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Q&A
Have twins ever been in line for the English throne? In that eventuality, how would it be decided which should become monarch?
In terms of inheriting the British throne, the same rule applies to twins as to single children – the firstborn inherits. Even if the first child is only minutes older than the younger, he or she still takes the prize.
We have not yet had twins in line to the British throne. Twins are an increasingly common occurrence in 21st-century Britain but rare in history, chiefly because...
Is it true that Francis Drake discovered a cure or a medicine to fight scurvy?
A debilitating disease caused by vitamin C deficiency, the scurvy was once the scourge of seamen on long voyages. As they travelled the globe in search of new lands, sailors faced abominable living...
Who was Catherine Willoughby who it is said nearly became Henry VIII’s last queen?
Catherine was the daughter of Maria de Salinas, Queen Catherine of Aragon’s favourite lady-in-waiting, and William, Lord Willoughby d’Eresby, a prominent courtier. She was born in 1519...
Was Fanny Adams a real person? I heard somewhere that she may have been the victim of a murder
She was. The case was one of the most shocking and notorious murders in Victorian England.
Fanny was the fourth of seven children. On the afternoon of Saturday 24 August 1867, eight-year-old...
What are the origins of ‘minstrels’ galleries’, which I’ve seen at a number of stately homes?
The term ‘minstrels’ gallery’ is something of a misnomer, as very few, if any, of them ever held a minstrel. Minstrels were the highly regarded, all-round entertainers of the...
Why were suicides supposed to be buried at crossroads?
Suicide used to be regarded as shocking and blasphemous, and a coroner’s verdict of ‘felo de se’ – literally crime against oneself – usually resulted in the body being...
It is claimed that the Pilgrim Fathers set sail from Plymouth but I’ve also heard that they started in Boston, Lincolnshire. Which is correct?
The short answer is that both are correct.
The group of English colonists who settled in North America and later became known as the Pilgrim Fathers originated as a group of Puritans from...
Who was Abiezer Coppe?
The Ranters were the most radical of all the sects that flourished during the English Civil War. Abiezer Coppe was probably the most extravagant of the Ranters.
A preacher and former...
Why was Josef Jakobs the only spy during the Second World War to be shot rather than the more usual method of hanging?
Josef Jakobs was a German spy, who parachuted into a Huntingdonshire field early in 1941. Captured by the Home Guard after he had broken his right leg on exiting the aircraft, he was arrested and...
What was the ‘Catch Me Who Can’?
This was the name given to an early locomotive built by the Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick. In 1808, Trevithick created what was later called a ‘steam circus’, a circular track for...
What religion was practised by the people of Lithuania before their conversion to Christianity in the 14th century?
Lithuania was the last place in Europe to adopt Christianity. Before 1387, when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was finally baptised into Roman Catholicism as a condition of the dynastic union with...
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