During the Second World War the Nazis acquired vast amounts of gold to fund their regime and military aims. From countries they invaded/annexed they took: Approximately $71 million from Austria and Czechoslovakia prior to the outbreak of war $223 million from Belgium $193 million from the Netherlands £131 million from Continue Reading
Modern Age
VJ Day – 14 August 1945
On 14 August 1945, Japan unconditionally surrendered ending WWII in the Pacific. This followed the dropping of atomic weapons by the United States. “Little Boy”, a 15 kiloton of TNT, uranium based bomb destroyed Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and was deployed by the B29 Superfortress “Enola Gay”. “Fat Man”, Continue Reading
Longest Time in Space
The astronaut who has spent the longest continuous time in space is Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov who was aboard the Mir space station for 437 days 18 hours from 9 Jan 1994 to 22 March 1995. Gennady Ivanovich Padalka holds the record for the most time spent in space overall at 879 days Continue Reading
Jesse Owens and Adolf Hitler
Jesse Owens was a four-time gold medal winner in the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin. It is often said that Owens was snubbed by Adolf Hitler. This is not entirely accurate. On the first day of the Games, Hitler only congratulated German athletes. The Olympic officials insisted that he Continue Reading
Winston Churchill: The Few
On August 20, 1940, during the Battle of Britain, Winston Churchill made a speech to the House of Commons, honouring the bravery of and expressing gratitude to the airmen who prevailed. The most famous part of the speech is in the extract below: The gratitude of every home in our Island, in Continue Reading
Socialists didn’t want women to have the vote
The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) lead by Emmeline Pankhurst (labelled the Suffragettes as a term of derision by The Daily Mail newspaper) campaigned for property-owning women to have the vote from 1903 to 1917. The nascent Labour Party and other Socialists didn’t want more votes for the bourgeoisie and Continue Reading
Historical UK General Election Results and Suffrage
With the upcoming General Election in the UK, it might be interesting to look at the Elections and changes in suffrage in UK history. 2017 Not yet known (as of 7 June 2017) 2015 Victory: Conservative Prime Minister(s): David Cameron Theresa May Majority: 16 Image: By Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Continue Reading
Tunguska: The Largest Impact Event in Recorded History
On the morning of 30 June 1908, a large explosion flattened 2,000 km2 of forest near the Stony Tunguska River in Eastern Siberia. There were no recorded human casualties. Fallen trees at Tunguska, 1927 In 1930, a scientific expedition, lead by Leonid Kulik, recorded the testimony of S Semenov: At breakfast time Continue Reading
S.P.A.M., SPAM, spam (and lobster thermidor)
SPAM luncheon meat was first produced in the Depression era in the United States (1937), by the Hormel Foods Corporation. It was named by Ken Daigneau who had won a contest (and $100). Ken was the brother of a Hormel Vice-President, but that may be entirely coincidental. Hormel insist that the Continue Reading
OMG, unfriended. WTF?
Although millennials seem to think they invented text-speak, having no concept of communication such as telegram or morse code, you might be surprised to learn that some of the words associated with social media were in use much earlier than you might expect. OMG In a letter from Admiral John Continue Reading