The first Tour de France in 1903
It was to have been a five-week race, from 1 June to 5 July, with an entry fee of 20 francs. These conditions attracted very few...
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The Murder Of Mary Pradd
PC Charles Shelton of the Metropolitan Police arrived at number 40 Kent Street in the early hours of Thursday 16th November, 1876. It was...
1,889 views
The Heist Of The Century: How The Brinks-Mat Robbery Has Been A Curse To All Those Involved
November 1983, a robbery took place at the Heathrow International Trading Estate. A record £26 million (approximately £86 million today)...
4,714 views
Ashtar Galactic Command: The Time In 1977 When TV In England Was Hacked For 6 Minutes
On 26th November 1977, viewers in the Southern television area (viewers from Newbury and Reading to Winchester and Andover) lost sound...
883 views
The Bizarrely Successful History of People Mailing Themselves in Boxes
Like stowaways on ships, trains, and planes, people have attempted (and sometimes succeeded!) in mailing themselves as recently as just a...
1,128 views
The Death Of Blackbeard The Pirate And How His Skull Became Something People Drank Rum From
On a sunny winter day some three centuries ago, British warships fired their cannons in celebration as Lieutenant Robert Maynard sailed...
1,418 views
Yuri Knorozov, The Man Who Deciphered The Mayan Script In The 1950s And Named His Cat As Co-Author
It was Yuri Knorozov who found the key to reading the texts of this ancient civilization. And only 40 years after his epochal discovery...
1,014 views
Paddy Mayne: The Irish Lion And The Great Destroyer
“Wild maybe, but he was definitely someone you would want on your side.” Colonel Robert Blair Mayne also known as ‘Paddy’ and as a...
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Harry Gardiner: The Human Fly That Dissapeared
One of the more odd phenomena of the twentieth century began as skyscrapers began to tower over cityscapes across the United States....
1,384 views
Bass Drum Art From The 1920s And 1930s
The folks over at Polarity Records have put together a really in-depth and extensive article about the technicality of drum kits back in...
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Diving Horse Shows: Yes, They're As Awful As They Sound
Stunt shows featuring diving horses began in the 1880s and were a wildly popular attraction for decades, despite the obvious cruelty to...
1,478 views
Bilbo and Gollum behind the Iron Curtain
First published in 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, has been translated into...
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The Awful Private Life Of Tiberius
The name Caligula is synonymous with depravity (thanks in part to the saucy 1979 film of the same name) But where did Caligula learn his...
1,821 views
The Clutter Family Murders; This Is The Real Story Behind Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood”.
In April 2020, the home with a dark history went back on the market. What was once home to the Clutter family was said to fetch between...
3,931 views
Paul Grüninger; the Swiss police commander who saved about 3,600 Jewish refugees during WW2.
Paul Grueninger was the Swiss border police commander of the St. Gallen region that borders with Austria. Following the annexation of...
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A Story Of Murder, Gambling Debts, And British Aristocracy. The Disappearance Of Lord Lucan
Born to George Bingham and his wife Kaitlin, who were staunch socialists, Lucan's early years were spent being cared for by his nurse...
4,510 views
The Sex Pistols First Gig (Even Before The Manchester Gig Everyone Claims To Have Attended)
On Nov. 6, 1975, a small group of music lovers filed into the Common Room of Saint Martins School of Art. Most were there to see...
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The Iran Hostage Crisis And How It Was 50 Years In The Making
On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 American hostages. The immediate...
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For Three Months In 1973, The Dutch Government Banned Cars On Sundays To Curb Oil Consumption
On the 4th of November, 1973 the Netherlands experienced its first 'Car-Free Sunday', this initiative was brought about to curb oil...
361 views
The Final Robbery Of 'Black Bart'
November the 3rd 1883, authorities almost catch the California bandit and infamous stagecoach robber called Black Bart; he manages to...
1,443 views
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