Utterly interesting

In 1951, a 66 year old Swede named Gustaf Håkansson unofficially entered a thousand mile race he had been deemed too old for. Five days later he crossed the finish a full day ahead of every official rider. This is the relaxed but remarkable story of Steel Grandpa.

A detailed journey through the story of the Communards from the streets of revolutionary Paris to the distant penal settlements of New Caledonia with rare insights into daily life, escape attempts and unexpected friendships.

On 13 November 1002, King Æthelred II ordered the slaughter of Danes in England. Mass graves in Oxford and Dorset reveal the horror of the St Brice’s Day Massacre, a desperate act that helped bring down Anglo-Saxon England.

In 1962, American puppeteers Bil and Cora Baird toured India with their marionettes. Their journey became a meeting of two storytelling traditions, Western satire and India’s centuries-old puppet heritage, where humour, craftsmanship, and imagination spoke a shared language.

Before headlines found him, Michael Dillon quietly changed medicine and himself. Oxford scholar, ship’s doctor, Buddhist monk — and the first known trans man to undergo phalloplasty. A life shaped by intellect, ethics, and quiet courage.

In the early 1900s, Austrian priest Martin Gusinde journeyed to Tierra del Fuego to live among the Selk’nam, Yamana, and Kawésqar peoples. His 1,200 photographs and sound recordings remain one of the last great records of a vanishing world.

In 1931, New Orleans threw a party for Satchmo. There was jazz, there was baseball, and there was a team in white uniforms called the Secret Nine. Discover the story of Louis Armstrong Day and his lifelong love of the game.

Before she was Marilyn, she was “Mona” — a nineteen year old model earning $10 an hour in Earl Moran’s studio. Those early photos, once just reference material, now reveal the quiet beginnings of Hollywood’s most enduring icon.

On 5 November 1605, Guy Fawkes waited in a cellar below Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder. A letter exposed the plan — and changed England forever. Discover the full story of faith, fire, and the night that made Bonfire Night.

In the 1960s, Cornell Aeronautical Laboratories explored the “Man Amplifier,” an early exoskeleton concept designed to boost human strength. Decades before modern robotics, their visionary work laid the foundation for today’s powered suits.

In the late 1960s, hijacking an American airliner and demanding to fly to Cuba became so common that the U.S. government considered building a fake Havana in Florida. Federal officials planned to disguise a runway with palm trees, Spanish signs, and Cuban music so hijackers could be tricked into surrendering — a bizarre but revealing episode from the Cold War’s golden age of skyjacking.

The 1904 St. Louis Olympics were unlike anything before or since. A chaotic marathon of dust, poison, wild dogs and cheating that almost ended the event for good. Discover the unbelievable story of America’s first and strangest Olympic Games.

In 1954, Marilyn Monroe left her honeymoon in Japan to perform for American troops in freezing Korea. “It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said. For the soldiers, her warmth and laughter brought home to a war-torn land.

From battered sand at Daytona to blinding white salt at Bonneville, Malcolm Campbell’s Blue Bird fused Rolls Royce power and Railton craft to shatter three hundred miles per hour in 1935. How a cool head, a smarter nose, and twin rear wheels made history.

A broke writer, a fiery producer, and a word the Mob wanted erased. Discover how The Godfather was made — the deals, the threats, the casting fights, and the brilliance that made it a masterpiece.

Shellfish tips. Icebox picnics. A white bungalow by the Pacific. In the 1930s Cary Grant and Randolph Scott let fan magazines into their home, and a quiet love story slipped through. How their partnership shaped Grant’s on screen magic and what the clippings still whisper today.

Once the world’s largest women’s asylum, the Salpêtrière Hospital in 19th century Paris became a crucible of science, art, and spectacle. Under Dr. Charcot, thousands of women were studied, and often exploited, in the name of neurology. Their stories reveal how modern psychiatry was born from both progress and prejudice.

In 1944, Nazi troops executed 31 partisans in Bassano del Grappa, hanging them along a tree-lined street. Today, Viale dei Martiri remains a peaceful but powerful symbol of courage, resistance, and remembrance.

Banished but unbroken, Napoleon Bonaparte transformed exile on Elba into a daring comeback. Discover how Europe’s fallen emperor outwitted his guards, rebuilt his power, and escaped to reclaim France in one of history’s boldest moves.

For fourteen years, Jersey lived in fear of a masked predator. Discover the true story of Edward Paisnel, the so-called “Beast of Jersey,” his reign of terror, capture, and the dark secrets that echoed long after his death.

Astronauts training on a hill beside a bus in Iceland. Bright yellow sky, text: "When Apollo Astronauts Trained in Iceland."

Discover Halloween traditions from 1900 to 1930. From mischief nights and eerie homemade costumes to apple fortune-telling and the rise of party guides, see how Halloween transformed into the holiday we know today.

Long before she was a legend, Amy Winehouse was just “Aims from Camden” — laughing, singing, and pouring pints at The Hawley Arms. This is the story of those wild, beautiful days.