The Ghosts of Anne Boleyn
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 […]
Did an Italian claim the New World for Spain?
Well, we think Christopher Columbus was Italian, but nobody knows for certain. We know he was convinced that the world was round, which wasn’t a brilliant idea as Pythagoras in Ancient Greek times had already worked this out. This, of course, is why Columbus was certain that if he went across the Atlantic for long […]
The Barbary Pirates
Would you believe that from the 17th to 19th centuries Africa slave traders came to the coast of Devon and Cornwall and took English people to sell in the slave markets in North Africa! But it wasn’t just the English they took. Who were they? They were the Barbary Pirates from the North Africa ports […]
Will we ever learn from Afghanistan?
There are so many examples of history repeating itself, if only we understood the mistakes of history, perhaps we wouldn’t keep making them. I know, it’s some hope! There are so many examples in history, the most expensive one has been our 20-year involvement in Afghanistan. In fact, the Marquess of Lothian asked just this […]
When Was the Air first used for war?
As long ago as the 3rd century BC. Yes. That long ago! Chinese Lanterns Yes, those traditional Chinese lanterns, which we still see today, are believed to have been used in Ancient China as military communication stations. There is no proof, but it has been suggested that they may even have put a man underneath. […]
There were famous female pirates
For some reason throughout history piracy has been romanticized, feared, and condemned. At times the truth is far more exciting than the myths that surround it, especially when it comes to those female pirates who defied their gentle female lifestyle and went to lead fierce lives on the high seas. Let’s look at the tales […]
IK Brunel – was he our greatest engineer?
He has been described as one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history, one of the 19th-century engineering giants. One of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution, a man who changed Victorian England with his designs and ingenious constructions, which we can still see today. Brunel built dockyards, the Great Western […]
The Articles of Confederation
These were the basis for the original constitution of the United States, it took the 13 rebelling colonies, as they were at that time, many months to finally agree them…
Shays’ rebellion of 1786
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”Robert Brault – American Author I bet you never realised that a rebellion by a farm hand called Shays led to the American Constitution as we know it today. It was all because of high Taxes. You see […]
Democracy or Dictatorship?
It is interesting to note that authoritarian governments don’t appear to last as long as democratic ones, unfortunately, they tend to be replaced by even more totalitarian regimes. Why is that? Authoritarian systems have a structural weakness, which is that those opposing them are removed, normally not that peacefully! The effect of this is that […]