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OTD

Why Was 2 December Such a Special Day for Napoleon?

How Tim Berners-Lee Developed the World Wide Web

When Was the First Fair Trade Label Introduced?

The Siberian Mystic: Who Really Was Rasputin?

When Did Concorde First Fly to North America?

A Renaissance Master: Who Was Michelangelo?

When Was the Library of Congress Established?

Jane Austen: How a Hidden Talent Became One of the World’s Best Known Authors

When Was the Simpson’s First Aired?

Who Was the Last Man Hanged at Tyburn?

Who Was Military Hero Marshal Georgy Zhukov?

How Melville’s Moby-Dick Went From Flop to Literary Masterpiece

Who Was the Pioneering Explorer Mary Kingsley?

What Happened to Deep Coal Mining in Britain?

How Swan Lake Became the Greatest Ballet in the World

How Did Ottawa Become Canada’s Capital?

How Did Alaska Become Part of the USA?

When Did Queen Victoria Marry Prince Albert?

How Elizabeth I Was Ruthless When Needed

How Did Henry VIII Marry Anne Boleyn?

How Did King John Die?

Who Was the First Person to “Walk” in Space?

How General Lee’s Surrender Effectively Ended the American Civil War

How Charlie Chaplin Became a Worldwide Icon

The Story Behind the December 1914 Christmas Truce in World War One

How the Boeing 747 Became Queen of the Skies

What is the Significance of Samuel Pepys’s Diary?

The Hard Fought Battle of Women’s Suffrage in the UK

How Napoleon’s Conquest of Spain Led to Revolution in Chile

How an Intercepted Telegram Helped Break the Deadlock on the Western Front

How Grand Central Terminal Became the Greatest Train Station in the World

How the Beatles Became International Sex Symbols

How Significant Was the Battle of Verdun?

Why Was Thomas Becket Murdered in Canterbury Cathedral?

How Significant Was the Battle of the Falkland Islands?

The Palestine Campaign: How Britain Captured Jerusalem in World War One

What Happened to the Mary Celeste and Her Crew?

When Was Facebook Founded and How Did It Grow so Quickly?

Why Did Lincoln Face Such Stern Opposition to Abolishing Slavery in America?

How FC Barcelona Became a Source of Catalan Pride

How Winston Churchill’s Early Career Made Him a Celebrity

How Doctor Who Became Part of Mainstream British Popular Culture

Why Did the First UK Motorways Have No Speed Limit?

The Rise and Fall of Henry II

Why Was the Gettysburg Address So Iconic? The Speech and Meaning in Context

How Was Qantas Airlines Born?

Who Was Blackbeard and How Did He Become One of History’s Most Notorious Pirates?

How Did the Northeast of America Go Dark During 1965?

How Walt Disney Rose from Failure to Create the Most Famous Cartoon Character of All Time

How a Shipwreck Plunged England into Anarchy

The Hoax That Fooled the World for Forty Years

How Was the Heroic Hawker Hurricane Fighter Design Developed?

HMS Ark Royal and the Ascendancy of Aircraft in Naval Warfare

How the Siege of Ladysmith Became a Turning Point in the Boer War

The Patent for the First Bra and the Bohemian Lifestyle of the Woman Who Invented It

How Thomas Edison’s Phonograph Transformed the World

How a Heinous Act of Genocide Doomed Aethelred the Unready’s Kingdom

How Hernan Cortes Wiped a Powerful Civilisation off the Face of the Earth

The Discovery of Tutankhamen’s Magnificent Tomb

What Was It like to Ride the Victorian London Underground?

How a Cricket Club in Sheffield Created The Most Popular Sport In The World

Why Did the Gunpowder Plot Fail?

How the Irish Free State Won its Independence from Britain

Who Was Charles Martel and Why Is He Called the Hammer?

Why Did Hannibal Lose the Battle of Zama?

What Was the Significance of King Cnut’s Victory at Assandun?

What Was the Sudeten Crisis and Why Was it So Important?

Why Did Mary I Become Known as ‘Bloody Mary’?

What Was the Significance of the Battle of Tours?

When Were Tanks First Used in Battle?

Who Was Harald Hardrada? The Norwegian Claimant to the English Throne in 1066

What Was the Gresford Colliery Disaster and When Did it Take Place?

Why the Start of the Battle of Amiens is Known as the German Army’s “Black Day”

How a Football Match Turned to All Out War Between Honduras and El Salvador

Why Did the Lusitania Sink and Cause Such Outrage in the US?

How Did Barbie Become an Icon?

How the Zimmermann Telegram Contributed to America Entering the War

The Publication of the Communist Manifesto

The Worst Military Capitulation in British History

How Conqueror Timur Achieved His Fearsome Reputation

Long Walk to Freedom: Why Nelson Mandela Was so Remarkable

Edgar Allen Poe’s Torment and ‘The Raven’

What Caused the Apollo 1 Launch Disaster?

When Is Australia Day and When was Sydney Founded?

Why Did One of the World’s Most Modern and Powerful Countries Execute Their King?

How Simon De Montfort and Rebellious Barons Led to the Birth of English Democracy

How Zeppelins Became Terrors of the Sky

How the Red Army Captured Warsaw

How the British Museum Became the World’s First National Public Museum

When the Allied Leaders Met in Casablanca to Discuss the Rest of World War Two

The Dawn of Commercial Cinema

How Did Holy Monks Defeat an Invading Army?

