Wojtek the bear: Carried Shells and enjoyed his beer
Of all the unlikely mascots to march into the pages of military history, Wojtek the…
Solar Flares: The Day the Sun Lost Its Temper
NASA warns of huge solar flares causing blackouts on Earth. Which sounds rather cinematic, doesn’t…
‘Monster’ Strawberries Warning
UK supermarket customers warned over 'monster' strawberries, and honestly, the plot twist came just when…
The Chrysler Building: Steel, Spite, and Spires
The Chrysler Building... If ever there were a monument to architectural one-upmanship wrapped in shiny…
Atahualpa: The Last Inca Emperor
Atahualpa probably didn’t wake up one morning in 1532 and think, "This is the day…
Forever Chemicals: The Toxic Guests That Never Leave
They sound like the title of a Bond film that never made it past the…
UNESCO: Saving the World Heritage
UNESCO: Saving the World Heritage might sound like the title of a superhero comic for…
Sagrada FamÃlia: The World’s Most Beautiful Construction Site
You can almost hear the symphony of drills, chisels, and bewildered tourists when you approach…
Art Deco Fever: From Pharaohs to Futurism
Art Deco fever swept across continents like a well-dressed pandemic with impeccable posture, a fondness…
The Houses in Your Natal Chart: A Beginner’s Guide to the Real Estate of the Zodiac
Houses in your natal chart are like rooms in an exceptionally nosy cosmic mansion. Each…
Longyearbyen: The city that tried to ban death
The city that tried to ban death... Sounds like the start of a grim fairy…
The University of Oxford: Where Genius, Chaos and Latin Collide
The University of Oxford has inspired many things: awe, envy, wildly dramatic novels, and probably…
The Berlin Wall: A Concrete Comedy of Errors
The Berlin Wall and events surrounding it are one of those historical rollercoasters that somehow…
Art Nouveau: The Stylish Rebellion
Art Nouveau didn't ask for permission. It waltzed in at the end of the 19th…
Roman religion: The gods and rituals
The gods and rituals of Roman religion had a flair for spectacle, bureaucracy, and a…
Life in the Iron Age: Survival and Society
If you’ve ever thought that life in the Iron Age was all iron swords, painted…
Pyramid scheme Las Vegas-style
Las Vegas has never really been about subtlety. This is the city that thought it…
The Global Tax on Hats (Briefly)
Some things sound like satire but are in fact the dry crumbs of bureaucratic history.…
Conquistador: Unwelcome Tourist from Europe
The word that still echoes through history classrooms and travel documentaries alike: conquistador. It sounds…
Babouches and the Art of Moroccan Foot Flair
Morocco does a lot of things well. Tea? Poured from a scandalous height into glasses…
What Your Rising Sign Really Says About You
What your rising sign really says about you goes far beyond the aesthetic nonsense peddled…
George III
George III wasn’t supposed to be interesting. That was the job of his more scandalous…
The First Sputnik
On 4 October 1957, the world changed with a beep. Not a speech. Not a…
The Fake Beard That Saved Cleopatra
The fake beard that saved a queen wasn’t some hastily glued prop or pantomime costume…
The Spy Pigeons of WWI
The Spy Pigeons of WWI: feathered agents with impeccable navigation skills. Not exactly what you…
Derinkuyu: Turkey’s Underground City
At first glance, Derinkuyu looks like a perfectly ordinary Turkish town. A few dusty streets.…