People Explain Which Historical Figures Society Mistakenly Idolizes
We're taught about all kinds of historical figures in school, and told why they're great. Copernicus realized the Earth revolved around the son, Newton discovered gravity, and Paul Revere warned Americans that there was to be a British attack.
What we're not told is that many historical figures we idolize were not great people. Yes, they accomplished some great things, but they also committed some horrible acts.
Redditors are ready to burst our bubbles about those historical figures we thought were all-around great.
It all started when Redditor Sufficient-Citron269 asked:
"Which historical figure is mistakenly idolized?"
His (Hateful) Majesty
"King Richard I aka Richard the Lionheart."
"He is held in a high regard but he was actually a bad king. He had no interest in governing and his attention span was limited to killing people in warfare. He was regarded as a cruel leader (even by the standards of the 12th century) and is only held in high regard because the monks liked his crusading and because the Victorians considered him an "empire builder.""
"I should also point out that, despite being born in Oxford, Richard I did not consider himself "English" and he considered himself a Frenchman where he spent most of his adult life. He considered England to be nothing more than a piggy bank to fund his crusading and he hated the nation which is why it is so baffling to see England football fans use crusader imagery and boast about the "three lions on the shirt.""
"If you want to know more, watch Terry Jones's Medieval Lives."
– TailsxCream4Eva
Memorialized In Green
"Andrew Jackson. He carried out ethnic cleansing against Native Americans. Jackson was a disaster of a human being on every possible level, and should not be commemorated positively by any branch of American government. And as he was a slave owner, putting him on the $20 bill is disgraceful."
– Miguenzo
"putting him on the $20 bill is disgraceful."
"It's a troll because Andrew Jackson hated the idea of a central bank and dissolved the Bank of the United States."
"He'd be rolling over in his grave if he knew they put his face on the dollar."
– Fausterion18
"Not A Good Idea, Mr. President"
"Almost all of the US presidents have skeletons in their closets that nobody really talks about."
"Whether it's leading an invasion of a country, or using slave's teeth as dentures. History is a rocky subject, and a rabbit hole when it comes down to the United State's life."
– X-Cross_X
Yikes!
"Mother Teresa was apparently a b*tch."
"Over a third of her patients received inadequate care. Conditions there were likened to nazi concentration camps. She actively campaigned against the use of condoms during the aids epidemic."
"When she fell ill she ran away to California for care, instead of staying in one of her death traps."
"Here's a quote from her:"
""There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ's Passion. The world gains much from their suffering.""
– MaliciousPorpoise
Actors *Shakes Head*
"Ronald Reagan."
– TesticleMayhem
"Nancy too. Ran his meeting schedule using astrology charts."
– death_or_glory_
"He did a ton of damage to California and the USA."
"Been calling this out for decades, but the right-wing hold him up like a political Jesus."
– slavnar95
Time To Do Good
"Andrew Carnegie. Absolutely horrible man. Treated his workers like sh*t, but he always had a scapegoat and would claim ignorance. Then, when he got old and thought he was probably going to hell, he started donating money and building public spaces so he could "buy his way into heaven." Told all his friends to do the same."
"But no, he was such a wonderful charitable man."
– Euphoric-Hyena8926
This Was A Hard One
"Alexander Graham Bell"
"He did not invent the telephone at all but stole it from a poor but brilliant Italian named Antonio Meucci who could not afford to pay for the patent"
– Fanfrenhag
"He also was an a**hole who was against deaf people getting married and having kids and being forced to talk. Horrible man. Absolutely hate him."
– FrankSinatraHot
Remember The Rest
"Woodrow Wilson. Often remembered for coming up with the League of Nations idea, he was a super racist religious fundamentalist weirdo."
– VerbalChains
"The guy who didn't kept his promise of not involving the US in WW1 and had an infamous pro-Klan movie projected at the White House isn't that much of a hero? Can't say I'm surprised"
– MudkipzLover
Hard To Come Back From That
"Julius Caesar was to ROMAN standards, a monster. ROMAN STANDARDS."
– Arlecchinobaby
Yep.
"Christopher Columbus. He didn’t discover that the Earth was round (because by his time, it was already common knowledge), he never set foot in the U.S., he slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent Taino people and he enslaved the living ones to work in gold mines that he and his men set up on their island. And yet this moron has his own U.S. holiday."
– Longjumping_Event_59
Intellectual Property
"Steve Jobs. Not only was he incredibly mean and cruel to his coworkersllectual and employees, he also essentially stole credit for everything that was achieved under the name "Apple". He had no particular skills that aided him in succeeding other than to take credit for others accomplishments."
– 0xVali__
Not Black And White
"Thomas Edison."
– darkwulf1
"Edison still deserves a lot of credit."
"No, he didn't invent the light bulb. His specialty was improving other inventions. For example, he didn't invent the telegraph but he did invent the carbon telephone transmitter which took the transmission rate from 120wpm up to over 1000."
