Episodes

Rerun. The Nokia 3310 – featuring Snake II, pop-on/off covers, and a discreetly concealed antenna – was launched on 1st September, 2000 at a boardsports event in Dusseldorf, Germany. Nicknamed ‘the brick’, the handset went on to shift 126 million units— more than 20 times as many as the first-generation iPhone. In this episode, Olly, […]

Cadbury’s Dairy Milk re-energised its flagging brand in the UK on 31st August, 2007, when its iconic ‘Gorilla’ ad premiered in the Big Brother final on Channel 4. The 90-second commercial, which featured a gorilla drumming along to Phil Collins’ ‘In The Air Tonight’, was an instant hit on YouTube (a novelty back in 2007),

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