Tabla de contenidos para September 2023 en History Revealed

LIFE HACK #4 How to get rich Pssst! Fancy making some cash? Justin Pollard tells us what we can learn from the lives of history's wealthiest individuals, and why it takes much more than brains and brawn to make lots of money If history could really teach us how to get rich, you'd likely be reading Tatler rather than this. But history can certainly give us some tips on what not to do. In the British Isles, the first people to amass great personal wealth lived during the Bronze Age. Unlike the Neolithic period, when most people were laid to rest in communal tombs, wealthy individuals were interred in individual burial mounds, each filled with precious objects they chose to take with them to the next life. Since that time,…

1 BREWING MAY HAVE BEEN A FEATURE OF NEOLITHIC SOCIETIES One of the earliest pieces of evidence regarding the drinking of alcohol dates back approximately 13,000 years, to the Raqefet Caves in Israel's Carmel mountains, where archaeologists uncovered residues of a beer-like substance in 2018. The ancient brew, resembling gruel in texture, was possibly utilised by the semi-nomadic Natufian people for ceremonial feasting. Further north, similar evidence suggests that a type of beer production may have also occurred at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey during the prepottery Neolithic period, spanning roughly 8500 BC–5500 BC. But for drinkers curious about the genealogy of the beverages they enjoy today, the earliest chemical evidence of beer crafted using barley stems from the Godin Tepe site in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. This important…

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR (1929-68) The campaign for civil rights was a mass movement, but between 1955 and 1968, Martin Luther King Jr was its figurehead. A Baptist minister whose parents were also campaigners, King first came to national prominence when he led the Montgomery bus boycott (1955–56). Via establishing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which organised education projects and voter-registration drives, his influence grew. In 1963, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, he gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, a soaring demand for equality, to around 250,000 people. The following year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Despite simmering tensions in the wider Civil Rights Movement over King's advocacy of nonviolent resistance, he remained active until his assassination, in April 1968, by gunman…

MEET THE EXPERT ADRIANE LENTZ-SMITH is associate professor of history at Duke University, North Carolina. A scholar of African-American history as well as 20th-century America, her works include Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I (Harvard University Press, 2009). To hear Professor Lentz-Smith discuss the Civil Rights Movement on our new podcast series, US Civil Rights: Fighting for Freedom, scan the QR code shown here or visit historyextra.com/civilrightspodcast Activists continually return to the message of ‘nobody's free until everybody's free’ The United States bills itself as “with the people, by the people, for the people”, Fannie Lou Hamer often noted at civil rights rallies. However, as a black woman sharecropper from Mississippi, she had lived under the racist Jim Crow laws of the American South and thought it more…

Neither Mary Oliver nor Heather Jenner expected much to happen when they arrived for work on 17 April 1939. It was the opening day of their new business venture, a matchmaking agency, and until word spread among London's single men and women, the enterprising if inexperienced friends, both 24, expected to have little to do other than smarten up their office above a hairdressers on Bond Street, with its rickety desks and dodgy plumbing. To while away the hours, Mary had brought along her knitting, Heather a book on how to play bridge. But word had already spread. The novelty of the business, plus the charm of its young proprietors, had attracted plenty of newspaper coverage in the preceding weeks, and it obviously worked. The hundreds of letters already delivered…

Answered by Toby Wilkinson, author of Ramesses the Great: Egypt's King of Kings (Yale University Press, 2023) In September 1976, journalists descended on Le Bourget Airport in Paris with the hopes of catching sight of a royal visitor. But the guest wasn't a serving head of state – and nor was he even alive. In fact, the onlookers were there to witness the arrival of Ramesses II of Egypt, whose remains were being flown to France to undergo conservation. The groundwork for the visit had been laid in 1975, when the French doctor Dr Maurice Bucaille had discovered that the pharaoh's body was riddled with fungal disease. After Bucaille published details of his discovery, French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing persuaded his Egyptian counterpart, President Anwar Sadat, that scientists in Paris…

SHORT ANSWER Before he wrote The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer did some risqué clothes modelling LONG ANSWER Geoffrey Chaucer is a giant in the world of English literature as the adored author of The Canterbury Tales. But his earliest mention in the annals of history strikes a far less reverential tone. In 1357, his patron, noblewoman Elizabeth de Burgh, bought the teenage Chaucer paltoks for four shillings. According to a contemporary chronicler, these were “extremely short garments… which failed to conceal the arses of the private parts”. In fact, paltoks left so little to the imagination that some members of the medieval clergy condemned the clothing as incurring the wrath of God and bringing about plague.…

