Tag Archives: history

history

July 1925


Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

1. Died. Erik Satie, 59, French composer

18. Adolf Hitler published Volume 1 of his autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf.

20. An annular solar eclipse, visible across the south Pacific.

20. Born. Jacques Delors, French economist; in Paris (d.2023)

21. English racing motorist Malcolm Campbeli becomes the first man to exceed 150 mph (241 km/h) on land; at Pendine Sands, Wales he drives a Sunbeam 350HP automobiie at a two-way average speed of 150.33 mph (242 km/h)Sunbeam Bluebird

29. Born. Mikis Theodorakis, Greek songwriter; in Chios (d.2021)

history, links, medical, nudism, science

Monthly Links for June

And so, already, we get to this month’s collection of items you may have missed.

Science, Technology, Natural World
Has any cat owner actually managed to fully decipher their cat’s meows? Well now researchers are trying to use AI tools to do just this. [££££]

Whether your cat is vocal or quiet may depend on its genes.

So, we’re still finding microbes we didn’t know about. In one case a microbe with a bizarrely tiny genome (above) which could just be evolving into a virus.

And in a further demonstration of how little we know about our home rock, scientists continue to be baffled by an apparent, and mysterious, link between Earth’s magnetism and oxygen levels. [££££]

Extending this lack of knowledge outward … Was the Big Bang really the beginning of our Universe? We don’t know, but there is research which suggests it could all have happened within a black hole!

Health, Medicine

Despite what they told you at school, insulin is made in the brain, and not just in the pancreas.

The ancient idea of the wandering uterus may be wrong, but the female reproductive tract is surprisingly mobile.

Sexuality

Who knew that semen allergy was a thing?

Another oddity … Orgasms can trigger colours in people with sexual synaesthesia. [££££]

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

Denmark is deploying “saildrones” (above) in the Baltic Sea to monitor undersea cables and protect them from hostile action.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

English spelling will never make sense. Here’s something about why. [LONG READ]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

One archaeologist thinks he’s uncovered a fraudulent scam involving Roman wine.

Also in the Roman world, a huge haul of fragments of Roman frescoes has been found in South London. What a nightmare jigsaw puzzle!

Here’s a review of a book on the making of books in the Middle Ages.

The Inca had a system of “writing” based on knotted strings, and some ancient examples are revealing Peru’s climate history.

There seemed little he couldn’t turn his hand to for the profit of humanity in general, making Benjamin Franklin (below) a phenomenon even during his lifetime.

London

Who knew that London still had sheriffs?

IanVisits investigates the one-time secret tunnels beneath Holborn, and looks at the plans to open them to the public.

In North London there’s a forgotten Tudor house that’s seen better days.

Coming right up to date … there’s to be a national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II. And of course it will be in London’s St James’s Park and being designed by Norman Foster. [No comment.]

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Continuing one of our recurrent themes, here’s an article on helping people understand naturism and social nudity.

Shock, Horror, Ha ha ha!

So let’s end with two unlikely items …

Did you know that Disney produced educational films about periods and family planning as long ago as 1946?

And finally a Dutch museum has put on display a 200-year-old, mint condition, condom (below) decorated with an explicit scene of a nun and three clergymen. It is believed to have been a “luxury souvenir” from a fancy brothel in France.

history

What Happened in 1125, 1225

2 Comments

Here’s our next instalment of things that happened in ..25 years of yore.

Some Notable Events in 1125

29 March. Reading School is founded in Berkshire, England.

23 May. Emperor Henry V dies of cancer in Utrecht after leading an expedition against King Louis VI of France and then against the citizens of Worms. Having no legitimate children, Henry leaves his possessions to his nephew, Frederick II, Duke of Swabia. At the Haftag diet in Regensburg, Lothair II (duke of Saxony) is elected King of Germany and crowned at Aachen on 13 September.

11 June. Battle of Azaz: The Crusader states led by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem defeat the Seljuk forces at Azaz and raise the siege of the town. Baldwin mobilizes a force of 1,100 armoured knights and 2,000 foot-soldiers. The Crusaders capture the Seljuk camp and Baldwin takes enough loot to ransom the prisoners taken by the Seljuk Turks.

