Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "Weird History" channel.

  1. Several years ago a Rome police chief came up with the theory that Caesar, in effect, committed suicide. According to this theory Caesar was suffering from a degeneration of the mind and not wanting to be seen in such a way he decided to goad the conspirators into murdering him. This would have several outcomes. The first is that he would still be seen as strong and powerful at the time of his death. Secondly it would mean that those he saw as his enemies did not prosper after his death. And three it would mean that he would be remembered. Watching a documentary given by this senior Italian police officer I did come to the conclusion that there was something to this idea and it would be perfectly possible that this is what Caesar wanted.
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  2. Having watched this video I was interested in how hangings in the US matched those in the UK. When, in 1845, a notorious killer was to be hanged in Manchester, England, excursion trains were run from various parts of the county. Some 250,000 people watched the execution. The condemned were also given the right to their last words. One highwayman, John Rann known as Sixteen String Jack because he had sixteen colour strings hanging from the bottom of his britches, went further then that. Known for his quick wit and kept the crowd entertained all the way to the gallows where he then danced a gig before being hung. At a hanging broadsides would be sold. This was a large sheet of paper which on one side would be printed such things like the last words or a final confession of the killer. Ballads about the killer would also be sold on broadsides and the seller would constantly sing the ballad so that people could learn the tune. So not so different from Britain.
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  3. Or bikers are Vikings without Longship
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  4. I knew bout both Chad and Kilroy but it was interesting to be reminded of it. Thanks.
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  5. One thing which is often the case is that when you strip everything back we are all so much alike.
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  6. There is the story, related by an Italian general of the time, about the time Mussolini had to decide on which tank the Italian army would adopt. Apparently Mussolini was given a picture of each of the two tanks and after a short time pointed at one and said that one. No discussion about the pros and cons of each relating of the two tanks such as the armour, gun or engine power. Just that one.
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  7. The first Viking raid on Lindisfarne, which the Christians all shouted about, was in retaliation for a raid by Christians on a Viking settlement.
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  8. Did you now when he was a war correspondent during WW2 he briefly led a resistance group until he was told of what cod happen to him if he did not stop.
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  9.  @IrishMike22  I have suspected this as it is very light on detail.
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  10.  @SJ2ride  That is interesting because I had thought it had been banned by that time. Obviously not. It is what was used to make the green colour seen on the wallpaper.
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  11. He was already annoyed because the wind was from the wrong direction.
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  12. The Roman scout ships which sailed the Irish Sea looking for raiders were painted blue and had blue sails. This was to camouflage the ships making them less visible to the raiders which would make it easier to track them.
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  13. Well there was some interesting things here but I already had a good idea what the barber surgeon did. Did you ever wonder haw the barbershop quartet came about. When the barber was carrying out surgery it could get quite noisy, because of the amount of pain involved for the patient and the lack of painkillers not given to the said patient. So the barber would leave out sheet music and musical instruments for his other customers so that their singing and music playing would drown out the patients cries. From this came the barbershop quartet. Though having heard four men dress as barbers from the start of the 20th century singing in close harmony some of use prefare the screams.
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  14. The old wigs would be bought by the barber who would sell them on, often including the head lice, to his customers. Imagine the well-to-do man man riding in his coach seeing the local tavern landlord walking past wearing the the rich man's old wig.
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  15. The middle class would eat a lot of mutton because it was cheap. In fact the Victorian middle class was often referred to as mutton eaters.
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  16. Some years ago I was researching a local village and I came across a reference to a Medieval the lord of the manor for that village by the Sayer de Sutton. Much of the land near the river was waterlogged for most of the year so he set about draining the land and giving it to the villages so that they could improve there lives. Then the Catholic church sent its people to the village and promising the villagers a place in heaven if they donated the land to the church. So they took control of the land Sayer had spent so much time, energy and money reclaiming. Relations with the church went down hill from there.
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  17. Toxicologist would examine the contents of the victims stomach when trying to ascertain if the victim was poisoned and which poison it may be. This could be very dangerous work as it would involve realising any toxic gases which had built up in the stomach. More than one toxicologist died from inhaling the gas.
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  18. Viking coprolite, fossilised excrement, was found in York, England, when part of the town was archaeologically excavated some years ago. One of the things they found in the dig was the bones from a species of fish called the haddock. Interestingly haddock is still popular in northern England whereas in the south of England they prefer cod.
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  19. One English royal jester danced from Norwich to London to raise money for the poor.
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  20. Definitely a contender for a Darwin Award.
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  21. I understand that someone else had the flag made as there is a receipt for the payment. Washington tried to get Martha's slave to come back but she decided to keep her freedom. In the end he set up a trap for her in which she would meet someone who would capture her and she would be returned to Martha. But the ex-slave had grown suspicious and refused to go to the meeting.
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  22. I sat watching this while eating mint icecream with choc chips. Nothing happened.
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  23. Interestingly the British writer George Orwell was kept under surveillance by the British Security Service MI5 because of his left wing views. But he had seen what the Soviets did in Spain when the murdered left leaning non communists because they were seen as competition. So he was vehemently against communism .
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  24.  @fromthebackseat4865  True. But there is a difference
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  25. I did read about one man who was sentenced to be transported to Australia and managed to jump overboard and successfully swam to shore making his escape. The ship was moored in the Thames and would be there sometime waiting to get enough prisoners before it sailed. The man was on deck one day and before anyone could stop him he jumped in the Thames where he managed to avoid the boats in the river whose job it was to catch him and return him to the ship. Once ashore he made good his escape. Now at this point you would think he would lay low for awhile until it was safe. But this he did not do. So a week after making his escape he was walking down the street and walked right into the judge who had sentenced him. He was immediately caught and sent beck to the ship which was still in the Thames. And extra precautions were taken to make sure he did not escape again. You have a feeling that his return to the ship was not a friendly one after making fools of the the crew. I do wonder if he lived long enough to get to Australia.
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  26. In the UK there was a woman called Mary Whitehouse who was always making claims about how TV and other media was nothing but filth, interesting what you find when you look for it. She was always calling for things to be banned, especially in the music industry. And yes these calls usually ended up with a huge boost to sales. Some years later she met a man who thanked her for these constant calls for the banning of music she did not like. She looked on somewhat bewildered not sure why he said what he said. You see what he did not tell her was he was a music producer and he produced the very records she wanted banned. Sales jumped up and he made lots of money.
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  27. Cockney rhyming slang was said to have come about so that criminals could talk to each other without the police in London knowing what was being said. This came about because the would frequent pubs and such dressed in disguise so they could overhear conversations. some of you may know that a pub was a rubberdub. This would later be shortened to rubber.
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  28. It's been known for some time that the Anglo Saxons wrote in Runes. There is evidence the King Alfred the Great wrote in runes when trying to learn Latin.
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  29. A clash of egos between generals. Not like that happened much.
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  30. According to the CIA no.
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  31. Definitely someone I would love to meet. And he was noted, or is that notorious, for his sense of humour. I am sure we would have gotten on like a house on fire. You know. People running around screaming and no survivors.
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  32. Depends who's asking
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