We venture into deep waters when we examine men's fashion.
A British aristocrat of the 19th century, she ignored all the rules about how a woman should behave.
Although it was once considered one of the best companies in the United States, Boeing has sunk in public and investor esteem because of greed and mismanagement.
The 19th-century author Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton is widely accepted as one of the worst writers ever to be published, and his name lives on in an award.
Thousands of fake documents were made to help Jews and others escape the Nazi gas chambers.
A German shoemaker's life wasn't going so well until he hit on a money-making plan.
The notion of five days of work and two days of leisure is an artificial construct.
While lauded for his charity work, the British TV star was a hideous sexual abuser behind the scenes.
Cities, towns, and villages erect giant artifacts to honour something local.
For several centuries, a few members of Europe’s nobility suffered from the belief they were made of glass.
For centuries, people believed in the existence of places that were figments of the imagination.
She alone decided who was in and who was out socially during New York's Gilded Age.
These are the sort of stories favoured by supermarket tabloids but there's a difference, these are true.
During World War II American airmen paid a terrible price in daylight bombing raids of enemy targets.
He was a Texas oil tycoon with a reputation bigger than the state.
Religious leaders, wing-nuts, charlatans, and even a chicken have predicted the end of the world, but we are still here.
We sometimes feel that pricing is determined by what the seller thinks he can get away with, and sometimes we are right.
Death notices tend to be sombre things but some people want to leave different kinds of memories after they have gone.
Idealistic young people wanted to create a more egalitarian society in the 1960s.
In 1786, a mentally unstable woman lunged at the British monarch with a knife. She paid dearly for her inept attempt at regicide.
In the 1990s, an extortionist tied German police up into tangled knots of incompetence.
How violent were the gladiatorial combats in Ancient Rome?
Queen Victoria described her childhood as dreary, and one of the people charged with her upbringing said she could be “naughty and vulgar.”
Some pubs go out of their way to create an unforgettable experience for customers. Here are 13 unique pubs to check out.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, isn't the first royal to get into conflict with his family members.
There are many cases of people reporting the sense of the presence of someone else when there is no one there.
Identical twins usually share many characteristics, sometimes this is a fondness for criminality.
Without beer we might still be living in caves and using a club to get our meals; or maybe, it was bread that caused the revolution.
There is no such thing as an average human and believing there is leads to all sorts of mistakes.
In 2010, homosexual men began disappearing in Toronto. Was a serial killer on the loose?
People have loved thrill rides for a long time and what was once deemed scary is now thought of as tame.
The eloquent and talented princess tried unsuccessfully to regain the independence of Hawaii after its illegal U.S. takeover.
In 1760, King George II fell off his toilet and died. Read on for more interesting facts about johns.
In the 1890s, an immigrant to the United States may have thought it was a good idea to import every bird species mentioned in Shakespeare’s collected works. Pity about the starlings.
Joaquin “Jack” Garcia infiltrated the mob and took down one of its most famous crime families.
Despite the overwhelming evidence of science that our planet is getting hotter, there is still a rump of deniers who say global heating is rubbish.
Thousands of American Indians were forced to trek hundreds of miles to an internment reservation.
Product flops, Donald Trump business catastrophes, and the mysterious world of social media influencers.
Early in the 20th century, a dozen children died at the hands of a woman hired to look after them.
Even QAnon found this radical group outrageous.
Born in 1861 to free Black parents, Isaac Murphy became one of the greatest jockeys in America; then white people squeezed him out of horse racing. Learn more about his story here.
For centuries, mythical characters have been enlisted by adults to frighten children into behaving properly.
Under the guise of self-improvement, religion, or some other form of camouflage, charlatans are able to dupe followers into doing their bidding.
Devastating loss of life occurs when high-powered firearms get into the wrong hands.
Otherwise known as Simon Fraser, the clan leader was a cunning turncoat who played a role in the Jacobite Rebellions of the 18th century.
There was a time when yearning for a previous age was believed to be bad for people's health.
Temples of manufactured fun sit idle all over the world, victims of changing tastes, economic downturns, or, perhaps, it was just a dumb idea to start with.
There was a time when large corporations commissioned Broadway-style shows to motivate employees and sell product.
Special interests spend vast amounts of money influencing government policy to their advantage.
The biggest con game of them all finds new suckers every two years. Cities are so excited to host the Olympic Games but the massive debt that follows should not come as a surprise.
An area of the city was set aside for the sex trade from 1897 to 1917. It was the first “red-light district” in the United States that was regulated.
Wherever he looked Comstock saw filth and was determined to stamp it out.
Hidden somewhere in France is a statuette that people have been looking for for 30 years.
How a mother killed her child rather than see her become a slave.