Unknown Date. King Inge the Younger of Sweden is murdered, instigated by Queen Ulvhild Håkansdotter. Her cousin Magnus I proclaims himself ruler over the Lands of Sweden (Norrland, Svealand and Gothenland).

Unknown Date. The Venetians pillage the islands of Rhodes, ravage Samos and Lesbos, and occupy Chios. The Florentines sack and conquer the neighbouring independent republic of Fiesole in Italy.

Unknown Date. The first fair in Portugal is created in Ponte de Lima; it is an early sign of the commercialization and economic development.

Unknown Date. King Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre leads a Castellan raid in Andalusia.

Unknown Date. King Henry I arranges the marriage between his nephew Stephen of Blois and the 20-year-old Matilda, daughter and heiress of Eustace III, count of Boulogne. This gives Stephen control of the County of Boulogne and also lands in England that had belonged to Eustace (who dies on his return from the Holy Land).

Unknown Date. A collection of Zen Buddhist koans is compiled, in the Chinese Blue C1iff Record.

Unknown Date. Died. Harding of Bristol, English sheriff reeve (b.1048).

Unknown Date. Died. Robert de Mowbray, Norman Earl of Northumbria.

Some Notable Events in 1225

11 February. The Charter of the Forest is restored to its traditional rights by King Henry III. “Free men” are allowed to find pasture for their pigs, collect firewood, graze animals, or cut turf for fuel. At this time, however, only about 10 percent of the population is “free”, the rest are locked into service to a local landowner, some of them little more than slaves.

25 July. Emperor Frederick II takes an oath at San Germano (near Cassino) and promises to depart on a Crusade (the Sixth Crusade), for the Near East in August 1227. He sends 1000 knights to the Levant and provides Rome with 100,000 ounces of gold, to be forfeited to the Catholic Church should he break his vow. These funds will be returned to Frederick once he arrives at Acre.

9 November. Frederick II marries the 14-year-old Queen Yolande, heiress to the kingdom of Jerusalem, and adds the Crusader States to his dominions.

29 November. The 12-year-old Henry VII, by order of his father Frederick II, marries Margaret of Austria, daughter of Duke Leopold VI.

Unknown Date. Magna Carta is reaffirmed (for the third time) by Henry III, in return for issuing a property tax. It becomes the definitive version of the text.Magna Carta, 1225

Unknown Date. The 8-year-old Henry I is crowned as king of Cyprus in the Cathedral of Saint Sophia at Nicosia.

Unknown Date. Born. Thomas Aquinas, Italian friar and theologian (d.1274).

current affairs, history, memes

June Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

World Affairs

  1. Which political figure became Baroness of Kesteven? Margaret Thatcher
  2. What year was the United Nations established? 1945
  3. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus became the head of which United Nations agency in 2017? WHO (World Health Organisation)
  4. Who was US President in the year 2000? Bill Clinton
  5. What was the name of the treaty signed between the Allies and Germany that officially ended WWI? Treaty of Versailles
  6. The border between North Korea and South Korea is about 257km long and 4km wide. What is this buffer zone known as? Korean Demilitarised Zone (DMZ)

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.

history

June 1925

Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

8. The Noël Coward comic play Hay Fever opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in the City of Westminster, England.

14. A significant German art exhibition of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement opened in Mannheim, with paintings by George Grosz, Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, Rudolf Schlichter and others.George Grosz, 'Ecce Homo', 1923

15. Born. Richard Baker, English broadcast journalist and author (d.2018)

24. The Five Sisters window at York Minster was dedicated to the women who lost their lives in the line of service during World War I

arts, history, links, medical, nudism, photography, science, sexuality

Monthly Links for May

1 Comment

Here is this month’s well packed collection of links to items you didn’t know you’d missed …

Science, Technology, Natural World

Let’s start with something which has always been a bone of contention … Do we all see colour the same way? And if so why is it that what I describe as blue, you say is turquoise?

