The first Oktoberfest, in celebration of the wedding of the crown prince of Bavaria (who became King Louis I) and Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen, was held in Munich, Germany, on this day in 1810.

City officials invited members of the public to celebrate the marriage on fields outside the city walls, with the main attraction being a horse race. The race was rerun the following year, and this annual gathering is the origin of the Oktoberfest tradition.

Over the years, the event grew with food and drink stands appearing by 1820. The evolution to todays' internationally famous beer festival started in 1896 when local breweries opened large beer tents and halls.

Attracting millions of visitors from around the world,
Oktoberfest is the largest Volksfeste, or people's festival, combining a beer festival with a funfair. The starting date for Oktoberfest was moved to late September to take advantage of warmer, lighter evenings, so despite the name, only the final days of the festival fall in October.

We have many beer cocktails ("beertails") but Mauro Mahjoub's Munich Negroni Western Style, created at his Negroni Bar in Munich, seemed more fitting.

Today is National Day in Spain

Every day's a holiday somewhere, and the good folk of Spain have a holiday today to celebrate their national day - the Fiesta Nacional de España.

Why today? Well, bizarrely enough today is the day that Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas. Although Columbus himself was Genoese, from Italy, he claimed the Americas for his Spanish employers. So today is also a chance for Spaniards to celebrate their common Hispanic heritage with folk in their former empires overseas.

We'll be marking the occasion with a Sangria Cocktail, a slightly more adult yet extremely moreish take on the ancient Spanish blend that has become a barbecue classic.