Europe

On this day in 1968, Russia launched the Zond 5 rocket from Baikonur. It was the first spacecraft to travel around the moon and return to Earth; serving a mainly scientific purpose, the expedition carried two tortoises and assorted insects…

On September 12, 1906, the Newport Transporter Bridge opened, carrying vehicle and foot traffic across the River Usk. A gondola hanging from the main boom is carried back and forth between two supporting towers. There are less than ten of…

On September 1, 1901, French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec died at the age of 36. Despite health problems throughout his short life, he took to a bohemian Paris lifestyle easily, and captured the city's late-19th century life in all its…

Saturday afternoons were never the same after September 8, 1888, when the first games were played amongst the twelve teams in England's new Football League. Among the teams, all from the midlands and north-west, Preston North End beat Burnley 5-2,…

Three hundred and sixteen years ago, Emperor Peter I of Russia was in an ongoing battle with the Slavic elites about modernising the country and making it more 'European'. One casualty of this campaign was … the traditional long beard!…

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, almost two dozen transporter bridges were built around the world. They feature a high gantry - tall enough to allow ships to pass below - carrying a gondola to transport foot passengers…