HistoryExtra

#OnThisDay in 1948, David Ben-Gurion read the Israeli Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv. The new nation was immediately attacked by its Arab neighbours. 📸 Getty

On the podcast | Frank Dikötter unpicks the heroic myth of the Chinese Communist Party's rise to power, revealing how Communism really conquered a quarter of humanity 🎧 Listen now ad-free on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts

#OnThisDay in 1981, Pope John Paul II survived an assassination attempt. As he passed through St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, a 23-year-old Turk named Mehmet Ali Ağca fired a gun four times, hitting the pope in the abdomen and hand. 📸 Getty

On the podcast | Don Hollway traces the life of Olaf Tryggvason, one of the great figures of the Viking Age, whose story straddles the line between fantasy and fiction 🎧 Listen now ad-free on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts

#OnThisDay in 1942, the second battle of Kharkov began. This involved a Soviet attempt to recapture the city from the Germans, but the Red Army was encircled and smashed by a German counter-attack. 📸 Getty

On the podcast | Caroline Sharples reveals the long afterlife of Adolf Hitler – from the initial bewilderment surrounding his death in 1945, to the ongoing interest in surviving biomedical evidence 🎧 Listen now ad-free on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts

#OnThisDay in 1981 Jamaican musician Bob Marley died of cancer at age 36. His greatest hits collection, 'Legend', remains the bestselling reggae album of all time with over 20 million copies sold. 📸 Getty

On the podcast | In the second episode of our new Sunday Series, Thomas Asbridge reveals the fear, faith and survival that permeated medieval lives as the Black Death changed everyday life 🎧 Listen now ad-free on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts

#OnThisDay in 1940, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill became prime minister after the resignation of Neville Chamberlain following the debacle of the Norwegian campaign. 📸 Getty

#OnThisDay in 1949, Britain's first coin-operated laundrette opened its doors at Number 184, Queensway in London. 📸 Getty

On the podcast | As broadcaster and natural historian David Attenborough turns 100, David Hendy reflects on Attenborough's major contribution to our understanding of the natural world 🎧 Listen now ad-free on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts

#OnThisDay in 1971, Arsenal won the FA Cup final by beating Liverpool with two goals to one. All three goals were scored in extra time, but it was Charlie George who scored the winning shot with a few minutes to go. 📸 Getty

#OnThisDay in 1915, the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat. As the First World War raged, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk within 18 minutes, killing 1,198 people on board. The attack inspired anti-German outrage around the world. 📸 Getty

On the podcast | Kim Bowes reveals how ordinary Romans – from pimps and inn keepers to farmers – made ends meet in the world's first global economy 🎧 Listen now ad-free on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts

#OnThisDay in 1954, Roger Bannister ran the first under-four-minute mile. The English runner won the mile race at Ifley Road Track, Oxford, and crossed the finish line in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. 📸 Getty

On the podcast | Alexander Lee discusses the life of Niccolò Machiavelli and explains how his surname became one of history's most sinister adjectives 🎧 Listen now ad-free on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts

#OnThisDay in 1818, Karl Marx was born in Trier, in Prussia. Marx, the son of a Jewish lawyer who'd converted to Lutheranism when the city's rulers wouldn't allow Jews to practice law, went on to become a revolutionary socialist. 📸 Getty

On the podcast | Amy Boyington teaches us the art of hosting a dinner party in the Georgian period 🎧 Listen now ad-free on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts

#OnThisDay in 1926, British workers downed their tools for the first day of General Strike. Docks, factories and rail years across the country stood silent, and yet the widely predicted class warfare failed to materialise. The strike fizzled out nine days later. 📸 Getty

On the podcast | In the first episode of our new Sunday Series, Thomas Asbridge begins by telling the tale of the spread of the Black Death and how people tried to understand it 🎧 Listen now ad-free on the HistoryExtra app, or wherever you get your podcasts