Showing posts with the label England

John Stringfellow And The World's First Powered Flight

Mar 5, 2024

In 1842, British engineers William Samuel Henson and John Stringfellow received a patent for a flying machine. Unlike previous attempts made...

Bedford Level Experiment: The 19th Century Experiment That Laid The Foundation of The Flat Earth Society

Jan 31, 2024

In 1838, English writer and socialist, Samuel Rowbotham, set out to disprove what the ancient Greeks as well as modern scientists had long e...

Pratt And Smith: The Last Men To Be Executed For Sodomy in England

Jan 8, 2024

On the morning of November 27, 1835, two men—James Pratt and John Smith—were publicly hanged in front of Newgate Prison in London. Just thre...

Barkway Carriage Wash

Jan 3, 2024

What looks like a pool of stagnant water by the side of the road in Royston, in Hertfordshire, is really the oldest carriage wash in the wor...

Bottle Kicking in Hallaton

Dec 18, 2023

In the village of Hallaton in Leicestershire, England, a unique tradition unfolds every Easter Monday. The residents of Hallaton and the nea...

The Logan Rock of Treen

Dec 5, 2023

On the edge of the cliffs overlooking the English Channel, on a headland one mile south of Treen, in Cornwall, England, is a famous rocking ...

The Leicester Balloon Riot of 1864

Nov 13, 2023

During the latter part of the 18th century and most of the 19th century, there was a notable surge in public fascination with ballooning. Th...

The Sinking of U-boat 864

Nov 9, 2023

During World War II, German U-boats wrought havoc upon Allied supply lines and commercial shipping inflicting heavy losses on merchant convo...

Arthur John Priest: The Unsinkable Stoker

Oct 18, 2023

If there was anyone on board the Titanic that truly deserved the title “unsinkable” it was a coal stoker named Arthur John Priest, who surv...

Adrian Carton de Wiart: The Most Battle-Scarred Soldier

Oct 13, 2023

No one who has been touched by war has emerged from the experience unchanged. In the case of Adrian Carton de Wiart, who had participated in...