Episodes

The BBC’s teletext information service, Ceefax, launched on 23rd September, 1974 – providing the British public with a way to look up headlines, football results and TV listings, some twenty years before the launch of Internet Explorer. Countless National Lottery winners discovered their victories via the analogue service, which was discontinued in 2012. To this […]

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 her

‘The Fish Feud!’ – as the tabloids originally termed the standoff between Britain and Iceland over fishing rights – had escalated into a fully-fledged ‘Cod War’ by 21st September, 1958, when the destroyer H.M.S. Diana requested medical assistance for a Marine suffering appendicitis. The dispute arose when Iceland had unilaterally extended its fishing zone from

Henry Winkler, an accomplished water-skier, had asked the producers of ‘Happy Days’ if he could showcase his skills on the sitcom. On 20th September, 1977 his wish came true – in a shark-jumping sequence so absurd it would forever be linked with the irreversible artistic decline of long-running TV series. To ‘Jump the Shark’ was

Why were multiple ships and planes lost in the section of the Atlantic between Miami, Puerto Rico and Bermuda? Journalist Edward van Winkle-Jones first floated the idea of ‘the Bermuda Triangle’ – although he didn’t call it that – in an article for the Miami Herald on 17th September, 1950. The speculation that ensued inspired

The Cornell Daily Sun – the oldest continuously independent college daily newspaper in the United States – published its first issue on 16th September, 1880. It featured some campus sports reports, some horrible amateur poetry, and even some jokes. It wasn’t until seven years later that a British University caught up with its own equivalent:

BMW unveiled its redesigned MINI for the first time on 15th September, 1997; the eve of the Frankfurt Motor Show. Its predecessor had been in production for 41 years. Reborn as a ‘city’ car, rather than a micro compact, and with Union flags painted on its roof, this was the moment the iconic brand became

‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is now well-known as the USA’s national anthem – but when Francis Scott Key wrote the words on 14th September, 1814, it was merely the latest in a series of patriotic poems he’d penned; this one concerning the British assault on the coastal fortification of Fort McHenry. It was only when –

Kanye West was ejected from Radio City Music Hall at the MTV VMAs on 13th September, 2009, after drunkenly interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video. Distraught that the country star’s ‘You Belong To Me’ video has beaten Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ to the trophy, he memorably proclaimed: “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for

London cab driver George Smith became the first person ever arrested for drunk driving after slamming his cab into a building on 10th September, 1897. He was fined 20 shillings (around £130 in today’s money) – but was not banned from the road. The vehicle he was driving only had a top speed of 12