– sarcasticorange
"Yes and no. He is mistakenly idolized for being the main inventor of electricity. However, he was the guy to get it funded and pushed the technology in it's infancy stage and bring it to the public."
"It's easy to discount the difficulty of getting something off the ground. You have to make the right connections, demo the product, sell the idea, get in front of the right people, and organize all the logistics behind it."
"Edison was the guy making it happen. So while Tesla was really the scientist behind the idea, it was Edison who had the business sense."
"Say whatever you want about his sketchy character. But doing what he did is not as easy as people think it is. And honestly, I feel like a lot of historical figures are going to be sketchy by definition because they were from the past when cultural norms and standards were different."
– FailosoRaptor
"Christmas Is Creepy"
"Santa, he spies on kids and breaks into people's houses only when they are asleep"
– Jacobflamecaster23
Is it bad that I'm not totally surprised?
The historical record is vast and changes as we make new discoveries. Our understanding of many historical events is far more different now, even stronger, than it was years ago.
But there are still so many things we do not know and barring some crazy new discovery or admission from players with the right knowledge, it's likely that certain answers might be lost to history altogether.
People shared their thoughts with us after Redditor ottosoven asked the online community:
"You get to know the absolute truth about one historical event. What are you choosing?"
"The beginning of everything. Strap yourself for the first 10 seconds, it's going to be a wild ride."
ZZani
Damn it, I blinked, I missed the formation of every atom and star in the universe!
"The truth about..."
"The truth about Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel murders."
CountessCraft
I think it was probably nobody of note, just a guy, or it was multiple people with no connection to each other.
"The disappearance..."
"The disappearance of Brian Shaffer."
Qwerty207
As a true crime buff, there are dozens of disappearances I would love to have resolutions for.
"I want to know..."
"I want to know the real story of Jesus, the man, like I have a pretty good idea but still want to know, theology aside he is a pretty interesting historical figure."
akuzin
Even as a non-believer I'm extremely curious about the life of that man or men or what the true story behind all of that is.
"Not historical per se..."
"Not historical per se but I need to know what actually happened to Madeleine Mccann."
PossibleMagazine917
Don't most people believe it was the parents?
"How the Trojan War..."
"How the Trojan War really looked like or played out."
imead52
Sadly, it was probably a just a trade dispute, which is a lot less exciting than you might have expected.
"How Elizabeth Short..."
"How Elizabeth Short actually died, and who the murderer was."
gracefutilme
Ah, yes, the Black Dahlia murder. At this rate, it's unlikely we'll ever be sure.
"What did Pope Leo..."
"What did Pope Leo say to Attila the Hun to convince him to back off from his invasion of Rome?"
[deleted]
He probably just asked nicely, and Attila ended up appreciating how nice and brave the dude was.
"The murder..."
"The murder of the Swedish Prime minister Olof Palme in 1986. One of the most expensive murder investigations ever and they still never found the guy. Look it up!"
eddieluxe1
Swedish prosecutors named Stig Engstrom as the murderer in 2020. Though doesn't seem like the evidence is concrete.
"Not just the events..."
"The Branch Dravidian seige at Waco. Not just the events leading to and during the seige, but what was life like inside the compound? I’ve read reports from surviving members, but I’d love to know the truth."
Hellfire2026
What a crazy time that was! You might want to ask the Waco Kid.
History is fascinating–think of how much we don't know due to twists of fate or simple poor record keeping. The possibilities are endless.
Have some suggestions of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
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The number of people killed during World War II is staggering... about 70 million for those of you who don't know.
For comparison there are only 19 countries today whose current population is bigger than amount of people that died in six years of war.
Crazy, huh? Don't underestimate the impact of this event! History is fascinating.
People shared more information after Redditor alfawolfvii asked the online community,
"What are some crazy WWII facts you know?"
"Albert would actually use the fact..."
"The story of the Göring brothers is mind blowing. I can't believe Hollywood hasn't made a movie about it."
"Hermann Göring was a high ranking Nazi party member. He was head of the Luftwaffe and he was designated to be Hitler's successor after the world was conquered and Hitler eventually died."
"His brother was Albert Göring. Albert was staunchly Anti-Nazi. Albert saw the regime for what it was, brutal, horrible, murdering racists. He especially objected to the treatment of the Jewish people."
"Albert would actually use the fact of who his brother was to get out of trouble for helping Jews escape. He would do things like drive a transport truck to the camps or ghettos where they were held, and demand to be given multiple people for work, or whatever excuse he would give."
"When he got resistance, he would drag out "Do you know who my brother is? NOW BRING THEM TO ME!" He would then drive them to safety and release them."
"He once saw a bunch of Jewish women being forced to scrub a street, so he hopped down on his knees and joined them. When the Nazi officer realized who he was, the scrubbing stopped."
"He did many things like this. Saving Jews from almost certain death. Defying the party. Defying his brother. Again, using his brothers political clout to derail Nazi objectives."
It's wild."
"AND THEN..."
"He gets captured, at the end of the war, and is going to be killed with the other captives, because OF COURSE Göring's brother must be Nazi scum. By sheer dumb luck, a person in charge of processing his termination paperwork was a Jew he saved! That person spoke up, and many others did, and he was set free."
