On 13 July 1985, Vice President George H. W. Bush became Acting President of the United States for approximately eight hours whilst Ronald Reagan underwent surgery under general anaesthetic. It was the first time the Twenty-Fifth Amendment’s provisions for voluntary transfer of power had been used in practice, if not technically invoked. Bush spent his brief tenure playing golf in Maine, a masterclass in constitutional restraint. The episode also explores a failed 2003 French intelligence operation to rescue hostage Íngrid Betancourt from FARC guerrillas, the 645 CE Isshi Incident that reshaped Japanese imperial politics through assassination and reform, and the 1925 discovery of the Venus of Dolní Věstonice, one of the oldest known ceramic objects in the world, dating back some 26,000 to 31,000 years. From presidential procedures to ice age artistry, the thirteenth of July offers a cross-section of human decision-making at its most careful, most violent, and most enduring.

• Intro What happens when the most powerful office in the world goes under general anaesthetic? The answer involves paperwork, a golf course in Maine, and one very calm vice president.
• The Day Bush Was President (Sort Of) On 13 July 1985, Ronald Reagan signed a carefully worded letter transferring presidential authority to George H. W. Bush for eight hours during surgery. It was the first practical use of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment’s voluntary transfer provisions, though Reagan was careful not to formally invoke it. Bush played golf.
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• The French Rescue That Became a Scandal On 13 July 2003, French intelligence aborted a rescue operation for hostage Íngrid Betancourt, held by FARC guerrillas in Colombia. When details leaked, it became a political scandal. Betancourt was eventually freed in 2008.
• The Isshi Incident On 13 July 645 CE, Soga no Iruka was assassinated at court in Japan, triggering the Isshi Incident and subsequent Taika Reforms. The conspirators included Nakatomi no Kamatari, whose reward was the Fujiwara surname. The Fujiwara clan would dominate Japanese politics for centuries.
• The Venus of Dolní Věstonice On 13 July 1925, archaeologists in Czechoslovakia unearthed a ceramic figurine dating to between 26,000 and 31,000 years ago. The Venus of Dolní Věstonice is one of the oldest known ceramic objects in the world, proof that humans were firing clay millennia before the advent of agriculture or writing.
• Outro The thirteenth of July reminds us that human capacity for care, craft, and survival spans from ice age figurines to constitutional golf games.

• https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/letter-speaker-house-representatives-and-president-pro-tempore-senate-july-13-1985
• https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/when-ronald-reagan-had-a-colon-surgery-the-25th-amendment-was-almost-invoked
• https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/14/us/reagan-transfers-power-to-bush-for-8-hour-period-of-incapacity.html
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10520780
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/03/colombia.france
• https://www.liberation.fr/international/2003/07/17/ingrid-betancourt-la-dgse-aurait-tente-une-operation-de-sauvetage_439638/
• https://www.britannica.com/event/Taika-era-reforms
• https://www.worldhistory.org/Fujiwara_Clan/
• https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/x13408
• https://www.moravianmuseum.cz/en/dolni-vestonice
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440398903263

On 12 July 1488, Korean official Choe Bu returned home after an extraordinary accidental journey across Ming Dynasty China, having documented everything he saw. His diary remains one of the most valuable accounts of fifteenth-century Chinese life ever written. Four centuries later, on the same date in 1562, Franciscan friar Diego de Landa presided over the burning of Maya codices in Yucatán, destroying centuries of astronomical and religious knowledge. Only four Maya manuscripts are known to have survived. In 1995, Chinese seismologists successfully predicted a major Myanmar-China border earthquake, saving hundreds of lives through timely evacuation. And in 1997, Berlin’s ninth Love Parade was met with a counter-protest called the Hateparade, organised by those who felt the techno scene had been commercialised beyond recognition. Four stories about what gets recorded, what gets destroyed, and what survives long enough to matter.

