HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: The official website for BBC History Magazine
date: 2025-11-26T17:20:32.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Think you know everything about the history of Thanksgiving? Here’s 21 facts that will prove you wrong
items: What was the Habsburg jaw?
items: Why do ‘wicked’ witches wear pointed hats? The real history explained
items: Who was the real James Garfield, ‘the man from Ohio’ and doomed president of Death by Lightning?
items: Death by Lightning real history: the true story of Charles Guiteau and a president’s assassination
items: Who was the real Edward Guinness of House of Guinness?
items: Who was the real Arthur Guinness of House of Guinness, and what happened to him?
items: What if Harold died at Stamford Bridge, not Hastings?
items: Is the Fountain of Youth real?
items: Did Adolf Hitler really only have one testicle?

Think you know everything about the history of Thanksgiving? Here’s 21 facts that will prove you wrong
type: item
date: 2025-11-26T15:03:54.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: General Modern
subject: Period
subject: Thanksgiving
description: From tales of pumpkin-pie panics to the story of the president who turned his dinner into a pet, Jonny Wilkes uncovers the surprising history behind Thanksgiving: America’s turkey-tastic holiday
encoded: There are only two accounts of the first Thanksgiving The story of the first Thanksgiving has been highly mythologised in American history. In 1621, the so-called Pilgrims who travelled on the Mayflower and formed the settlement of Plymouth, in Massachusetts, came together with the local indigenous peoples, the Wampanoag, for a feast to celebrate a good harvest and the growing friendship of settler and Native American in the New World. That is the version long told in schools. In truth, the Pilgrims threw themselves a harvest festival and around 90 of the Wampanoag showed up. Without their help, especially a man named Squanto, the European settlers would have likely perished in their brutal first winter. The only sources for the three-day feast are sparse mentions in writings by two of the Pilgrims, Edward Winslow and William Bradford. Neither actually used the word ‘thanksgiving’, however, and since they gave few details of what happened, the mythologising took over. They may not have eaten turkey at the first Thanksgiving For many Americans, no modern Thanksgiving meal is complete without a turkey as the centrepiece of the table. It’s unclear, however, whether this tradition began in 1621. The Pilgrims cooked up a selection of fowl – which may have included turkey, but could just as easily been duck and goose – while the Wampanoag killed a number of deer, meaning venison was on the menu. They might have had seafood, too, including eels, clams, mussels and lobster. Yes, William Bradford mentioned a “great store of wild Turkies” in the region, but the bird did not become a staple of the Thanksgiving meal until the 19th century. The first Thanksgiving may have happened earlier than 1621 While the 1621 feast became the foundation for the Thanksgiving holiday, perhaps Americans should celebrate a different year. Other acts of thanksgiving, based in the tradition of Christian harvest festivals, took place earlier in the short-lived Popham Colony in Maine and Jamestown i…

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What was the Habsburg jaw?
type: item
date: 2025-11-26T10:13:30.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Evergreen
description: One family was an ever-present force in European affairs from the Middle Ages to the modern era, but, as Jonny Wilkes explores, the Habsburgs’ desperate bid to keep power within the family gave them a distinctive physical callsign, as well as dynastic longevity…
encoded: For centuries, the Habsburgs were one of the most prominent royal dynasties in Europe. They ruled as kings of Germany, from the 13th century, and as archdukes of Austria from the mid-14th century. They sat on the throne of the Holy Roman Empire from the 15th to 19th centuries. Their house dominated swathes of the continent with Habsburg rulers in a host of countries, most notably Spain. But there was something else that became prominent about the Habsburgs: their jawline. What was the Habsburg jaw? Many members of the dynasty had the same physical trait of a protruding bottom jaw – a mandibular prognathism, medically speaking. The jutting chin could be so pronounced that the flattering portrait artists of the day could not manage to hide them. The condition even prevented some members of the dynasty from eating or speaking properly. Read more | The Habsburgs: the dynasty that wouldn’t die The ‘Habsburg jaw’ was a biological result from generations of inbreeding. In a bid to keep their power, the Habsburgs kept everything within the family. They relied on ‘consanguine’ marriages that partnered close relatives, such as first cousins, or uncles with their nieces. View Green Video on the source website Why did the Habsburgs intermarry so much? It’s true that close-family marriages weren’t exactly unusual among the royal houses of Europe, but the Habsburgs were the champions of consanguinity. Of the 11 marriages during the reign of the Spanish Habsburgs, from 1516 to 1700, only two were not incestuous. “The arrangement made good political sense, guaranteeing that the two lines would support each other militarily,” writes historian Martyn Rady, “which paid dividends in the Thirty Years’ War (the bloody religious conflict fought across central Europe from 1618–48). “Biologically, however, it was a disaster. As first and second-cousin and uncle-niece marriages became the norm, madness and deformity followed.” In 1517, Italian diplomat Antonio di Beatis described the future …

