ON THIS DAY: 5 May 1795 – England introduced a tax on hair powder—an essential part of wig-wearing at the time. The fee was set at one guinea per year. Interestingly, the new law did not tax the powder itself; instead, it taxed the right to use hair powder. Wigs had first become fashionable among … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 22 April 1889 – The Oklahoma Land Rush was one of the most dramatic land-distribution events in United States history. In a single day, tens of thousands of settlers raced to claim land in what had previously been designated as Native American territory. After the American Civil War, the U.S. government increased … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 11 April 1864 – Giuseppe Garibaldi arrived in London to scenes of extraordinary public enthusiasm – one of the most remarkable popular welcomes ever afforded to a foreign political figure in Britain. His visit came just a few years after his dramatic campaigns in southern Italy, most famously the 1860 Expedition of … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 1 April 1957 – British viewers tuning in to the BBC’s news programme Panorama were treated to what would become one of the most famous April Fools’ pranks in broadcasting history: a straight-faced, three-minute report about a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti from trees in the canton of Ticino, near the Italian border. … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 27 March 1966 – a four-year-old collie named Pickles made headlines around the world after discovering the stolen Jules Rimet Trophy, better known as the World Cup. Just one week earlier, on 20 March, the trophy had been stolen while on public display at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster. Remarkably, the thieves … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 8 March 1912 – Foot binding, a Chinese cultural practice that lasted for nearly a thousand years, was officially banned by the newly formed Republic of China. Foot binding involved tightly binding the feet of young girls to keep them extremely small. The tradition is believed to have begun during the Five … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 1 March 1985 – The world’s highest milk-yielding cow, Ubre Blanca (‘White Udder’), died in Cuba. In 1982, she set a world record for milk production, producing over 110 litres of milk in a single day (about 30 gallons) – far exceeding typical dairy cows, which usually produce around 25-40 litres per … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 22 February 1797 – This date is remembered as the day a small Welsh town, Fishguard, became the site of the last invasion of Britain – and when a group of local women, later known as the Brave Ladies of Fishguard, helped secure a remarkable and bloodless victory. France, fired by revolutionary … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 12 February 1994 – On the same day as the opening of the 1994 Winter Olympics in nearby Lillehammer, one of the most audacious art heists in history took place when four art thieves stole The Scream by Edvard Munch from the National Gallery in Oslo. Led by the notorious Norwegian art … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 6 February 1958 – British European Airways Flight 609, chartered to carry the Manchester United team home from a European Cup tie, crashed during take-off at Munich-Riem Airport in West Germany. The tragedy would become forever known as the Munich Air Disaster. Manchester United had just played a European Cup quarter-final in … Read more