Episodes

The massive blackout across New York City that began at 9:30pm on 13th July, 1977 lasted for a little over a day. Yet, during that time, arsonists set over 1,000 fires and looters ransacked 1,600 stores. It was the climax of a dark chapter for NYC, which at this time had an enormous financial deficit, […]

Mormons were told to embrace polygamy on 12th July, 1843 – when the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, Joseph Smith, said a revelation had told him he must marry multiple women to continue serving God. It was a controversial change to the faith, meeting resistance not only from Smith’s first wife, but from

China’s greatest naval explorer, Zheng He, set sail on the first of seven epic voyages on 11th July, 1405. He led a fleet of 255 ships, with an estimated 28,000 people on board. A eunuch, and a Muslim, he had risen through the ranks to become a right-hand man of the Emperor, and his prowess

Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned off the coast of Tuscany on 8th July, 1822. His wife, Mary Shelley, waited an agonizing ten days to discover news of the dramatic shipwreck. Announcing the news of the atheist’s death, conservative London newspaper The Courier reported, “Shelley, the writer of some infidel poetry, has been drowned. Now

When Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti teamed up for their first joint performance on 7th July, 1990 in Rome, it was intended as a one-off collaboration to celebrate the FIFA World Cup.  But the concert triggered instant worldwide fame for the trio, who became known as The Three Tenors, and their live recording

Rerun. Sliced bread had never been automated before Otto Rohwedder unveiled his “power-driven, multi-bladed bread slicer” at Chillicothe Baking Company on July 6, 1928 – after an astonishing SIXTEEN years of self-funded development.   The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune ran a front-page story in response – warning that consumers might find sliced bread “startling,” but that “the

Amazon, created in the Seattle garage of Jeff Bezos, was incorporated on 5th July, 1994.  Before Bezos had settled on the site’s name as a way of conveying the size and scope of the e-commerce platform he intended to build, his working titles had included Cadabra, Relentless, Awake, Browse and Bookmall. In this episode, Arion,

Who invented the hamburger? It’s almost impossible to know, given that mincemeat has been consumed all around the world, and for centuries – but Oscar Bilby, of Tulsa, Oklahoma is a strong contender.  On 4th July, 1891, he grilled a beef patty, and – for the first time in documented history –  PUT IT IN

The British Empire gained a new colony on 1st July, 1946 – the kingdom of Sarawak. For over 100 years, it had been ruled as the personal fiefdom of a Devonshire family: the ‘White Rajahs’. ‘Adventurer’ James Brooke had taken the territory in 1838, and then established a male, hierarchical, absolute monarchy in the country.

The world’s first emergency number, 999, was launched in London on 30th June, 1937 – to a great deal of scepticism, and open laughter in the House of Commons.  But when five women died in a house fire in 1935 – after a neighbour had attempted to call the fire brigade via the Operator –