Last Lincoln v. Douglas Debate
The last of seven debates between the two Senate candidates took place on October 15th, 1858.
History Today
Martians Invade New Jersey
The famed radio broadcast of HG Wells' War of the Worlds took place on October 30th, 1938.
Election of John Paul II
John Paul II was elected on October 16th, 1978. He was the first non-Italian pope to be elected in four centuries.
Mathematical Water Magic
An exotic London theatre funded the building of the first Eddystone lighthouse. Alison Barnes has discovered what kind of shows it staged.
Cold Comfort?
To coincide with ‘Cold War Modern’, a major new exhibition at the V & A in London, its consultant curator, David Crowley of the Royal College of Art, looks back on the 1959 Kennedy-Khrushchev ‘Kitchen Debate’ and explores how modern design became an active part of that war.
Berlin Airlift Remembered
Patricia Cleveland-Peck visits Tempelhof which is about to close for ever as an airport.
The Road to Siberia
Daniel Beer looks at how much Soviet labour camps owed to the theories of Russian liberals on crime, its causes and how to treat it.
Beyond the Dreams of Avarice
Sir John Reeves Ellerman was No.1 on the UK’s 1916 rich list. William D. Rubinstein looks at the careers of this reclusive, but fabulously rich, British man of business and of his children.
Who Invented the Telescope?
Nick Pelling suggests that credit should go not to the Netherlands but much further south to Catalonia.
Let There Be Light: Illuminating Modern Britain
Pressure in the nineteenth century to introduce artificial lighting was as much about enhancing privacy as about reducing crime, according to Chris Otter.