eminent astronomers eventually settled on 42 animals, 29 inanimate objects and 17 humans or mythological characters, which, taken together, offered a complete