The place to learn about the past and present,
When a pregnant young queen started to drown, her attendants wouldn't help. Find out why. The protocol around royalty which governs how they interact with commoners is usually ancient, rigid and ensures royal family members’ inviolability. On one occasion however it caused an entirely avoidable tragedy for the Chakri royal dynasty of Siam, modern-day Thailand.... Continue Reading →
Who've guessed Snapple's attempt to erect the world's largest popsicle in the world would result in Manhattan's denizens fleeing the streets to save their footwear from getting gunged? Read on to find out what occurred. It was the height of a June Summer in the heart of Downtown Manhattan, New York where the possibly underemployed... Continue Reading →
Amidst the mechanisation of the Eastern Front in WW2, Italy's much maligned military reputation received a shot in the arm when the Italian Savoia Cavalleria horse-mounted regiment charged the Soviet army. It was August 1942 and the tide of WW2 was just beginning to turn in favour of the Red Army after the surging, seemingly... Continue Reading →
The legend of a Marquis' drunken antics resulted in an epic night in town... painting it red despite the townsfolk's spluttering rage. Read about the chaos this posh wild child caused. One day in spring 1837 at the Thorpe End tollgate in the fine old English market town of Melton Mowbray, with its half-timbered Tudor... Continue Reading →
Saddam Hussein was public enemy no.1 throughout the '90s, In 1980, however, he received the 'keys to Detroit city' From the day his tanks rolled over the Kuwaiti border in 1990 until he met his demise in 2006 Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, was public enemy no.1 in the USA. First he invaded Iraq’s neighbour... Continue Reading →
The story of the light cruiser that was sliced in half by the colossal Queen Mary transatlantic liner. It was late 1942 and the Battle of the Atlantic – the struggle to ferry millions of tonnes of equipment, war materials and men through a deadly gauntlet of U-Boat submarines – was in full flow. When... Continue Reading →
What occurred to cause a tidal-wave of beer to slosh down the slums of London? Read on to find out the devastation caused. If we’ve all got to meet the reaper some day or other, some folks might say that drowning in beer isn’t the worst way to go. It was 1814 and the Meux... Continue Reading →
Patrick Lawler seemed fine after a small accident at work. What seemed at first to be a lousy toothache turned into needing emergency surgery after a stunning X-ray find. The 23-year-old construction worker, with black eyebrows and goatee, sat on the edge of his chair and gnawed on his fingernails with the sort of trepidation... Continue Reading →
A credible conspiracy story: The aim was to take over Washington DC in a military coup; there was just one man standing in their way - Two-time Medal of Honor recipient Major General Smedley Butler It was November the 24th, 1934 and retired General Smedley Butler sat before a closed session of the Congressional Special... Continue Reading →
Of all of Bonaparte's illustrious battles perhaps the one he wanted to forget was not his worst ever defeat, but his most embarrassing one, when Napoleon fled from a horde of rabbits. History tells us that Napoleon Bonaparte’s worst ever defeat occurred at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Yet, his most humiliating one was... Continue Reading →
History and Things 