Charles I was born 425 years ago today, on November 19th 1600. Believing in the divine right of kings and authority over Parliament, he used taxation in the form of tariffs (customs duties) without parliamentary consent. Tried for treason, he was executed in 1649 as a threat to constitutional rule.

65 years ago today, on November 14th, 1960, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges was the first African-American child to integrate into an all-white elementary school in the South U.S. Escorted by federal marshals through angry crowds, her courage inspired Norman Rockwell’s painting The Problem We All Live With.

At 10:58 a.m. on November 11th 1918, 2 minutes before the ceasefire of WWI, Canadian soldier George Price was killed by a sniper near Mons, Belgium. At 10:59 a.m., U.S. Private Henry Gunther, unaware of the imminent armistice, charged a German machine-gun post near Meuse, France. He was shot dead.

Richard Burton was born 100 years ago today, on November 10th 1925. Throughout his life he was a voracious reader. In his diary he recorded carrying a “book bag” everywhere, noting on one particular day that he’d read five books. He described books as his “first love”. museum.wales/blog/2306/Bu...

95 years ago today, on November 2nd 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned as Emperor of Ethiopia, known as Haile Selassie, meaning “Power of the Trinity.” According to Ethiopian imperial tradition, he was a descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, through their son Menelik I.

75 years ago today, on November 1st 1950, Puerto Rican nationalists Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola tried to assassinate President Truman at Blair House to promote Puerto Rican independence. A shootout killed Torresola and a guard; Truman survived, and Collazo was jailed.

61 years ago today, on October 14th 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his dedication to tackling racial segregation and discrimination in the US. Through peaceful protests and powerful speeches, he inspired millions, advancing civil rights, equality and justice.

89 years ago today, on October 4th 1936, London’s East End saw the Battle of Cable Street. Tens of thousands of anti-fascists - Jews, Irish, and socialists - united to block Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists march. Clashes with police led to the march being abandoned.

50 years ago today, on September 22nd 1975, President Gerald Ford narrowly escaped assassination in San Francisco when Sara Jane Moore fired a revolver at him at close range. Ex-Marine Oliver Sipple deflected her shot, preventing tragedy - just 17 days after another attempt on Ford’s life.

Jimi Hendrix died in London 55 years ago today, at the age of 27, putting him in the so-called ‘27 Club’, named after the numerous well-known musicians such as Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse who died at the age of 27. www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...

Ray Bradbury was born 105 years ago today. He warned in Fahrenheit 451 of a future where books are banned and burned, and shallow entertainment replaces knowledge - highlighting the dangers of censorship and the loss of critical thinking.

114 years ago today, Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, believing it belonged in Italy. Hidden for 2 years, it was recovered in 1913 in Florence, where Peruggia had attempted to sell it.

114 years ago today, Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, believing it belonged in Italy. Hidden for 2 years, it was recovered in 1913 in Florence, where Peruggia had attempted to sell it.

85 years ago today, on August 20th 1940, exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was attacked with an ice axe in Mexico City by a Soviet agent. Trotsky, a key figure in the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution had lived in exile after being expelled from the USSR. He succumbed to his injuries the next day.

The stench of desperation. #EpsteinFiles

85 years ago today, on August 18th 1940, 3,000 people gathered at Camp Nordland, New Jersey, for a joint KKK–nazi rally. The event, featuring a Klan wedding and cross burning, promoted both white supremacy and fascism. newspapers.ushmm.org/historical-a...

60 years ago today the Beatles were playing in Atlanta, Georgia. www.beatlesbible.com/1965/08/18/l...

In the UK 50 years ago today, there was a broadcast of what was at that time the latest episode of Alias Smith and Jones. I’m pretty sure that I would have been watching it with my dad, as it was one of the family’s favourite cowboy series. Anyway, here’s my piano version of the theme tune.

80 years ago today, George Orwell’s Animal Farm was first published, on August 17th 1945. The novel shows how totalitarianism crushes freedom through fear, violence, and propaganda. Apathy, like Benjamin the donkey’s indifference, enables corruption. Silence can be as deadly as tyranny.

206 years today on August 16th 1819 in Manchester, cavalry attacked a crowd of 60,000 peaceful people who were seeking political reform. Eighteen were killed and hundreds injured. Though met with repression, the ‘Peterloo Massacre’ became a lasting symbol of democracy and workers’ rights in Britain.

89 years ago today on August 16th 1936 the Stars and Stripes and the Swastika flag were displayed next to eachother at the closing ceremony of Hitler’s Berlin Olympics. youtu.be/sgfVoU-CZrw?...

Oscar Peterson was born 100 years ago today, on August 15th 1925. A legendary Canadian jazz pianist famed for his virtuosity, swing, and improvisation, he recorded 200+ albums, won 8 Grammys, played with jazz greats, and earned the title “Maharaja of the Keyboard.”

80 years ago today, on August 9th 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing an estimated 70,000–80,000 people instantly. The bombing came three days after Hiroshima. www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles...

100 years ago today, on August 8th 1925, over 50,000 Ku Klux Klan members marched in full regalia in Washington, D.C., near the Capitol and White House, flaunting their power and promoting a racist, anti-immigrant, and anti-Catholic agenda.

80 years ago today, on August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima during WWII, killing tens of thousands instantly and devastating the city in the first use of nuclear weapons in war. www.nps.gov/articles/tru...

