History All Day – Stories From the Past, Every Day

Photograph of the Tsar Bomba fireball over Novaya Zemlya on 30 October 1961

Today in history · 65 years ago · October 30, 1961World History

Sixty-Five Years Ago Today the Soviets Set Off a Bomb Too Big to Use

On 30 October 1961 a Soviet bomber dropped a 27-tonne hydrogen bomb over Novaya Zemlya. Its 50-megaton blast is still the largest explosion humans have made.

Marcus Delacroix · October 30, 2026

Latest

Postcard photograph of the finish of the 1905 Melbourne Cup at Flemington, with the crowd in the foreground

The First Melbourne Cup Had 4,000 People, a Gold Watch and a Horse Who Came by Boat

October 30, 2026

Photo of Patrick Stewart on a panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2013

Patrick Stewart Was the Captain Star Trek's Creator Refused to Have

October 30, 2026

Photograph of Royal Marines lined up at English Camp on San Juan Island before leaving in 1872

Strange History

Britain and America Nearly Went to War Over One Pig and Stayed Twelve Years

October 30, 2026

Albumen photograph by Timothy O'Sullivan, 1867: two men of Clarence King's Fortieth Parallel Survey sit and stand among knobbly tufa rock formations at Pyramid Lake, Nevada

Strange History

Two Prospectors Salted a Mesa With Diamonds in 1872 and Fooled Tiffany's

October 29, 2026

Photograph of Miller Park in Milwaukee, now American Family Field, under a clear blue sky in 2016, with its arched roof trusses and brick facade

Milwaukee's Last Title Was 1957. Eight Years Later the Braves Were Gone

October 29, 2026

More Stories

Johannes Vermeer's painting Young Woman with a Water Pitcher (about 1662): a woman in a white headdress and a deep blue ultramarine skirt stands by a window holding a brass pitcher

The Blue That Cost More Than Gold Came From One Valley in Afghanistan

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 29, 2026

William Hogarth's 1755 engraving An Election Entertainment: a crowded tavern feast, with a placard reading Give Us Our Eleven Days lying under a man's foot at bottom right

Why the Year Begins on 1 January, and Why Britain's Tax Year Doesn't

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 29, 2026

Engraving from 1896 of a British cruiser firing on the sultan's palace in Zanzibar harbour, with smoke rising from the waterfront and the lighthouse behind

Strange History

The Shortest War in History Lasted 38 Minutes, and Zanzibar Was Billed for the Shells

Marcus Delacroix · October 28, 2026

Hellenistic bronze statue of a sleeping winged boy lying on a rock, 3rd to 2nd century BC, of the kind the divers mistook for drowned bodies (this one is in New York, not from the wreck)

Strange History

Divers Raised the Antikythera Mechanism in 1901. It Sat on a Shelf a Year

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 28, 2026

Studio photograph of Rear Admiral William B. Caperton of the US Navy in full dress uniform with epaulettes and sword, around 1915

1,000 Salvadoran Troops Are in Haiti. The Last Big Landing Stayed 19 Years

Tomás Ferreira · October 28, 2026

Woodblock print by Kawanabe Kyōsai, about 1863, showing two long-necked goblins frightening a customer at a noodle stall

Instant Noodles Began in an Osaka Shed. Last Year the World Ate 124 Billion

Hannah Lindqvist · October 28, 2026

Black-and-white photograph of Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres sitting side by side in the Knesset in the 1980s, Peres reading a note

Israel Is Deadlocked Again. In 1984 the Answer Was Two Prime Ministers Taking Turns

Marcus Delacroix · October 28, 2026

Blue and white porcelain bowl from Joseon-dynasty Korea, dated 1847, with floral panels and an inscription incised around the foot

World Figureheads

King Sejong Invented an Alphabet in 1443. His Scholars Begged Him to Stop

Tomás Ferreira · October 28, 2026

William Hogarth's etching Cunicularii, or the Wise Men of Godliman in Consultation (1726): doctors gather round Mary Toft's bed while rabbits run across the floor

