Episodes

After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviets and Americans agreed to install a ‘hot line’ between their Presidents. On 30th August, 1963, a 10,000 mile transatlantic Washington-Moscow cable went live from the Pentagon to Red Square. In the public imagination (in part thanks to Kubrik’s ‘Dr Strangelove’), it remains a red telephone – but it […]

When Julius Caesar showed up in the Channel with thousands of men on 26th August 55 BC, he doubtless intended to get a bit further than the coast of Kent. Unfortunately for him, he had moored his ships where they could be pelted from the cliffs, and the Gaulish chief he sent in advance had

Rerun. John, Paul, George and Ringo travelled to a transcendental meditation workshop in Bangor, Wales on 25th August, 1967 – at the invitation of ‘giggling guru’, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The event changed everything for The Fab Four – influencing their music, their philosophy, and ultimately contributing to the end of the band. In this episode,

In the temple at Philae, an Egyptian Priest called Nesmeterakhem created the last ever known hieroglyphic inscription on 24th August, 394. Although ostensibly praising the God Mandulis, the scribe spent just as long commemorating his own presence – and the names of his Mum and Dad. For centuries, Western academics assumed his words might be

Stockholm Syndrome – the condition in which hostages develop a psychological bond with their captors during captivity – was named after a bank robbery that began on 23rd August, 1973. It lasted for five days, with 73% of the Swedish public tuning in to watch it.   The robber was Jan-Erik Olsson, who pulled a loaded

The world’s first notable air raid occurred on 22nd August, 1849, when the Austrian Army attacked Venice using a fleet of 200 miniature hot air balloons, each delivering a 33lb pound bomb.  Following a disastrous first attempt – when the balloons blew back on to their own men – this time the Austrians equipped each

Court witnesses have promised to tell ‘the whole truth’ since the 13th century; but, on 19th August, 1992, the U.S. Appeals Court permitted Wallace Ward to stand trial under his own oath – pledging not ‘truth’, but ‘fully integrated honesty’. Ward, the president of a Nevada-based mail order company, had coined the phrase himself when

Rerun. A weather map was first broadcast on TV on 18th August, 1926 – but there were no fancy graphics, no on-screen forecaster, and only one intended recipient: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington, DC. In the UK, the Met Office had been producing weather forecasts since 1861, but the BBC didn’t bring

Louis XIV was among the V.I.P. guests at Nicolas Fouquet’s lavish houseparty on 17th August, 1661 – and was supposedly so consumed with jealousy that he had Fouquet arrested for treason. Although not entirely true, the story adds to the mystique of Vaux-le-Vicomte, the opulent chateau Fouquet created with the design team who later went

Aviation in the 1920s could be a lethal business, as proven on 16th August 1927, when only 2 of the 15 planes that entered The Dole Derby – a $35,000 contest to fly from California to Hawaii – successfully reached their destination.  The brainchild of pineapple magnate James D. Dole, the competition inspired the public