Flashmobs are sudden gatherings of people in a public place. Participants gather at a prearranged time and engage in a pointless activity for a brief period before disbanding. The first notable flashmob occurred in May 2003 at a shop in New York, USA, organised by Bill Wasik (USA). Police had been tipped off about the event. The second flashmob, also organised by Wasik, avoided police intervention and was much more successful. This occurred on 3 June 2003 at Macy’s department store, New York, USA.

The Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II – the first production-representative Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) short take off and vertical landing (STVOL) strike aircraft – made its maiden flight on 11 June 2008 piloted by British Aerospace Systems (BAE) test pilot Graham Tomlinson at the company’s Fort Worth facility. Developed to be the world’s premier strike aircraft through to 2040, three versions are under development: the F-35A a conventional takeoff and landing variant, which has already flown; the F-35B, short-takeoff and vertical-landing variant; and the F-35C, Continue reading →

The first heavier-than-air flight on the Antarctic continent was made on 16 November 1928 by Sir Hubert Wilkins (Australia) and Carl Ben Eielson (USA) in a Lockheed Vega aircraft.

The joint NASA/ESA Ulysses spacecraft was launched from the space shuttle Discovery in 1990. It headed out to Jupiter where it used a gravitational slingshot to send it into a polar orbit around the Sun, from where it has directly observed both poles of the Sun. The spacecraft ceased operations on 30 June 2009.

On 3 April 1933, two aircraft, a Houston-Westland and a Westland-Wallace – both open cockpit bi-planes fitted with Bristol Pegasus SIII engines – made the first manned flights over Mount Everest (29,035feet), the highest mountain in the world. The aircraft took off from Lalbalu aerodrome, near Purnea, India crewed by Colonel LVS Blacker and Squadron Leader the Lord Clydesdale in one and Flight Lieutenant DF MacIntyre and Mr SR Bonnet in the other. The flight took three hours, covered a return distance of 320 miles Continue reading →

Due to make its first flight in February 2009, the ultimate off-roader, the Terrafugia Transition, the first integrated, fixed roadable aircraft -or flying car – is a two-seater aircraft that, at the touch of a button, converts in just 15 seconds to a car that has the potential to be legally used on certain roads. The wings fold automatically and all the parts are in the vehicle. It will cruise at 100 knots, carry a useful payload of 430lbs burn 5 gallons an hour in Continue reading →

A flying return trapeze act was first performed by Jules Léotard (France) at Cirque Napoleon, Paris, France on 12 November 1859.

The 12-part An American Family (USA, PBS, filmed 1971; aired 1973) is considered to be the first TV show to feature a prolonged fly-on-the-wall look at real people. Over 10 million viewers would tune in each week to watch as the “stars” – the Louds, a typical nuvlear family from Santa Barbara, alifornia, USA – went about their everyday lives. Viewing figures peaked when mother Ann asked father Bill for a divorce.

Dating back to the Sumerian Empire of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), the epic poem known as The Epic of Gilgamesh contains what is believed to be the first formal declaration of war. Among the earliest works of literature, this poem describes the exploits of Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk in Mesopotamia in approximately 2500 BC. Scholars believe the poem was originally composed in 1800–1700 BC (nearly 1,000 years before Homer is thought to have written The Iliad and The Odyssey) and later recorded on clay tablets Continue reading →

The oldest reptile fossil, nicknamed `Lizzie the Lizard’, a stem-amniote or reptiliomorph, was found on a site in Scotland by palaeontologist Stan Wood in March 1988. The 20.3-cm (8-in) long reptile is estimated to be about 340 million years old, 40 million years older than previously discovered reptiles. `Lizzie’ was officially named Westlothiana lizziae in 1991.