1303
A quick overview of the Kings of England from Henry IV in 1399 to Henry VI in 1422.
Below is a brief overview of the Kings of England from Henry IV, who acquired the throne almost by accident when trying to regain the title of Duke of Lancaster, to Henry VI, who forfeited the crown of France won by his famous father.
Picture: © Steven Haslington, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted August 30 2016
1304
The people of Penzance in Cornwall did not think an Algerian corsair much better than a French warship.
It may seem quaint that Cornish villagers ran home to lock up their daughters when they heard of shipwrecked sailors on the beach. But this was 1760, when everyone was braced for a French invasion in the Seven Years’ War, and when Algiers was the centre of a miserable human-trafficking industry which specialised in ‘goods’ from Christian Europe.
Picture: © Mari Buckley, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted August 23 2016
1305
Britain’s ties to the rulers of Russia go back to the time of the Norman Invasion.
The story of Russia began when Vikings established a Princedom in Great Novgorod just across the Baltic Sea. At the same moment, the Vikings’ Great Army was also swarming over England, and King Alfred the Great was preparing to do battle; but a Viking past is not all that the two nations have in common.
Picture: © Konstantin-hramov, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted August 21 2016
1306
The Victoria Cross is the highest award made to our Armed Forces.
The Victoria Cross was instituted by Queen Victoria in 1856, and was first awarded in 1857. It rewards members of the Armed Forces for showing exceptional bravery in the face of the enemy.
Picture: © RMEIKLEJ, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted August 20 2016
1307
In John Buchan’s story about the Great War, Richard Hannay must watch as his friend sacrifices his life for the Allies.
In the Great War, RAF pilot Peter Pienaar endures being shot down, lamed and kept as a prisoner of war with the help of Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’. He has been free only a matter of days when despite his injury he steals a plane to take out the Germans’ flying ace Lensch, by ramming him in mid-air.
Picture: © Pseudopanax, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source.
Posted August 20 2016
1308
George Stephenson argued that his steam engines were solar-powered.
Today’s enthusiasts for ‘renewable energy’ have brought Britain’s once-mighty coal industry to an end. Yet judging by George Stephenson’s exchange with William Buckland, the eccentric but brilliant Oxford geologist, there may have been a serious misunderstanding...
Picture: © Stephen Daglish, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted August 18 2016