The Adventurers who Crossed Half the Pacific in a Raft

Thor Heyerdahl was a man who lived for excitement. At the age of 22, he sailed to the volcanic Marquesas islands. Less than a decade later, he was fighting Nazis with the Free Norwegian Forces. But it was his long-held belief in an ancient link between South America and Polynesia that got him fired up […]

This Week in History: Golfer who Drank 1,400 Bottles of Radioactive Water Dies

This week, American millionaire and amateur golfer Eben Byers died after drinking radioactive water for years.

The US Presidential Election Special

Today, millions of Americans will go to the polls and vote for the next President of the United States. A lot of people have called this election the craziest in American history, and in some ways they might be right. But unless Clinton dies before the day is up, or Trump loses and gets his revenge by shooting a Cabinet […]

This Week in History: 10 Second Barrier for the 100m Broken

This week, almost fifty years ago, Jim Hines became the first person in recorded history to run the 100-metre sprint in under 10 seconds. With modern day sprinters regularly completing 100 metres in under 10 seconds, it’s almost surprising to see that just a few decades ago it was rarely seen. In fact, before 1990, the […]

From Yugoslavia with Love

It’s October 5th, which means it’s Global James Bond Day. For someone so incredibly famous throughout the world, let alone here in England, many people aren’t aware of how the legend of 007 was created. Ian Fleming was known for using multiple muses as inspiration for his most famous character, but a Serbian double agent with […]

Ye Olde Snippets: President Ike’s Chance for Peace

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This is not a way of life, in any true sense.”

Károly Takács, the One-Handed Olympic Sharpshooter

The 2016 Paralympic Games opened in spectacular fashion last night, which means it’s the perfect time to talk about an athlete that’s, for my money, one of the greatest in history. Károly Takács, a sergeant in the Hungarian Army in the 1930s, was a world-class pistol shooter who dreams of competing in the 1940 Olympics were […]

This Week in History: Romania Enters World War One

In this week, 100 years ago, the Kingdom of Romania entered World War One on the side of the Allies. Most people remember World War One as Western Europe tearing itself apart, with Russia leaving early and the US coming late. But we shouldn’t forget the hundreds of thousands of brave Romanians who also fought […]