The BBC Once Ran An April Fools’ Day Story About Spaghetti Growing On Trees
April Fools' Day is when people try to mislead each other, sometimes the people you’d least suspect. Like how on this day in 1957, one of the world’s most steady and preeminent news outlets reported that spaghetti was growing on trees.
An Engineer Wanted To Add Car Ramps To The Eiffel Tower
Today in 1889, the formal opening and dedication of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. What a strange life it’s had, including a proposal in the 1930s to add two huge car ramps to the sides of the thing.
“Wing Walker” Gladys Ingle Could Change An Airplane’s Tire In The Middle Of The Sky
Today in 1899, the birthday of Gladys Ingle. She was called a “wing walker," which meant she could walk on the wings of a plane in mid-flight and perform some of the most daring and death-defying stunts you could imagine.
Eliza Scidmore Lobbied For Decades To Bring Cherry Blossoms To Washington DC
There are thousands of cherry blossoms in the nation's capital, and it all happened thanks to one very determined woman and a bunch of great minds all thinking alike.
The Supremes Were Such A Popular Group, They Had Their Own Bread
Today in 1944, the birthday of Diana Ross. In the 1960s she and the Supremes had hit record after hit record, and at one point, they were even the namesakes for a line of white bread.
How A “Sea-Worm” Inspired Marc Brunel To Dig London’s Thames Tunnel
Today in 1843, the opening of the Thames Tunnel in London, the first tunnel of its kind and one inspired by a mollusc known as a shipworm.