Research has found that chimpanzees have surprisingly good hygiene habits: they use leaves to wipe bums and clean up after sex.

Down in the ocean depths there is still mystery surrounding the largest light in the sea.

And now up in the air … we’ve long known about their intelligence, but now it appears that crows can do geometry.

Scientists try to imagine what it’s like to be a raven or crow.

And now to our own intelligence … Can you convincingly explain the Monty Hall problem?

Is there really an underlying mathematical sequence which this year’s Premier League title for Liverpool has highlighted?

So there’s a new Pope, but how is the Conclave’s tell-tale black and white smoke ensured?

We’ve all heard of antimatter, but now researchers have discovered anti-spice, which makes chillies less hot. [££££]

Talking of hot … astronomers are now suggesting that a nearby ancient supernova (below) is an invader from another galaxy. [££££]

A new theoretical study is proposing that the very existence of gravity is evidence that we are all part of a giant computer simulation.

Back with the (slightly) more mundane … there’s a collection of astronomers who spend their time trying to find and catalogue the seemingly infinite number of pieces of rock that whizz over our heads every day. [LONG READ]

Health, Medicine

Just why do some of use get travel sick but others don’t?

Sexuality & Relationships

Here’s a look at sex, art and the art of sex in ancient Pompeii.

Environment & Ecology

Not just “no mow May” it needs to be “leave it alone June, July and August” … We’d help our declining butterflies (and many other species) by mowing our lawns a lot less.

Researchers are discovering that there really are fungal superhighways connecting things up under our feet.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

Here’s a look at whether Spencer Tunick’s massed nude bodies (below) constitute good nude photography or not. [LONG READ]

The Courtauld Institute in London has released a huge art photo archive online, and it’s free

Also in London, at the Cartoon Museum, there’s an exhibition of cartoon cats from Korky to Garfield.

They seem to be two unlikely bedfellows but Cockney and Yiddish influenced each other considerably in London’s East End.

Going back in time, here’s an introduction to the history of runes. [LONG READ]

Here’s the story of how English lost several letters from its alphabet. [LONG READ]

And English then underwent the Great Vowel Shift which further ruined both our spelling and writing. [LONG READ]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

A visit to the Rollright Stones (above) – and IME they’re worth a visit. [LONG READ]

There’s a new study looking at pregnancy amongst the Vikings.

A look at the expansion of Medieval Europe. [LONG READ]

An American looks at what other Americans actually know about medieval history. [LONG READ]

It’s not quite a grimoire but the Picatrix contained all the secrets to becoming an evil wizard.

What was happening in London during the first English Civil War (1642-1646). [LONG READ]

In Austrian village there’s a mysterious mummified priest – and it turns out he was mummified via his rectum!

London

North-west London boasts several Black Madonnas.

Some of the Cold War tunnels under central London are to be turned into a permanent museum of military intelligence.

Food, Drink

How to reduce the risk of your fridge being a breeding ground for bacteria.

Aspartame: a calorie-free, but not risk-free, artificial sweetener.

Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs

So just how much can your name influence your future or occupation?

Here’s something on thinking slowly and recognising your biases and maybe improve your life. [LONG READ]

On the world of Berliners getting together in the nude. [LONG READ]

An Australian sex writer on learning to appreciate her curves.

And the same Australian sex writer on why she loves her full bush, even in a bikini.

On the naturist attitude to the inevitable erections.

Wow! Ha ha!

In 1990, in Calvine, Scotland, two men photographed what is reportedly the best UFO picture ever seen; but it’s remained a mystery.

And I’ll leave you with a little fable about the evolution of why women like performing oral sex.

Be good!

history

What Happened in 825, 925, 1025

Here’s our next instalment of things that happened in ..25 years of yore.

Some Notable Events in 825

Unknown Date. Grimur Kamban allegedly becomes the first man to set foot in the Faroe Islands, and settles in Funningur, on the northwest coast of Eysturoy.Funnigur today

Unknown Date. Battle of Ellandun: King Egbert of Wessex defeats Beornwulf of Mercia near Swindon. The battle marks the end of the Mercian domination of southern England. The kingdoms of Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Essex submit to Wessex, and East Anglia acknowledges Egbert as overlord.

