Light and air for everybody: the window tax imposed on English citizens in 1696
The Victorian era was one of enormous transformation for British industry and architecture, popular also for its weirdnesses, including funerals for pets, hospitals for dead that prevented the fear of […]
Robert the Bruce: the never-say-die king (and the spider)
Robert the Bruce, more formally known as King Robert I of Scotland, was born on this day, July 11 1274. He was a fierce warrior-king, who led the Scots in […]
The colonial era ghosts that still haunt the streets of Yorktown, the landmark village of the American Revolution
It is said that the town of Yorktown is haunted. From Cornwallis’ Cave on the banks of the York River, to Crawford Road, the town is a magnet for urban […]
Louis Réard and the birth of the Bikini
Millions of men would come to be grateful that Frenchman Louis Réard, a car mechanic, had an unlikely sideline in the 1940s: he also looked after his mother’s lingerie boutique […]
July 4: It’s Independence Day for the U.S.
One of the most significant dates in the calendar of the United States, on this day, July 4 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, […]
The Battle of the Somme: the bloodiest day in British military history
The First World War Battle of the Somme began on this day, July 1, 1916. It was one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history and the worst ever for […]
Tunguska Event: the mystery that puzzled scientists for almost 100 years
A huge mysterious blast rocked eastern Siberia on this day, June 30, 1908, leaving millions of trees lying on the ground, mostly pointing in the same direction, over an area […]
The mysterious case of dance mania that broke out in Medieval Europe
St. John’s Dance, known historically as St. Vitus Dance, was a social phenomenon involving a type of dance mania that gripped mainland Europe between the 14 th and 17 th […]
Henry Hudson and the deadly quest for the the Northern Passage
June 22, 1611: English explorer Henry Hudson was set adrift in a small boat off the North American coast by mutineers. He was never seen again. When the mutiny took […]
Virginia Dare, the white doe and the lost colony – between history and legend
More than four hundred years ago, Europeans wanted to set up colonies in the New World. Sir Walter Raleigh, an adventurous English gentleman, sent a group of men to explore […]
“Without weapons, violence or hate”: France’s biggest-ever bank robbery
In Belgium exists an old saying that say people who are willing to get their hands dirty can often make money. It was certainly the case for Albert Spaggiari, the […]
The London’s plague pits map that shows where the Black Death victims got buried
Overcrowded, dirty and awash with sewage…it’s hardly surprising that the bubonic plague flourished in the crowded streets of London. Over 15% of London’s population was wiped out between 1665 and 1666 alone, or some 100,000 people in the space of two years. But where did all these bodies go?
Why an American bought the London Bridge
Born on this day, June 7 1761, Scottish civil engineer John Rennie was responsible for three important landmarks in central London: Waterloo Bridge, Southwark Bridge and London Bridge which, in […]
D-Day: the day that changed Europe’s history
The biggest land, air and seaborne invasion the world has ever known was launched on this day, June 6 1944. Codenamed Operation Overlord, everybody now knows it simply as D-Day. […]
#June 4, 1940: Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk ends
The so called “miracle” of Dunkirk was completed on this day, June 4, 1940, with the evacuation of over 330,000 troops from the besieged port on the war-torn French side […]
Voltaire: writer, philosopher and…..rebel
As he lay dying on this day, May 30, 1778, the great French writer Voltaire noticed that the lamp next to his bed was violently flickering and flaring up. “What? […]