You probably didn’t know, and it also came as a surprise to me, that for 12 days, the city of Limerick in Ireland and its surrounding area was a self-declared Soviet Republic. This came about at the start of the Irish war of Independence as a protest against the British …
“Used in present-day English chiefly by America speakers as a synonym for the aubergine, aubergine was originally applied specifically to the white-skinned, egg-shaped variety of the vegetable. This was in the mid-eighteenth century (available evidence suggests that the term predates aubergine by about 30 years). By the middle of the …
Nothing sums up the Victorians’wonderfully prudish attitudes to sex as to the the thought that they were aroused by piano legs. Matthew Sweet, in Inventing the Victorians (2002), describes the origin of this story. In 1837, a Captain Frederick Marryat, the author of The Children of the New Forest (1847), …
Cricket can change the course of history (well, sort of). I bring you the tale of Frederick, Prince of Wales, the son of George II who died in 1751 following a cricketing mishap. He was playing cricket, misjudged a catch and the cricket ball hit him on the head. He …
The problem with onions, as we are all aware, is that the damn things smell. Onion breath has been around since the very first chap spotted one and took a bite out of it. Once you’ve eaten an onion, it is obvious that you have which is why Don Quixote …
No other word in the English language gets more colloquial usage than the notorious F-word. The word and its host of variations could and would fill a small dictionary. It is still extraordinary to consider that this short, graphic, four letter swear word is one of the most used nouns, …
The first authenticated shag in an aeroplane took place on November 10th, 1916. Lawrence Sperry ,under the guise of giving flying lessons to the wealthy socialite Mrs Waldo Polk, became the first couple to join the fraternal order of the Mile High Club.They were indulging in a version of physical …
I am currently at work on a sequel to my Curious Guide to London book, and have come across some fascinating stuff which I will be posting some extracts over the next few weeks.. Brook House, in Upper Brook street in Mayfair was the location of London`s first penthouse and belonged …
During this Coronavirus lockdown I have been trying to keep myself entertained so I thought I would put together a short Kindle book on the history of beans. In which you will discover the decidedly odd history of the humble bean . Discover why Pythagarus would not eat beans, why …
Racing has always attracted trickery, schemes and coups. But what follows is without doubt is the most delicious con of all time. The greatest sting in the history of horse racing took place on August 1, 1898. It was without doubt the most audacious scheme ever thought up. A very …
