The story of the Monster in the Maze
The Greek myth of the Minotaur inspires the story of Monster in the Maze. Theseus goes into a Maze and finds his way out, but how? Theseus was the son of Aegeus, the King of Athens, who went to Crete where King Minus, rumoured to be a son of the Greek god Zeus, had a […]
Athens where democracy started
While Churchill’s view is true, so is Abraham Lincoln’s, he described it as “Of the people, by the people, for the people”, a lovely dream. However, both men’s quotes led me to asking how and why did democracy ever get started? Why did it happen? On investigation I learnt that it was all because of […]
The ghosts of Anne Bolyen
Anne Boleyn is a very busy ghost. They claim that her ghost haunts several English castles. We all know Anne Boleyn was beheaded on the orders of her husband, Henry VIII. They say he was frustrated that she didn’t bear him a son and heir, and anyway he had found another, hopefully fertile, woman. It […]
Have you ever heard of Vice President William King?
Have you ever heard of William King? I bet you haven’t, and never knew that he was a vice president of the United States. But that isn’t what made him famous. His fame comes from four things. He is the only Vice President or President to take the oath of office on foreign soil. He […]
After the Romans and before 1066 who invaded England?
During this period England was open to be conquered by any north European tribe, therefore the Germans, the Vikings and then the Danish invaded. First came the Germans As soon as the Romans left in 410AD we started to be invaded by raiding parties of Germans. It wasn’t a large invasion, just tribes, such as […]
Did they have inflation in the 16th Century
Yes, they did, but it was not inflation as we know it, because prices didn’t rise as fast as they do today. However, in those days they called it the Price Revolution, which they blamed on the Spanish and then called it the Spanish Price Revolution. Basically, it was a series of economic events that […]
Lying on the beach have you ever thought who started the Package Holiday?
It was a man called . More interestingly it was 180 odd years ago in 1841 when a cabinet maker from Leicestershire, called Thomas Cook, launched the first travel package trip. Yes, a cabinet maker came up with the first one! How did it all start? It all happened because he believed that alcohol […]
Why do we hang stockings at Christmas?
Did you know: That we hang them up because of Saint Nicholas, the Christian Bishop of Myra? So, who was this man whose actions we celebrate every year? Well, first of all where is Myra? It was, it is no more, on the south Mediterranean coast of Turkey, near the modern town of Demre. At […]
Would you use this defence today?
This story is about a lady called Phryne, history tells us that she was an ancient Greek courtesan, who ended up as one of the wealthiest women in Greece. Where was she from? She was born in Thespiae in Boeotia at around 370BC. Legend tells us that they called her Phryne because she had […]
What was the Silk Road?
What was the Silk Road? The Silk Road was a network of trade routes from China to Europe that ran from the second century BC until the mid-15th century. It went for more than 4,000 miles becoming the major route for economic, cultural, political, and religious interaction between the East and West. Why was it […]