Strange History

Mary Toft Gave Birth to 17 Rabbits in 1726. The King's Surgeon Believed Her

Jonah Okafor · October 28, 2026

Oil painting by Edward Moran of the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty in 1886, with the statue above a crowd of flag-decked boats and gun smoke in New York Harbor

The Statue of Liberty Was Unveiled 140 Years Ago Today in Fog, Rain and a Mistimed Speech

Priya Raman · October 28, 2026

Photograph of Adolf Hitler saluting the Olympic flag at the Berlin Games in 1936, the year the Peace Prize went to Carl von Ossietzky

Trump Won't Forget Norway. Hitler Banned Germans From the Nobel in 1937

Jonah Okafor · October 28, 2026

The Cloisters Playing Cards, a complete hand-painted deck of 52 made in the Burgundian Netherlands around 1475 to 1480, laid out in four rows

Why a Jack Is a Jack: The Deck in Your Drawer Is a 1480s French Design

Hannah Lindqvist · October 28, 2026

Colour photochrom print of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) seen from the coast road, with the walled old town on its headland and a man sitting on the hillside, about 1890 to 1900

Why Quarantine Means Forty Days: Ragusa Chose 30 in 1377, Venice Added Ten

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 28, 2026

Black-and-white photograph of Washington pitcher Walter Johnson walking across the infield past a row of press photographers during the 1925 World Series

The Rays Need Three Straight Wins. Six Teams Have Done It, One With an Umpire's Help

Priya Raman · October 28, 2026

Black-and-white photograph of a packed crowd of men in dark suits on the floor of the London Stock Exchange, between 1910 and 1920

Big Bang at 40: The Weekend That Emptied London's Stock Exchange Floor

Marcus Delacroix · October 27, 2026

World Figureheads

Catherine the Great Took Russia in One Morning in 1762 and Kept It for 34 Years

Tomás Ferreira · October 27, 2026

Lithograph of 1835 showing winged bat-people, unicorns and other animals beside a lake and waterfall on the moon, sold by the New York Sun as a view of Herschel's discoveries

Strange History

The New York Sun Found Bat-Men on the Moon in 1835 and Sold Out Every Day

Hannah Lindqvist · October 27, 2026

Black-and-white night photograph of three children on a New York street at Halloween in 1964, two of them in moulded plastic masks, one a grinning space monster and one a blonde woman's face

Halloween (1978) Cost $300,000 and Its Killer Wore a $2 Captain Kirk Mask

Hannah Lindqvist · October 27, 2026

Mughal miniature of about 1618 showing the emperor Jahangir seated beside Shah Abbas I of Persia, in orange, at a table of gifts

World Figureheads

Hormuz Fell in 1622 When a Shah Hired the English Fleet to Evict Portugal

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 27, 2026

Photograph of the painted food counter in Regio V at Pompeii, with jar openings set into the top and frescoes of hanging ducks, a rooster and a dog on a leash

Pompeii Had 80 Fast-Food Counters, and Four Emperors Tried to Close Them

Eleanor Whitcombe · October 27, 2026

Black-and-white photograph of a worker in a hard hat on scaffolding in dry dock, inspecting the buckled hull of the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts after it struck an Iranian mine in April 1988

Before Hormuz 2026: The One-Day War the US Navy Fought Iran in April 1988

Marcus Delacroix · October 27, 2026

Lithograph of a Salem witch trial courtroom scene, a young woman standing accused before the judges, published in 1892

The Salem Witch Trials Ended With a Fast Day, a Jury's Apology and One Accuser Standing Up in Church

Priya Raman · October 27, 2026

Police photograph of the five lines of pencilled capital letters found on the back cover of the Rubaiyat linked to the Somerton Man

Strange History

The Somerton Man Lay Unnamed for 73 Years, Then a Hair in a Bust Named Him

Jonah Okafor · October 27, 2026

Hand-coloured print of a crowded London barber's shop in 1811, with men being shaved and wigs dressed

Strange History

Why the Barber's Pole Is Red and White: It Was Once Covered in Real Blood

Jonah Okafor · October 27, 2026