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Why do ‘wicked’ witches wear pointed hats? The real history explained
type: item
date: 2025-11-21T15:20:39.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: General History
subject: Period
subject: TV interest
subject: Witches
description: There have been many examples of pointed hats in history, but it remains unclear how any of them became a must-wear for the witches
encoded: We’re off to see… the Wicked Witch of the West, as she returns to the silver screen in Wicked: For Good, the second part of the fantasy epic based on the popular stage musical. But where would Elphaba be without her trademark look, including the iconic black, pointed and wide-brimmed hat? Along with a cat, broomstick and black robes, the pointed hat is a required feature of any depiction of the typical ‘evil witch’, and has been for centuries. How it became the headgear of choice, however, remains the subject of numerous theories – as there is no single hat to point the way to the archetypal witch. The myth of the alewives Before getting to the major theories, there is one that can be debunked. The internet is well-populated with the claim that the image of the witch began with alewives, medieval women who brewed ale in their homes and sold it locally. Dominating the brewing industry for a time, these women could achieve a degree of financial independence. In an era where any woman who baulked social norms was suspicious, this autonomy would have been enough to single them out, putting them at risk of being accused of witchcraft. In addition, the fact that they stood over bubbling cauldrons while brewing and wearing pointed hats to be easily spotted at markets, it is clear why some have argued that alewives were the inspiration for the image of the witch. Except, there is just zero historical evidence to back this up. The highly symbolic history of the pointed witch hat Instead, theories have taken in pointy hats from throughout history, some with highly symbolic meaning. The Phrygian cap of antiquity, for instance, came to represent liberty and freedom in the American and French Revolutions of the 18th century, while the ancient Romans presented freed slaves with a special pointed felt cap, called a pileus. In medieval Europe, the hennin came into fashion: an extremely tall cone with flowing material hanging out of the top. Yet while it certainly has a resemblance …

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Who was the real James Garfield, ‘the man from Ohio’ and doomed president of Death by Lightning?
type: item
date: 2025-11-06T17:27:53.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Trends-Entertainment
description: The 20th President of the United States had the potential to be one of the greats, according to many – until his assassination less than a year into the job. As a new drama comes to Netflix about what set him and his killer on their tragic collision, here’s why it’s time to better remember James Garfield
encoded: In the history of the presidents of the United States, James Garfield is too easily overlooked. It’s not hard to see why: his time in the presidential spotlight had been brief, emerging late as a surprise candidate for the 1880 election and serving only 200 days in office. He is perhaps best known as one of the four US presidents to be assassinated, alongside Abraham Lincoln (1865), William McKinley (1901) and John F Kennedy (1963). But while he does not rank as one of the ‘greats’, Garfield is the great ‘what if’ of American politics. A brilliant mind, commanding yet humble, and driven by principle, he fought against corruption and for the modernisation of the country. If he had lived, who knows what he might have accomplished. Now Garfield is back in in the spotlight again in 2025 Netflix limited series Death by Lightning starring Michael Shannon as the doomed president and Matthew Macfadyen as his killer, Charles Guiteau. How and why was US President James Garfield assassinated? On 2 July 1881, President James Garfield travelled to the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington DC, on his way to speak at his college reunion before heading off on a family holiday. Only a couple of members of his cabinet accompanied him; even after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination 16 years earlier, it was not common practice for a president to have a security detail. As he entered the waiting room, a man named Charles Guiteau approached from behind, and fired his British Bulldog revolver twice. The first shot grazed Garfield’s arm – causing him to cry out, “My God, what is this?” – and the second hit his back, becoming lodged near his pancreas. While Garfield was rushed away for medical care, police seized the gunman. Guiteau, almost certainly suffering from a severe mental condition, had a lifetime’s worth of failed enterprises and disappointed ambitions that stretched well beyond his ability. The latest had been a role in politics. He had supported Garfield in the electi…