SHORT ANSWER The folk hero of pantomime gave a different meaning to ‘public’ toilet LONG ANSWER Before he became best known for the rags-to-riches folk tale and pantomime, the real Richard ‘Dick’ Whittington was lord mayor of London in four stints between 1397 and 1420. He carved out a name for himself by serving as a moneylender to kings and financing a large number of building projects, which didn't stop with his death in 1423 since he left his fortune to the city. Thanks to Whittington's ample sums of money, the Guildhall, Newgate Prison, churches, libraries, drainage systems and hospital wards were all either built or rebuilt. Then there was his other legacy: Whittington's Longhouse, a public toilet facility big enough for 128 people. Located in Cheapside and conveniently overhanging…

HISTORICAL CONSULTANT FOR THIS MONTH'S ESSENTIAL GUIDE ADRIANE LENTZ-SMITH is associate professor of history at Duke University, North Carolina. A scholar of African-American history as well as 20th-century America, her works include Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I (Harvard University Press, 2009). PRODCAST This guide accompanies our new podcast series US Civil Rights: Fighting for Freedom. Stream all six episodes at historyextra.com/civilrightspodcast…

BOOKS SELECTED BY PROFESSOR ADRIANE LENTZ-SMITH Freedom Struggles By Prof Adriane Lentz-Smith (Harvard University Press, 2009) Lentz-Smith examines the impact of World War I on the 200,000 black soldiers sent to Europe with the American Expeditionary Forces, and reveals how African-Americans abroad and at home reworked notions of nation and belonging, empire and diaspora. The Night Malcolm X Spoke at the Oxford Union: A Transatlantic Story of Antiracist Protest By Prof Stephen Tuck (California University Press, 2014) Tuck brings to life the dramatic events surrounding Malcolm X's visit to Oxford in 1964, including the effect of the visit on Malcolm himself and British students. America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s By Prof Elizabeth Hinton (William Collins, 2021) Drawing on previously untapped…

“No fat men, bald men, redheads, Welshmen or parsons” “Broad-minded. Should drink, smoke and be capable of swearing” “Christian real faith but not R.C. [Roman Catholic] & not a giant, not a dwarf, not American” “Above all, a man who will talk to me” “Must be pretty or attractive facially and the only essential qualification: must have only one leg” “Looks and voice of a Shakespearean heroine” “Sufficiently educated as to make a fair success of a Times crossword” “Matter-of-fact, not slushy or sentimental. Names disliked: Gertrude, Emily, Lucy, Eleanor. Names liked: Mary, Elizabeth, Anne, Jean, Jane, Sheila” “Marilyn Monroe with homely ways”…

Answered by Alexander Larman, author of The Windsors at War: The Nazi Threat to the Crown (Orion, 2023) Edward VIII, who famously abdicated the throne in 1936, has long been maligned for his alleged Nazi sympathies. Although not a member of the Nazi Party or formally affiliated with the Third Reich, he considered Adolf Hitler to be great leader, and believed that the Nazis had restored Germany to greatness. In fact, the royal desired similar policies for Britain, and like other members of the aristocracy, favoured appeasing the Nazi regime in order to avoid a world war. When hostilities ultimately broke out between Britain and Germany in 1939, Edward (who was by then known as the Duke of Windsor) was considered a threat to national security. In fact, it has…

SHORT ANSWER Was he the missing heir to a title and riches, or simply a conman? LONG ANSWER In 1854, Roger Charles Tichborne, heir to a baronetcy in Hampshire, disappeared in a shipwreck off the coast of Brazil. His mother, however, holding on to the slimmest of hopes that a passing vessel had picked him up, placed adverts in newspapers offering a “handsome reward” for information. More than a decade later, her futile quest seemed to be over when an Australian butcher using the name Thomas Castro came forward claiming to be the lost heir. Okay, he looked different, couldn't remember crucial personal details, and nor did he have Tichborne's distinctive tattoos, but the overjoyed mother bought his story. Not everyone was convinced, though. The claimant ended up in court…

Answered by Professor Jonathan Morris, author of Coffee: A Global History (Reaktion Books, 2018) Coffee traces its origins to the highlands of southwest Ethiopia, where it first grew wild as an understorey plant in the forests. Different parts of the plant were used by indigenous groups, such as the Oromo, to make a variety of foodstuffs: leaves were steeped in water to make a tea-like beverage, while the cherries (containing the future coffee beans) were desiccated or blended with fats to create simple snacks. However, the story of coffee as the beverage we know and recognise today begins with its export from Ethiopia to Yemen in the medieval period, when it was adopted as an alternative psychoactive ingredient to the khat plant, which had been used to create a type…

