Mata Hari
During World War I, a Dutch dancer and courtesan was recruited by the French as a spy. However, not long after this, the French turned on her and accused her of being a double agent and spying for Ger...
13 Jul 202213min
Imaginary Numbers
In the history of mathematics, there were several times when mathematicians encountered problems that they didn’t know what to make of. It wasn’t a case of a problem with a very difficult solution so ...
12 Jul 202210min
The Worst Roman Emperors
Depending on how you define it, there were somewhere between 70 to 100 Roman emperors between the ascension of Augustus to the fall of the western empire in 476. A period of about 500 years. Some of t...
11 Jul 202213min
The History of Cheese (Encore)
It can be consumed in blocks or wheels, strings or curds, slices or cubes. It can be soft or hard, fresh or old, and it can even be consumed if it smells bad and has mold on it. Pizza, hamburgers, a...
10 Jul 202212min
The Origins of American Football
In the mid-19th century, the various games called football separated and evolved into their own games. While association football and rugby became dominant on one side of the Atlantic, a totally diff...
9 Jul 202216min
The French Republican Calendar
In 1792, the people of France overthrew their monarchy and established the French Republic. The leaders of the French Revolution didn’t just want to change the French political system, they wanted to...
8 Jul 202212min
The Phoenician Civilization
Sometime around 3,200 years ago, a new civilization became ascendent on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This group wasn’t like the Empires that surrounded them. They weren’t focused so mu...
7 Jul 202212min
The Wreck of the Mary Rose
In the year 1511, King Henry VIII of England launched what was to be his flagship, The Mary Rose. For 33 years, the Mary Rose was the pride of the English fleet, serving in conflicts against the Sco...
6 Jul 202212min
