President Kennedy starts his thousand days
On this day in 1961 the inauguration of President John F Kennedy took place in Washington DC. The 86 year old poet Robert Frost recited... Read More
Edgar Allan Poe’s problematic life
On this day in 1809 the novelist Edgar Allan Poe was born. Although now well-known, he was beset for most of his life with financial... Read More
French King Louis XVI faces the guillotine
On this day in 1793 the French King Louis XVI was sentenced to death by the National Convention in Paris. Louis seems to have been... Read More
Colonel John Pemberton starts a coke habit
On this day in 1886 Colonel John Pemberton registered the Pemberton Medicine Company in Atlanta, Georgia which would later become the Coca-Cola Company. Pemberton was... Read More
Albert Schweitzer enters the jungle
On this day in 1875 the French physician, missionary, philosopher and musician Albert Schweitzer was born. An expert pianist and organist, he became an authority... Read More
James Joyce makes some chamber music
On this day in 1941 the author James Joyce died in Zurich. Regularly considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, Joyce... Read More
Edmund Hillary reaches the top
On this day in 2008 the New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary died aged 88. He will always be remembered for the 1952 conquest of Everest,... Read More