CURATED HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE HISTORYEXTRA PODCAST ARCHIVE 6 PODCAST PODCAST EPISODES ABOUT WITCHCRAFT TO STREAM NOW Looking to discover more about the history of witchcraft? We've rounded up some of the best HistoryExtra podcast episodes on the topic, featuring historians Owen Davies, Marion Gibson, John Callow, Will Pooley and Ronald Hutton WITCHES’ COVEN In this wide-ranging episode recorded in spring 2022, Owen Davies answers listeners’ top questions on witchcraft. Covering everything from the legal definition of magic to whether the dark arts were synonymous with certain professions, this is an essential introduction. THE WITCH'S MARK We spoke to Ronald Hutton about his book The Witch in this interview from 2017. Taking a broad approach that spans shamanism, folklore and witch trials, he explains how witchcraft has been an enduring source of…

14 SEPTEMBER 1812 NAPOLEON'S INVASION OF RUSSIA TURNS TO ASH Following his pyrrhic victory at the battle of Borodino, French leader Napoleon Bonaparte advances towards Moscow, the spiritual heart of Russia. Yet, as he approaches its gates, he is greeted by silence – no dignitaries, no nobles, no one of significance. Reports from the first French troops reveal an eerie spectacle: the streets are mostly deserted. Later that night, news breaks about a fire engulfing the Kitaygorod bazaar. French officers suspect arson, attributing the blaze to resistance efforts. Napoleon observes the spreading inferno from the Kremlin as it engulfs countless wooden structures, including churches, shops and warehouses. As the fire encroaches on the Kremlin itself, Napoleon reluctantly relocates to the Petrovsky Palace further northwest. His dream turns to ash amid…

Q: How would you define the Civil Rights Movement? A: The Civil Rights Movement can be defined as a pivotal moment within the broader black freedom struggle, driven by a mass of Americans, particularly black Americans, who had been persistently fighting for equality across generations. The pressure exerted through this movement saw significant changes in both laws and societal perspectives in regards to the inclusive nature of democracy. When I reflect upon the Civil Rights Movement, I think of it as a sequel to the Reconstruction Era [the period that followed the end of the American Civil War in 1865 that saw efforts to rebuild the nation and address racial inequality through political, social, and economic reforms]. Just like any sequel, though, there remains space in the narrative for further…

Ask someone to describe a Black Power activist and what image will they conjure? It might involve combat boots, a black beret and a black leather jacket. That person may brandish a weapon or hold a clenched fist aloft. And the chances are, that person will be a man. Yet for all its muscular, masculine image, the movement could never have thrived without the contribution of women. The activist and author Angela Davis recently wrote that two-thirds of the membership of the Black Panther Party was female. And these women certainly weren't there to make up the numbers. They included Ericka Huggins, whose husband, John, was leader of the Los Angeles chapter; Kathleen Cleaver, a communications secretary for the party; and the prison activist Elaine Brown – all of whom…

Lives Less Ordinary: I Was There the Night Emmett Till Was Taken bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0flncxn Rev Wheeler Parker, Emmett Till's cousin, discusses the horrific murder in 1955 that sparked a wave of protest in America. Contains distressing scenes. Breaking Mississippi bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001k0c2 This 10-part podcast series tells the story of James Meredith's battle to smash white supremacy in the most racially segregated state in 1960s America. The Documentary: Rosa Parks – Quiet Revolutionary bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p014lhnv Journalist Max Easterman offers a unique portrait of the woman whose act of defiance inspired civil rights activism across the world.…

OH CRÊPE! During a visit to St Louis in 1887, Frances Cleveland, wife of US president Glover Cleveland, had a hot pancake thrown onto her lap from the crowd. The batter pudding hurler, Anne Sax, was later fined $50 for her misdemeanour. TIME AT THE BARD In October 1940, a live BBC Radio production of Hamlet overran so badly that an announcer had to bring it to a premature end – saying, “And there we must leave them” – even though most of the play's characters were still alive. SIGN OF LOVE When the deaf and dumb Thomas Tillsye married Ursula Russel in 1575, he used sign language for his vows, including laying his hand on her heart and pointing to the heavens to “show his continuance to dwell with…

