Episodes

Rerun. The corpse of John Paul I was discovered by a nun in the early hours of 29th September, 1978. His body was embalmed within 24 hours, heightening suspicions that the cause of death may have been unnatural. He had been Pope for just 33 days. An unconventional Pope – who had refused to wear the […]

Gilbert Bourgeaud, better known by his nom de guerre “Bob Denard” was shot in the head at least twice, married seven times and had at least three religious conversions. And on September 28th, 1995, he launched his fourth and final attempt to take control of the Comoros islands with his own private army. In fact,

The trend for “Arkeology” was kickstarted on September 27th, 1829, when the German explorer Friedrich Parrot ascended to the top of Mount Ararat in Armenia, which was believed at the time to be the final resting place of Noah’s Ark. This was actually Parrot’s third attempt to climb to the top of Ararat. One of

Jean Bernadotte’s dad, a local prosecutor in the southwestern French city of Pau, ​​intended for his son to follow in his footsteps as a lawyer. Instead, Jean became heir to the Swedish Crown on September 26th, 1810, and his descendants still sit on the Swedish throne to this day. Shortly after he moved to Sweden,

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Nintendo was world-famous by the 1980s but the origins of the company go back a century earlier – to September 23rd, 1889, when Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Koppai, a maker of brightly-coloured ‘Hanafuda’ cards. The hand-painted playing cards, made of mulberry bark, were produced for decades and were a favourite of Yakuza gangsters for use

Rerun. Witchcraft and infanticide were the charges levelled against young maidservant Judith Catchpole at the General Provincial Court in Patuxent County, Maryland on September 22nd, 1656. Since the case hinged on whether she had been pregnant, an all-female jury was assembled – the first in colonial America. Seven married women and four single women physically examined

El Santo, masks, spandex suits… all were yet to be conceived when Salvador Lutteroth González launched Mexico’s first ever national pro wrestling promotion, on 21st September 1933. ‘Lucha Libre’ – basically translated as ‘freestyle wrestling’ – has its roots in folklore, carnival sideshows and Greco-Roman traditions; but it was only after matches began to be

There was no red carpet, no Palme d’Or, and no Palais des Festivals – but Hollywood nonetheless descended on the French Riviera for the opening of the first Cannes Film Festival on 20th September, 1946.  It was actually the second time the event had been attempted – the first, in September 1939, was interrupted by

Powered by steam engines, and positioned on 60ft poles along the seafront, the Blackpool illuminations were first shown to adoring public on 19th September, 1879. 70,000 people came to see eight arc lamps, positioned 320 yards apart. Between them they provided illumination equal to 48,000 candles: an incredible spectacle considering it would still be another