Unknown Date. Borobudur, a Mahayana Buddhist Temple, is completed in Central Java.

Some Notable Events in 925

15 May. Nicholas I Mystikos, twice the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, having reigned a second time since 912, dies at the age of 73.

29 June. Stephen II becomes the new Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, succeeding Nicholas I.

Unknown Date. A Fatimid expeditionary force led by Jafar ibn Obeid lands in Abruzzo, Southern Italy. They overrun Apulia all the way to the city of Otranto. After defeating the Byzantine garrisons, the Arabs lay siege to the castle of Oria. The defenders are massacred and the remainder (mostly women and children) are taken as slaves back to North Africa.

Some Notable Events in 1025

18 April. Boleslaw I the Brave is crowned in Gniezno as the first king of Poland. He takes advantage of the interregnum in Germany and receives permission for his coronation from Pope John XIX; however, he dies on 17 June.

15 December. Byzantine Emperor Basil II dies in Constantinople after a 50 year reign. Never married, he is succeeded by his brother and co-emperor Constantine VIII, who becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

Unknown Date. Completion and publishing of Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine.

history

May 1925

2 Comments

Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

1. Cyprus became a British crown colony.

2. A US Navy seaplane set a new record by staying airborne for 28-and-a-half hours.

5. Born. Charles Chaplin, Jr, actor, in Beverly Hills, California (d.1968)

7. Died. William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, British industrialist, philanthropist and politician (b.1851)

12. Paul von Hindenburg was sworn in as president of Germany. His inaugural address emphasised the need to place unity and mutual progress ahead of political partisanship.

12. Born. Yogi Berra, baseball player, in St Louis, Missouri (d.2015)

13. The Gold Standard Act was passed in Britain, officially returning the country to the gold standard.

14. Died. H Rider Haggard, English novelist (b.1856)

16. The first modern performance of Claudio Monteverdi’s opera Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (1639/40) takes place in ParisUlysses

19. Born. Malcolm X, African-American civil rights activist (d.1965)

19. Born. Pol Pot, Cambodian Stalinist dictator and leader of the Khmer Rouge (d.1998)

22. Died. John French, 1st Earl of Ypres, British World War I field marshal (b.1852)

28. Born. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone singer and conductor, in Berlin (d.2012)

environment, history, links, medical, science, sexuality

Monthly Links for April

This month’s links to items you maybe didn’t want to miss …

Science, Technology, Natural World

It’s fairly superficial, but here are 15 common science myths debunked. [LONG READ]

Robin McKie reflects on over 40 years as the Observer‘s science editor. [LONG READ]

Pharmaceutical chemist Derek Lowe takes issue with the idea that we could kill off all disease within 10 years.

Meanwhile Corey S Powell discusses why it is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence … [LONG READ]

… And Prof. Seirian Sumner outlines the how we might best create a more nature-literate society.

Somewhere hiding in Britain the government has a collection of deadly fungi.

The tiny and mysterious hominin Paranthropus lived alongside early members of our Homo genus. [££££]

After which it is maybe no great surprise that intelligence evolved at least twice in vertebrates. [LONG READ]

No wonder scientists have recently created the largest mammalian brain map to date. [££££]

Going back down the size scale … just how do insects and the smallest animals survive in Antarctica.

Still with insects, it turns out that flies are masters of migration, travelling huge distances.

Back up in size, a group claims to have de-extincted the Dire Wolf, but have they? Two articles (amongst the many in recent weeks): a blog post from Bethany Brookshire [LONG READ] and an op-ed from Michael Le Page in New Scientist [££££]. Spoiler: No they haven’t.

And now for something completely different … new work is finding that astronomers were wrong about Uranus and it resolves some mysteries.

Much more interestingly, astronomers are trying to work out what’s happening inside Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io.

