The Harrods Catalogue From 1912 Just Got Digitised
This 1,525-page catalogue from London’s world-famous department store, Harrods, does seem to mean everything, with over 15,000 products...
top of page
Search
Inside The Sinking Of The USS Indianapolis That Ended In A Feeding Frenzy For Sharks
After delivering the components of the Hiroshima bomb in 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, leaving nearly...
1,414 views
Joe Arridy: The Mentally Disabled Man Executed For A Grisly Murder He Didn’t Commit
Blissfully unable to even understand the concept of dying, Joe Arridy was described by the warden as "the happiest man who ever lived on...
1,816 views
Little-Known Holocaust History: Fleeing Germany, Then Living In A British Castle
On November 15, 1938, shortly after Kristallnacht, a delegation of prominent British Jewish leaders had met with Prime Minister Sir...
103 views
The Moves Of Gene Kelly
When his mother first enrolled him and his brother in dance classes when Gene was still a boy, he had to endure taunts from his...
202 views
The Assassinations, Bombings, And Bizarre Fame Of Carlos The Jackal
Born Ilich Ramírez Sánchez in Venezuela, Carlos the Jackal found worldwide infamy in the 1970s as a Marxist revolutionary and terrorist...
157 views
When “Mona Lisa” was stolen in 1911 and the police questioned Picasso
Mona Lisa or La Gioconda, is arguably “the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied...
433 views
The Traditional German Sword Fighting Art Called Mensur
Academic fencing (German akademisches Fechten) or Mensur is the traditional kind of fencing practised by some student corporations...
16,823 views
Emily Dickinson’s Coconut Cake, George Orwell’s Christmas Pudding, Alice B. Toklas’ Hashish Fudge
Of all the desserts to attain cultural relevance over the past century, can any hope to touch Alice B. Toklas' famous hashish fudge?...
33 views
The Strange Costumes of the Plague Doctors Who Treated 17th Century Victims of the Bubonic Plague
In the 17th and 18th centuries, what we know of as The Age of Enlightenment or early modernity, Europeans traversed the globe and...
79 views
Meet Lonnie Johnson, The NASA Engineer And Inventor Of The Super Soaker
t’s easy to assume that the creators of the vast majority of children’s toys are likely boasting strong backgrounds in marketing,...
132 views
How You Could Buy Perfume In 1925
No, not a Chocolate Orange, this was manufactured in 1925 for Les Parfums de Marcy “L’Orange Variee” perfume. The scent comes packaged in...
163 views
The Victorian Photographic Society That Tried To Preserve ‘Old London’
In capturing images of doomed buildings, they documented the city they thought they were losing. In 1875, Alfred Marks learned he was...
1,409 views
A Day In The Life Of A Medieval Executioner In Their 16th-Century Heyday
The daily life of a medieval executioner was not easy. They did more than simply chop off heads and break prisoners on the wheel. Trying...
3,231 views
The Beautiful Lifelong Bromance Between Robin Williams and Christopher Reeve
The two longtime pals met in 1973 as Juilliard students and were best friends up until Reeve's death in 2004. In his autobiography 'Still...
19,301 views
Hear Keith Richards sing Rolling Stones’ ‘Wild Horses’ & ‘Gimme Shelter’ in rare demos
The Rolling Stones have built a reputation as one of the most dynamic live bands of all time. Their energy belies their years and their...
580 views
The Life Of Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s Last Monarch
When Queen Liliuokalani ascended to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1891, she became the first female ruler of the Hawaiian...
214 views
When Alexander Fleming discovered Penicillin by accident
Fleming was born on August 6, 1881 at his parents’ farm located near the small town of Darvel, in Scotland, UK. His parents, Hugh Fleming...
201 views
Inside The Bizarre, 11-Day Saga Of The Disappearance Of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is one of history’s foremost crime novelists. But perhaps the author’s most intriguing mystery might just be the case of...
325 views
Inside Matelotage, The Same-Sex Partnerships Between Colonial-Era Pirates
During the Golden Age of Piracy, some buccaneers engaged in matelotage, a form of civil union. Sometimes these arrangements were purely...
290 views
"And Because I Love This Life, I Know I Shall Love Death As Well": Tagore
One of those great masters of literature Tagore's work left no human emotion untouched. The poet, novelist, essayist, philosopher and...
175 views
Five Fascinating Facts about Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1. He was the original ‘airy-fairy’ poet. The phrase ‘airy-fairy’ – now used as a derogatory term for something light and insubstantial –...
210 views
Herman Melville; Not Just The Writer Of Whale Worriers
Born in New York City to a wealthy and socially connected family, Herman Melville (1819-1891) chose a life as exciting as that of his...
118 views
bottom of page