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The Great Fire on London

Shortly after midnight on Sunday 2nd September a fire went rogue in Thomas Farriner’s bakery in Pudding Lane in the City of London. Now fires were a regularity in the City of London at this… 

The History of Lotteries

England’s first recorded lottery started on January 11th, 1569, 450 years ago. Where did they start? They started in China around 200 BC, to fund major projects, such as building the Great Wall of China. … 

The ‘dancing plague’

Today we dance for fun, we can dance all night, and we think nothing of it, but in the 14th century they thought it was a disease! They called it the “Dancing Plague”.   Between the… 

What do you know of the Aztecs?

They lived in Mexico from around 1168 to 1521. Their empire was vast, they ruled 12 million people in 38 provinces from the Gulf of Mexico across to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Originally,… 

Fairs on a frozen Thames

Behold the Liquid Thames frozen o’re,That lately Ships of mighty Burthen boreThe Watermen for want of Rowing BoatsMake use of Booths to get their Pence & GroatsHere you may see beef roasted on the spitAnd… 

Letter of marque –  legal pirates

A letter of marque was given by governments in the 16,17 & 18th Centuries as a licence for a private person to attack and capture ships of a nation with which that government was at… 

The history of Glasses

The picture above shows the first depiction of someone wearing glasses.  That was in 1352, however well before this the Romans were using a glass tube of water as a magnifier to read books. Then…