Archive for October, 2011

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The notorious Dr Crippen and Radio’s first arrest

Posted in Communications, Famous crimes, Famous news stories, Historical articles, Law, Ships on Thursday, 27 October 2011

This edited article about crime originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 850 published on 29 April 1978.

Dr Crippen's arrest, picture, image, illustration

Hawley Harvey Crippen and his companion Ethel le Neve in disguise by John Keay

The date was July, 1910. The place was the Atlantic Ocean, aboard the liner Montrose, on its journey from Antwerp to Quebec.

On deck, the ship’s captain listened intently to the faint clicking of a morse key coming from the wireless cabin below deck. There, bent over his transmitter, the radio operator was sending an urgent message to Scotland Yard. It read:

130 miles west Lizard stop have strong suspicion that Crippen London murderer and accomplice among passengers stop . . .

This was to prove an historic message. It was the first time that the invention of radio had been used in the hunt for a killer.

The captain had just given the order for it to be transmitted and, as the message flashed out from the aerial, he kept his eye on two of his passengers, the suspected criminal, Hawley Harvey Crippen and his companion, Ethel le Neve. Crippen was wanted for questioning by the police in connection with the murder of his wife.

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The origins of the Christmas and Thanksgiving turkey

Posted in Birds, Discoveries, Exploration, Wildlife on Tuesday, 25 October 2011

This edited article about birds originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 849 published on 22 April 1978.

Turkey, picture, image, illustration

The turkey

Four glass beads of many colours lay in the open palm of Spanish explorer Pedro Nino. To the Indians of Mexico in 1499, the beads were highly desirable ornaments, as attractive to them as rare gems are to us.

“What do you want for those?” asked an Indian, with a gesture towards the beads.

For answer, Nino pointed to a handsome fowl with a fine, curved chest and feathers tinged with a variety of colours. The bird was a turkey which ran wild in Mexico and provided the Indians with food.

The Indians agreed to Nino’s price, and he bought several turkeys for four glass beads each. According to Spanish records, Pedro Nino was the first European to discover turkeys. Nino put the turkeys aboard his ship and took them back to Spain.

Legend also has it that Columbus took wild turkeys from Central America back to Spain to prove that he had landed on foreign soil. Another Spaniard, Hernando Cortes, who captured Mexico in the 16th century, is also said to have brought turkeys to Europe.

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England’s magpie county – an architectural nickname

Posted in Architecture, British Countryside on Tuesday, 25 October 2011

This edited article about English counties originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 849 published on 22 April 1978.

Tudor House, picture, image, illustration

A black and white Tudor house, many of which are found in Herefordshire

What is the magpie county? This name is sometimes given to Herefordshire, but not because of its birdlife.

It is so named from the black beams and whitewashed walls of its many old buildings. Herefordshire borders on Wales and its chief river is the Wye. Incidentally, a magpie is velvety black with white underparts.

Empress Matilda – warrior mother of Henry II

Posted in Historical articles, History, Royalty, War on Tuesday, 25 October 2011

This edited article about British royalty originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 849 published on 22 April 1978.

Matilda, picture, image, illustration

Queen Matilda climbs down a ladder and escapes across the frozen Thames, by Peter Jackson

It was tough being a woman in the 12th century, especially if you wanted to be queen. Such a claimant was Matilda, also known as Maud, the daughter of Henry I.

She married the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, and when her husband died in 1125 she was proclaimed heiress to the English throne. Her father died in 1135, but her cousin, Stephen, seized the throne. Matilda, who had married again, came back to England to fight for her crown.

She defeated Stephen in a battle at Lincoln in 1141 and Matilda was elected “Lady of the English” on 8th April.

Because the people of England were so opposed to the idea of a ruling queen, Matilda was never crowned and civil war broke out. Finally, Matilda went to live in Normandy. Her son, Henry, continued fighting and, in 1154, was crowned King of England. His courageous mother died in 1167.

Do live at Kirkhope?

Posted in British Cities, British Towns, Interesting Words, Language on Tuesday, 25 October 2011

This edited article about placenames originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 849 published on 22 April 1978.

Do You Live At Kirkhope? Or at any other place ending in hope? If so, your home town or village may be in a small bay, a gap in some hill or in a forest. This is because “hope” comes from an Old Norse word hop with these meanings.

Along the banks of the River Yarrow in Scotland there are farmhouses sheltered in recesses in hollows among the hills. Consequently, the names ending in “hope” are numerous. These include Kirkhope, Dryhope and Whitehope. There is also a castle, now in ruins, called Dryhope Tower.

In upper Weardale, there is another cluster of “hopes” and there are others in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Muhammad Ali said, “I am the greatest” – and he was

Posted in Famous news stories, Historical articles, Sport, Sporting Heroes on Monday, 24 October 2011

This edited article about sport originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 849 published on 22 April 1978.

Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, picture, image, illustration

Muhammad Ali regaining his crown in the fight against George Foreman in 1974, by John Keay

In a career spanning more than 20 world heavyweight title fights. Muhammad Ali has said “I’m the Greatest” more times than can be counted.

But even his sternest critics will have to admit there were occasions when his claim was justified: when he first won the title by crushing the seemingly unbeatable Sonny Liston: when he regained the crown by beating George Foreman after years in the wilderness; or when he twice tamed the might of the one opponent he feared above all others – Joe Frazier.

