Nov 3, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts
In an interesting post by We Are The Mighty, Eric Milzarski theorizes that A. A. Milne, an English author and veteran of both World Wars, wrote Winnie the Pooh to explain the harsh reality of war to his own child when he penned the 1926 children’s classic. As a young...
Oct 27, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts
Scotland and England were ruled by a single monarch until James VI of Scotland became James I of England, upon Elizabeth I’s death in 1603. However, it was only when the Act of Union was passed, in 1707, that they were united under a single parliament. One of the...
Oct 25, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts
One of the best things about living in Greece is the history. Literally, with every stone you lift, you’re bound to find a wee bit of history underneath. This weekend, we went to Nafplio and visited the castle of Palamidi. Nafplio was the second capital of...
Oct 23, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts
I was just writing the other day about the 1339 monk who wrote about the discovery of America. Now, analysis of wood from timber-framed buildings in the L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland shows a Norse-built settlement over 1,000 years ago – 471 years before...
Oct 7, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts
As The Economist reports, a paper for the academic journal Terrae Incognitae by Paolo Chiesa, a professor of Medieval Latin Literature at Milan University, reveals that an Italian monk referred to America in a book he wrote as early as the starts of the 14th century....
Jul 23, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts
What might life on another planet look like? What the British Antarctic Survey came across earlier this year (2021) may shed some light. As Wired reports, the Society wanted to study the history of the floating shelf. Instead, they came across strange creatures that...
Jul 14, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts
How did our grandfathers imaging our present? Robert Langkjær-Bain of Fivemedia has an excellent article with some (often hilarious) illustrations answering that very question. Flying Cars With AirCar completing its first flight on June 28th, 2021, maybe we’re...
Jul 3, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts, Quora
You may have heard stories of how the English won the battle in Agincourt thanks to the English and Welsh archers using the dreaded longbow. The longbow is such a part of English identity that even Shakespeare wrote about it: Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold...
Jun 14, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts
Long-time followers of my blog may remember my post on the origins of English. The language tree in that post shows that English is largely derived from Germanic, specifically Anglo-Frisian. So, where are the Celts? Are there no Celtic words in English? As several of...
Jun 6, 2021 | Fun Historical Facts, Quora
The wee one’s fascination with bodily functions (as witnessed by her poetry) must be rubbing off on me, as I couldn’t stop browsing Quora to learn more about toilet habits, old and new. Sher Afgan and Silvia Serra have shared a brief illustrated history of...
