Podcasts
Jane Austen and the Profligate Prince
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George IV’s impressive Library included all the novels of Jane Austen, for whom he had a particular fondness. But what was not known (until a receipt was discovered in the Royal Archives in 2018) was that the Prince Regent had almost certainly been Austen’s very first customer – buying a copy of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ …
The Man Who Saved The World
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Soviet naval officer Vasili Arkhipov lacks the name recognition of Castro, Kruschev and Kennedy – but his actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis probably prevented World War Three from erupting on 27th October, 1962. On-board a sweltering Russian submarine, he talked Captain Valentin Savitsky down from firing a nuclear torpedo at the United States Navy, …
Making ‘Under Pressure’
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When Queen and David Bowie met in Switzerland to record their iconic collaboration ‘Under Pressure’ on 26th October, 1981, *quite a lot* of drugs and wine were taken – to the extent that nobody can recall exactly how the iconic pop song came to be formed. What we do know is that Freddie Mercury never …
How To Bribe A Senator
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The ‘Teapot Dome scandal’ reached its climax when Senator Albert Fall was found guilty of bribery, fined $100,000 and sent to jail on 25th October, 1929. During the Presidency of Warren G Harding, Fall had been offering private companies the chance to drill for oil on state land, without competitive bidding, in return for bags …
Not The End Of The World
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Jesus failed to show up on the day that came to be known as ‘The Great Disappointment’ – 22nd October, 1844. It was an embarrassment for the New England preacher, William Miller, who had prophesied Christ’s return; and devastating for his 100,000+ followers in North America alone. Miller had calculated the end of the world …
Madonna’s Naked Photos
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Berated by the tabloids as exhibitionist pornography, Madonna’s coffee table book, ‘Sex’, quickly sold out upon its release on 21st October, 1992. Influenced by artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Cindy Sherman, the book included images of full-frontal nudity, simulated gay sex, mixed race couples, threesomes and trans imagery. Madonna vigorously defended it, in a series of …
The Boy Who Poisoned His Granddad
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William Alnutt tipped arsenic into the family sugar bowl on 20th October, 1847 – and five days later, the 12 year-old’s sweet-toothed grandfather, Samuel Nelme, was dead. It was the second time the deeply troubled Alnutt had attempted to murder his grandfather, following a failed plot to shoot him with a pistol in their garden. His …
David Blaine, Trickless Magician
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Ten thousand spectators gathered by the side of the Thames on 19th October, 2003 to watch street magician/illusionist David Blaine come back down to Earth, having spent 44 days suspended in a perspex box in a stunt called ‘Above The Below’. It was an accomplishment almost sabotaged by the British tabloid media and general public, …
Calling Andrew Sachs
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When Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross failed to reach their celebrity guest, 78 year-old ‘Fawlty Towers’ star Andrew Sachs, they instead left him a series of answerphone messages, joking about sexual encounters with Sachs’s granddaughter, Georgina Baillie. The segment aired on Brand’s Radio 2 show on 18th October, 2008, and became the third most-complained about …
How Lincoln Got His Beard
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Future President Abraham Lincoln had yet to grow his iconic facial fuzz when he received a letter from Grace Bedell – an 11 year-old resident of Westfield, New York – dated 15th October, 1860. “I have yet got four brothers… and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them …