Click for part 2 Battle of Togbao, 1899 In Central Africa, a punative field force was destroyed in circumstances the French would nonetheless take full advantage of. The long-standing Kanem–Bornu Empire, centred around Lake Chad, was well past its zenith by the turn of the century. It had never been conquored before the swashbuckling warlord... Continue Reading →
Worst French Military Disaster of Each Decade, 1840s-1880s (Part 2)
Click for Part 1 Battle of Maeva, 1846 Although little is documented of the fighting itself, the French lost a shore party of marines in what has been described as a massacre by some, on the island of Huahine, modern-day French Polynesia. The Leeward Islands were divided between four kingdoms: Tahiti, Huahine, Raiatea and Bora... Continue Reading →
Boris Skossyreff – The Swindler Who Conned a Foreign Nation into Becoming King
The fraudster and swindler who almost talked his way into becoming king of a tiny mountain realm, armed with a catalogue of lies and a manifesto for modernisation To be a vocational swindler, fraudster, conman, trickster, scam artist, is to be someone typically unconscionable; someone who is successful in one’s lies by telling them with... Continue Reading →
The Most Supreme Teams in European Club Football History
Here are the greatest dynasties of their times based on long eras of dominance which prove their claims to have been the best 19th Century The 'Team of All Talents' takes on Aston Villa, 1894-95 The world’s first official national-level competitive football began in England and Scotland in 1872 and 1873, respectively. As such, the... Continue Reading →
The Ultimate Mad Max Movie Marathon
The guide to enjoying the entire Mad Max franchise across six movie nights and eight live-action films Mad Max I “Look. Any longer out on that road and I'm one of them, you know? A terminal crazy... only I got a bronze badge to say I'm one of the good guys.” - Max Mad Max... Continue Reading →
18 Most Successful Football Leagues in Europe
A ranking of every European league to have won international trophies, plus a lowdown on the continent's 'Super Six' ARL Football Success Ranking System The ARL Football Success Ranking System for men’s European club-football establishes for certain which clubs are the most successful of each nation and in the whole of Europe. The football clubs... Continue Reading →
Worst French Military Disaster of Each Decade, 1790s-1830s (part 1)
“History is written by the winners,” quipped Napoleon. Despite France's vast compilation of conquests at home and abroad, historians found space to record the occasions this superpower was mauled also. This four-part article includes the worst military calamity of every decade, from the founding of the First Republic in 1792 until Algeria's independence in the... Continue Reading →
Ten Best Live-action Star Wars Fan Films on Youtube
Out of all the Star Wars fan films on Youtube that have been created by the legions of its fans around the world, here are the 10 greatest live-action fan films that truly enrich the Star Wars universe While researching my 'How to Watch The Entire Star Wars Live-Action Universe in Chronological Order' article, I discovered... Continue Reading →
Hiking the Worcestershire Way
My two-day hike along the whole Worcestershire Way, from Great Malvern to Bewdley Out of the hundreds of long-distance hiking trails that criss-cross Britain, the Worcestershire Way (WW) starts pretty much right outside my front door, so it seemed only right that I cross this one off my list sooner rather than later. At 31... Continue Reading →
The 10 Greatest Ancient Greek Cities Then and Now
The lowdown on the ten most important Greek cities in the ancient world, their statuses today, and what remains of their archealogical wonders Antioch Antioch may have been a small Greek trading colony before Seleucus I Nicator founded the city shortly after 300 BC. Seleucus was a general of Alexander the Great’s - the Macedonian... Continue Reading →