#OTD 1915 Cecil Chubb went to an auction to buy some chairs and walked out with lot number fifteen: 30 acres of land including Stonehenge. We tell the story in our Stonehenge Podcast: tinyurl.com/44ddu6ww #history #stonehenge #ancienthistory

Died #OTD 1933, Annie Besant campaigned to end the toxic working conditions and poor pay of the factory Match Girls in London’s East End. Then moved to #India where she supported home rule. Hear her story in our Women and Protest podcast: tinyurl.com/2p8fek9r #history #womensrights #london

Born #OTD 1709 in Lichfield, Dr Johnson came to London where he struggled to earn a living. But went on to write the dictionary that defined the English Language. Hear his life story in our podcast: tinyurl.com/r6x2d9m7 #history #English #literature

From Stonehenge to atomic clocks, Celtic seasons to Roman calendars, the oldest clock in the world to knocker-uppers, our latest podcast tells the story of timekeeping. Listen at: tinyurl.com/yahhpzbm #history #clocks #greenwich #stonehenge #johnharrison

#OTD 1665, tailor's assistant George Vicarrs was the first victim of the plague in the Derbyshire village of Eyam. Hear the dramatic story of the plague village in our podcast: tinyurl.com/2hhejvpw #history #eyam #britishhistory #derbyshire #plague #podcast

#OTD 1940 the first raid of the London Blitz. Hear the story, told through the moving testimony of people who lived through the raid in our London Blitz Podcast. Listen at: tinyurl.com/mrx4huz4 #history #london #blitz #WW2 #WWII

The Great Fire of London ended #OTD in 1666. What happened to the thousands of refugees from the inferno, and the innocent man facing execution for starting the fire? Hear these stories in our Great Fire podcast: tinyurl.com/33vfpwds #history #london #britishhistory

Ikey Solomon died #OTD 1850. The East End petty criminal was imprisoned in Newgate Jail. His adventures became legend. Hear the story of his prison breakouts and life in London and Australia - where he lived the last part of his life - in our podcast: tinyurl.com/bddffwtz #history #jewishhistory

The Great Fire of London started #OTD in 1666. It burned for five days. We bring the story of the fire to life in our dramatic podcast: tinyurl.com/33vfpwds #history #london #greatfire #britishhistory

Newgate Jail was the most miserable dungeon in London. In 1605, a merchant paid for the St Sepulchre's Church handbell. The day before an execution, the parish clerk rang the bell outside the condemned man's cell. Hear the story in our Newgate Jail podcast: tinyurl.com/bddffwtz #history

Born #OTD 1797 Mary Shelley. She endured the death of her mother, children and husband. Her legacy is one of the greatest books of world literature: Frankenstein. Hear the story in our Women and Writing podcast: tinyurl.com/jrcjkwwc #history #frankenstein #horror #WomenWriters

William Terris was the star of the Adelphi Theatre plays. But bit-part actor Richard Prince hated the matinee idol. We bring to life a story that haunts London’s West End in our Murder at the Theatre Podcast: tinyurl.com/56nnmbfp #history #westend #london #ghost #murder

Was this the worst job in Victorian London? Pure Finders collected dog faeces from the streets to sell at the Bermondsey tanneries. Listen to the story in our History of Sewerage Podcast here: tinyurl.com/2ys6jpf3 #history #london #horriblehistory

Died #OTD 1762, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu travelled to Constantinople where women were inoculating their children against smallpox. Returning to England, doctors stopped her from promoting the treatment. Hear the story in our History of Medicine Podcast: tinyurl.com/tu93s9rv #history #women

Hanged #OTD 1612. Alice Nutter was accused of witchcraft by nine-year-old Jennet Device. The respectable Nutter protested her innocence, but was hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster. Hear the story in this podcast: tinyurl.com/58rkzrk6 #history #witch #pendlewitches #witchcraft

Ben Jonson died #OTD 1637. The writer and actor was Shakespeare’s great friend and rival. Jonson risked a hanging when he killed an actor in a duel. Hear the story in our #Shakespeare in London podcast: tinyurl.com/wmzsxwk2 #history #london #tudors #literature #actor

During summer 1888, thousands of women working in an east #London factory walked out. Girls as young as six protested against breadline wages, industrial cancers and bullying. Hear the story of the Matchgirls’ Strike in our Women and Protest podcast: tinyurl.com/mr3d49uz #history #protest

