The Battle of Sekigahara, on 21st October, 1600, was the largest in Japanese feudal history, with over 160,000 troops involved. And stakes were high: the victor, Tokugawa Ieyasu, became the Shōgun of Japan, initiating the Edo period; whilst the leader of the losing Western army, Ishida Mitsunari, was beheaded.
The battle itself was chaotic, partly due to def ... Show More
Yesterday
Flour Power: The Tichborne Dole and the Biddenden Maids
Each Lady Day, the Hampshire village of Tichborne hands out bags of flour to the locals - a tradition that began on 25th March, 1150 after Lady Marbella Tichborne, on her death-bed, suggested distributing a ‘Tichborne Dole’ to the needy. It’s far from the only quaint charity even ... Show More
12m 14s
Mar 24
The Suffragettes of Sport
The first international women’s sports event, The Women’s Olympiad, kicked off in Monte Carlo on 24th March, 1921. A hundred athletes from five nations competed in track and field events, defying the male-dominated Olympic movement that excluded women from all sports except tenni ... Show More
11m 25s
Mar 23
Ricky Martin's Latin Explosion
Ricky Martin’s ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ was released on 23rd March, 1999 - launching the singer to worldwide superstardom, and kickstarting a Latino pop boom that propelled J-Lo, Shakira, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias and Santana into the charts. But he wasn’t an overnight su ... Show More
11m 4s
Oct 2025
The Samurai
After a bloody battle on September 22nd, 1877, Saigo Takamori and his loyal warriors pause on a hillside overlooking Kagoshima. They’ll never surrender, but they’re wounded, exhausted, and massively outnumbered, and Saigo already knows how this will end. Because his noble Samurai ... Show More
55m 30s
Sep 2025
232: The Battle of Britain Pt. 7 - Battle of Britain Day
On September 15, 1940—Battle of Britain Day—the Luftwaffe launched what would become the climactic daylight assault of their campaign against Britain. In a desperate final effort to enable Operation Sea Lion, the German invasion of Britain, over 500 bombers escorted by hundreds o ... Show More
28m 12s