Best HistoryPod Podcasts (2025)

It was later revealed that German agents had infiltrated the site and deliberately ignited the munitions to prevent them from reaching the Allies as part of a broader German campaign of espionage and sabotage on American soil before the U.S. entered the war in ...By Scott Allsop

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29th July 1976: David Berkowitz, known as the Son of Sam, committed his first known murder in the Bronx, New York City

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David Berkowitz was responsible for a series of attacks often involving young women with dark hair, and usually while they were in parked cars late at ...By Scott Allsop

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28th July 1939: Ornate Anglo-Saxon helmet uncovered at the Sutton Hoo burial site in Suffolk, England

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The Sutton Hoo helmet featured a distinctive full-face design, including a nose, eyebrows, and moustache, as well as decorative panels showing scenes of warriors and ...By Scott Allsop

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27th July 1942: Allied forces in North Africa stop the advancing Axis powers in the First Battle of El Alamein

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The First Battle of El Alamein continued for nearly 4 weeks and saw both sides launch attacks and counter-attacks, eventually ending in stalemate with both sides taking time to reorganise and ...By Scott Allsop

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26th July 1945: Britain, the USA, and China issue the Potsdam Declaration demanding the unconditional surrender of Japan

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The Japanese government did not immediately respond formally to the declaration. As a result, the United States proceeded with plans to use atomic ...By Scott Allsop

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25th July 1965: American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival

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Having come to prominence in the early 1960s with songs that chronicled the social situation in the USA, Dylan’s dramatic shift away from his traditional instruments of acoustic guitar and harmonica was said to have, ‘electrified one half of his audience, and electrocuted the ...By Scott Allsop

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24th July 1847: Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley to begin the foundation of Salt Lake City, Utah

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After travelling more than 1,000 miles across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, the party of 148 Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley led by Brigham ...By Scott Allsop

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23rd July 1914: Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia specifically designed to be rejected and lead to war between the two countries

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The ultimatum was delivered at 6pm on 23 July by the Austro-Hungarian ambassador to Belgrade, with a deadline of 48 hours within which the Serbian government had to respond. The accepted all but one of the ...By Scott Allsop

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22nd July 1793: Alexander Mackenzie becomes the first recorded person to cross North America north of Mexico

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On 22 July, after travelling more than 3,000 miles, Mackenzie and his party reached the Pacific tidewaters at Dean Channel, near present-day Bella Coola, British ...By Scott Allsop

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21st July 1861: First Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the American Civil War, takes place in Virginia

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Union troops, facing increasing resistance and mounting casualties, began to retreat in what soon turned into a disorganised ...By Scott Allsop

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20th July 1807: The world’s first internal combustion engine is patented in France

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Napoleon granted a patent for the Pyréolophore to Nicéphore Niépce and his brother ...By Scott Allsop

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19th July 1545: The Mary Rose, a Tudor warship of the English navy, sinks in the Solent in full view of King Henry VIII

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According to contemporary accounts, the Mary Rose had just fired a broadside at the French navy, and was turning when she keeled over and ...By Scott Allsop

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18th July 1938: ‘Wrong Way’ Douglas Corrigan lands in Ireland from New York, despite filing a flight plan to Long Beach, California

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Corrigan later claimed that a navigational error, caused by a faulty compass and poor weather conditions, had led him to fly east to Ireland instead of west to ...By Scott Allsop

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17th July 1918: Russian Imperial Romanov family shot dead by Bolsheviks in the basement of the Ipatiev House in the city of Ekaterinburg

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The Romanov family were all shot or stabbed by bayonets, and their bodies were taken away in a truck and disposed of in a forest twelve miles north of the ...By Scott Allsop

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16th July 622: Start date of the Islamic calendar

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The Islamic calendar was dated to start with the first new moon after the Prophet Muhammad and his followers migrated to ...By Scott Allsop

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15th July 1099: First Crusade ends when Crusader forces capture the city of Jerusalem, after a siege lasting several weeks

