BBC Radio first broadcast the Greenwich Time Signal, 1924
From its first broadcasts, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) included a time check before their evening news bulletins taking the form of the chimes of Big Ben being played originally…
New South Wales founded, 1788
In August 1770 the English mariner and explorer James Cook (then a lieutenant) took possession of the eastern coast of Australia in the name of King George III, naming it…
Appearance of the Devil`s Footrpints, 1855
On the night of 8th/9th February 1855, a series of mysterious footprints appeared in freshly fallen snow. The Times of February 16th reported the ‘Extraordinary Occurrence’ in the following article:…
Maiden flight of Boeing 747, 1969
With long-distance commercial air travel becoming more popular the President of Pan American World Airways (Pan Am), Juan Trippe, urged Boeing to build a much larger passenger aircraft to replace…
Treaty of Paris signed, 1763
In 1756, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria formed a new alliance with Russia and France in order to recover territories lost to Prussia during the War of Austrian Succession, particularly…
Nelson Mandela released, 1990
Nelson Mandela was born on 18th July 1918 in a small village called Mvezo, near Umtata the capital of the Transkei. His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a member of…
Ecuador annexed the Galápagos Islands, 1832
The first European to set foot on the Galápagos Islands was the fourth Bishop of Panama, the Dominican Fray Tomás de Berlanga. In order to settle a territorial dispute between…
First French nuclear explosive test, 1960
The French have a long association with nuclear research since the days of Marie Curie. In 1945 the French government created the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique (CEA) – the French…
Shortest test match in history, 1932
The shortest test in cricketing history in terms of minutes played and balls bowled took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the 1932 South African tour of Australia. The…
Volume One of Gibbon`s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire published, 1776
Edward Gibbon was born in Putney, Surrey, in April 1737 into a wealthy family with Jacobite sympathies. Edward’s mother died when he was ten and his father descended into depression,…