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The Coffee Shop Stock Exchange
Episode 258
The Buttonwood Agreement, as it came to be known, effectively launched the New York Stock Exchange. Signed by 24 stockbrokers on 17th May, 1792, it p…
3 years, 7 months ago
Marie Antoinette's Wedding
Episode 257
The future Queen of France was accompanied by 57 carriages, 117 footmen and 376 horses on her journey from Austria to Versailles - but remarkably too…
3 years, 7 months ago
What Mary Told Me
Episode 256
When three young kids in Fatima, Portugal reported that the Virgin Mary had appeared to them on 13th May, 1917, the incident sparked hysteria across …
3 years, 8 months ago
Russell Crowe vs. the Romans
Episode 255
Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator’ opened in the UK on 12th May, 2000 - and was widely credited with resurrecting the ‘swords-and-sandals’ genre, sparking an…
3 years, 8 months ago
The Computer That Defeated Kasparov
Episode 254
IBM's Deep Blue conquered Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov on 11th May, 1997 - in a man v machine clash Newsweek brazenly baptised ‘The Brain…
3 years, 8 months ago
How To Paint the Sistine Chapel
Episode 253
Michelangelo was a sculptor, not a painter, when on 10th May, 1508, he embarked upon the biggest gig of his career: painting the roof of the Sistine …
3 years, 8 months ago
Captain Blood and the Crown Jewels
Episode 252
Fugitive Thomas Blood sneaked his way into the Tower of London’s jewel room on 9th May, 1671 - bludgeoning the 77 year-old Keeper of the Jewels, Talb…
3 years, 8 months ago
Bonjour, Eiffel
Episode 251
The lifts weren’t operational, so there weren’t any visitors, but the commemorative coins had already been minted - so it was 6th May, 1889 that went…
3 years, 8 months ago
Coco Chanel's Iconic Scent
Episode 250
Chanel No 5, the legendary perfume still said to shift one bottle every thirty seconds, was first released in Paris on 5th May, 1921.
Created by Ernes…
3 years, 8 months ago
Debut of the Daily Mail
Episode 249
As British literacy rates surged to a new high of 97%, the time was right to launch a simpler, shorter, more readable newspaper - and Alfred Harmswor…
3 years, 8 months ago