What was the biggest company in the world between 1600 and 1750?
It was the East India Company. What was it? It was a company that was so powerful that it effected the global balance of trade, moving between the east and the west. This was because by the mid-1700s it appeared to have become involved in half the world’s trade. This British company, was part owned […]
The Three Hundred- and Thirty-Five-Years War!
It is incredible because, yes, there was a war that lasted 335 years, in which no one died, and everyone forgot about. Even more amazing was that this 335 years’ war was fought between the Isles of Scilly, yes, those little islands off the end of Cornwall, and the Republic of the Netherlands! It lasted […]
What is the shield wall?
What is the shield wall? Today when a demonstration goes nasty, we see the police build a shield wall to defend themselves and then slowly move it forward, but when checking our musical 1066 – The Battle of Hastings I realised that the shield wall has been a policy used by armies for hundreds of […]
John Law and the Mississippi Company
This is a cautionary tale of what can happen to an entire economy when a speculative bubble bursts. It all started with John Law a Scottish economist and gambler, who it was claimed was able to win card games by mentally calculating the odds. Furthermore, he believed that the creation of money led to […]
The man who sold the Eiffel Tower twice!
The man who sold the Eiffel Tower, twice! This is the story of Victor Lustig, who went down in history as the man who sold the Eiffel Tower not once, but twice. This isn’t just about how he sold the Eiffel Tower twice, but the story of his life, his techniques, and his broader legacy. […]
All for love and it failed!
How much have you spent to win someone’s heart? Robert Dudley spent £10m Would you believe that Robert Dudley really did spend more than £10M in today’s money to win the heart of Queen Elizabeth the First. He was one of the Queen’s closest advisors, then Queen Elizabeth gifted him Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, and, […]
Have we misunderstood Henry VIII?
Henry is remembered for his six wives, we are taught that this was the reason he created the Church of England, what we aren’t told is that he achieved so much more than this. A few of his achievements: He also: His Problem Was that although his marriage to Catherine of Aragon had yielded a […]
The events leading up to the Spanish Armada?
The armada was the brainchild of Spain’s King Philip II. His reasons This meant that from Philip’s point of view, it was a no brainer, he had to invade England, solving all his problems in one stroke. His cunning plan He had a cunning plan, send an armada of fighting ships up the English Channel […]
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 war. They legalised piracy. It is the only way to describe it, it was that, legalised piracy. Some governments did […]
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 in the Middle Ages it is said that monks used a glass full of water to magnify what they were […]