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The Sound of the Circus
Episode 668
The traditional music for the circus, "Entrance of the Gladiators", wasn’t actually written for the circus at all, instead when it was composed on 17…
2 years, 9 months ago
Catch Me If You Can
Episode 667
Jack The Ripper’s ‘letters’ can mostly be dismissed as hoaxes. The possible exception is the letter sent to George Lusk, the President of Mile End Vi…
2 years, 9 months ago
Reviving Hebrew
Episode 665
On October 13th, 1881, the linguist and grammarian Eliezer Ben-Yehuda held what is thought to have been the first modern conversation in Hebrew with …
2 years, 9 months ago
Playboy's Identity Crisis
Episode 664
The world’s most famous adult magazine went ‘SFW’ on 12th October, 2015 - when Scott Flanders, then Playboy’s chief executive, announced that future …
2 years, 9 months ago
The Japanese Exclusion League
Episode 663
Triggering a national and international outcry, the San Francisco school board issued an order on October 11th, 1906, requiring all Japanese and Kore…
2 years, 9 months ago
Governing Outer Space
Episode 662
On 10th October, 1967 a treaty went into force that has gone on to become the backbone for all international space law – a United Nations-approved ag…
2 years, 9 months ago
Rigging the World Series
Episode 661
Scandal beset baseball’s biggest contest on 9th October, 1919, when members of the Chicago White Sox conspired to lose the World Series to underdogs …
2 years, 9 months ago
Bienvenue au Moulin Rouge
Episode 659
The world’s most famous cabaret, the Moulin Rouge, opened its doors in Paris on 6th October, 1889. Founded by Joseph Oller and Charles Zidler, the cl…
2 years, 9 months ago
To Versailles! To Versailles!
Episode 658
The ‘Women’s March’ of 1789 began spontaneously, when a market trader banged a drum in a Parisian square on 5th October - launching a chain of events…
2 years, 9 months ago
Carving Mount Rushmore
Episode 657
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum began chiseling the rockface of Mount Rushmore on 4th October, 1927 - the start of a 14 year project to carve Presidents Wash…
2 years, 10 months ago