1567
The blessing of trade free from political interference was one of most important insights in British, indeed world history.
In his day, Richard Cobden (1804-1865) was regarded as Britain’s answer to Karl Marx. Where Marxism stands for State control, bloody violence and political oppression, Cobden showed that the free market led to prosperity through peace, cooperation, and freedom.
Posted March 13 2015
1569
Wielding the Gorgon’s head, Perseus saves a beautiful maiden from a ravening sea-monster.
Polydectes, King of Seriphos, has sent young Perseus to get the head of Medusa the Gorgon, the very sight of which will turn any man to stone. His hope is that the boy will never come back, clearing the way for him to marry Perseus’s mother, Danaë. But Perseus is on his way home even now...
Posted March 13 2015
1570
Today, the slave trade is a £150bn global business. Back in the late 18th century, it was making a lot of influential people very rich too, but some in England were determined to stop it.
Today, the slave trade is a £150bn global business. Back in the late 18th century, it was making a lot of influential people very rich too, but some in England were determined to stop it.
Posted March 13 2015
1571
Arkwright invented the factory, without which modern life would be impossible.
Richard Arkwright (1732-1792), the son of a Lancashire tailor, was knighted in 1786 in recognition of his role as one of the architects of the Industrial Revolution - not for the inventions once credited to him, but for developing the idea of factories.
Posted March 13 2015
1572
Once a year, regular as clockwork, the little snakes slither into the convent for a Feast of the Virgin Mary.
Every August, on a great feast of the Virgin Mary, small snakes slither into the chapel of a tiny village on the Greek island of Kefalonia. There is a curious story behind it, going back to the days when Greece was under the Ottoman Empire, and pirates roamed unchecked among the islands.
Posted March 13 2015