History

Everyone is familiar with Aesop’s Fables. They are short stories usually about animal characters designed to make a point about human behaviour. Aesop has been credited with inventing the fable. Indeed, the name Aesop has become synonymous with fables. However, animal fables existed long before Aesop. There are fables recorded in ancient artefacts of Babylon, […]

When Rome was still a new city, the Etruscans attacked and forced them into the fortress on the Capitoline Hill. Apparently, it was almost impossible for an attacking force to get up the side of the hill, but the Etruscans managed it…at night. It was quite likely the most critical night in Roman History. Only

Everyone knows the Swastika, right? It used to be a type of good luck charm, before the Nazis corrupted it. In Ontario, Canada, there’s a small town called Swastika. In 1911, two brothers found gold at a nearby lake and named the mine after a good luck charm (swastika). When World War II broke out,

A Persian king called Xerxes (gzerk’sez) was trying to cross the Hellespont, also known as the Bosphorus. It’s a narrow bit of water known as the Dardenelles, north of Gallipoli. It’s near Byzantium. Anyway, so this king has an army of over 1,000,000 guys and wants to cross the river. So what does he do?

In 1844 in Fremantle, Australia, John Gavin, a convicted murderer was hanged (wow, so what else is new? see how boring bare facts are?). The thing is, John was only 15. He was so light that the executioner had to attach weights to his body so that his neck broke when he was dropped! In

In 1963 in Perth, Australia, a guy by the name of John Button had a fight with his fiancee (engaged to be married) Rosemary (They were playing strip poker and he wouldn’t take off his pants). Rosemary got so upset she walked home. On her way home, a car came out of nowhere and ran

During the Cold War, USSR decided to attack Afghanistan. After all, that’s what all big countries do, isn’t it? It was something to do with Afghanistan not supporting Communism. Anyway, the Russians did fairly well until they came up against Ahmed Shah Masud. This guy was holed up in a part of the Afghan mountains

How is this for a bad case of red tape gone too far – In the Middle Ages, a group of church guys decided that a particular Pope was guilty of heresy. The only problem was … the Pope had died and was buried EIGHT DAYS EARLIER! The ritual for making someone a heretic in