Category: Interesting Stories

The German composer Johann Sebastian Bach famously loved coffee so much that he wrote an entire ten-movement cantata about it. The so-called Coffee Cantata, or rather, as it is properly known, Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (“Be still, stop chattering”); received its debut performance in a Leipzig coffeehouse in 1735. Throughout history, however, not everyone has […]

In September 1726, news of a story so remarkable that it was told to King George I himself, reached London: A 25-year-old woman named Mary Toft, in the village of Godalming in Surrey, had given birth to a litter of live rabbits. What followed this bizarre announcement was one of the most peculiar stories; and, […]

Throughout history, rulers and despots all over the world have sought to impose levies on all kinds of unlikely things. Hearths, windows, candles, and even soap have all been taxed at some time or another in England, as have playing cards, the ornate design of the ace of spades developing from the official insignias of […]

One of the problems with inventing something is that the time eventually arrives when you have to test your invention out, which usually involves testing it yourself. That’s not so bad when it comes to testing something relatively harmless. Galileo, for instance, used his newly refined telescope design to discover the moons of Jupiter in […]

Everyone does foolish things when they’ve had one too many drinks. In 2015, French police reported discovering a 22-year-old intoxicated man in a shipyard in Brittany in northern France, attempting to give lifesaving CPR to an inflatable dinghy, believing it to be a dying person. In 2017, newspapers in New Zealand reported that a man […]

John Wayne is one of Hollywood’s most legendary performers, the Oscar-winning star of such movies as True Grit, Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Quiet Man. In a career full of movie gold, however, it’s no surprise that Wayne has also made a few box office turkeys along the way too—most notable of all, arguably, 1956’s […]

Queen Elizabeth II is known for owning several corgi dogs, a striking collection of hats and handbags, the Crown Jewels, no fewer than six royal residences and, of course, the best seat in the Royal Box at the Wimbledon Tennis Club. As well as all of that, however, the Queen technically owns almost half of […]

Looking back through history, it’s often surprising to find that many things happen somewhat later or earlier than we might expect. The last time the guillotine was used in a French execution, for instance, was 1977—the same year that Apple was founded, Star Wars was released at the cinemas, and Stephen King published The Shining. […]

Few movies have attracted as great a following and fandom as 1977’s Star Wars, the first movie in what has become a nine-part series and a multibillion dollar franchise. The original 1977 movie alone earned more than $750 million at the box office and went on to be nominated for ten Academy Awards—including Best Picture […]

Whether it is horses ridden fearlessly into battle, or the ancient general Hannibal crossing the Alps with his troops of “war elephants,” for almost as long as human beings have engaged in war, we have enlisted help from animals to do so. And in the conflicts of the first half of the 20th century, one […]