Podcast Episodes
Back to Search31st December 1853: New Year’s Eve dinner takes place inside a model of an Iguanodon at the Crystal Palace Park in south London
The dinner was widely reported and helped generate public interest in the Crystal Palace Park's life-sized models of extinct animals, which opened to…
6 months, 4 weeks ago
30th December 1922: Foundation of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
In 1922 the USSR consisted of just four Soviet republics – the Russian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR and Transcaucasian ...
7 months ago
29th December 1890: Lakota Sioux massacred at Wounded Knee
More than 150 Native Americans from the Lakota tribe were killed by U.S. soldiers in the Wounded Knee ...
7 months ago
28th December 1537: Francis I of France establishes the first legal deposit for books under the Ordonnance de Montpellier
The Ordonnance de Montpellier required printers and booksellers to deposit a copy of every book published in the kingdom with the royal ...
7 months ago
27th December 1929: Stalin calls for the ‘liquidation of the kulaks as a class’
The Soviet dekulakisation campaign began when Joseph Stalin announced the ‘liquidation of the kulaks as a ...
7 months ago
26th December 1991: Soviet Union dissolved in the final meeting of the Supreme Soviet
As it became obvious that the USSR was falling apart, on 25 December Gorbachev resigned as President and the Soviet Union was formally dissolved the …
7 months ago
25th December 800: Charlemagne crowned emperor by Pope Leo III during Christmas Mass at St Peter’s Basilica
The coronation of Charlemagne established the precedent for what later became known as the Holy Roman Empire and reinforced the idea of a Christian e…
7 months ago
24th December 1955: Colorado Springs Continental Air Defense Command first gives children the location Santa as he delivers presents
CONAD was replaced by NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command) in 1958, and NORAD Tracks Santa has reported Santa’s location ever ...
7 months ago
23rd December 1750: Ben Franklin accidentally shocks himself while trying to electrocute a turkey
Benjamin Franklin, the American polymath, accidentally electrocuted himself while attempting to kill a ...
7 months, 1 week ago
22nd December 1964: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird strategic reconnaissance aircraft makes its first flight
The SR-71 was used to conduct reconnaissance missions over hostile territory, providing high-quality photographic and electronic intelligence until i…
7 months, 1 week ago