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Episode 61: Casey Jones
Today marks the 115th anniversary of the death of legendary train engineer Casey Jones. Here are some things you may not know about Casey Jones: One: On board engine number 382, Jones and fireman Sim Webb departed Memphis, Tennessee for Canton, Mississippi. By the time they took over, the train was 95 minutes late leaving…
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Episode 60: Captain Cook Lands in Australia
Today marks the 245th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing at Botany Bay near present-day Sydney, Australia. Here are some things you might not know about Cook, Botany Bay and the British settlement of Australia. First: Cook led three voyages which included many notable firsts. His crew were the first Europeans to sail around New…
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Episode 59: Mutiny on the Bounty
April 28 marks the 226th anniversary of the mutiny aboard the HMS Bounty in the South Pacific. Here are some things you may not have known about the mutiny: One: The Bounty, under the command of lieutenant William Bligh, was sailing to Tahiti to gather breadfruit to transplant to the West Indies as a food…
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Episode 58: South Africa’s First Free Election
Today marks the 21st anniversary of the first democratic election in South Africa in which black people were allowed to vote. It is now a national holiday called “Freedom Day.” Here are some things you might not have known about that election. First: It was the end of the four-year process that ended Apartheid, which…
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Episode 57: John James Audubon
Today marks the 230th anniversary of the birth of naturalist John James Audubon. Here are a few things you may not have known about Audubon: First: The author of “Birds of America” and inspiration for the Audubon Society was born to French parents in what is now Haiti in 1785. Second: At age 18, Audubon…
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Episode 56: USS Triton sails around the world underwater
On April 25, 1960, the USS Triton completed the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe. Here are a few facts about the Triton and her mission: One, the 60-day mission under Captain Edward Beach Junior, used Saint Peter and Saint Paul Rocks in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean as the starting and finishing points…
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Episode 55: Annie Oakley, “The Peerless Lady Wing-Shot”
130 years ago, Annie Oakley was hired to join Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Here are a few things you may not have known about Annie Oakley. One: Her real name was probably Phoebe Ann Moses. Or Mosey, Or Mauzy. She and her siblings never agreed on what their last name was. There is also…
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Episode 54: Introducing New Coke!
Thirty years ago, the Coca-Cola Company introduced New Coke, replacing the formula of its flagship soft drink. Here are some things you may not have known about the New Coke fiasco. One: In 1983, Pepsi-Cola had begun to outsell Coca-Cola in grocery stores. Coke believed that this was due to younger drinkers preferring the sweeter…
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Episode 53: Oklahoma Land Rush
Today marks the 126th anniversary of the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889. Here are some things you might not have known about the Land Rush. One: The Land Rush happened at noon on April 22 when the U.S. government opened two million acres of Oklahoma to settlement. Fifty thousand settlers waited to stake their claim…
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Episode 52: See You at the World’s Fair!
April 21 marks the 53rd anniversary of the Century 21 Exposition, a World’s Fair held in Seattle, Washington. Here are a few facts you may not know about World’s Fairs: First: The first world’s fair recognized by the Bureau of International Expositions was the Great Exposition in London in 1851, a personal project of Prince…