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Napoleon's Surname Decree
Episode 593
Rerun. France’s Jewish population mostly had no family surnames – until 20th July, 1808, when Napoleon issued a decree insisting they adopted one. Th…
2 years, 5 months ago
Surfin' 1800s USA
Episode 592
The boys who brought surfing to California were Hawaiian princes Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, David Kawānanakoa, and Edward Keliʻiahonui, who took a br…
2 years, 5 months ago
The Web's First Image
Episode 591
Tim Berners-Lee uploaded a photo of parody doo-wop group Les Horrible Cernettes on 18th July 1992 - the first image to be shared online.
The photograp…
2 years, 5 months ago
Rebranding the Royal Family
Episode 590
Windsor became the official surname of the British Royal family on 17th July 1917, when King George V issued a proclamation declaring that “The Name …
2 years, 5 months ago
Mr. Dynamite
Episode 588
Dynamite was invented by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, who demonstrated it in Britain for the first time on 14th July, 1867. He had discovered that w…
2 years, 6 months ago
Queen Vic's New Gaff
Episode 587
Rerun. Queen Victoria moved from her birthplace, Kensington Palace, and decreed Buckingham Palace her official residence on 13th July, 1837. She was …
2 years, 6 months ago
The Miners Dumped In New Mexico
Episode 586
A deputized posse illegally kidnapped and deported over a thousand striking mine workers from Bisbee, Arizona on July 12, 1917, and dumped them in Ne…
2 years, 6 months ago
Blasphemy!
Episode 585
Mary Whitehouse successfully sued Gay News and publisher Denis Lemon at the Old Bailey in a trial that began on 11th July, 1977 - Britain’s last conv…
2 years, 6 months ago
Adventures of the Boy Horsemen
Episode 584
The ‘Abernathy Boys’, Temple and Louis, were aged just 5 and 8 respectively when they departed Guthrie, Oklahoma for a 1,300-mile horseback trip to R…
2 years, 6 months ago
Meet Pinocchio
Episode 582
Pinocchio, ‘The Story of a Puppet’, debuted in Giornale per i bambini, an Italian weekly magazine for children, on 7th July, 1881. Its author, Carlo …
2 years, 6 months ago