On this day in 1972, Home Box Office, or HBO, began broadcasting for the first time.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1800, the police chief of Paris issued an order making it illegal for women to wear pants in public.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1528, Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca became the first European to set foot on land that would later become the state of Texas.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1935, Parker Brothers begins selling Monopoly, a board game based on the real estate of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1918, at the tail end of the First World War, British poet Wilfred Owen was killed in action during an assault on a German-held canal on the Western Front of France.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1906, at an international conference held in Berlin, SOS was chosen as the officially recognized distress call for ships at sea.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1947, Howard Hughes pilots the H-4 Hercules, also known as the “Spruce Goose”, on its first and only flight.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1945, Ebony magazine, a journal chronicling the lives of African Americans, released its inaugural issue.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1926, in Room 401 of Grace Hospital in Detroit, Harry Houdini dies of complications from a ruptured appendix.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this day in 1991, after days of build-up, a devastating storm reached peak intensity as it battered the North Atlantic.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.