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Category: Politics & law

By The Generalist Posted on June 17, 2022June 16, 2022

Small island alliance

For the last thirty-one years, an alliance of nearly forty small island states have campaigned against global warming – because if it is not checked, some of them will be underwater.

Categories: 20th century history, 21st century history, Earth science, Oceania, Politics & law, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on May 12, 2022January 25, 2023

Five presidents in two weeks

During the December 2001 riots in Argentina, the country went through five presidents in just two weeks.

Categories: 21st century history, Politics & law, South America
By The Generalist Posted on May 1, 2022April 30, 2022

Indian flag monopoly

Every Indian flag in India is made in one small south Indian village.

Categories: 20th century history, Fashion & design, Politics & law, South Asia
By The Generalist Posted on April 27, 2022April 26, 2022

Habeas corpulent

Habeas corpus formally entered English law because of a parliamentarian’s fat joke in 1679.

Categories: Early modern history, Europe, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on April 19, 2022April 18, 2022

Admirals of Nebraska

The US state of Nebraska is landlocked; all the states around it are also landlocked; and all the states around them are also landlocked. And yet, the Governor of Nebraska can grant residents the honorary title of Nebraska Admiral.

Categories: 20th century history, Military, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on April 8, 2022January 25, 2023

Ball of the burning men

Six dancers in costume caught on fire at a ball in 1393 Paris. Only two survived; one of them was King Charles VI.

Categories: Europe, Medieval history, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on April 3, 2022April 2, 2022

Oldest government in exile

The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic has operated as a government in exile for more than a hundred years.

Categories: 20th century history, Europe, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on March 8, 2022March 7, 2022

School bus kidnapping

In 1976, twenty-six children riding in a California school bus were kidnapped at gunpoint and hidden inside a truck that was buried in a quarry. Twenty-seven hours later, after sixteen hours underground, they escaped.

Categories: 20th century history, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on February 22, 2022February 22, 2022

The Phony King of England

Disney’s Robin Hood features a song about the “Phony King of England.” That song is based on an old (and very bawdy) English folk ballad about “The Bastard King of England.”

Categories: 20th century history, Europe, Film & television, Music, North & Central America, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on February 14, 2022February 13, 2022

Marriage by proxy

What do Marie Antoinette, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Charles I, and Napoleon have in common? All of them were not in the same location as their partner when they married.

Categories: Early modern history, Europe, Medieval history, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on February 11, 2022January 25, 2023

Closed seas

In the 16th century Portugal claimed the Indian Ocean and Spain the Pacific Ocean as their unique domain, as “closed seas.” In 1609, a Dutch jurist presented a new alternative that has since entered international law: the freedom of the seas.

Categories: Early modern history, Europe, Politics & law, The oceans
By The Generalist Posted on January 31, 2022January 30, 2022

Messy border

The border between Belgium and the Netherlands at Baarle-Hertog is one of the messiest in the world. It includes bits of Belgium in the Netherlands, and bits of the Netherlands in the bits of Belgium that are in the Netherlands.

Categories: 19th century history, 21st century history, Europe, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on January 25, 2022January 24, 2022

Shakespeare riot

On May 10, 1849, New Yorkers rioted over who was the better Shakespearean actor, the English performer William Macready or the American Edwin Forrest.

Categories: 19th century history, Europe, North & Central America, Politics & law, Theatre
By The Generalist Posted on January 24, 2022January 25, 2023

Eventful pub

There are few pubs in the world that can claim to be the site of the founding of a religious denomination, the creation of a style of beer, and also a murder by a famous gangster. But there’s at least one pub that can.

Categories: 19th century history, 20th century history, Europe, Food & agriculture, Politics & law, Religion & belief
By The Generalist Posted on January 14, 2022January 25, 2023

The disappearing Johns

In November 1974, Richard John Bingham (the Earl of Lucan) and John Stonehouse (a British MP) both disappeared after committing serious crimes. One was soon found, but only because he was mistaken for the other.

Categories: 20th century history, Europe, Politics & law
By The Generalist Posted on January 10, 2022January 9, 2022

The Picasso Ransom

In 1986 the Australian Cultural Terrorists stole a Picasso from a Melbourne art gallery; they threatened to destroy the painting if the government did not create an art prize called the Picasso Ransom. The culprits were never found.

Categories: 20th century history, Art, Oceania, Politics & law

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