Return fights seldom live up to expectations in boxing, but the three Ali-Frazier meetings provided exceptions. They first met in strange, almost unique circumstances and the first fight, like the second, was so close that the fans will always have something to argue about in the years to come.

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Venice – the world’s most beautiful and imperilled city

Posted in Architecture, Art, Historical articles, History, Travel on Monday, 24 October 2011

This edited article about Venice originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 849 published on 22 April 1978.

Piazzetta Venice, picture, image, illustration

The Piazzetta in Venice with a view of San Giorgio Maggiore by Harry Green

“It didn’t look nearly as good as it does in pictures,” is an all too frequent comment on many of the world’s most visited cities, but nobody ever says that about Venice. The tight-packed little island community, with its bell towers, canals and black-painted gondolas may well be the most photographed city on earth, but it still remains a man-made marvel that everyone should see at least once for themselves.

Most travellers reach Venice by car or plane, but the most dramatic arrival is still by rail, since train passengers have no opportunity to watch the city growing gradually nearer but simply walk out of a perfectly ordinary railway station to find themselves facing not a street but the twisting Grand Canal.

Venice’s waterways take the place of roads, and Venetians use motor launches instead of cars and gondolas in place of taxis. Magnificent houses, centuries old, stand with their doors facing a mooring. Turn off the busy main canals, and you will make the discovery that Venice is criss-crossed by a maze of much smaller waterways.

The reason for this unique example of town planning is that nature made it necessary in the first place. At the head of the Adriatic a number of rivers carry soil and boulders down from the Alps, gradually extending the eastern coastline of Italy at a rate of about five kilometres every thousand years. From the earliest times river silt formed mud-banks and lagoons close to the mainland, regarded by the coastal people as useful only for fishing.

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Deborah Sampson fought as a man for American Independence

Posted in America, Historical articles, Oddities, Revolution, War on Monday, 24 October 2011

This edited article about America riginally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 849 published on 22 April 1978.

Deborah Sampson, picture, image, illustration

Deborah Sampson – the woman who fought in disguise for American Independence by Clive Uptton

Robert Shurtliff realizes he is wounded. Warm blood spurts from a gash on his head. He dismounts but almost falls in a faint. Blood fills his right boot, running freely down from a musket-ball wound high up his right thigh. For long moments he feels he will die.

“Covered with blood from head to foot. I told my companions I feared I had received a mortal wound. I begged them to leave me to die on the spot but they would not consent. One of them took me up in front of him on his horse and, in this painful manner, carried me to the Army hospital. On coming in sight of the hospital, my heart failed me. In despair I actually drew a pistol and was about to put an end to my own life . . . ”

Robert feared something that to him was worse than death. He feared discovery. For Robert Shurtliff, American soldier in the War of Independence, was actually a woman, Deborah Sampson.

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The implacable conquistador, Hernando Cortes

Posted in America, Discoveries, Exploration, Historical articles, History on Monday, 24 October 2011

This edited article about the Conquistadors originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 849 published on 22 April 1978.

Cortes, picture, image, illustration

Hernando Cortes arriving in the New World by Severino Baraldi

The Aztec priest’s knife hung for a moment in the air, then was plunged into the live Spanish soldier pinned to the sacrificial stone. Skilfully, the man’s heart was cut out, even while his body still twitched, and lifted up by the priest as a peace offering to the god Huitzilopochtli, who would accept only the blood of living men.

The Spanish conquistadores, or conquerors, of Aztec Mexico, well knew the penalty for being captured alive. Their commander, Hernando Cortes, had warned them to make certain that they won all their battles with the Aztec Indians – for to lose meant certain death either on the battlefield or on the altar stone.

Cortes was one of the most audacious and unfeeling men ever to go exploring. He had left Spain for the West Indies when he was 19, and had been appointed secretary to Diego Velasquez, the Spanish Governor of Cuba.

Liking Cortes’ exceptional brand of courage and his swaggering manner, the Governor sent him off as leader of an expedition into Mexico. After Cortes had gone, the Governor had second thoughts about him, and sent an official to bring him back. But it was too late, for Cortes was already beyond recall.

The Spanish secretary had sailed with eleven ships and about 520 men, some cannon and small guns, and 16 horses. They landed at Tabasco, where 5,000 Maya Indians were waiting for them. But Cortes was soon left in no doubt about their intentions – they were armed to the teeth and it became clear that they wanted Spanish blood, drawn from their vicious, two-edged swords.

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A famous fictional death at the Reichenbach Falls

Posted in English Literature, Famous news stories, Law, Literature on Monday, 24 October 2011

This edited article about English literature originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 849 published on 22 April 1978.

Death of Sherlock Holmes, picture, image, illustration

Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls

The whole country was shocked and grief-stricken. And it was easy to understand why. The idol of countless thousands, from the highest to the lowest in the land, was dead, brutally murdered, seemingly for no good reason at all. The nation mourned.

Meanwhile, the man responsible for the dastardly deed, a writer by the name of Conan Doyle, remained free, which was not really surprising, as all he had done was to kill off his own brain child, Sherlock Holmes, the great detective. Holmes had been sent to his doom over the Reichenbach Falls, locked in the arms of the fiendish Moriarty.

Conan Doyle had decided to put an end to Holmes because he had become bored with him. But now, faced with the thousands of letters of protest on his desk, and more still arriving daily by the sackful, he knew that he would have to bring Holmes back to life. Reluctantly, he allowed Holmes, accompanied by the ever faithful, if sometimes thick-headed, Dr Watson, to return to the world of fiction.

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