A recent case is that of Caster Semenya, South African athlete twice Olympic champion and three times world champion in…
Modern Era
Lapulapu, the Filipino chief turned national hero who killed Magellan
On August 10, 1519 began the expedition that circumnavigated the globe for the first time. We all know the names…
Saigō Takamori: the true story of the last samurai
In 1877 the Satsuma Rebellion or Sainan War against the Japanese imperial throne ended with the victory of the latter…
The High Court of Chivalry, a medieval institution still active in the United Kingdom
Heraldry is the science of the coat of arms, the “art of explaining and describing the coats of arms of…
The Rosenstrasse protest, when German women saved their Jewish husbands by confronting the Nazi regime
In 2003 the German Margarethe von Trotta, director, scriptwriter, actress and wife of the famous writer Volker Schlöndorf, won the…
Beijing-Paris, the automobile race of 1907 that inaugurated the tradition of celebrating victory with champagne
If there is one classic of sports celebrations, it is motor racing, where victories are showered with champagne (including competitors,…
The British Museum objects that no one can see and that Ethiopia claims
Although the British never conquered or colonized Ethiopia, in April 1868 a battle took place there that ended the so-called…
Jasper Maskelyne, the magician who fooled the Germans with his tricks in World War II
In 1983, the famous magician David Copperfield caused a sensation by making the New York City Statue of Liberty disappear…
A fly-whisk provoked the French occupation of Algeria and the establishment of the protectorate
Most readers will be aware of the historical link between France and Algeria, if only because of the number of…
The alchemist who sought the Philosopher’s Stone and discovered phosphorus by chance
The word serendipity comes from the oriental tale The Three Princes of Serendip, in which the protagonists saw their problems…