Why Christmas Island Should Be on Your 2019 Bucket List

First Performance of ‘Silent Night’

How Sixteen Men Survived the Andes Flight Disaster Against All the Odds

How Frank Capra’s ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ Became a Christmas Classic

How the Halifax Explosion Laid Waste to the Town of Halifax

How Greece Tore Itself Apart in a Vicious Civil War at the End of World War Two

How Clovis Created a Basis for French National Identity in the 5th and 6th Centuries

The Death of Clark Gable – the ‘King of Hollywood’

The Bombing of Berlin: The Allies Adopt a Radical New Tactic Against Germany in World War Two

Why Winston Churchill Resigned From the Government in 1915

How Nellie Bly One-upped Jules Verne and Circumnavigated the World in 72 Days

The History of Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday

Why Do You Find Bibles in Hotel Rooms?

How Woodrow Wilson Came to Power and Led America into World War One

Why Did the Duke of Wellington Consider his Victory at Assaye his Finest Achievement?

How Tolkien’s Middle Earth Was Influenced by World War One

How the Cannes Film Festival was Created

How New Zealand Became the First Nation to Give Women the Vote

Operation Sealion: Why Did Adolf Hitler Call Off the Invasion of Britain?

Why Did the Mayflower Set Sail and What Happened to its Crew?

What is the Significance of the Battle of Marathon?

What Was the Significance of the Haspburg Victory at Zenta?

Why Were Plays Banned in London in 1642?

How Bismarck’s Victory at the Battle of Sedan Changed the Face of Europe

Why the Battle of Cannae Was Hannibal’s Greatest Victory

The Disastrous Premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake

The Battle of Lugdunum: The Biggest Battle in Roman History

Who Was the First King of Italy?

Who Was the First Martyr for Modern Science?

What Was the Rise and Fall of McCarthyism?

How an Unashamedly Money-grabbing Scientist Invented Plastic

What Is the Story Behind Mendelssohn’s Wedding March?

How Did a Cavalry Charge Once Succeed Against Ships?

How a Small Band of British Soldiers Defended Rorke’s Drift Against All the Odds

How Did Adolf Hitler Become the Chancellor of Germany?

How Did Gustav I Win Sweden’s Independence?

What Was the Significance of Caesar Crossing the Rubicon?

Why Was Income Tax Introduced?

When Johnny Cash Recorded “At Folsom Prison”

How Joan of Arc Became the Saviour of France

Why Did the US Sever Diplomatic Relations with Cuba?

What Was the Reconquista and Why Did It Last so Long?

Why Did Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Army Turn Back at Derby Instead of Seizing the English Crown?

David Livingstone: Explorer and Abolitionist

How Henry Tudor Won the English Game of Thrones

How Sir Walter Raleigh Fell From Grace

How William Barker Took On 50 Enemy Planes and Lived!

How King George III’s 1775 Speech Pushed America Towards Revolution

How Henry V Won the French Crown at the Battle of Agincourt

How The Disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade Became a Symbol of British Heroism

Who Was Jane Seymour and Why Was She Henry VIII’s Favourite Wife?

How Carlo Piazza’s Flight Changed Warfare Forever.

Why Princeton’s Founding is an Important Date in History

What Was the Significance of the Battle of Aachen?

How Horatio Nelson’s Victory at Trafalgar Ensured Britannia Ruled the Waves

What Was the Significance of the Battle of Navarino?

Was the Louisiana Purchase the Greatest Deal in History?

How One British Regiment’s Heroic Resistance Saved the First Battle of Ypres…Twice!

What Was the Significance of the Battle of Yorktown?

Were the Excruciating Executions of Charles I’s Regicides Just Punishment for Their Treason?

Does Columbus’ Voyage Mark the Start of the Modern Age?

How King John Lost the Crown Jewels

How British-Boer Relations Descended into War in South Africa

What is the Story Behind Cromwell’s Bloody Sack of Wexford?

How did Emmeline Pankhurst help achieve Women’s Suffrage?

The Triumphant Liberation of the Altmark

How Did a Dominican Friar Convince Florentines to Burn Their Own Possessions?

What Would You Win in an Elizabethan Lottery?

Across the Channel in 150 Minutes: The Story of the First Balloon Crossing

‘The Bridge That Couldn’t be Built’. How the Golden Gate Bridge Came into Being

Twelve Years a Slave: Who Was Solomon Northup?

How Sitting Bull and the Sioux Defeated Colonel Custer

The Turbulent Life and Death of Mary Queen of Scots

The Battle of the River Plate: How Britain Tamed the Graf Spee

How Did Kenya Gain Independence?

Where Were the World’s First Traffic Lights?

How Did Humans Eradicate Smallpox?

Why the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor Was Actually a Failure

How Dutch Engineers Saved Napoleon’s Grand Armée from Annihilation

How On the Origin of Species Shattered the Church Orthodoxy

How the Tank Showed What Was Possible at the Battle of Cambrai

What Is the History Behind the Suez Canal?

Famed Acrobat and Fashionista: Who Was Jules Leotard?

Why Did the Fourth Crusade Sack a Christian City?

How Napoleon Bonaparte Became the Most Powerful Man in France

1895: X-rays Discovered

When Was the First Newspaper Published in Britain?

The Death of King Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Lutzen

The First Reference to Smoking Tobacco

The Trial of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and How It Changed Obscenity Laws

Othello Through the Ages from Shakespeare to Fishburne

How Did Trench Warfare Begin on the Western Front?

When Was the Mona Lisa Stolen?

What Happened in the Mutiny on the Bounty?

The Apollo 13 Mission: NASA’s Most Successful Failure