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After two days of fighting, the Crusaders breached Jerusalem's defences and entered the city, leading to intense fighting in the streets and buildings that led to a large-scale massacre of the city’s Muslim and Jewish ...By Scott Allsop

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14th July 1881: American outlaw Billy the Kid shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett

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American outlaw Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, New ...By Scott Allsop

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13th July 1985: The Live Aid ‘global jukebox’ concert broadcast to an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion people

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News reports the day after the concert stated that Live Aid had raised upwards of £40 ...By Scott Allsop

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12th July 1790: The Civil Constitution of the Clergy passed by the National Constituent Assembly of France

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The Civil Constitution of the Clergy restructured the Church in France to align with the new administrative divisions of the country, bringing the Church under the control of the state and reducing the influence of the papacy in French ecclesiastical ...By Scott Allsop

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11th July 1962: The world’s first satellite television broadcast took place using the recently-launched Telstar satellite

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Telstar's first broadcast involved relaying an image of a flag outside its base station at Andover Earth Station to the Pleumeur-Bodou earth station in ...By Scott Allsop

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10th July 1940: The Vichy government established in France

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The Vichy government was established in France after the National Assembly approved a new French Constitutional Law that granted full powers to Marshal ...By Scott Allsop

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9th July 1877: The world’s first official lawn tennis tournament begins at Wimbledon in London

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The first Wimbledon Championship was staged in order to raise money to repair the roller that was used to maintain the lawns at the club, and only featured a Gentlemen’s Singles ...By Scott Allsop

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8th July 1497: Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon on the first known voyage to India from Europe

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In May 1498, the expedition reached the Indian city of Calicut (present-day Kozhikode) on the Malabar Coast. Da Gama met with the the local ruler, and attempted to establish a trading ...By Scott Allsop

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7th July 1928: Pre-sliced and wrapped bread first sold by the Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri

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The Chillicothe Baking Company's ‘Kleen Maid Sliced Bread’ proved incredibly popular and was advertised as ‘the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was ...By Scott Allsop

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6th July 1988: Piper Alpha oil platform destroyed by a series of explosions in the deadliest offshore oil disaster in history

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The public inquiry into the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster identified numerous failings in maintenance procedures, communication, design, and emergency ...By Scott Allsop

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5th July 1865: United States Secret Service established in Washington, D.C., by the Department of the Treasury

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Although the Secret Service is now most commonly associated with the protection of national leaders, this didn’t begin until after the assassination of President William McKinley in September ...By Scott Allsop

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4th July 1862: Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) first tells the story of Alice in Wonderland

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Charles Dodgson, better known as the author Lewis Carroll, told a story to the sisters Alice, Lorina and Edith Liddell that was to develop into Alice's Adventures in ...By Scott Allsop

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3rd July 1973: David Bowie announces the end of Ziggy Stardust during a concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in London

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Prior to the last song of the performance, Bowie told the crowd, “Not only is it the last show of the tour, but it’s the last show that we’ll ever do.” Even some of the band members were taken by surprise at the ...By Scott Allsop

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2nd July 1881: American President James A. Garfield shot by Charles J. Guiteau

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James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States, was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, ...By Scott Allsop

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1st July 1979: Sony Corporation releases the Walkman portable cassette player in Japan

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While retailers were unsure about the demand for a playback-only cassette device, Sony conducted street demonstrations and distributed units to celebrities and influencers that led to the Walkman selling over 30,000 units in Japan within its first two ...By Scott Allsop

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30th June 1894: Tower Bridge in London officially opened by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII

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The opening ceremony was attended by the Lord Chamberlain and the Home Secretary, H. H. Asquith, who watched the Prince of Wales formally declare the bridge open while a parade of vessels passed underneath the raised ...By Scott Allsop

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29th June 1613: The Globe Theatre in London burns to the ground

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The Globe Theatre in London burned to the ground during a performance of Henry ...By Scott Allsop

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28th June 1935: United States approves the construction of a vault to hold the country’s gold reserves at Fort Knox, Kentucky

