Facts about the Battle of Britain
Did you know that ordinary men and women across the country played vital role in winning this battle? They were Air Raid Wardens, firefighters and even those in the Home Guard. However, don’t forget those many people, who between June and October 1940, built around 2,000 Hurricanes and Spitfires. For example, even at the height […]
The History of Recorded Music
Every school that puts on a History Portal Musical used to use a CD with both with backing track and show tracks. Today we all accept this as part of our lives, even though we have now moved on to downloading our songs. However, until November 1877, when Thomas Edison invented the Phonograph, you couldn’t […]
Can you work out how big the world is?
Can your children work out how big the world is? They can. You see 2,000 years ago Eratosthenes actually worked it out. It would be a superb exercise to see if he was correct, which, of course, he was! Well, nearly. He was a clever guy who lived in Egypt around 240BC. To him it […]
1908 New York to Paris Race
The 1908 New York to Paris Race was a bizarre car race with the drivers attempting to drive from New York to Paris, westward! This meant they had to drive from New York City to San Francisco, then up to Valdez, Alaska. The race had been started so that when they reached the Bering Strait, […]
The 1910 London to Manchester air race
In 1910 there was an air race between an Englishman and a French man. Why? It was all because in 1906 the Daily Mail issued a £10,000 challenge. However, it took until 1910 before anyone decided to accept the challenge, when two people did, and an English man and a French man: The race […]
The Air War in WW1
World War 1 happened just nine years after the Wright brothers flew the first powered aeroplane, however, the benefit of air power was quickly recognised by both armies. Initially as spotters, which, inevitably led to the other side sending up aeroplanes to stop them. The air war had begun! Air Power of a tool […]
The story of Hunley, the first Submarine
This is an interesting story. It is about the first submarine that ever sank a ship. On February 17th, 1864 during the American Civil War “The Hunley”, a Confederate submarine, sank the “USS Housatonic”. A date that started a new kind of warfare, one which over the next century caused havoc in two World Wars. […]
Why did the first horse drawn tram fail?
The first horse drawn tram ran along Victoria Street in London on rails. It was popular with its passengers, but not with officialdom, so inevitably it ran into trouble. It was the brainchild of an amazing American entrepreneur, George Francis Train. George organised the first clipper to sail around the Horne, was involved in setting […]
Where did Coca Cola come from?
It was invented by a morphine addict who was experimenting with various painkillers to help him live with the sabre wound he had sustained in the Civil War. Who was he? John Stith Pemberton was an American biochemist and Confederate States Army veteran who had fought in the American Civil War. He was wounded by sabre at the Battle […]
The story of the Humble Stamp
The man who came up with the adhesive stamp was given a knighthood, just because he thought of the stamp! It all goes back to “letter carriers”, they took letters around London and there were all sorts of delays and other problems. Therefore, in 1660 Charles II decided to solve the problem, he introduced the […]