Episodes

January 4, 1853. After being kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northup regains his freedom.

January 3, 1911. After three London policemen are killed trying to stop a robbery, their murderers are tracked down to an East London slum where a dramatic and deadly armed siege begins.

January 2, 1981. Britsh police arrest a man named Peter Sutcliffe for a routine traffic violation, but they soon realize that he is a mass murderer known as the Yorkshire Ripper.

December 30, 1941. In a rousing speech to the Canadian Parliament, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill celebrates his success in holding off Nazi Germany in the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.

December 29, 1890. The United States Army massacres hundreds of Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota.

December 28, 1832. John C. Calhoun resigns as Vice President of the United States after clashing with President Andrew Jackson.

December 27, 1657. Settlers in what is today Queens, New York write “The Flushing Remonstrance,” a petition that, for the first time in North American history, articulates that freedom of religion is a fundamental right.

December 26, 1919. Baseball’s so-called Sultan of Swat, Babe Ruth, is sold to the world-famous New York Yankees.

December 23, 1783. American General George Washington resigns his military commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.

December 22, 1849. Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky is saved from execution by a last-minute reprieve, an event that shapes the novelist’s greatest works.

December 21, 1968. Apollo 8, the first crewed spacecraft to successfully orbit the Moon and return to Earth, launches from the Kennedy Space Center.

December 20, 1989. President George H.W. Bush launches a US invasion of Panama to depose the country's dictator, and former CIA informant, Manuel Noriega.

December 19, 1675. During King Philip's War, colonial militias wage a devastating attack against the Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island.

On today’s Saturday Matinee, the Podcast “Based On A True Story” focuses on James Cameron’s Titanic.  How much of Jack and Rose’s story from the movie was based on real history, and how much of it was fiction? Link to Based On A True Story: https://www.basedonatruestorypodcast.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

December 16, 1905. Rugby Union’s "Match of the Century" is played between Wales and the undefeated New Zealand at Cardiff Arms Park.

December 15, 1890. Native American chief Sitting Bull is killed by Indian police on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota.

December 14, 1926. An 11-day nationwide search ends when crime novelist Agatha Christie is discovered living under a false identity at a hotel in Harrogate, England after disappearing from her home.

December 13th, 1643. The tide of the English Civil War turns against King Charles I at the Battle of Alton.

December 12, 1936. During the Chinese Civil War, Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek is kidnapped, sparking a political reckoning that unites the Chinese against a common enemy: Japan.

On today’s Saturday Matinee, a rivalry between two Shakespearian actors triggers a deadly riot in the streets of Manhattan. Link to Where There’s A Will: https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/where-theres-a-will-finding-shakespeare See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

December 9, 1967. The Doors singer Jim Morrison is arrested in the middle of a performance in New Haven, Connecticut. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

December 8, 1953. US President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his famous "Atoms for Peace" speech amid the escalating nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

December 7th, 1941. The Imperial Japanese Navy launches its attack on Pearl Harbor.

December 6, 1976. After evading punishment for decades, Pieter Menten, one of the Netherlands' most notorious Nazi war criminals, is arrested in Switzerland.