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Constructed of granite-lined concrete and reinforced with steel, the vault is located at the centre of the building. Gold began arriving in January 1937, transported by the U.S. Army in a series of high-security rail ...By Scott Allsop

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27th June 1950: President Truman sends US navy and air force to Korea

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US President Harry S. Truman ordered air and naval forces to assist South Korea against an invasion by North ...By Scott Allsop

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26th June 1794: French army makes the first recorded military use of an aircraft for reconnaissance during the Battle of Fleurus

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The aircraft used was a tethered hydrogen balloon named l’Entreprenant, operated by the French army’s newly established Company of Aeronauts, and it represented an innovation in military ...By Scott Allsop

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25th June 1678: Elena Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman to receive a PhD

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Elena Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman to receive a Doctorate of Philosophy, otherwise known as a ...By Scott Allsop

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24th June 1509: Henry VIII crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey in London

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Henry's joint coronation with his wife, Catherine of Aragon, marked the start of a 38 year rule, during which England experienced political, religious, and dynastic changes that dramatically altered the landscape of English ...By Scott Allsop

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23rd June 1757: British East India Company troops defeat the Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey

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The two armies met near the village of Palashi, on the banks of the Bhagirathi River, in present-day West Bengal. Despite commanding an estimated 50,000 troops, his army was ineffective so the Nawab fled the battlefield and was later captured and ...By Scott Allsop

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22nd June 1942: The words of the Pledge of Allegiance formally adopted by Congress

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Congress formally recognized the Pledge when it was included in the U.S. Flag ...By Scott Allsop

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21st June 1675: Foundation stone laid for the new St Paul’s Cathedral in London following the Great Fire of London

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St Paul’s Cathedral was completed in 1710, and was the first cathedral in England to be completed under the direction of a single ...By Scott Allsop

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20th June 1948: The Western Allies introduce the Deutsche Mark in the three western zones of occupied Germany

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The introduction of the Deutsch Mark sought to stabilise the German economy and curb widespread inflation and black-market activity in the aftermath of the Second World War, but caused concern in the Soviet Union which implemented its own currency reform in the eastern zone and soon after began the Berlin ...…

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19th June 1949: The first NASCAR ‘Strictly Stock’ race takes place at Charlotte Speedway

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The first NASCAR race took place at the Charlotte Speedway in North ...By Scott Allsop

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18th June 1984: The Battle of Orgreave takes place between miners and police officers during the UK miners’ strike

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Tensions escalated throughout the day, with reports indicating that initial pushing and shouting developed into running battles between the two ...By Scott Allsop

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17th June 1631: Mumtaz Mahal’s death prompts construction of the Taj Mahal

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The death of Mumtaz Mahal, the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, prompted her husband to construct the Taj ...By Scott Allsop

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16th June 1963: Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to travel into space on board Vostock 6

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Over the course of nearly three days, Valentina Tereshkova orbited the Earth 48 times on board Vostock 6, maintaining radio contact with Bykovsky using the call sign "Chaika," meaning "Seagull" in ...By Scott Allsop

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15th June 1970: Trial of Charles Manson begins in Los Angeles, California, for conspiracy to commit murder

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The trial lasted over nine months, making it the longest murder trial in U.S. history at that time. In January 1971, Manson and three of his followers were found ...By Scott Allsop

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14th June 1777: Second Continental Congress passes the Flag Resolution and adopts the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States

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The design of the flag of the United States has changed numerous times during its history to reflect the admission of more states into the ...By Scott Allsop

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13th June 313: The Edict of Milan formally ends the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire

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Although the emperor Galerius had previously issued an Edict of Toleration towards Christians, the Edict of Milan went further by establishing religious freedom throughout the empire and granting Christians the right to practice their religion without interference or ...By Scott Allsop

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12th June 1942: Anne Frank receives her famous diary as a thirteenth birthday present from her father

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Over three volumes Anne Frank recorded the relationships between the Frank family, the Van Pels family, and her father’s friend Fritz Pfeffer with whom they shared a confined hiding place in the 'Secret Annexe' above her father's warehouse ...By Scott Allsop