During the Victorian era, parties were held during which a mummy was unwrapped.
More than 250 years ago, she cleverly used image manipulation to become famous for being famous.
Collectively, large numbers of people seem to be better at decision making than individual experts; until they aren't.
Swords and pistols were the preferred weapons of duelists who had scores to settle, but sometimes really creative combats took place.
Sir Edmund Backhouse was the go-to man for intelligence on China at the start of the 20th century although most of his information was fake.
The English author was interned during World War II and unwittingly became a propaganda tool.
For thousands of years, cats have performed valuable service in keeping down the rodent population aboard vessels.
An 18th century military man, Roger Aytoun got his nickname because he loved bare-knuckle fighting.
5 Hertford Street is a highly secretive gathering place for VIPs in Britain's capital.
Some of today's environmental problems can be traced back to an American inventor.
A French woman became the toast of Paris—on borrowed money.
For 16 months, a vessel loaded with incinerator ash sailed the oceans looking for a place to dump its cargo.
The Canadian man with many wives and his fundamentalist Mormon cult.
Every profession has its superstitions and musicians are no exception. Classical music composers have to deal with "The Curse of the Ninth," as rock stars try to avoid becoming members of the "27 Club."
If you want to fire up a conspiracy theory, start a campus secret society.
Is there an identical copy of you somewhere in the world?
A writer of prodigious quantities of novels and the librettos for operettas, he was also fond of practical jokes.
In 1567, a Spanish duke was made Governor of the Netherlands with instructions to deal with dissidents.
"Durable" Mike Malloy seemed indestructible to those who tried to kill him as part of an insurance fraud scheme.
English cooking has been greatly improved by the influence of other cultures. This article makes the case for chicken tikka masala as Britain's national dish.
In the 12th century, a Christian group rejected the Roman Catholic Church because of materialism and hypocrisy; they paid dearly for their opposition.
There are many groups of people who don't want their activities to become public. Here, is just a small sample.
Very few of us exercise enough; but how much is enough?
It's no secret that there's an epidemic of obesity in the United States brought on by over-consumption of the wrong types of food.
If your time machine lands sometime in the 23th century, you might have trouble understanding the locals, even though both of you are speaking English.
Huge numbers of people responsible for the Holocaust escaped punishment; some Jewish survivors decided to correct that.
The Roman Catholic Church leads the way in conferring sainthood on people, and some pretty rascally characters have been canonized.
In a crowded field of English eccentrics, Jack Mytton stands head and shoulders below the rest.
Well-known cultural symbols sometimes cause strange psychological impacts.
A major occupation for monarchs was warfare with all the attendant casualties.
For some people death notices are a chance to settle scores, for others, they are an opportunity to dispense advice and even humour.
Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles, and Susanna Edwards were the last women in England to be put to death for being witches; victims of superstition and ignorance. They are remembered as the Bideford witches.
Not many people are able to pay for a hotel room costing $100,000 a night, but those that can get every imaginable whim catered to.
An epic story of cruelty to an animal for the entertainment of people.
Those that contribute least to global heating are the ones who suffer most from it.
Ordinary mistakes can be left to civilians, but for really stupid plans we have to rely on the armed forces.
Known to be Queen Elizabeth II's favourite child, Prince Andrew disgraced his royal background.
Scots have made considerable money from tourists hoping for a glimpse of a creature that doesn't exist.
A movement is growing that seeks to redress the imbalance between the haves and the have-nots and to bring democracy to the workplace.
In Victorian England, the people who drove Hansom cabs lived in fear of a litigious woman who made it her life's work to harass them.
There are a lot of very wealthy people, including Iranian businessman Javad Marandi, who have used the accommodating government of Azerbaijan and its "Azerbaijani Laundromat" to clean up their ill-gotten gains.
As scientific knowledge expands, older truths lose their validity.
In 1724, a book fed the appetites for lurid, true-crime stories in England and became a publishing phenomenon.
During World War II, the Allies used many creative schemes to aid in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Americans spend about $50 billion a year on weddings, and with that kind of coin skittering about, some unsavoury characters are bound to be attracted.
People who live near each other don't always get along and the result sometimes leads to unusual construction.
Colonel Russell Williams was a highly respected military officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force. But he had a terribly dark secret that would shock the world.
Here’s how The Atlantic magazine describes a cashless society: “The cash has been converted into numbers, into signals, into electronic currents. In short: Information replaces cash.”
Broadway delivers smash hits and broken dreams—more often the latter.
A destructive invasive species is causing havoc in America and most people are completely unaware of the problem.
William Joyce was of Anglo-Irish descent and became a fascist and went to Germany, from where he broadcast to England on Hitler’s behalf.
