901
An Italian businessman and his family in 18th century Messina owed their lives to their pet cats.
Victorian cartoonist Charles Ross recounts a remarkable tale from 1783, about a Sicilian businessman who quite literally owed his life and the life of his whole family to their pet cats.
Posted April 5 2018
902
Kim O’Hara starts his apprenticeship as a British spy with a little competition.
In the city of Shimla, summer capital of the British Raj, a jeweller named Lurgan is schooling young orphan Kim O’Hara for intelligence work in Afghanistan. A Hindu boy already in his care has become so jealous of this ‘stranger’ that he has tried to poison Lurgan, and is now sobbing with remorse, which the canny Lurgan turns to advantage.
Posted April 4 2018
903
Christ’s cross promises to take away the fear of Judgment Day.
In ‘The Dream of the Rood’, Cynewulf (possibly the 8th century bishop of Lindisfarne) imagines the Cross of Christ finding voice and recounting the experiences that great Friday. Here, the Cross speaks of the Day of Judgment and the comfort and assurance the very thought of it brings to mankind even at that late hour.
Posted April 3 2018
904
Abbot Elfric explains the significance of Christ’s miracle at Cana.
St John tells us that at Cana in Galilee, the host of a wedding ran out of wine in the middle of the happy feast. Jesus and his mother were among the guests, and Mary prevailed on Jesus to change water into wine; and as tenth-century English abbot Elfric explained, Jesus hid a message in his miracle.
Posted April 1 2018
905
Adam Smith could not imagine it would ever happen, but he nevertheless recommended that Britain grant independence to her colonies.
Scottish economist Adam Smith regarded the British Empire as the best of its kind in history, but he still believed that it would be better for everyone if London abandoned her single market and meddlesome governance, and granted her colonies independence.
Posted March 30 2018
906
Contemporary historian Ramanath Aiyar catalogued the ways in which Maharajah Moolam Thurunal led the way in modernising British India.
In 1885, His Highness Sir Rama Varma Moolam Thurunal became Maharajah of Travancore. A close confidant was historian Ramanath Aiyar, who some eighteen years later catalogued the various ways in which the Maharajah had moved Travancore forward in terms of society and industry.
Posted March 29 2018