100 years ago today, on August 5th 1925, Mussolini's regime banned all opposition parties, ending political pluralism in Italy. This key move cemented his totalitarian rule and silenced dissent, paving the way for a fascist dictatorship until WWII. www.britannica.com/biography/Be...

100 years ago today, on July 21st 1925, teacher John T. Scopes was found guilty in the famous "Monkey Trial" for teaching evolution, violating Tennessee's Butler Act. The case spotlighted the clash between science and religion and fueled lasting debate on education in the U.S.

Here’s the scene from Planet of the Apes in which Charlton Heston discovers the Statue of Liberty and the Epstein Files.

For the first time in 116 years, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has not invited the sitting president to its 2025 convention, citing Trump’s actions as unconstitutional, anti-democratic, and contrary to civil rights, labeling his policies as fascist and un-American.

65 years ago today, on July 11th 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was first published. It depicts the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of rape yet convicted by an all-white jury despite clear evidence of his innocence, showing how racism distorts morality and corrupts institutions.

Lady Jane Grey,fluent in Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Italian, was declared Queen of England at the age of 15, 472 years ago today on July 10th 1553, by Protestant men who did not want the Catholic Mary Tudor to reign. Jane was Queen for 9 days. She was imprisoned and executed for treason, aged 16.

US President Zachary Taylor died whilst in office 175 years ago today, on July 9th 1850. It is believed that he had either acute gastroenteritis or food poisoning. His body was exhumed in 1991 due to speculation that he had been poisoned, but tests ruled out the possibility of foul play.

Jean Moulin, a key WWII French Resistance leader, died 82 years ago today on July 8th 1943. Captured by the Gestapo and tortured by ‘The Butcher of Lyon’, Klaus Barbie, he never revealed his secrets. Honoured as a national hero, his ashes were placed in the Panthéon in 1964.

The current Dalai Lama is 90 years old today. His full title is “Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama". In a visit to Oregon in the US he once stated that “Allowing the gap between rich and poor to grow is not only morally wrong, but also practically a mistake.”

More U.S. presidents have died on July 4th than on any other single day of the year. President Thomas Jefferson died on July 4th 1826. President John Adams died on the same date, just hours apart from Jefferson. President James Monroe died on July 4th 1831.

The Gulf of America is real. But it is not a stretch of water. The Gulf of America is the widening divide between obscenely wealthy Americans and everyone else. This Gulf deepened even further yesterday as more opportunity, security, and freedom slipped from the hands of most US citizens.

Elon Musk turns 54 today with a $423B fortune - enough to end global hunger, fund clean water, education, housing, and vaccines worldwide. Just 10% could transform global health, housing, and education, solving major humanitarian crises. www.wfpusa.org/articles/how...

Helen Keller, deaf and blind from childhood, was born 145 years ago today. She wrote “The few own the many because they possess the means of livelihood of all. The country is governed for the richest, for the corporations, the bankers, the land speculators..” www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ju...

Anne Frank’s diary was first published 78 years ago today, on June 25th 1947. Her story reveals the horrors of fascism - intolerance, fear, and persecution - and the tragic loss of innocent lives under authoritarian rule.

92 years ago today, on June 21st 1933, Hitler banned the Social Democratic Party, marking a key step in ending democracy and establishing a Nazi one-party state that enabled a totalitarian regime and the atrocities of the Holocaust.

The movie Jaws was released 50 years ago today, on June 20th 1975.

June 19th is known in the US as Juneteenth, marking the 1865 emancipation of enslaved people in Texas. Now a federal holiday, it honours Black freedom, resilience, and culture while inspiring reflection on racial justice and the ongoing fight for true equality.

85 years ago today, on June 18th 1940, Charles de Gaulle gave a speech from exile in England broadcast by the BBC, urging the French to resist nazi occupation and encouraging his fellow countrymen to believe that freedom from fascism would one day triumph.

140 years ago today, on June 17th 1885, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor as a gift from France. It symbolised freedom and welcomed immigrants with its inscription "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore…”

644 years ago today, on June 12th 1381, Wat Tyler led rebels into London during the Peasants' Revolt, protesting against taxes and oppression. Though crushed after Tyler’s death, it shook the elite, sparked political awareness, and made rulers more cautious in how they treated ‘the common people’.

81 years ago today, on June 10th 1944, 643 residents of Oradour-sur-Glane, France, were massacred by the SS. The village was destroyed, and its ruins remain as a memorial to one of WWII’s worst atrocities. It stands as a reminder of the depravity and inhumanity of fascism.

The Emperor Nero died by suicide 1,957 years ago today. Infamous for cruelty and self-indulgence, he ignored state affairs, craved adoration, and ruled with brutality. His excesses sparked unrest, heavy taxes, and revolts that led to his downfall.

76 years ago today, on June 8th 1949, George Orwell's 1984 was published in Britain. A chilling vision of totalitarianism, it warns of propaganda, loss of freedom, and how corrupt governments are able to rewrite history, turning lies into truth.

40 years ago today, on June 6th 1985, remains in a Brazilian grave marked Wolfgang Gerhard were confirmed as being those of Josef Mengele, the Nazi "Angel of Death” of Auschwitz. He had fled to South America after WWII, dying in 1979. DNA tests in 1992 ended one of history’s most infamous manhunts.

100 years age today, on June 6th 1925, Walter P. Chrysler founded the Chrysler Corporation, transforming Maxwell Motors. Known for innovation, it grew into one of the Big Three automakers, making brands such as Dodge and Plymouth. It became part of Stellantis in 2021.