This sunken WWII ammo ship still threatens London
The SS Richard Montgomery was an American Liberty Ship that wrecked on the Nore sandbank in the Thames Estuary, near Sheerness, Kent, England, in August 1944. After running aground on…
Why George Washington tried to kidnap the future king of England
In 1939, Britain’s King George VI visited New York and Washington after a trip to Canada. He was the first reigning British monarch to come to the United States. Before…
How the English city of Manchester allied itself with Abraham Lincoln
The special relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States is a relatively recent relationship. During the Civil War, things were much less cordial and often downright hostile. Yet,…
The most glorious ancient empire you never heard of provoked Genghis Khan and got wrecked
At a time when England was still getting over the Norman conquest and Europe was headed into the High Middle Ages, the Khwarazmian Empire was on the rise in Central…
This is how the Order of the White Feather shamed Britain’s WWI draft dodgers
World War I is famously known as the war to end all wars that resulted in the shattering of many countries. It left generations with memories of horrors they had…
The Pierrepoint family were Britain’s official executioners
Albert Pierrepoint knew from a young age that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps of sorts. His father Henry was a hard-drinking day laborer who sometimes acted as…
Why the King’s Guard wear those giant bearskin hats
With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III was immediately made sovereign of the United Kingdom. With that change came name changes all over the former commonwealth, including…
How an English lady ensured Britain could hold the Germans off in World War II
Dame Fanny Lucy Houston, Lady Houston wasn’t born with those titles. She was actually born in 1857 into a large, working class family in London. She later became a professional…
These London railings are actually WWII stretchers
From September 1940 to May 1941, the German Luftwaffe conducted a massive bombing campaign against Britain. Commonly referred to as the Blitz, these attacks included industrial targets as well as…
How Churchill became a writer who also won a war
Historical figures like Sir Winston Churchill are written about, analyzed and even lionized. But few figures in history are approachable on a human level because they left few of their…