Florence Nightingale died #OTD in 1910 in London’s Mayfair. Her innovations changed #medicine. She was a pioneering statistician: not so much the “Lady With the Lamp”, more the Lady With a Pie Chart. Hear her story in our Women in Science podcast: tinyurl.com/mms5su69 #history #science

During #WW2 London church cat Faith lived at St Augustine’s church - now St Pauls Cathedral choir school. The little pussy disappeared in a bombing raid – but the vicar refused to give up on the congregation cat. Hear the story in our Blitz Cats Podcast here: tinyurl.com/36jab6bc #history #cats

Born #OTD 1560 John Harrington. The poet and courtier invented a flushing toilet that was installed for Elizabeth I – but the Queen was too scared to use it. Listen to the story in our History of Sewage Podcast: tinyurl.com/2ys6jpf3 #history #environmentalhealth #pollution

#OTD 1786 Margaret Nicholson approached the king with a petition. She made two lunges at his chest with an ivory-handled dessert knife before she was brought under control. Hear her story in our podcast: Bedlam – History of a Madhouse. Listen at: tinyurl.com/2whtb2xh #history

Born #OTD 1817. Richard Dadd was a Victorian artist. He suffered with delusions that led to a brutal killing. Confined to #Bedlam, he produced some exquisite artworks. Hear his story in our podcast: Bedlam – History of a Madhouse. Listen at: tinyurl.com/2whtb2xh #history #mentalhealth

William Terris was the hero of the Adelphi Theatre melodramas. But behind the curtain, a bit-part actor nursed a deadly grudge. What followed was a trial, and a ghost story that still haunts the Adelphi. Hear the story in our Murder at the Theatre podcast: tinyurl.com/56nnmbfp #history #ghosts

Died #OTD 1994, Dorothy Hodgkin was a Nobel Prize–winning scientist who revealed the structures of penicillin, insulin, and vitamin B12. Her work transformed modern medicine, yet her name remains little known. Hear her story in our Women and Science podcast: tinyurl.com/4fh5tpe8 #history #science

Born #OTD 1920 in Notting Hill, Rosalind Franklin’s Photograph 51 was fundamental to the understanding of the DNA double helix. But her pioneering science was not properly acknowledged in her lifetime. Hear her story in our Women and Science podcast: tinyurl.com/mms5su69 #history #science

In summer 1858, London was gripped by a crisis. The Thames stopped moving under the burden of human excrement. Parliament debated while fetid air choked the city. Hear the story of The Great Stink in our History of Sewage Podcast: tinyurl.com/2ys6jpf3 #history #riverthames #london

Ruth Ellis died #OTD in 1955. The Welsh nightclub hostess shot her lover outside the Magdala pub in London’s leafy Hampstead. She was the last woman to be executed in Britain. Hear her story in our Women and Crime Podcast: tinyurl.com/4hducnyh #history #truecrime #london #murder

What are the origins of the word disease? The rhyme “Ring a Ring a Roses”? Why were medical monks obsessed with urine? And what diseases were treated with stale treacle, fox fat, and hare brains? Find out in our History of Medicine podcast: tinyurl.com/3e8bj827 #history #quack #plague

#OTD in 1535 Thomas More - chancellor and advisor to Henry VIII - was taken to Tower Hill, where he was beheaded. What happened to his head following the execution is a strange tale. Hear the story in our Executed Heads podcast: tinyurl.com/f6n5j7kv #history #tudors #henryviii

Sin eaters were a strange tradition. A folk element of Christianity that continued from Pagan times into the medieval era. Find out more about their macabre duties, and hear about the last ever sin eater in our Death and Burial podcast: tinyurl.com/4k9sfdpu #history #folklore #pagan

#OTD 1838 Queen Victoria was crowned at Westminster Abbey. The most chaotic investiture in modern times, find out how - and why - it all went so wrong in our mishaps and majesty coronation podcast. Listen here: tinyurl.com/ke5r2ftp #history #royalty #westminsterabbey

Violette Szabo was Born #OTD 1921. She joined the SOE, and on a mission behind enemy lines risked all to save an allied agent - but was captured, imprisoned and murdered in a German camp. Hear her moving story in our Women and War podcast: tinyurl.com/3r73h9da #history #WW2 #womeninwar

Today people gather to celebrate summer #solstice at Stonehenge. But why was it built? How were the giant stones transported 180 miles from Wales to Wiltshire? Who is inside its burial mounds. Find out in our Stonehenge Podcast: tinyurl.com/44ddu6ww #history #solstice2025 #stonehenge #druids