• Introduction Clara introduces the theme of documenting disaster and sets up the story of Choe Bu, a Joseon Dynasty official who survived shipwreck and captivity to write one of history’s great travel accounts.
• Choe Bu’s Impossible Journey Home In 1488, Korean official Choe Bu was shipwrecked off the coast of China while returning home for his father’s funeral. Detained by Ming authorities suspicious of pirates, he used his literacy in classical Chinese to prove his identity. He was then escorted across the breadth of China via the Grand Canal, observing everything from infrastructure to daily life. His resulting fifty-thousand-character diary became one of the most valuable accounts of Ming society ever written.
• Fray Diego de Landa Burns the Maya Books On 12 July 1562, Franciscan friar Diego de Landa ordered the burning of Maya sacred objects and codices in Maní, Yucatán. Between 27 and 40 manuscripts containing astronomical knowledge, religious ritual, and calendrical systems were destroyed. Only four Maya codices survived the Spanish colonial period. Ironically, De Landa later wrote one of the most important accounts of Maya culture and helped preserve elements of their writing system.
• Chinese Seismologists Predict the Myanmar-China Earthquake On 12 July 1995, Chinese seismologists successfully predicted a major earthquake on the Myanmar-China border, allowing evacuations that limited casualties to eleven people. This stands as one of the clearest documented cases of successful earthquake prediction, a feat that remains exceptionally rare in modern seismology.
• Berlin’s Love Parade Gets a Rival On 12 July 1997, Berlin’s ninth Love Parade was met with a counter-protest called the Hateparade, organised by those who felt the techno festival had become too commercial and had abandoned its underground roots. The protest later evolved into the annual Fuckparade, which continues as a demonstration against corporate takeover of countercultural spaces.
• Outro Clara reflects on what survives in history: the records we make, the knowledge we destroy, and the arguments we preserve.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choe_Bu
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/2719418
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_de_Landa
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_codices
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Maya-codex
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Myanmar%E2%80%93China_earthquake
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0040195196000637
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveparade
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuckparade

On 11 July across three centuries, three men made their mark through confidence, ingenuity, and technological ambition. In 1576, explorer Martin Frobisher sighted Greenland but mistakenly identified it as Frisland, a non-existent island shown on the influential but fictional Zeno Map. His error illuminates the challenges of 16th-century navigation and the consequences of cartographic fiction. In 2015, drug lord Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán escaped Mexico’s Altiplano maximum security prison through a sophisticated 1.5-kilometre tunnel, exposing security failures and triggering an international manhunt. In 1997, Philippe Kahn shared the first photograph from a mobile phone, an image of his newborn daughter sent while waiting in a California hospital, prefiguring the instant visual communication now used by billions daily. Three stories of exploration, escape, and innovation reveal the enduring human capacity for ambition, both misguided and transformative.

• Introduction Clara Vale introduces three 11 July moments spanning exploration, escape, and technological innovation, each shaped by human confidence and miscalculation.
• Martin Frobisher Finds the Island That Wasn’t There In 1576, English explorer Martin Frobisher sighted Greenland but identified it as Frisland, a fictional island on the Zeno Map. His voyages, funded partly on false promises of gold, nevertheless opened early English exploration of the Canadian Arctic despite reliance on misleading cartography.
• El Chapo’s Second Disappearing Act On 11 July 2015, Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán escaped Mexico’s Altiplano maximum security prison through a 1.5-kilometre tunnel equipped with lighting, ventilation, and a rail-mounted motorcycle. He was recaptured in 2016 and extradited to the United States.
• The First Phone Photograph In 1997, Philippe Kahn transmitted the first photograph from a mobile phone, an image of his newborn daughter Sophie, while in a California hospital. The demonstration established the foundation for instant visual communication now used globally.
• Outro Clara reflects on how three moments of discovery, escape, and invention reveal the gap between human confidence and reality, shaping the future in unexpected ways.

• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Frobisher
• https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/zeno-map-fake-or-genuine
• https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sir-martin-frobisher
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-33479289
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/12/el-chapo-escape-tunnel-mexico-prison
• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/nyregion/el-chapo-sentencing.html
• https://www.wired.com/2016/06/philippe-kahn-first-camera-phone/
• https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/tech/mobile/first-camera-phone-photo/index.html

On 10 July 1958, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake triggered the largest wave in recorded history. Ninety million tons of rock crashed into Lituya Bay, Alaska, sending water surging 1,720 feet up the mountainside, stripping trees and soil in a single catastrophic event. Three fishing boats were caught in the bay that night. Two crews survived against impossible odds. One did not. The megatsunami redefined what scientists believed water could do and remains the defining case study in coastal hazard modelling. Also on this day: French intelligence agents sank the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour in 1985, killing one photographer and sparking an international scandal. And in 2018, the final four members of a Thai youth football team emerged from the Tham Luang cave system after 18 days underground, completing one of the most remarkable rescue operations of the century. Clara Vale explores a day when history arrived as a wall of water, a covert bombing, and a moment of extraordinary human coordination.