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Death by Lightning real history: the true story of Charles Guiteau and a president’s assassination
type: item
date: 2025-11-06T17:27:01.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Trends-Entertainment
description: Pick a word to describe the life of Charles Guiteau and you may go with ‘failure’. Another option would be ‘assassin’. So why did he murder James Garfield, 20th President of the United States?
encoded: On the morning of 2 July 1881, Charles Guiteau secured his infamous place in American political history when he fired two shots at James Garfield. The 20th President of the United States would die almost three months later. Guiteau’s life was ended the following year, at the end of a rope. The assassination was Guiteau’s last violent response to a life of not receiving what he thought he deserved from the world. Almost certainly living with an undiagnosed mental health condition, Guiteau failed as a lawyer, journalist, author and preacher; he failed as a husband and as a member of a religious commune; and he failed, risibly, in his foray into politics. It could be said the only thing he succeeded at was killing the president. And he almost failed in that. Death by Lightning, a 2025 Netflix four-episode drama starring Matthew Macfadyen as Guiteau and Michael Shannon as Garfield, tells Giteau’s story while acknowledging that, as presidential assassins go, his name is hardly as well known as John Wilkes Booth or Lee Harvey Oswald, killers of Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy respectively. The opening line of the series, delivered as Guiteau’s preserved brain rolls across the floor in a jar, sums it up: “Who the f*** is Charles Guiteau?!” Who was the real Charles Guiteau? Charles Julius Guiteau had a rough start. Born on 8 September 1841 in Freeport, Illinois, he was the fourth of six children to a mother suffering from psychotic episodes. She died when Charles was seven, and his father was a disciplinarian, and often abusive. Like the man he later killed, the young Guiteau looked to better his situation through education, only to fail in in his attempt to get into the University of Michigan, stumbling at the entrance exam. Leaving schooling behind, he instead joined a religious sect – the Oneida Community – in New York state in 1860. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/11/GettyImages-615251932-faec44a-e1762443683976.jpg" width="15…

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Who was the real Edward Guinness of House of Guinness?
type: item
date: 2025-09-25T16:50:10.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Trends-Entertainment
description: Described as a 19th-century Succession, a period drama by the creator of Peaky Blinders follows four siblings who are part of the world’s most famous brewing family. Before you get a pint of the black stuff and settle in for the series, find out what’s known about the real Edward Guinness, one of the historical figures who was thrust into running the business
encoded: When Edward Guinness took joint control of his family’s brewery in 1868, it was already a global giant. Yet business would only keep booming as he ran things, initially with his brother before taking sole ownership and making the company public. The move netted Edward millions, and there seemed to be no limit to how high the Guinness brand, built on their world-famous stout, could go. This is the setting of House of Guinness, a historical drama from Steven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders and SAS Rogue Heroes. The eight-part series is streaming on Netflix and stars Louis Partridge (of Enola Holmes fame) as Edward, an ambitious, savvy businessman and philanthropist, looking to navigate the political and familial obstacles of Victorian Dublin. Who was the real Edward Guinness? Edward Cecil Guinness, known as the Earl of Iveagh (he was first bestowed the title of Iveagh in 1891), headed up the Guinness Brewery in the second half of the 19th century and remained an important figure in its management into the 20th. As the richest man in Ireland, he used his wealth to sponsor a lifetime’s worth of philanthropic causes. Born 10 November 1847 in Dublin, he was the youngest child of Elizabeth and Benjamin Lee Guinness, who had established the family brewery on the world stage. Despite having two older brothers, Arthur and Benjamin, and a sister, Anne, young Edward emerged as the heir-apparent to the company. Privately tutored, he spent much of his teen years working as his father’s secretary, which gave him early hands-on experience and the opportunity to demonstrate his sound head for business. He studied at Trinity College Dublin, but by the time he graduated, Benjamin Lee had died and Edward, at 22 years old, was in charge, running Guinness in partnership with his eldest brother Arthur Guinness (played by Anthony Boyle, who starred as John Wilkes Booth in Manhunt and appeared in Masters of the Air). Edward Guinness and the Guinness Brewery According to the will of Benjam…