Answered by Professor Barry Strauss, author of The Death of Caesar (Simon & Schuster, 2015) After being stabbed multiple times by dagger-wielding senators on the Ides of March (15 March) in 44 BC, Julius Caesar was probably too shocked, not to mention in excruciating agony, to utter much at all. Nevertheless, multiple sources have sought to evoke the drama of this event since ancient times. One even claims that the ailing, but cunning dictator, snatched a stylus and stabbed one of the conspirators in retaliation. Regardless, Caesar did not say Et tu, Bruté? (“You too, Brutus?”) while confronted by his erstwhile colleague, Marcus Brutus. In fact, this memorable Shakespearean quote was coined during the Renaissance. Yet, some ancient sources do remark on Caesar having addressed Brutus during the assassination with…

SHORT ANSWER A boast to a journalist during the Spanish Civil War invoked a modern Trojan horse LONG ANSWER The notion of a ‘fifth column’ emerged during the Spanish Civil War, drawing its inspiration from a chilling metaphor. It was coined by General Emilio Mola Vidal, a major figure in the military rebellion against the democratic Spanish Republic that began on 17 July 1936. As four ‘columns’ of insurgent troops advanced on the Republican-held capital of Madrid that autumn, Mola informed a British journalist that he also had a ‘fifth column’ of supporters inside the city ready to pounce. Whether true or not, the idea was unsettling enough to persuade the Spanish government to relocate its capital to Valencia. Meanwhile, the paranoia of infiltrators in their midst drove some Republicans…

SHORT ANSWER Slurping must have felt rather refined through the gold straws of the Sumerians LONG ANSWER In 1888, US inventor Marvin Stone received a patent for a paper drinking straw, much to the relief of those fed up with sipping out of ryegrass stalks that left a grassy aftertaste and had a tendency to disintegrate when wet. But Stone merely added a twist (literally, as he introduced the spiral design) to an ancient drinking utensil. The Sumerians, in what is now Iraq, crafted straws around 4,600 years ago, which they used when drinking vats of beer. Sumerian straws were much more cherished than the drinking implements of today, too, going by the example held by the British Museum made of gold and lapis lazuli. But the Sumerians may not…

BOOK OF THE MONTH Dickensland: The Curious History of Dickens's London By Lee Jackson Yale University Press, £20, hardback, 288 pages Such was the fascination with the London depicted in the novels of Charles Dickens that Victorian and Edwardian readers soon flocked to the city in a bid to explore its real-life counterpart. Yet even within half a century of the writer's death, visitors to ‘Dickensland’ encountered a metropolis already in the grips of change. Lee Jackson here investigates this cultural tourism and what it tells us about our view of fact and fiction, the past and the present. Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain By Charlotte Lydia Riley Bodley Head, £25, hardback, 384 pages Far from being a distant relic, the British empire and its legacy…

Test your history knowledge to solve our prize puzzle – and you could win a fantastic new book ACROSS 9 Sir Walter_(d1618), English soldier, statesman and explorer (7) 10 Paris Hilton or Ariana Rockefeller, perhaps (7) 11 Andy_(1949-84), US entertainer (7) 12 _Lane, Sheffield football stadium that first opened in 1855 (7) 13 See 17 Down 15 Textile developed in Nîmes, France (5) 16 Fulgencio_(1901-73), dictator of Cuba from 1952 to 1959 (7) 19 Historic city in the south of Italy (7) 20 Wolf-pack leader in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894) (5) 21 Name given to the terrorist Ted Kaczynski (1942-2023) (9) 25 Little_, term for an edition of quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (3,4) 26 See 17 Down 28 Manhattan district developed around the estate of the scholar C Clarke Moore (7) 29 Jude the_, 1895 novel by Thomas Hardy (7) DOWN 1…

PERUVIAN GROOVE c1960s The annual Festival de la Candelaria in Puno, Peru, blends Catholic traditions with pre-Columbian Andean customs and rites. Celebrated in early February, it is the third-largest festival in South America, featuring music and colourful performances by thousands of dancers and musicians from the Andean Altiplano. The festival's origins lie in agricultural rituals and incorporate elements from the Quechua and Aymara ethnic groups around Lake Titicaca. The diablada, or ‘devil dance’, is a noted highlight, with performers wearing spectacular costumes and masks, while a dance competition in the Torres Belon Stadium (seen here) and a 12-hour-long Folkloric Parade also contribute to the celebrations. In 2014, the festival was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco.…