Born #OTD 1566. King James I was obsessed with witchcraft. He interrogated women accused of sorcery and blamed the death of his mother on curses. He even published a book about dark magic. We tell the story in our Women & Witchcraft Podcast: tinyurl.com/3st7u6j4 #history #witches #witchcraft

Died #OTD 1603, Grace O'Malley was an Irish chieftain, seafarer and rebel: nicknamed Grainne Mhaol – "bald Grace". She fought Queen Elizabeth I's governor in Ireland, and eventually went to meet the English queen. Hear her story in our Women and War podcast: tinyurl.com/yu4yedh6 #history

John Snow died #OTD in 1858. When cholera broke out in Soho, Snow proved that it was the local street pump that was infecting people. His work lead to thousands of lives being saved. Hear the story in our History of Medicine Podcast: tinyurl.com/mryw64up #history #medicine #london

Born #OTD 1572, Ben Jonson was a bricklayer, soldier, actor and playwright. When his friend Shakespeare died, Jonson wrote the eulogy. When Jonson died in poverty, he was buried upright in Westminster Abbey. Hear the story in this podcast: tinyurl.com/wmzsxwk2 #history #shakespeare

Died #OTD 1913. Emily Davison gave her life fighting for women's votes. She stepped in front of King George V's horse at the Epsom Derby, suffering fatal injuries. Hear her story in our Women and Protest podcast: tinyurl.com/mus8rmuz #history #suffragette #votesforwomen

Born #OTD in 1778, George “Beau” Brummell ruled men’s fashion: taking five hours a day to dress and recommending that boots be polished with champagne. Hear the story of his rise and downfall in our Men’s Fashion Podcast: tinyurl.com/43t22evr #history #mensfashion #mayfair

Died #OTD 1832. The philosopher left instructions for his body to be preserved and exhibited. But what happened to his head? Hear the story in our Heads Podcast: tinyurl.com/f6n5j7kv #history #philosophy #kingscollege

During the 1750s the first great English dictionary was written in this house. Hear how one man struggled for nearly a decade to define the English language in our Dr Johnson Podcast: tinyurl.com/4fh5tpe8 #history #london #Englishlanguage

Anarchy in the UK. Louise Michel born #OTD 1830. The French anarchist fled to London in the 1890s, where she opened a radical school. Staked out by police, who discovered bombs in the basement. Hear the story in our Women and Protest: tinyurl.com/mr3d49uz #history #london #women #radicals

Francis Barber was a slave in Jamaica. He came to England and worked as a housekeeper for Dr Samuel Johnson - becoming a surrogate son to the writer. His story is one of the first properly documented lives of a black man in Britain. Hear more in Dr Johnson Podcast: tinyurl.com/r6x2d9m7 #history

Jonathan Wild died #OTD 1725. London’s C18th crime king controlled gangs of crooks, laundered stolen goods and handed over criminals to authorities for reward. But would the authorities catch up with him? Hear the story in our Newgate Jail Podcast: tinyurl.com/e9mevfez #history #london #crime

Born #OTD 1819, Queen Victoria was only 19 when she was crowned at Westminster Abbey. The most chaotic investiture in modern times, find out how - and why - it all went so wrong in our coronation podcast. Listen here: tinyurl.com/mvd9f3hz #history #queenvictoria #coronation

Mary Anning born #OTD in 1799. She hunted for fossilised dinosaurs along the English Channel, and changed our thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth. Hear her story in our Women and Science podcast: tinyurl.com/4fh5tpe8 #history #science #fossils #women

Samuel Johnson created the first great English dictionary. This sickly, partially blind and deaf, failed Oxford student led a life of difficulty, illness and genius. His dictionary defined the English language. Hear his story in this podcast: tinyurl.com/tzereatx #history #literature

Margaret Catchpole died #OTD 1819. When this kindly rural servant took a horse to ride to meet her lover in London, she was deported. In Australia she recorded the life of the aboriginals and early settlers. Hear her story in this podcast: tinyurl.com/4hducnyh #history #australia #deported

Born #OTD 1820, Florence Nightingale. Her innovations changed medicine, she was a pioneering statistician: not so much the “Lady With the Lamp”, more the Lady With a Pie Chart. Hear her story in our Women in Science podcast: tinyurl.com/mms5su69 #history #womeninscience

The Blitz ended #OTD 1941. 18,291 tons of bombs fell on London, 21,500 people were killed and over a million homes destroyed. Hear stories of courage and resistance in our London Blitz Podcast: tinyurl.com/mrx4huz4 #history #WW2 #London