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Who was the real Arthur Guinness of House of Guinness, and what happened to him?
type: item
date: 2025-09-25T16:49:16.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: Period
subject: Victorian
subject: Trends-Entertainment
description: Anthony Boyle stars as a tortured heir to the brewery fortune in Netflix historical series House of Guinness. In the aftermath of his father’s death, he must juggle business, sibling rivalry and ambition, and a changing Ireland. Trouble is brewing, but is the Arthur Guinness of the screen anything like the real man?
encoded: Since 1759, when the first Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on St James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, generations of Guinnesses have grown the business, along with a vast fortune and a family legacy based on philanthropy as much as their stout. House of Guinness, a drama now streaming on Netflix, explores a chapter of that fascinating family history in the way that only Peaky Blinders and SAS Rogue Heroes creator Steven Knight can. Starring a riotously charming Anthony Boyle (of Masters of the Air fame) as Arthur Guinness, the eight-part series bills itself as a 19th-century Succession, complete with sibling rivalries, political intrigue and a rebellious spirit – all mixed down with plenty of pints. Who was the real Arthur Guinness? The Arthur Guinness of House of Guinness is not the one who founded the brewery back in 1759. This is his great-grandson, Arthur Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun. He ran the brewery business alongside his brother Edward from 1868 to 1876, as well as sitting in the House of Commons as an MP and giving generously to a host of humanitarian causes. Born on 1 November 1840 in Dublin, Arthur was the eldest son of Elizabeth and Benjamin Lee Guinness, the man responsible for turning the brewery into a truly global giant. Growing up with two brothers, Benjamin and Edward, and a sister, Anne, he received an elite education at Eton and Trinity College Dublin, graduating in 1862. During its first three generations, Guinness had become the largest brewery in Ireland and a major exporter to Europe, the Americas and parts of Africa. Under the stewardship of Arthur and his youngest brother, Edward Guinness, the brewery continued to thrive; even the temperance movement, which bemoaned the social ills of alcohol, promoted the stout as a preferred alternative to spirits like gin and whiskey. What was Arthur’s involvement in the brewery? For Arthur, 1868 would be a life-changing year, beginning with the death of his father. He was elevated to the ti…

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What if Harold died at Stamford Bridge, not Hastings?
type: item
date: 2025-08-26T09:43:01.000Z
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: It’s probably one of the recognisable depictions of a medieval royal death: the Bayeux Tapestry’s representation of King Harold of England, an arrow in his eye, meeting his fate at the battle of Hastings in October 1066. But what if he had been killed weeks earlier, at the battle of Stamford Bridge, instead? Historian Dr Marc Morris offers an another possibility
encoded: In 1066, three men vied for the English throne. Harold Godwinson seized it first, but he would have to fight to keep power. He defeated one rival, Harald Hardrada, at the battle of Stamford Bridge, before meeting his fate at Hastings against the duke of Normandy, best known as William the Conqueror. It was a turning point in English history, which saw the end of Anglo-Saxon rule and ushered in the Norman Conquest, and one that has been dramatised in the BBC's King and Conqueror. Surely, to change a major detail of that tumultuous year – such as Harold dying at Stamford Bridge in September 1066 rather than Hastings, fought in October – would have monumental repercussions on the political, cultural, religious and social changes that followed. Read more | When was the Viking Age? Perhaps not, though, according to Dr Marc Morris, a historian, broadcaster and author specialising in the Middle Ages. “I don’t think it would have made that much difference in the long term,” he says. “Almost all of the changes that took place in England as a result of the Norman Conquest would still have taken place anyway, whether or not there was a Norman Conquest.” William’s victory against Harold at Hastings ended Anglo-Saxon rule and established a new elite class, with profound impact, but many of the Norman upheavals actually represented the shifting attitudes in Europe at the time, says Morris. “Castles, Romanesque architecture, the demise of slavery, the introduction of chivalry: all of these things were becoming the norm across the continent, across the Frankish-speaking world.” Listen on the podcast | 1066: the battle for England They would have come to England eventually, although over several generations rather than virtually overnight, as seen under the Normans. “The only exception is that we wouldn’t have such a crazy language as modern English, because it wouldn’t have had the French overlay,” adds Morris. Besides, was it possible that Harold’s death at Stamford Bridge – again…

