On a blustery, wet day in May of 1954, British runner Roger Bannister - an Oxford medical student - accomplished a long distance running feat that many had said would never be achieved. It would make Bannister the sportsperson of the year - and his achievement is hailed as one of the greatest sports moments of 20th century. This is the story of Roger Bannister and the 4-minute mile.

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb5AtK08gPM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roger_Bannister_1953.jpg

Sponsor

Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details).

History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com

Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sliced bread is a simple yet ingenious invention with a surprisingly short history. Almost as soon as it came onto the market, it took over American bakeries and became a staple in every household. Except, for a brief few months in 1943 when the United States government banned this incredible product. This is the story of sliced bread and the time it was banned.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliced_bread

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-ridiculous-reason-why-the-us-enacted-a-wartime-ban-on-sliced-bread-salesand-why-it-didnt-last-long-180985834/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/america-banned-sliced-bread

Image: By Fran Hogan - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fresh_made_bread_05.jpg

Sponsor

Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details).

History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com

Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From 2008-10, the Lower Merion School District - in suburban Philadelphia - issued laptops to more than 2,300 high school students for school and home use. What they didn’t tell the kids or their parents was that the district loaded the laptops with secret software that gave officials the ability to remotely take photos from those laptops. What followed was WebcamGate - one of the biggest invasion of privacy incidents in the nation’s history.

Sources

https://time.com/7275031/spy-high-true-story-prime-video/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbins_v._Lower_Merion_School_District

https://time.com/7275031/spy-high-true-story-prime-video/

Image: by Matheus Bertelli - https://www.pexels.com/photo/modern-video-camera-hanging-on-display-of-laptop-7172701/"

Sponsor

Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details).

History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com

Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Defenestrate is a highly specific word. It means to throw someone out of a window. And it comes from the city of Prague where several people were tossed out of a window and helped ignite a brutal religious war. And then it happened again 200 years later. This is the story of the Defenestrations of Prague.

Sources

https://english.radio.cz/blood-bohemia-second-defenestration-prague-and-window-changed-europe-8889193

https://english.radio.cz/first-defenestration-prague-what-was-it-and-why-did-it-happen-8124688

"The Thirty Years War: a documentary history" by Tryntje Helfferich

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:V%C3%A1clavBRO%C5%BD%C3%8DK-Defenestrace.jpg#Summary

Sponsor

Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details).

History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com

Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By the 1940s, government officials were looking to re-introduce the beaver to a region of Idaho to help improve the health of the area’s wetlands. But hauling live beavers through forests and over mountains was not easy - or cheap. And thus someone came up with the idea of parachuting beavers into these remote areas. This is the story of Idaho’s Parachuting Beavers - or parabeavers.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_drop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APLz2bTprMA

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a71613267/parachute-beavers/

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beaver_drop_box_sprung_open_on_landing_Idaho_1950.png

Sponsor

Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details).

History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com

Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Dec. 29, 1975, a bomb tore through LaGuardia Airport in New York City. The blast killed 11 people and wounded 74. No one claimed responsibility for the bombing. And the bombers were never found. This is the story of the 1975 LaGuardia Airport Bombing.

Sources

https://observer.com/2016/01/why-hasnt-washington-explained-the-1975-laguardia-airport-bombing/

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/07/laguardia-airport-bombing-cold-case-terrorism-unsolved.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWEnG77vAPw

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_LaGuardia_Airport_bombing

File:Trans_World_Airlines_terminal_at_LaGuardia_Airport_following_1975_bombing.jpg

Sponsor

Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details).

History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com

Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most beloved comic strips in history is Calvin and Hobbes. It is the adventures of a mischievous six-year old boy and his equally naughty stuffed tiger - who only comes alive for Calvin. To look at the history of Calvin and Hobbes, we brought on some experts - Ryan and Indy from the Magic of Calvin and Hobbes podcast.

Sources

Ryan and Indy from the Magic of Calvin and Hobbes Podcast

Website: https://ryanbaker712.podbean.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MagicofCandH

Image: Courtesy of the Magic of Calvin and Hobbes Podcast team

Sponsor

Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details).

History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com

Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Henrietta Lacks was an ordinary women who lived and ordinary life. However upon her death scientists discovered that she had a real life superpower. Her cells were basically immortal, and their study has forever changed the face of modern medicine, and generated endless controversy.

Sources

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henrietta_Lacks_(cropped).jpg

Sponsor

Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details).

History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com

Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to legend, in the 12th century a Welsh prince, Madoc, sailed to the west - looking for a place to settle his people. They would find the Americas. And for hundreds of years rumors would persist about the descendants of these settlers. This is the story of Madoc and the Welsh Indians.

Sources

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/The-discovery-of-America-by-Welsh-Prince/

https://clements.umich.edu/publication/the-best-of-the-west/a-profound-and-enduring-impression/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madoc

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:01madog07.jpg

Sponsor

Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details).

History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com

Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While being the county seat is important, it is probably not worth fighting a war over. However, for the people of Stevens County, Kansas, the decision for county seat turned violent, and culminated in the Hay Meadow Massacre, where four men were killed in cold blood. This is the story of the Hay Meadow Massacre.

Sources

https://www.ksgenweb.org/KSStevens/haymeadow.html

https://digging-history.com/2014/07/24/feudin-and-fightin-friday-the-hay-meadow-massacre/

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Haymeadow_massacre.png

Sponsor

Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details).

History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com

Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Adolph Hitler hoped to demonstrate to the world the power, majesty and superiority of the resurgent German nation. That, however, would be foiled by a 22-year old African American track and field athlete - who would put on one of the greatest displays in Olympic history. This is the story of Jesse Owens and the 1936 Olympic Games.

Sources

https://jesseowens.com

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/owens/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jesse_Owens_1936.jpg

Sponsor

Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details).

History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com

Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices