Podcast Episodes

I Need A Dollar

Episode 1215

The dollar emerged as the official currency of the United States at a meeting of the Continental Congress on 8th August, 1786. During the American Revolution, various international coins had remaine…

Published on 4 weeks, 2 days ago

The Aryan Polynesian Hypothesis

Episode 1214

The Kon-Tiki expedition, led by Norwegian explorer and ethnologist Thor Heyerdahl, reached Raroia in the Tuamotu Archipelag near Tahiti, on 7th August, 1947. The 45-foot-long balsa wood raft, with a …

Published on 1 month ago

The First Woman To Swim The Channel

Episode 1213

Gertrude Ederle smashed records on 6th August, 1926, becoming the first woman to swim the English Channel - and in faster time than any man before her. 

Battling six-foot waves and jellyfish swarms, …

Published on 1 month ago

Houdini's Last Escape

Episode 1212

Harry Houdini survived 91 minutes in an underwater coffin at the Shelton Hotel, New York on 5th August, 1926. 

The stunt had been arranged to counter the claims of Hindu mystic Rahman Bey, who said s…

Published on 1 month ago

Bekonscot: Britain In Miniature

The world’s first model village, Bekonscot in Buckinghamshire, had its initial public open day on 4th August, 1929. Begun as a personal project of accountant Roland Callingham, the attraction continu…

Published on 1 month ago

The First Michelin Guide

Episode 1209

Andre and Edouard Michelin published their first Guide on 1st August, 1900. Now recognised as  the gold standard in luxury restaurant reviews, the original guide was primarily created to encourage de…

Published on 1 month ago

The Great Rum Debate

Episode 1208

The Royal Navy were issued with their final daily ration of rum - ending a tradition of more than 300 years - on July 31, 1970. The day became known as ‘Black Tot Day’.

The demise of the long-standin…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

Where's Jimmy Hoffa?

Union boss Jimmy Hoffa left his Michigan home for what was supposed to be a peace summit with mobsters Anthony Provenzano and Anthony Giacalone on 30th July, 1975. He never returned home.

But Hoffa w…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

The First Boy Scouts

Episode 1206

Robert Paden-Powell took twenty boys to Brownsea Island, Poole on 29th July, 1907, to embark on a ten-day camp. The trip was, essentially, a laboratory for his subsequent books - and, therefore, the …

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

The Plane That Crashed into the Empire State

Episode 1205

Captain William Smith, a decorated World War II pilot, was flying a B-25 Mitchell bomber on a routine mission on 28th July, 1945. In heavy fog over New York, he got disoriented and tragically turned …

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago