Random History

On a more Recent Note

2006-10-19T00:04:00.000+08:00

On a more recent note to some of my other postings, history was made on 17 October 2006, when Mike, Russ and Monty became the World Cheese Toast Champions. This is a coveted prize, which teams compete for year after year. To have won the championship and thus the adulation of their fans is a major achievement. Well done to Mike, Russ and Monty.

Greece - Who Wrote Aesop's Fables?

2006-08-11T09:52:00.000+08:00

Everyone is familiar with Aesop's Fables. They are short stories usually about animal characters designed to make a point about human behaviour. Aesop has been credited with inventing the fable. Indeed, the name Aesop has become synonymous with fables. However, animal fables existed long before Aesop. There are fables recorded in ancient artefacts of Babylon, Harappa (ancient Indian civilisation), China and Persia.

Fables are the second oldest form of story known. The first is the myth: how the world came into existence, stories of the gods and goddesses and the powers that keep the earth going. Fables were often used by public speakers or priests trying to get their message across. In the days when people lived a lot closer to nature and usually were illiterate, the easiest way to communicate an important message to them was to tell a story about animal behaviour and relate it to human behaviour.

In ancient times, all the stories were passed on by word of mouth, with nothing written down. As such, it is impossible to know exactly whether Aesop thought of the fables himself, or whether he was a wandering storyteller who collected fables. In the days of such widespread illiteracy, it is likely Aesop could not even read or write. The earliest reference to written fables we have is from Herodotus circa 300 BC. Unfortunately, Herodotus seemed to think everyone knew Aesop and his fables so well that he did not need to give any details of Aesop or his work.

Regardless of whether or not Aesop was the creative genius behind all the fables, they remain Aesop's Fables. While we cannot know who invented them, we can still enjoy them because they are ... simply ... Aesop's Fables.

Rome - Guard...Geese?

2006-08-04T10:56:00.000+08:00

When Rome was still a new city, the Etruscans attacked and forced them into the fortress on the Capitoline Hill. Apparently, it was almost impossible for an attacking force to get up the side of the hill, but the Etruscans managed it...at night. It was quite likely the most critical night in Roman History. Only problem for the Romans was that their dogs were all asleep (as were the "guards"). So, naturally, it was left to the geese (!) to see the intruders as they came over the wall. The geese started honking and woke up the Romans, who were able to fight off the Etruscans and eventually win the war. Unfortunately, the war was not yet over. The Romans were still beseiged. So they ended up killing the dogs and eating them, rather than the geese. I mean, if you have to decide, you keep your best guards til last, don't you?

Nazi Germany - We Named It First!

2006-08-01T14:37:00.000+08:00

Everyone knows the Swastika, right? It used to be a type of good luck charm, before the Nazis corrupted it. In Ontario, Canada, there's a small town called Swastika. In 1911, two brothers found gold at a nearby lake and named the mine after a good luck charm (swastika). When World War II broke out, the government changed the name to 'Winston' after Winston Churchill. The people who lived in the town didn't like the name change, so they removed the "Welcome to Winston" sign and replaced it with the original and another sign saying "To hell with Hitler, we thought of our name first". The name Swastika stayed. The new sign reads "Swastika, Population 545".

Ancient Persia - Bad Water, Bad! Bad!

2006-05-17T16:54:00.000+08:00

A Persian king called Xerxes (gzerk'sez) was trying to cross the Hellespont, also known as the Bosphorus. It's a narrow bit of water known as the Dardenelles, north of Gallipoli. It's near Byzantium. Anyway, so this king has an army of over 1,000,000 guys and wants to cross the river. So what does he do? ... Build a bridge by tying boats together. Pretty cool of itself, isn't it? When they had finished the bridge, but before the army could cross it, a storm came up and completely mangled the bridge. All that work for nothing. Xerxes was so mad at the water (he thought there was some god in the water) that he ordered the water to be flogged with whips! So some of his guards went down to the water, read a sentence over it, then started beating it! (hmmm, wouldn't that hurt it?). But that wasn't enough!!! The guards threw some ropes in to tie the sea gods up, then threw red hot pieces of metal into the water, to burn the water, as well as cutting it with knives and swords. I'm guessing someone needs a serious reality check!

Western Australia - We're Gonna Need More Weight!

2006-05-17T12:35:00.000+08:00

In 1844 in Fremantle, Australia, John Gavin, a convicted murderer was hanged (wow, so what else is new? see how boring bare facts are?). The thing is, John was only 15. He was so light that the executioner had to attach weights to his body so that his neck broke when he was dropped! In case you didn't know, the point of hanging isn't to strangle the person to death - they dropped them (like they tried in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl) so that their neck broke. Sometimes, the person being put to death was too heavy and snapped the rope! It was very rare for someone (like John Gavin) to be too light. But hey, whatever it takes. Good thing capital punishment is abolished in Australia - everyone is so fit these days the executioners would have to have heaps of extra weights on hand!

Western Australia - Gotta Love Those Police!

2006-05-16T18:26:00.000+08:00

In 1963 in Perth, Australia, a guy by the name of John Button had a fight with his fiancee (engaged to be married) Rosemary (They were playing strip poker and he wouldn't take off his pants). Rosemary got so upset she walked home. On her way home, a car came out of nowhere and ran her over. She died subsequently from the wounds. John had gone after her in his car to apologise, found her dying by the side of the road and took her to hospital. The police charged John (who was early 20's) with her murder. Before his case went to trial, a guy called Eric Cooke confessed to murdering Rosemary. He gave all kinds of details which only the murderer would know. Even though Eric had a string of crimes as long as both his arms (and was eventually hanged), the police had already decided John was the killer, so they ignored Eric. John went to jail for 10 years. Thanks to the efforts of a journalist (Estelle Blackburn who wrote Broken Lives) and a lawyer, Tom Percy QC, in 2002, John Button was cleared of the Rosemary's murder. But the stupid policeman wouldn't apologise for his colossal mistake! He wrecked a life, when the evidence was pointing in a different direction... anyway. Can you imagine how bad it would be to have your fiancee die in front of you, let alone to be convicted of killing her?

Russia - USSR Prevails! (Not)

2006-05-16T16:10:00.000+08:00

During the Cold War, USSR decided to attack Afghanistan. After all, that's what all big countries do, isn't it? It was something to do with Afghanistan not supporting Communism. Anyway, the Russians did fairly well until they came up against Ahmed Shah Masud. This guy was holed up in a part of the Afghan mountains which is shaped like a horseshoe - U Picture this: the Afghanis were along the arms of the horseshoe, with a village on the inside of the curvy part. The Russians had to fly, walk or drive between the arms of the horseshoe to get to the village, all the while being shot at from both sides. The Russians flew gunships, drove tanks, etc to try and take the village. The Afghanis threw petrol bombs and fired from ancient guns. One of the petrol bombs actually landed inside a gunship and blew it up mid-air! After great losses to both sides, the Russian army limped away. They had suffered $5 billion US in equipment losses throughout the campaign. Since the only major setback was at the horseshoe mountains, just think of the damage Ahmed Shah Masud and his people inflicted! On that note, the "coalition of the willing" came away very lightly, didn't they?

Middle Ages - Red Tape Strikes!

2006-05-15T19:14:00.000+08:00

How is this for a bad case of red tape gone too far - In the Middle Ages, a group of church guys decided that a particular Pope was guilty of heresy. The only problem was ... the Pope had died and was buried EIGHT DAYS EARLIER! The ritual for making someone a heretic in those days was to bring them before the Council, sit them on a chair and tell them they were wrong (like a quiet word in the ear wasn't enough!). So these guys grabbed a spade and dug the Pope from his grave, sat his bones on a chair and said "You were wrong when you said this and that - you are now a heretic". Can you imagine the smell!? This is a lesson to anyone who takes themselves too seriously :P

Introduction

2006-05-15T13:01:00.000+08:00

Hey. How are you? I have graduated from University of Notre Dame with a bachelor of history. There are heaps of interesting, totally useless, random bits of history I come across all the time. I say totally useless, but they are great if you are playing Trivial Pursuit or just for conversation starters/fillers. Best part is - they make you look intelligent and interesting (which you are anyway, you just may not have found the information yet). I won't necessarily post consistently - just whenever I read, hear, or think of something that fits, I'll post it. If I don't have all the details, I'll still post when the story is good. Check back later for a corrected version. Remember - History is all about the story. Bare facts are just boring. Check back regularly: you never know if the next bit of info is just what you need to impress the next person :)