• Introduction Clara sets the scene in Lituya Bay, Alaska, where a calm summer evening in 1958 turned into the most extreme recorded wave event in human history.
• The 1958 Lituya Bay Megatsunami A magnitude 7.9 earthquake triggered a rockslide that sent 90 million tons of material into Lituya Bay, creating a wave that surged 1,720 feet up the opposite mountainside. Three fishing boats were in the bay that night. Two crews survived. The Sunmore and its crew, Orville and Mickey Wagner, were lost. The event redefined megatsunami science and changed how geologists assess coastal hazards.
• The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior On 10 July 1985, French intelligence agents bombed the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour, killing photographer Fernando Pereira. Two agents were arrested and convicted. France initially denied involvement, then admitted it. The incident was condemned internationally as state-sponsored terrorism.
• The Tham Luang Cave Rescue On 10 July 2018, the final four boys and their coach emerged from the Tham Luang cave system in northern Thailand after 18 days trapped underground. Twelve boys and their assistant coach had been caught by flooding on 23 June. An international rescue effort involving specialist cave divers, sedation, and round-the-clock engineering brought all 13 out alive. Thai Navy SEAL Saman Kunan died during the operation.
• Closing Thoughts Clara reflects on a day that brought a wave that rewrote science, a covert operation that failed to stay secret, and a rescue that defied the odds. History arrives in many forms, reminding us the world is larger, stranger, and more fragile than we anticipate.

• https://www.usgs.gov/centers/pcmsc/science/lituya-bay
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237467734_Analysis_of_the_1958_Lituya_Bay_Megatsunami
• https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/bssa/article-abstract/50/2/253/101467/The-Mechanism-of-the-1958-Lituya-Bay-Megatsunami
• https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/rainbow-warrior-bombing-30-years-on/
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44791998
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/10/thai-cave-rescue-four-more-boys-freed-from-cave-in-good-health
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44734385

On 9 July 1997, engineer Fernando Caldeira de Moura Campos was ejected from an exploding TAM Airlines Fokker 100 at 2,400 metres altitude over Brazil, without a parachute. Against all odds, he survived the fall. This episode also examines Earth’s shortest recorded day on 9 July 2025, when the planet’s rotation ran 1.3 to 1.6 milliseconds fast, raising the prospect of a negative leap second. We revisit the 1985 Austrian wine scandal, when producers were caught adulterating wine with diethylene glycol, an antifreeze component, leading to collapsed exports and ultimately some of the world’s strictest wine regulations. Finally, we return to 9 July 2006, when Zinédine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final, ending his career with a red card rather than a trophy. Four stories of survival, precision, scandal, and one very public loss of composure.

• Intro Clara opens with a domestic flight over Brazil that turns catastrophic in half a second, introducing today’s stories of explosive survival, planetary timekeeping, wine adulteration, and sporting infamy.
• The Man Who Fell From the Sky On 9 July 1997, Fernando Caldeira de Moura Campos was thrown from an exploding TAM Airlines Fokker 100 at 2,400 metres. He survived the fall without a parachute, one of the rarest outcomes in aviation history.
• Earth’s Shortest Recorded Day On 9 July 2025, Earth completed its shortest recorded day, running 1.3 to 1.6 milliseconds faster than 24 hours. The acceleration raises the surreal possibility of a negative leap second.
• The Austrian Wine Scandal On 9 July 1985, West Germany warned that Austrian wines had been adulterated with diethylene glycol, an antifreeze component. The scandal collapsed exports but ultimately led to world-leading wine regulation.
• Zidane’s Headbutt On 9 July 2006, Zinédine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi in the World Cup final after provocation about his sister. He received a red card in his final professional match, and France lost on penalties.
• Outro Clara reflects on a day of unlikely survival, planetary acceleration, industrial contamination, and sporting self-destruction. History, as ever, resists tidy endings.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Caldeira_de_Moura_Campos
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAM_Airlines
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_100
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_rotation
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_diethylene_glycol_wine_scandal
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diethylene_glycol
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup_Final
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinedine_Zidane
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Materazzi

On 8 July across different years, history delivered a masterclass in human ambition, catastrophic misjudgement, and bureaucratic precision. In 2012, Oxford hosted the first Quidditch World Cup held outside the United States, as a sport invented in a fantasy novel became a genuine international competition complete with broomsticks and world champions. In 1998, a French customs stop uncovered hundreds of doping products in a team car, triggering the Festina Affair that nearly ended that year’s Tour de France and exposed systematic drug use in professional cycling. In 2014, Brazil suffered the Mineiraço, losing 7-1 to Germany in a World Cup semi-final at home in what remains one of football’s most shocking results. And in 2010, Poland managed three different presidents in a single day through perfectly legal constitutional succession following the Smolensk air disaster. From fictional sports made real to sporting dreams destroyed, the eighth of July proves that history arrives in many forms, most of them unexpected.

