September 2022

Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) was the 16th President of the United States of America from March 1861 until his assassination in 14th April 1865. Lincoln is remembered for successfully leading his country through its greatest constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union while ending slavery, and promoting […]

English military and political leader, Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), overthrew the monarchy and turned England into a republican Commonwealth. He was then instated as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. An intensely religious man – a self-styled Puritan Moses – he fervently believed God was guiding his victories.Cromwell believed that his political rise was delivered to him

Jaime Castell was killed in a freak automobile accident. The Spanish hotel executive was driving home one evening when a car speeding in the opposite direction swerved off the road, jumped over the median barrier, flipped over and landed upside-down on top of Castell’s car, killing him instantly. The insurance company readily and without question

On August 9, 2014, a tragic incident in a Ferguson, Missouri, resulted in riots and protests that lasted several weeks. Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was shot dead after an altercation with a police officer. Some witnesses stated that Brown was shot as he moved toward the policeman, ignoring calls to freeze. Others vehemently denied this, claiming

German scientist, Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz (1829 – 1896) is a remarkable figure in the history of chemistry, specifically organic chemistry. In 1856 Kekulé became Privatdozent at the University of Heidelberg. In 1858 he was hired as full professor at the University of Ghent, then in 1867 he was called to Bonn, where he

On October 7, 1571 Pope Pius V, during a meeting with a group of cardinals, abruptly stood up and opened a window before staring motionlessly outside. Some time later, he turned, dissolved the meeting and ordered everyone present to give thanks to God for the victory of the Christian fleet against the Turks. No one

Earthquakes of any notable magnitude are quite rare in Great Britain, so it’s unlikely that Edward Pearson would have been taken seriously by anyone. Pearson was traveling by train from Iverness to Perth in Scotland, the first leg of his trip to London.He was going there, he told authorities, to warn the Prime Minister of

Constantine I “The Great”, Emperor of Rome from 307 to 337 A.D. inherited a troubled empire. Plagued with typical leadership struggles, Rome was also suffering from rebellion, war and increasing weakness. In the conflicts of the tetrarchy, or four emperor system, Constantine was able to maintain a level of neutrality that eventually put him in

English author Charles Dickens (1812 – 1890) informed friends of a bizarre occurrence he experienced as a result of a brief dream. Dickens said he was at home one day and began to feel tired, subsequently deciding to take a short nap. Dickens stated that he soon fell asleep and very shortly thereafter, he began

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known better by his pen name Mark Twain, is still considered one of the greatest American writers. And although many of his writings and famed quotations poke fun at the folly of men, he seemed to have a mystical side as well. It is well known, for example, that he predicted the

Edwin Moses (b. 1955), an Olympic track and field athlete from the USA, lined up for a major race in Koblenz, West Germany in August of 1983. Moses said he felt incredibly relaxed before the 400m event, as was evident in the fact that he forgot to take his socks to the track, he also

The name of Cyrano de Bergerac is known today as the long-nosed, sword-wielding 17th century character of books, plays and film. He was indeed a real person, a French writer and scholar who also made some remarkable predictions about future technology, including:• voyages to the moon• travel by rocket propulsion• houses that could be moved

In 1895, American author Mark Twain described Australia’s Melbourne Cup horserace as “The greatest racing event on Earth.” The story behind the winner of the 1870 Melbourne Cup, Nimblefoot and his owner, publican Walter Craig is a remarkable one. In the early spring of 1870 Craig, proprietor of Craig’s Hotel in Ballarat had an extremely

Cathy Lawton had terrifying nightmares in the weeks leading up to her and her husband’s trip to China. So anxious did she become as their flight date drew nearer that a friend bought her a set of four worry dolls. However, her daughters thought she was being silly.Cathy ended up taking one of the worry

One unlikely seer was a young man by the name of Robert Nixon, who worked as a plowboy in the county of Cheshire, England in the late 15th century. Because he rarely spoke, and usually babbled incomprehensibly when he did, Nixon was thought to be mentally retarded. When he seemed to predict the ascension of