Monthly Archives: March 2015
HISTORIC REFUSAL: KING OLIVER
On March 31st, 1657, the English Parliament offered the crown of England to Oliver Cromwell, the man who had beheaded its previous owner, King Charles I. Cromwell declined. Dictatorship seemed to be working well, so why bother? And king or not, he still got to have his image on coins of the realm.
HISTORIC SCHOOL: ETON COLLEGE
Despite being England’s “Mad King Harry”, the tragic Henry VI had his lucid moments. During one of them he founded Eton College. Originally known as “The King’s College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor”, the school gave free education to seventy boys from poor families. The following year Henry founded King’s College Cambridge, which […]
HISTORIC HAPPENING: MODERN-DAY FUNERAL OF RICHARD III
If you’re going to be in or near Leicester, England this week, a royal funeral is finally going to be held at the cathedral for Richard III, the last Plantagenet king. It’s taken 530 years, but his remains were only found three years ago – in a car park. Numerous activities related to the late […]
HISTORIC RECOGNITION: WORLD DOWN’S SYNDROME AWARENESS DAY
People with Down’s Syndrome are born with an extra chromosome that limits intellectual function and can cause health issues such as intestinal problems and heart and vision defects. This condition, which occurs in 1 out of 800 births world births, was not always known as Down’s Syndrome (or, in the U.S.A, Down Syndrome). In an […]
TRIVIA TRAIL: WORLD’S LARGEST KITE MUSEUM
Question: Where is the world’s largest kite museum? Answer: Weifang, China, where the kite is thought to have been invented almost 3,000 years ago. Their initial purpose was probably military (surveillance and such), but there’s also a legend that the first kite was actually just a hat that kept blowing off the head of […]
TRIVIA TRAIL: THE IDES OF MARCH
Question: Was there any significance to the Ideas of March (the 15th of March) before Julius Cæsar was assassinated on that date in 44 BCE? Answer: Yes. From 220 BCE to 153 BCE, the Idus Martias (basically, the middle of the month) was the day on which Rome’s two annually elected consuls took office and […]
HISTORY TIDBIT: SPEED OF LIGHT MEASUREMENT (WITH A CARTOON)
* Authorized Reproduction, Rex May: http://baloocartoons.com/ Danish astronomer Ole Rømer made the first measurements of the speed of light back in 1676, and Albert Einstein (born March 14th, 1879), was one of several scientists to expand upon his work. In 1905, Einstein determined the speed of light to be independent of the motion of […]
Time Travelling With Kids 