1465
The heroic and charismatic statesman’s last journey was replete with echoes of his extraordinary life.
Winston Churchill’s tenacity, eloquence and principled refusal, regardless of the cost, to embrace seductive European promises of ‘progress’ and ‘harmony’ carried Blitz-torn Britain and persuaded a hesitant America to join the Allies.
Picture: © TheTurfBurner, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted January 14 2016
1466
The Whitby man held his nerve to keep five enemy ships busy at Trafalgar, and subsequently led Nelson’s funeral procession.
The Battle of Trafalgar near Spain on October 21st, 1805, in which the victorious Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson was shot and killed, is one of the defining events in British history. Many played a vital part in it, including Captain Robert Moorsom of Whitby in Yorkshire.
Picture: © David Wright, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted January 10 2016
1467
A giant gets angry when he finds children playing in his garden.
A giant has been staying with his friend the Cornish ogre; but after seven years he has run out of conversation, and come home.
Picture: © Oast House Archive, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted January 8 2016
1468
A tale of two friends with complete confidence in each other, and loyal to the death.
Dionysius, tyrant of the island of Sicily (probably Dionysius I, r. 405-367 BC), was deeply impressed by the bond of trust shared by Pythias and Damon. Given how he came to find out about it, though, it is understandable that they thought three would make a crowd.
Picture: © Hein56didden, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted January 4 2016
1469
Alexander fulfilled the letter of a prophecy and he did become ruler of the world, but it wasn’t quite fair.
To ‘cut the Gordian knot’ is to solve an apparently intractable problem simply, by lateral thinking. I’m not sure, however, that Alexander really ‘solved’ the problem at all.
Picture: © Klaus-Peter Simon, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted January 4 2016
1470
An ancient Greek myth about the dangers of easy wealth.
The ‘Midas Touch’ is the ability to make a success of anything to which you turn your hand, but the original myth carries a warning.
Picture: © China_Crisis, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.5.. Source.
Posted January 4 2016