• Intro Clara introduces four wildly different historical events that share only a date: a fantasy sport made real, a drug scandal, a football catastrophe, and a constitutional oddity.
• The First Quidditch World Cup On 8 July 2012, Oxford hosted the first Quidditch World Cup outside the United States. The sport, adapted from J.K. Rowling’s novels by Middlebury College students in 2005, required players to run holding broomsticks. The American team won the inaugural international title in a sport built entirely from creative stubbornness and enthusiasm.
• The Festina Affair Begins On 8 July 1998, French customs officers stopped Festina team masseur Willy Voet at the Belgian border and discovered over 400 ampoules of EPO and other banned substances. The arrest triggered the Festina Affair, leading to team expulsions, rider strikes, and nearly the cancellation of the Tour de France, exposing systematic doping in professional cycling.
• The Mineiraço On 8 July 2014, Brazil lost 7-1 to Germany in the World Cup semi-final at the Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte. Germany scored four goals in six minutes during the first half. The result, known as the Mineiraço, became one of football’s most shocking scorelines and a national trauma for the host nation.
• Poland’s Day of Three Presidents On 8 July 2010, Poland had three different presidents in one day through constitutional succession. Following the Smolensk air disaster, Bronisław Komorowski won the presidential election and stepped down as acting president. The role passed briefly to Bogdan Borusewicz, then to Grzegorz Schetyna, before Komorowski’s formal inauguration. The smooth transition demonstrated administrative thoroughness rather than political crisis.
• Outro Clara reflects on a date that delivered international sporting ambition, systematic cheating exposed, catastrophic defeat, and constitutional precision, proving history arrives in unexpected forms.

• https://www.middlebury.edu/
• https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/jul/08/quidditch-world-cup-oxford
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/
• https://www.letour.fr/en/history
• https://www.theguardian.com/sport/1998/jul/25/tourdefrance1998.tourdefrance
• https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/2014brazil
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/28181689
• https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jul/08/germany-brazil-world-cup-semi-final-match-report
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10551157
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/10/poland-president-killed-plane-crash

On 7 July 2011, the Austrian town of Braunau am Inn formally revoked Adolf Hitler’s honorary citizenship, 66 years after the end of World War II. The symbolic gesture closed a legal loophole that had remained open for decades, as the town grappled with its uncomfortable place in history. Also on this date: scientists announced the discovery of Pelagornis sandersi in 2014, the largest flying bird ever known, with a wingspan up to 7.5 metres. In 1456, Joan of Arc was posthumously acquitted of heresy, 25 years after her execution. And in 1863, the United States began its first military draft, complete with a controversial exemption allowing wealthy men to buy their way out for $300. Clara Vale explores the long gaps between action and consequence, the paperwork of history, and what happens when communities finally reckon with their official records.

• Intro Clara opens with a provocative question about the time it takes to revoke an honour given to one of history’s most catastrophic figures, setting up the story of a 66-year delay.
• Braunau am Inn Revokes Hitler’s Honorary Citizenship On 7 July 2011, the Austrian town of Braunau am Inn formally revoked Adolf Hitler’s honorary citizenship, granted during the Third Reich. The town had long distanced itself from its association with Hitler’s birthplace but had never formally closed the legal question until 2011, choosing symbolic clarity over the assumption that death had rendered the honour void.
• The Biggest Bird That Ever Flew On 7 July 2014, scientists announced the identification of Pelagornis sandersi, the largest flying bird ever discovered, with an estimated wingspan of 6 to 7.5 metres. The fossil, excavated in 1983 at Charleston Airport, revealed a bird that likely launched from cliffs and soared over oceans 25 million years ago.
• Joan of Arc’s Posthumous Acquittal On 7 July 1456, a papal retrial formally acquitted Joan of Arc of heresy charges, 25 years after her execution by burning in 1431. The verdict nullified the politically motivated original trial and restored her family’s honour, eventually leading to her canonisation in 1920.
• The American Civil War Draft Begins On 7 July 1863, the United States implemented its first military draft under the Enrollment Act. The law included a controversial $300 exemption that allowed wealthy men to avoid service, sparking outrage and contributing to the deadly New York City draft riots later that month.
• Outro Clara reflects on the recurring theme of belated official reckonings, from posthumous acquittals to decades-delayed revocations, and the enduring importance of what gets written into the historical record.

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14082461
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/08/hitler-austrian-town-honorary-citizen
• https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/science/ancient-seabird-had-21-foot-wingspan-scientists-say.html
• https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1320297111
• https://www.history.com/topics/france/joan-of-arc
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joan-of-Arc
• https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/draft-riots
• https://www.britannica.com/event/New-York-Draft-Riots