Mallard, Gettysburg, and the Day Ziggy Stardust Died

Mallard, Gettysburg, and the Day Ziggy Stardust Died

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Episode description

Mallard, Gettysburg, and the Day Ziggy Stardust Died

On 3 July 1938, the LNER locomotive Mallard hurtled down Stoke Bank in Lincolnshire and hit 125.88 miles per hour, a world record for steam that has never been broken. The achievement came at a cost: the engine’s middle big-end bearing overheated, and Mallard limped to Peterborough for repairs. She survived, worked for another 25 years, and now rests at the National Railway Museum in York. Fifty years after Pickett’s Charge, Confederate and Union veterans returned to Gettysburg for the Great Reunion of 1913. On 3 July, they walked the same ground and shook hands across the wall at Cemetery Ridge, a moment of reconciliation captured in photographs and memory, though the wider context of racial injustice complicates its legacy. In 1988, USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people on board, including 66 children. The civilian Airbus had been misidentified as a military threat. The United States expressed regret but never formally apologised. And in 1973, David Bowie killed Ziggy Stardust on stage at the Hammersmith Odeon, ending his most famous alter ego without warning the band or the audience. Clara Vale examines a day of speed, memory, tragedy, and theatrical self-destruction.

Chapters

  • Intro Clara introduces the episode: a train that broke itself setting a world record, and humans making it up as they go along.
  • The Day Mallard Flew On 3 July 1938, Mallard reached 125.88 mph on Stoke Bank, Lincolnshire, a steam locomotive world record that still stands. The achievement damaged her bearing, but she was repaired and worked until 1963. Now preserved in York, Mallard represents Britain’s stubborn, competitive spirit on the eve of the Second World War.
  • CTA Clara asks listeners to follow the show and share it with friends.
  • The Great Reunion at Gettysburg, 1913 Fifty years after Pickett’s Charge, 50,000 veterans from both sides returned to Gettysburg. On 3 July 1913, Confederate and Union veterans re-enacted the charge and shook hands at Cemetery Ridge, a moving but complicated symbol of reconciliation in an era of ongoing racial injustice.
  • Iran Air Flight 655, 1988 On 3 July 1988, USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people on board. The civilian Airbus had been misidentified. The United States expressed regret but never formally apologised, and later awarded the captain the Legion of Merit.
  • The Last Night of Ziggy Stardust, 1973 On 3 July 1973, David Bowie killed his alter ego Ziggy Stardust on stage at the Hammersmith Odeon, announcing it to the audience and band simultaneously. The character had begun to consume him, and the public theatrical death was an act of self-preservation. Bowie later reinvented himself repeatedly.
  • Outro Clara reflects on people pushing boundaries, whether boilers, memory, or stage personas, and the question of what to do with momentum once you’ve reached the bottom of the hill.

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