It is fair to say that the history of medicine has been something of a hit and miss affair. Without modern technology to aid in our understanding of the root causes of ailments, there was a lot of guesswork and outright quackery in the mix for much of the time. This is not to say
Almost everyone has heard of Leonardo da Vinci, who is rightly held up as one of the greatest minds in history. Supremely skilled as a painter, inventor, scientist and polymath, his fizzing genius casts a shadow over history few can hope to rival. Most will also know of Daedalus, the ancient Greek analogue of da
Hawaii was the last of the fifty states to join the United States of America. And, were you to dig a little deeper, it might seem strange that it did. There is no accident of geography binding it to the union, as there are for the contiguous 48 states that make up most of the
There is no site more emblematic and obviously ancient Egyptian than the pyramids at Giza. The only wonder of the ancient world still standing, these three enormous pyramids and their attendant sphinx and necropolis are instantly recognizable. The site is dominated by the great Fourth Dynasty pyramid of Khufu, which dwarfs even the other two
For most people, the history of England begins with the Norman Conquest in 1066. The line of kings is generally traced to William I, the first Norman king who invaded across the channel and defeated the Saxons under Harold Godwinson, as famously depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry. This is certainly a convenient way to do
There is a reason that, in the public image of the medieval executioner they are almost always envisaged wearing a hooded mask. Execution was a bloody trade, and for many it came with an amount of social ostracising: better to remain anonymous then be known as a butcher. In point of fact this was not