When asked to think of a hermit, most people would imagine a bearded old monk sitting in a cave battered by sea-spray or desert winds, along the lines of St Guthlac, St Antony or Simeon the Stylite (whom I mentioned in one of my first posts). This picture may have been true in the medieval period, …
Miss Tickletoby’s Lectures on English History: The Danish Conquest
In 1842, William Thackeray published the third of his satirical pieces titled Miss Tickletoby's Lectures on English History, in Punch magazine. They are a hilarious send-up of 19th-century English education, as captured through the lectures of the imaginary schoolmistress/historian, Miss Tickletoby. Readers who can remember Our Island Story may see some similarities in its patriotic and opinionated tone; and …
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Why did Thomas Edison electrocute an elephant?
Thomas Edison (1847-1931) is best known as the inventor of the phonograph, the motion picture camera and a long-lasting, practical electric lightbulb. He is celebrated as a great technical innovator. While this is all true, not many people know about the ruthless measures he took to achieve a monopoly over the American electricity market, which …
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