Health, Medicine

Researchers are now beginning to understand the actual role of carbon dioxide in airborne disease transmission, and this should be a key to safer indoor spaces.

Professor of Mathematical Biology, Kit Yates, asks whether the risks of brain injury in contact sports is being overstated. [LONG READ]

Drinking urine is an ancient practice to improve health, but are the risks worth it?

Sexuality & Relationships

Dani Faith Leonard writes a review of the medical discovery of the clitoris, and takes a sideswipe at DOGE incels in the process.

Here’s a history of (not just pubic) hair removal through the ages. [LONG READ]

And then there’s a pictorial history of the “full bush”. [LONG READ]

Meanwhile a different sex writer talks about her approach to “self-pleasure”.

Now over to you boys … First off, just what is the relation of penis size to monogamy?

And when you’ve got over that shock … apparently you need to wake up to your declining fertility. [££££]

All together now … Here are some thoughts on why some marriages last while others fail.

Which brings us to various ways to improve a sexless marriage.

Social Sciences, Business, Law, Politics

Following which, this seems an opportune time to consider nine ways to spot falsehoods on the loose.

Art, Literature, Language, Music

So from a linguistics point of view apparently “she” is a very weird word. [LONG READ]

History, Archaeology, Anthropology

Archaeologists have uncovered a huge horad of Iron Age metal work; everything from cauldrons to horse harness fittings.

If you’re a Roman, how do you get a lion from Africa to York? Because a skeleton (presumably of a gladiator) in a Roman York cemetery has bite marks made by a lion and is the first physical evidence of gladiators (well people) fighting lions as sport.

History is sometimes hard to understand and interpret, but it seems Christopher Marlowe tackled the problematic Edward II.

Archaeologists in Barcelona have uncovered the remains of a wrecked medieval boat.

Mercury and weasel balls … medieval treatments so often make one doubt the sanity of ancient medicine.

Newly discovered wall paintings show off the tastes of wealthy Tudors.

And finally for this month … there’s a brouhaha over the display of a book bound in the skin of a 19th-century Suffolk murderer.

history

What Happened in 525, 625, 725

Here’s our next instalment of things that happened in ..25 years of yore.

Some Notable Events in 525

Unknown Date. King Theodoric the Great sends Pope John I to Constantinople, to negotiate a withdrawal of Byzantine emperor Justin’s edict against Arian Christianity.

Unknown Date. The Daisan river floods Edessa. The Shroud of Turin is allegedly discovered during the rebuilding of the city.

Unknown Date. Cosmas Inidicopleustes, Alexandrian explorer-geographer, travels up the Nile. He will venture as far to the east as Ceylon, become a monk, and write “Topographia Christiana” to vindicate the biblical account of the world.

Unknown Date. Dionysius Exiguus, Scythian theologian-mathematician, inaugurates the practice of using AD (Anno Domini) in Rome for calendar dates after the birth of Jesus Christ. Dionysius also produces his tables for computing the date of Cyclus Paschalis (Easter Tables).

Some Notable Events in 625

25 October. Died. Pope Boniface V dies at Rome after a 6 year reign. He is succeeded by Honorius I as the 70th pope.

Unknown Date. King Edwin of Northumbria marries Æthelburga of Kent. As a Christian, she brings her personal chaplain, Paulinus, and encourages her husband to convert to Christianity.

Unknown Date. Born. Hasan ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad (d.670).

Some Notable Events in 725

23 April. King Wihtred of Kent dies after a 35 year reign. The kingdom is divided between his three sons: Æthelbert II as overking, Eadbert I in West Kent and Alric.

Unknown Date. Muslim forces under Anbasa ibn Suhaym al-Kalbi capture Carcassonne, which has been under Siege, as well as Nimes.

Unknown Date. Vi Xing, Chinese Buddhist monk and astronomer, applies a clockwork escapement mechanism, to provide rotating motion to his astronomical armillary sphere.

Unknown Date. Bede, Northumbrian monk-historian, writes The Reckoning of Time (De temporum ratione), explaining how to calculate medieval Easter.Manuscript Bede on Easter