Episodes

The official trailer for ‘The Phantom Menace’ was uploaded to the Star Wars website on 18th November, 1998 – a reaction to the franchise’s rabid fans leaking their own camcorder footage to the web. It was the first time that an online preview of a movie trailer became a significant event in its own right. […]

Rerun. Mehmet VI stepped on to a British warship to seek refuge in Malta on 17th November, 1922 – thereby becoming the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, a dynasty stretching back to the 14th Century.  He was accompanied by his first Chamberlain, his doctor, two secretaries, a velt, a barber, two eunuchs, and a

Why did Ivan The Terrible kill his son, Ivan? Ever since the day he supposedly brought a sceptre crashing down upon his head – 16th November, 1581 – this question has divided people. Did he suspect his son of a plot to overthrow him? Was he sexually assaulting his daughter-in-law? Was the whole tale dreamt

King C. Gillette was granted a US patent for a “safety razor” on November 15th, 1904 – kickstarting both the disposable grooming industry, and the notorious ‘razor and blades’ business model. Prior to his invention, men who shaved at home would have to strop their blades on a big leather strap, and occasionally take their

The Royal Wedding between Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips on 14th November, 1973 was a lavish affair at Westminster Abbey, with an anticipated global audience of 500 million – but the 23 year-old daughter of the Queen was clearly awkward about being the centre of attention, and asked to be only filmed from behind.

Britain’s first ‘New Town’, built to accommodate 60,000 residents, was Stevenage, Hertfordshire – designated on 11th November, 1946 by Lewis Silkin, Labour’s Minister for Town and Country Planning.  Inspired by the rush to accommodate Londoners displaced by the Nazi bombing of the capital, the construction of the concrete metropolis was heavily opposed by the 6,400

Rerun. In the early days of advertising, tyre company Goodyear sent a giant tyre on a coast-to-coast publicity trip. It was photographed on 42nd Street, New York on 10th November, 1930. Was this the birth of the ‘big things’ phenomenon that has lead us to roadside giant prawns, record-breaking sausages, and Instagrammable statues of Jeff

Prince Tokugawa Yoshinobu (徳川 慶喜) was the 15th and last shōgun of the Tokugawa shōgunate of Japan. On November 9, 1867, Yoshinobu tendered his resignation to the Emperor. This restored traditional rule for the first time in over 250 years, yet also progressively reformed the country; ushering in the Meiji era, under an Emperor who

Guy Fawkes has gone down in history as the most-remembered figure from the thwarted 17th century plot to blow up the House of Lords and kill King James I. But the ringleader of this attempted terror attack was actually Warwickshireman Robert Catesby, who was shot and killed in Staffordshire on 8th November, 1605. This Catholic

Why are the Republican Party represented by an elephant, and the Democrats (unofficially) by a donkey? The answer lies in the work of revered political cartoonist Thomas Nast, whose picture ‘Third Term Panic’ was published in Harper’s Weekly on 7th November, 1874 – the day before the mid-terms. His Aesop-style symbolism is rather tricky for