Two women crossed the United States on motorcycles in 1916.
During the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, a tropical fruit became an object of veneration.
The man with an acerbic wit was a theatre critic, bon vivant, and prolific writer in the 1920s and '30s; he is now largely forgotten.
Sneezing powder, stink bombs, and joy buzzers all came from the fertile mind of Sam Adams.
Tourist traps are places where travellers go to part with their money while getting little in return.
A singing sensation in the pre-war and post-war periods, Dorothy Squires had a turbulent life off the stage.
Has human evolution stopped or will our species continue to change?
A teenager who just wanted to fit in was ostracized by her peer group. Ultimately their bullying turned the teens into killers. The story of Reena's tragic case will soon be a Hulu miniseries called "Under the Bridge."
It has been named the highest-fat dish in New York state by health.com.
A Scottish folk hero who still commands great respect although recent research shows he was more of a rogue than anything else.
Louis Wain was an illustrator who changed the way people look at cats.
For centuries, people have tried to find new ways of making music; sometimes their efforts have bordered on weird.
A family in London endured a 12-year reign of terror at the hands of an unseen spectre.
Sailors faced many perils at sea, so they developed rituals and traditions to fend off danger. Learn sailors' charms and omens—bananas, cats, redheads, and more.
Cleaning up after the daily bodily functions has generated a variety of solutions, but it’s only relatively recently that paper has come to the rescue.
In 1944, there was an Allied scheme, called Operation Foxley, to assassinate Hitler in an effort to end the war quickly
In 1985, police bombed a house in Philadelphia, killing 11 people. This is the story of Vincent Leaphart (aka "John Africa"), founder of the MOVE activist group, and his organization's standoff when Philadelphia became "the city that bombed itself."
On several occasions, members of the intelligentsia have gushed glowingly over poetry written as a prank.
At the start of World War I, British soldiers reported witnessing strange apparitions including angels, phantom bowmen, and the likeness of St. George.
Looming over the village of Cerne Abbas in southern England, a naked man is carved into the chalk of a hillside.
The ubiquitous dispensers of candy and pop have a history that can be traced back almost 2,000 years.
In November 1944, an American bomber made a rough landing at a British airbase in Belgium without a crew.
Two French soldiers went on a violent rampage in Central Africa in 1899.
There is a community of competitive gardeners bent on growing vegetables of gigantic proportions.
Everybody lies and, it turns out, we're not very good at unmasking the deceit of others.
During the Great War, it slowly dawned on the military that the conditions of combat were causing men to develop serious mental health problems.
From Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg to John Cage and Sir Harrison Birtwistle, modern classical composers keep making dissonant music despite the fact most people hate it. Why?
In 1773, 200 Scottish immigrants to Canada endured storms and disease as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
A popular and harmless entertainment, or the work of the devil? Let’s find out.
Most of us will not win an Oscar, Pulitzer, or Nobel, but we can set our sights a little lower and put a trophy on our mantelpieces.
He turned the top-quality Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey team into hapless losers.
Eight different attempts to kill Queen Victoria must have given her the feeling she had a bullseye pinned on her; but the attackers were either bonkers, bunglers, or both.
The story of a man who emerged from the drudgery of working in the Bengal Civil Service to perform acts of great risk and courage.
In the 1960s, the southern states had their own homegrown version of the Sicilian Mafia. The Dixie Mafia was a decentralized gang of criminals that took over Biloxi, Mississippi, through extortion and murder.
Our appetites for meat and dairy are, indirectly, adding significantly to global warming.
Gamecock fighting is illegal in the United States; that doesn't mean it never happens.
As the Second World War was coming to an end, chaos reigned everywhere and led to an intelligence blunder of tragic proportions.
America is the birthplace of many restaurant chains; it's also the graveyard of more than a few.
In June 1985, an Air India Boeing 747 plunged into the sea off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 people aboard. It was an act of terrorism.
A co-mingling of morality plays, theatre of the absurd, and pure camp entertainment.
The oak desk used by most U.S. presidents was a gift from Queen Victoria in 1880.
A family business in London, England, thrived on selling people the correct time. It wasn't a scam.
Once a refuge for pirates, the islands retain their reputation as a place for shady characters to do business.
It’s frequently said these days that democracy is in decline and that fascism is in the ascendancy. But what exactly is fascism?
A Cree Indian chief defied the Canadian government by refusing to sign a treaty; the government used rough tactics to make him change his mind.
A magnificent African wildlife reserve has been brought back from the devastation of war.
Pork and other meats are combined with herbs and spices to create a double-crusted dish called tourtière.
We often use words that are derived from the proper names of a person or place without even realizing it.
Preppers are people who believe catastrophes lie just around the corner, so they take precautions to protect themselves.