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Is the Fountain of Youth real?
type: item
date: 2025-05-28T10:15:25.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: General History
subject: Period
subject: Trends-Entertainment
description: The Fountain of Youth is most associated with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León, but people have believed in magical waters that bring everlasting life since antiquity
encoded: Some stories in myth and legend have a habit of resurfacing time and again, carrying symbolism and ideas that endure across cultures and centuries. One such recurring motif is that of miraculous elixirs of life or sacred places that promise rejuvenation — from the philosopher’s stone and the Holy Grail to various enchanted springs. Archetypal among these is the Fountain of Youth, a mythical source said to restore vitality to all who drink from it. What is the Fountain of Youth? Legend says that anyone who located the mythical spring known as the Fountain of Youth would be bestowed with long life or renewed youth by drinking or bathing in its waters. Is the Fountain of Youth real? There is no single Fountain of Youth in legend. The notion is a very human one: to believe in something beyond our understanding that preserves life, and then to regard water – something on which every civilisation has been utterly dependent – as the vessel of that power. As such, there has never been a definitive Fountain of Youth. Water – whether in the form of springs, rivers or lakes – have been considered sacred by numerous cultures around the world, and imbued with divine powers. To this day, people flock to the pilgrimage site of Lourdes in France, where the waters flowing from a grotto are revered for their miraculous abilities to heal the sick and infirm. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/05/GettyImages-919818740-e357f71-e1748426030593.jpg" width="620" height="413" alt="Painting of people bathing in a square fountain, with elderly people to the left entering and young people emering from the right" title="Those who drank the waters of the Fountain of Youth were said to have their looks and vigour restored (Photo via Getty)" /> Could the Fountain of Youth be under the Great Pyramid of Giza? There is no legend that links the Fountain of Youth to the Great Pyramid of Giza, as is suggested in Apple TV+’s Indiana Jones-esque movie Fountain of Yout…

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Did Adolf Hitler really only have one testicle?
type: item
date: 2025-05-07T08:22:54.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Evergreen
description: Although British soldiers in the Second World War sang about the Führer only having “one ball”, that did not necessarily make it anatomical fact. The discovery of medical records from his time in prison, however, paint a surprisingly complicated story
encoded: “Hitler has only got one ball, / Goring has two but very small, / Himmler is rather sim’lar, / But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all.” This cheeky wartime ditty mocking the masculinity of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi leadership, set to the jaunty tune of the Coloney Bogey March, was once a familiar favourite in schoolyards in Britain and beyond. The lyrics often change – in one variant, it is suggested in rhyme that the Fuhrer’s remaining testicle now resides as something of a war trophy in the Albert Hall – but where does this claim come from, and is there any truth to it? Is there any truth that Hitler had one testicle? On balance it seems unlikely that Hitler only had one testicle, but there are conflicting arguments on both sides. That said, there have been several stories that, if true, would mean the song was actually based on anatomical fact. According to one, Hitler lost a testicle during the First World War after being hit by shrapnel at the battle of the Somme in 1916; another says the injury occurred much earlier, in childhood, during an altercation with a goat. It all seems to be the stuff of hearsay. Although Hitler was wounded at the Somme, it was in the thigh rather than the groin. What’s more, that claim comes from many decades later from an unconfirmed source, a priest who supposedly took the confession of the German medic who treated Lance Corporal Hitler. Perhaps the single best piece of evidence that counters the claim that Hitler only had one testicle comes from the doctor who treated Hitler as a child, an Austrian Jew named Eduard Bloch who fled to the United States in 1940, insisted to American interrogators that the genitals of the future Fuhrer were “completely normal”. Still, the seemingly endless fascination with Hitler’s reproductive equipment and sexual proclivities has persisted over the decades. Years after the war, a new claim emerged that the Soviets had carried out an autopsy of Hitler after taking Berlin in 1945, in which they fou…

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