Which event does this 1187 photograph show?

A sultan takes a holy city back after eighty-eight years of crusader rule (1187). Saladin took Jerusalem on 2 October 1187. When the crusaders had captured it in 1099 they massacred most of the population. Saladin instead let the inhabitants buy their freedom, and when thousands could not pay he and his brother quietly released large numbers of them anyway. The news of the fall triggered the Third Crusade.

Which event does this 1925 photograph show?

An inventor transmits the first moving image of a human face (1925). John Logie Baird got a recognisable moving image out of his apparatus on 2 October 1925, in an attic workshop in Soho built from a hatbox, biscuit tins, darning needles and a tea chest. The first face was a dummy's. He then ran downstairs, offered an office boy called William Taynton half a crown, and sat him in front of the lens.

Which event does this 1950 photograph show?

A comic strip about a group of small children appears in seven newspapers (1950). Peanuts first ran on 2 October 1950 in seven papers. Charles Schulz hated the name, which the syndicate had chosen without asking him, and thought it meaningless. He drew every strip himself for fifty years, nearly 18,000 of them, and the last one appeared the morning after he died.

Which event does this 1959 photograph show?

A weekly anthology of strange stories begins on television (1959). The Twilight Zone began on 2 October 1959. Rod Serling had spent years fighting sponsors who cut anything controversial out of his scripts, and worked out that if he set a story on another planet or in the future, the same censors would leave it alone. He wrote 92 of the 156 episodes himself.

Which event does this 1780 photograph show?

A British officer is hanged as a spy after a general's treason is exposed (1780). Major John Andre was hanged on 2 October 1780. He had been carrying the plans of West Point in his boot, handed over by Benedict Arnold, when militiamen stopped him on the road. Arnold escaped to the British. Andre asked to be shot as a soldier rather than hanged as a spy and was refused, but he impressed his captors so much that several of Washington's officers wept at the execution.

What happened on October 2? Saladin's capture of Jerusalem, the first television picture and 3 more

What happened on October 2

All 5 specimens from this file, spanning 1187 to 1959, with the story behind each photograph.

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Conflict · 1187

A sultan takes a holy city back after eighty-eight years of crusader rule

Saladin took Jerusalem on 2 October 1187. When the crusaders had captured it in 1099 they massacred most of the population. Saladin instead let the inhabitants buy their freedom, and when thousands could not pay he and his brother quietly released large numbers of them anyway. The news of the fall triggered the Third Crusade.
Technology · 1925

An inventor transmits the first moving image of a human face

John Logie Baird got a recognisable moving image out of his apparatus on 2 October 1925, in an attic workshop in Soho built from a hatbox, biscuit tins, darning needles and a tea chest. The first face was a dummy's. He then ran downstairs, offered an office boy called William Taynton half a crown, and sat him in front of the lens.
Culture · 1950

A comic strip about a group of small children appears in seven newspapers

Peanuts first ran on 2 October 1950 in seven papers. Charles Schulz hated the name, which the syndicate had chosen without asking him, and thought it meaningless. He drew every strip himself for fifty years, nearly 18,000 of them, and the last one appeared the morning after he died.
Media · 1959

A weekly anthology of strange stories begins on television

The Twilight Zone began on 2 October 1959. Rod Serling had spent years fighting sponsors who cut anything controversial out of his scripts, and worked out that if he set a story on another planet or in the future, the same censors would leave it alone. He wrote 92 of the 156 episodes himself.
History · 1780

A British officer is hanged as a spy after a general's treason is exposed

Major John Andre was hanged on 2 October 1780. He had been carrying the plans of West Point in his boot, handed over by Benedict Arnold, when militiamen stopped him on the road. Arnold escaped to the British. Andre asked to be shot as a soldier rather than hanged as a spy and was refused, but he impressed his captors so much that several of Washington's officers wept at the execution.