There are many cities in China that are almost empty, the result of misguided investment strategies.
A Christmas party at West Point Military Academy got completely out of hand when heavily spiked eggnog caused cadets to go on a rampage.
Refusing to accept the rules of society, a young man became an accomplished imposter as he pursued his criminal career.
Phoolan Devi took up the banditry trade, then switched gears, became a Member of Parliament and fought for human rights.
During the 1930s, a hate-filled Roman Catholic priest stirred up Americans to the point that they threatened to overturn the government.
A small town in Quebec, Canada was devastated in July 2013 when an out-of-control train smashed into its centre.
Almost a thousand years ago, a thriving trading community existed in a city in Africa; the location was an engineering marvel.
The power of books to carry knowledge is threatened by those who prefer to keep that knowledge suppressed.
There are several sites where human bodies are left to decompose naturally so that scientists can study tissue breakdown. The information gathered gives valuable assistance to those investigating suspicious deaths.
A lovesick American hijacked an airliner in 1971 so he could visit his pen pal in Italy; it was a romance with a tragic ending.
A young Cree Indian clashed with Canada's government; it didn't go well for him.
Sometimes art is so bad it becomes good and, fortunately, for those who enjoy a bit of a chuckle, some people have collected these monstrosities.
Brigand or freedom fighter, Pezza led a guerrilla force against the French occupation of Italy late in the 18th century.
The micronation of Sealand is a structure off the east coast of England whose owner claims, without benefit of international recognition, it to be the world’s smallest nation.
Cheating is a familiar part of politics, sports, business, academia, and even in areas that seem quite trivial. This article is not about cheating on your partner.
Let's play around with words from Charles Dickens to the novels of Victor Appleton.
There seems to be a virus of homophobia in some police forces.
When powers rise to challenge the domination of another the result is often war.
Springing from the folk traditions of African slaves, root doctors still practice healing powers in South Carolina and elsewhere.
Are you wondering about the origin of bagpipes? Read on to learn about where bagpipes come from, the history of bagpipes, and more.
Three hapless criminals—John Wojtowicz, Sal Naturale, and Bobby Westenberg—became famous for failing to rob a bank in New York City.
Ig Nobel Awards are handed out annually to those who engage in research into really weird stuff.
In a very dark chapter in history, unwed mothers and their children were treated appallingly in Ireland's mother and baby homes, run by the Catholic Church.
In 18 hours of racially motivated violence in 1921, about 300 African Americans lost their lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The twisted story of hustler Danny Hansford, wealthy antiques dealer Jim Williams, and an untimely death in Savannah, Georgia.
In the middle of the 17th century, England was under the control of Puritans who took the view that having fun was sinful.
There's a body of opinion that says putting someone in prison for life is too harsh. There's another body of opinion that says a life sentence for a heinous crime is appropriate.
"Dinner for One" is a British two-handed comedy routine that has become a massive hit in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and elsewhere.
Called the “Medieval Titanic,” the White Ship was a superior vessel that was to take many aristocrats across the English Channel, but it didn't get far out of its harbour.
It takes a lot of effort to avoid doing what should be done; distractions have to be found and not acted upon.
Maurice Boucher rose from petty criminal to become one of the most feared mobsters in Quebec.
The world is running out of sand and the shortage is triggering crime and violence.
An 18th-century Scottish philosopher and judge was possessed of great wit, wisdom, and some peculiar behavior.
As World War II was grinding towards to its cataclysmic end, a heroic effort was made to rescue as many people as possible from concentration camps.
Quirks of history have left the world with numerous strange boundaries between countries.
Ethel Smyth was an extraordinary woman who was brilliant and feisty; she assaulted the male bastion of classical music composition, but she did more, so much more.
In 1755, a massive tectonic shudder devastated the Portuguese capital; its aftereffects are said to have changed history.
It was an audacious theft aimed at drawing attention to the economic plight of retired people and veterans.
It’s next to impossible to anticipate the full impact of a social policy in complex systems that interact with one another.
A ship's mascot in the Royal Navy saved the lives of many sailors during World War II.
Welshman John Evans managed to persuade himself that there was a tribe of Welsh-speaking Indians in America, so he went looking for them.
Raising our most popular fish in open-sea cages makes salmon affordable but it also raises environmental and health issues.
Prosecutors in capital murder cases in Texas found a willing accomplice in forensic psychiatrist Dr. James Grigson, who testified in scores of capital punishment cases.
When did people start mixing different liquors together and calling the result a cocktail?
The polling company Ipsos MORI carries out surveys of how much people know about their own countries; the results are sobering.
One of the world's best known ancient monuments was once owned by a British lawyer.