Episodes

30 Avenue Montaigne, Christian Dior’s atelier in Paris, opened its doors on 16th December 1946. His staff had just six weeks to get it ready for their first show on February 12th, 1947 – the landmark post-war collection that became known as ‘the New Look’. Bettina Ballard, fashion editor of Vogue, wrote: “Never has there […]

Rerun. Napoleon was buried in an unmarked grave in St. Helena. But, 19 years later, on 15th December, 1840, he got buried again: this time at Les Invalides, Paris.   It was an ornate state occasion, involving multiple caskets, 500 sailors, 14 semi-naked female statues… and a lot of lardy cakes.    In this episode,

Lionel Bart’s musical ‘La Strada’, based on the hit Fellini film, suffered the ignominy of closing after its opening night in New York on 14th December, 1969, losing $650,000. Heroin addict Bart never made it over to the States for the previews, during which time his songs were chopped and changed to such an extent

Celestine V rocked the Catholic world on 13th December, 1294, when he stood up, gave a short speech, stripped himself of his Papal insignia and resigned the Pontificate. He was 79 years old, and had been Pope for just 15 weeks.  Previously a well-regarded hermit who’d lived a humble life in the mountains, he got

Winona Ryder was arrested for shoplifting from Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills on 12th December, 2001. Amongst the products she had stuffed into her hat was a Marc Jacobs sweater worth $760, and Frederic Fekkai hair adornments listed at $600. At first, the Oscar nominated actress claimed she had been under the impression that her

Coronation Street, the world’s longest-running soap opera, first aired on 9th December, 1960. But only 13 episodes had been commissioned by Granada, following a torturous development process. Boss Sidney Bernstein remained far from convinced that the show would attract either audiences or advertisers for ITV. Created by 24 year-old Tony Warren, the new serial aimed

The Pope finally defined the dogma of The Immaculate Conception on 8th December, 1854; confirming that, in the view of the Catholic Church, Christ’s mother Mary had not only been ‘full of grace’, but was completely absent of sin even at her own conception. Even though this had been an unofficial concept for centuries prior,

The most famous photograph of Earth – the ‘Blue Marble’ shot captured by NASA astronauts on Apollo 17 – was taken on 7th December, 1972.  The deep blues of the ocean, the green continent of Africa, the yellow edges of the Arabian Peninsula, and the vast empty blackness all around our planet are memorably captured

The Rolling Stones topped the bill at Altamont Speedway in Livermore, California on 6th December, 1969 – a free festival intended to rival the recent Woodstock in New York. But it was an organisational shambles, and turned deadly when an audience member was murdered.  Notorious gang Hell’s Angels had been hired (allegedly in return for

James Christie held his first auction on 5th December, 1766 – billed as a sale of “genuine household furniture, jewels, plate, firearms, china and a large quantity of madeira and high flavoured claret” belonging to a “Noble Personage (deceased)”. His auction-house, Christie’s, went on to become one of the world’s leading dealers of fine art.