Episodes

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 –

The first purpose-built cruise ship in history, the Prinzessin Victoria Luise, was launched by Albert Ballin’s Hamburg-America Line on 29th June, 1900. Luxuriously appointed, she was kitted out with entirely first-class cabins, a hotel-quality kitchen, and an innovative dark room – at the behest of the Kaiser himself. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly

When Jacobite heir Bonnie Prince Charlie made his escape from the British Army on 28th June, 1746, he did so in bizarre style – disguised in drag as Irish spinning-maid ‘Betty Burke’. With a £30,000 bounty on his head, Charles had to rely on the support of strangers – in this case 24 year-old Flora

It was the sex scandal of the year: British rom-com star Hugh Grant procuring the services of hitherto unknown L.A. streetwalker Divine Brown on Sunset Boulevard on 27th June, 1995. When their in-car liaison went public the following morning (following their arrest for lewd behaviour), Grant embarked upon what has become seen as a textbook

With breast meat so chunky it could feed the whole family, and drumsticks so small you could carve straight past the bone, the ‘chicken of tomorrow’ envisaged by U.S. retailer A&P inspired a national competition that reached its culmination on 24th June, 1948 – and changed the way that the world ate chicken forever. Entrants

The Glidden-Sholes prototype for “the writing of ordinary communications with types instead of a pen” was granted a patent on 23rd June, 1868. It wasn’t the first typewriter, but it became the first to be mass-produced, and gave the world a new way to write things down. But it only typed out in uppercase, didn’t

John Dillinger, infamous 1930s gangster, jail breaker, bank robber and brawler, earned himself a new title on 22nd June, 1934 – when he became the FBI’s first ever ‘Public Enemy Number One’. The authorities were intent on disabusing Americans of their love affair with the ‘Robin Hood’-style gangsters as portrayed in the movies. But the

Why are spectacles so expensive? The sheer scale of EssilorLuxottica, the world’s biggest maker of eyewear and lenses, might have something to do with it. On 21st September, 2007, they paid $2.1 billion for the last major designer brand they didn’t already own: Oakley. Their empire now includes Dolce and Gabbana, Versace, Burberry, Ralph Lauren,