The Soviet Union is first to the Moon
Richard Cavendish explains how, on September 12th, 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 2, the first spacecraft to successfully reach the Moon.
Richard Cavendish
Tsar Nicholas II and family visit the Isle of Wight
Tsar Nicholas II and his family arrived on the Isle of Wight on August 2nd, 1909, during the week of the Cowes Regatta.
An Anglo-Welsh truce renewed
On August 1st, 1259, the English renewed a truce which recognised Llywelyn ap Gruffydd as Prince of Wales.
The construction of HMS Victory begins
Richard Cavendish recounts the birth of a great warship, on July 23rd, 1759.
Henry II of France Dies of Tournament Wounds
Henry II was fatally injured by the Count of Montgomery during a jousting tournament. He died on July 10th, 1559.
John Dillinger shot and killed
Richard Cavendish remembers the capture and slaying of the definitive American gangster on July 22nd 1934.
Blondin’s first tightrope-walk across Niagara Falls
Richard Cavendish remembers how the daredevil Jean-François Gravelet stunned the world on 30 June 1859.
Lee Kuan Yew becomes Singapore’s Prime Minister
Richard Cavendish remembers how a former-British colony gained a long-serving leader.
The German battle fleet scuttled at Scapa Flow
Richard Cavendish records how Germany sank its own navy in the aftermath of the First World War, on 21 June 1919.
Edith Cavell Reburied in Norwich
Following her execution by firing squad in Belgium in 1915, Edith Cavell's body was eventually brought back from Brussels to England on May 15th, 1919.