Interesting Histories

History contains best narratives, best heroes, best villains, best adventures and best romance. In Interesting Histories we try to find those small stories that educate and fascinate us, stories that tell about bygone times and exotic locations. Join us on this world wide romp.

Interesting Histories: Rani of Jhansi — Warrior Queen

The 1800s were not a good time for India. The mighty Mughal Empire was in decline and the British East India Company was gulping up…

Paul Cathill

May 24

John G. Kemeny, inventor of BASIC

In the 1950s, computers could speak and understand English. Anybody could communicate with them, no training required.

Badri Sunderarajan

Mar 31

Interesting Histories: Ice Cream — Dessert of Gods

Ice cream is yummy, creamy, cold, satisfying, reinvigorating, uplifting, life giving, mood improving, always welcoming substance. It can…

Paul Cathill

Mar 5

Interesting Histories: Munster Rebellion

The 16th century was a turbulent time for Europe. The all bounding and all powerful Catholic Church got hammered by the Protestant…

Paul Cathill

Feb 12

Interesting Histories: Affair of the Diamond Necklace

This story starts, as many other stories started, with a fine piece of jewellery. It was made by a pair of Parisian jewellers Charles…

Paul Cathill

Nov 26, 2018

Interesting Histories: Saparmurat Niyazov — The Real General Aladeen

Let’s start by reminding ourselves what and where Turkmenistan is. It is a country in Central Asia, surrounded by such neighbours as…

Paul Cathill

Sep 26, 2018

Interesting Histories: Socks, Stockings And Feet

A lot of us have feet and a lot of us wear socks, or even more precisely, people who have feet wear socks. Socks are everywhere, they are…

Paul Cathill

Jul 25, 2018

Interesting Histories: Teddy Bear

The Teddy Bear is an icon, a huggable friend, a childhood memory, a protector of innocent dreams, a night time monster slayer and the best…

Paul Cathill

Nov 22, 2017

Interesting Histories: Helots — The Slaves Of Sparta

We all heard of Sparta and the Spartans. The powerful city state in ancient Greece. The best warriors of the ancient world. The Spartans…

Paul Cathill

Nov 5, 2017

Interesting Histories: Tea And Its Legends

We all LOVE a cup of tea. Its refreshing, revitalising, mild taste. It wakes us up in the morning, keeps us warm in the winter, cools us…

Paul Cathill

Oct 22, 2017

Interesting Histories: Histories of Everything Pt. 2 — Cash Register, Wallet, Banknotes

Cash Register

Paul Cathill

Oct 14, 2017

Interesting Histories: Hachikō - The Most Loyal Dog

Long ago in Japan, a professor from the University of Tokyo decided to adopt a dog. He wanted a pure bred Akita pup, a breed of large and…

Paul Cathill

Oct 1, 2017

Interesting Histories: Stanislav Petrov and The End Of The Word

Stanislav Petrov had a rather unremarkable life. He was born somewhere near Vladivostok on 7 September 1939, to a military pilot and a…

Paul Cathill

Sep 23, 2017

Interesting Histories: Histories of Everything Pt. 1

Eraser, Bikini, Textbook

Paul Cathill

Sep 13, 2017

Interesting Histories: Operation Anthropoid

On 30th of September 1938, the Munich Agreement was signed, a notorious deal to surrender lands of Czechoslovakia to Germany, only to…

Paul Cathill

Sep 2, 2017

Interesting Histories: The Library of Alexandria

The Library of Alexandria was a marvel of the ancient world, a place for arts, literature, philosophy and science. Books and scrolls filled…

Paul Cathill

Aug 18, 2017

Interesting Histories: Pinball

If somebody asked you when did the earliest form of pinball game appear? What would you say? 30s? 50s? 60s?

Paul Cathill

Jul 24, 2017

Interesting Histories: Female — Male — Woman — Man

Female, Male, Woman, Man are words that we use everyday, and for a very long time I thought that they derive from each other. Fe-male…

Paul Cathill

Jul 17, 2017

Interesting Histories: Anglo-Zanzibar War — 38 Minutes Conflict

The Anglo-Zanzibar War only lasted whooping 38 minutes, and it is considered the shorted war in recorded history. Back in 1890, when Easter…

Paul Cathill

Jul 10, 2017

A Pencil

A pencil is a wonderful thing, you can use it for writing, marking, correcting, drawing, colouring, contouring, makeup and so on and on and…

Paul Cathill

Jun 26, 2017

Interesting Histories: Darien scheme

Imagine for a moment that you are a relatively small nation, with a declining economy, tiny military capabilities and is overshadowed by…

Paul Cathill

Jun 16, 2017

Interesting Histories: Lugansk or Luhansk?

I prefer to call it Lugansk. I was born there, and for the first 12 years of my life I called it my home. Back in the good old days, when…

Paul Cathill

Jun 9, 2017

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