Episodes

Rin Tin Tin, the German Shepherd who starred in more than 27 Hollywood films, died on 10th August, 1932 at the age of 13. Radio stations around the country interrupted programming to announce his death and then broadcast an hour long tribute to him.  Discovered in war-torn France by American corporal Lee Duncan, he was […]

Construction began on a white marble bell tower for Pisa’s new Cathedral complex on 9th August, 1173. Little did the engineers working on the project know that their building would become famous all over the world, because of its principal flaw: it wasn’t straight. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is now one of Europe’s biggest

Abbey Road was a street known only to North Londoners until The Beatles posed on the zebra crossing outside EMI Studios on 8th August, 1969. Photographer Iain MacMillan took just six snaps, one of which graced the front cover of their penultimate album, ‘Abbey Road’. The image became instantly iconic, partly due to the decision

Little Orphan Annie, Harold Gray’s plucky heroine, made her newspaper debut on 5th August, 1924. The iconic comic strip then ran for an astonishing 86 years. Although now most associated with the saccharine musical it inspired, ‘Annie’ was MUCH edgier in comic form – gangsters and Nazis made an appearance, and Daddy Warbucks was so

Rerun. Benedictine monk Dom Perignon is said to have discovered champagne on 4th August, 1693. 200 million bottles are now produced and sold every year. The sparkliness was originally considered a defect – because carbonated wine caused the fragile bottles of the era to burst. Until stronger glass was developed in the mid-19th century, mass-produced

Sir Francis Younghusband’s band of British troops reached Lhasa on 3rd August, 1904. Along the way, they’d massacred thousands of bewildered Tibetans – but justified their incursion with the (false) claim that Russia had been manipulating Tibet to gain ground in British India. Despite the disastrous violence wrought by his men, Younghusband was considered by

Olivier Clisson III was beheaded for treason on 2nd August, 1343 – an event which triggered his wife Jeanne to violently avenge his death for years: a brutal killing spree that earned her the nickname ‘The Lioness of Brittany’. Despite being a fortysomething mother of two, she fitted out three warships with black paint and

Chubby Checker’s “The Twist”, the most popular single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, was released on 1st August, 1960. It was just a cover version of a B-side which had already been released by its writer, Hank Ballard – but after it appeared on The Dick Clark Show, the world slowly became

Viking King Olaf II Haraldsson was killed on 29th July, 1030, kicking off a campaign, led by an English clergyman, to declare him a Saint. The cult of Olaf continues in Norway still, with festivals, pilgrimages and prayers given in his honour – even though Olaf used extreme violence and suppression to force parts of