Queen Victoria’s Hemophilia Gene: The Mutation Mystery That Changed Royal History
Queen Victoria spread hemophilia through Europe’s royal families. DNA found the mutation—but where Victoria got the hemophilia gene remains a mystery.
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Queen Victoria’s Hemophilia Gene: The Mutation Mystery That Changed Royal History
Read more: Queen Victoria’s Hemophilia Gene: The Mutation Mystery That Changed Royal HistoryQueen Victoria spread hemophilia through Europe’s royal families. DNA found the mutation—but where Victoria got the hemophilia gene remains a mystery.
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Reginald Bray’s 40 Years of Ridiculous Postal Experiments—and the Astonishing Results
Read more: Reginald Bray’s 40 Years of Ridiculous Postal Experiments—and the Astonishing ResultsReginald Bray treated Britain’s postal regulations less like rules and more like a list of challenges. Over four decades, he mailed turnips, rabbit skulls, clothing, his dog—and even himself—while testing just how far the Post Office would go to deliver the seemingly undeliverable.
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Olympic Art Competitions: When You Could Win Gold for Poetry, Painting—and Architecture
Read more: Olympic Art Competitions: When You Could Win Gold for Poetry, Painting—and ArchitectureFor more than three decades, Olympic medals were awarded for architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. Meet the poets, artists, architects—and one suspiciously successful Olympic founder—who competed for gold without breaking a sweat.
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The Sting Behind The Sting: Fun Facts and Strange Stories from the Classic Movie
Read more: The Sting Behind The Sting: Fun Facts and Strange Stories from the Classic MovieA real injury became a character trait, the “period” music was decades out of date, Chicago was often California, and the screenplay about con men wound up in a real dispute over who borrowed what. Here are the strange true stories behind The Sting.
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William Henry Ireland: The Boy Who Forged Shakespeare—and Invented a Lost Play
Read more: William Henry Ireland: The Boy Who Forged Shakespeare—and Invented a Lost PlayWilliam Henry Ireland wanted to impress his Shakespeare-obsessed father. One forged signature later, he had fabricated manuscripts, love letters, Shakespeare’s library, and an entirely new “lost” play that actually reached the London stage.
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Why the BBC Banned “Deep in the Heart of Texas” During Working Hours
Read more: Why the BBC Banned “Deep in the Heart of Texas” During Working HoursDuring WWII, the BBC kept “Deep in the Heart of Texas” off factory broadcasts because workers might stop working to clap along.
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The Smothers Brothers: How Two Nice Boys with a Guitar and Bass Became Television Troublemakers
Read more: The Smothers Brothers: How Two Nice Boys with a Guitar and Bass Became Television TroublemakersMeet the Smothers Brothers, whose CBS variety show mixed music, satire, politics, and censorship—and helped change American television.
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Scott Joplin and “The Entertainer”: How a 1902 Rag Became a 1970s Pop Hit
Read more: Scott Joplin and “The Entertainer”: How a 1902 Rag Became a 1970s Pop HitDiscover how Scott Joplin’s 1902 rag “The Entertainer” became a 1970s pop hit, plus surprising stories from the life of the King of Ragtime.
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Tirpitz the Pig: The German Warship Survivor Who Joined the Royal Navy
Read more: Tirpitz the Pig: The German Warship Survivor Who Joined the Royal NavyMeet Tirpitz, the German pig who survived a sinking warship, joined the Royal Navy, raised money for charity, and ended up in a museum.
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Euphonia: The Creepy Talking Head That Helped Inspire the Telephone
Read more: Euphonia: The Creepy Talking Head That Helped Inspire the TelephoneJoseph Faber’s eerie Euphonia talking machine synthesized speech, fascinated scientists, and helped shape ideas that pointed toward the telephone.
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10 Illnesses That Changed History and Redirected the World
Read more: 10 Illnesses That Changed History and Redirected the WorldDiscover 10 illnesses that changed history, altered dynasties, toppled plans, reshaped governments, and even redrew maps.
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The 1945 Japanese Coup Attempt to Stop Emperor Hirohito’s Surrender Broadcast
Read more: The 1945 Japanese Coup Attempt to Stop Emperor Hirohito’s Surrender BroadcastIn August 1945, Japanese officers tried to seize the Imperial Palace, destroy Hirohito’s surrender recording, and keep World War II going. This is the story of hte 1945 Japanese coup attempt to stop the public from hearing the Emperor’s voice.
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Famous Typos in History: The Greatest Proofreading Disasters Ever Printed
Read more: Famous Typos in History: The Greatest Proofreading Disasters Ever PrintedDiscover famous typos and proofreading disasters that changed Bibles, dictionaries, laws, headlines, and publishing history.
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When Politeness Had Rules: The Strange Etiquette Rules Everyone Once Knew and We Somehow Forgot
Read more: When Politeness Had Rules: The Strange Etiquette Rules Everyone Once Knew and We Somehow ForgotFrom bowing and calling cards to chaperones and gloves, discover the strange old etiquette rules everyone once knew—and why they disappeared.
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Radio Quito’s 1949 War of the Worlds Broadcast: The Hoax That Turned Deadly
Read more: Radio Quito’s 1949 War of the Worlds Broadcast: The Hoax That Turned DeadlyIn 1949, Radio Quito staged a War of the Worlds broadcast so convincing that panic turned deadly when an angry crowd burned the station.
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