OregonMrBear
This is quite the story! Yes, Hollywood, get on this! What are you waiting for?
"Not only..."
"Jumping Joe Beyrle of the 101st Airborne."
"Not only was he enough of a bad@ss to earn that nickname among people who jump out of planes for a living, but he also escaped a POW camp to the Soviet line and became the only known person to fight for both the USA and Red Army in the war."
jah05r
This is the guy at the bar with the wild and crazy life that you don't want to stop listening to. How could you?
"He then returned to his job..."
"Tsutomu Yamaguchi was on a work trip to Hiroshima when the atom bomb went off. He then returned to his job/home in Nagasaki and was describing the blast to his unbelieving boss when the Nagasaki bomb went off. He survived both atom bombs."
[deleted]
He has been dubbed as one of the most unlucky people in history. But he survived, sooo...
"He got demoted..."
"A Belgian pilot flying for the RAF found out the Nazis had executed his father in occupied Belgium. So after an escort mission he took a side trip and did a solo attack on the Gestapo headquarters in Brussels, dropping down to ground level in front of the building and machine-gunning the f*ck out of it."
"He killed the local Gestapo commander along with some SS officer and the AA crew on the roof. Then he did a victory lap tossing little Belgian flags out the window. Oh, and he swung by his niece's place and dropped a big flag."
"Then he went home. He got demoted for violating his orders and a medal for what he did while he was violating his orders."
dieinafirenazi
Now that's a true legend. I need to brush up on more of my World War 2 history because there are so many cool stories like this.
"The rest..."
"Only about 4% of Londoners used the Tube stations for bomb shelters in the Blitz. About 40% used Anderson shelters under their back gardens or cage-like shelters in their homes. The rest stayed in their usual bedrooms and hoped for the best."
ThisQuietLife
Very British. "We'll deal with it, stiff upper lift and all."
"I read somewhere..."
"I read somewhere that Russia’s losses were so great in the war that the population declines of the 60s and 90s were a direct result of the dead soldiers because their children that were meant to be born during these periods never were."
ButtonJensen
80% of Russian men born in 1923 did not live to see the end of WWII. About 40% died during the war, the rest died before it due to infant mortality and starvation.
"The United States..."
"The United States produced 150% more planes in 1944 alone than Japan did in the whole war."
sonofabutch
The Japanese hand built their Zeros in a factory that was 50 miles from the nearest runway and used OXEN to carry them one by one to the runway for takeoff!
"Operation Aphrodite..."
"Joseph Kennedy, Jr, the eldest brother of President John Kennedy was killed in WW2 as part of Operation Aphrodite. Operation Aphrodite involved flying unmanned bombers into targets. Kennedy was killed after arming the explosives in an unmanned bomber but before the crew bailed out."
"Joe Kennedy, Jr died working on the precursor to the modern day drone."
slider728
And Joe Jr. was the son that Joe Sr. wanted to be President. Apparently he was the favorite son, and John was seen as rebellious and sickly.
"Winston Churchill had an oxygen mask for flying in airplanes specially made for him that would allow him to smoke cigars while he had the mask on."
ProbablyaDrugDealer
Ummm... I can't imagine that was safe.
Doesn't this make you want to pick up a history book and find out more? You should! With everyone worrying about the possibility of a third world war on the horizon, it is absolutely worth learning about the past and taking notes.
Know some more cool facts? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
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There's no doubt that John Steinbeck was a hell of a writer. It didn't hit me so much when I first read Of Mice and Men–to be fair, I was a bit young for that one–but it felt more apparent when I read The Grapes of Wrath some time after that. And it really struck home for me when I picked up East of Eden and devoured it in a matter of days.
“And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good," he writes at one point. It's a pretty popular quote these days–I mean, I'm quoting it right now, aren't I?–but it's a pretty hard-hitting thing to read when you realize that you're living up to impossible standards.
People shared their favorite quotes with us after Redditor krito-OP asked the online community,
"What's your favorite quote?"
From Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
SmittenKittenMittens
For those wondering: Learning from one's mistakes is inherent in the message.
From Mark Twain:
"Don’t ever try to argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”
GoldenBoy56
Mark Twain was sharp as a tack, that's for sure. And there have been quite a few idiots around in recent years if you get our drift...
From Eleanor Roosevelt:
"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent."
SkylightDunelege
Would have been nice to figure this one out when I was muuuch younger, but it is what it is!
From Albert Einstein:
"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything."
[deleted]
Understand that Einstein was born German and his family was Jewish. He was driven out of his home country, Germany, by the Nazis who put a price on his head.
From George Carlin:
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of’em are even stupider than that.”
[deleted]
This one feels more relevant than ever, doesn't it?
From John F. Kennedy:
"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."
TallxCream4Eva
Who knows what JFK would have accomplished (and what the world might look like) had he lived?
From Maya Angelou
"I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
629mrsn
This one hits you more deeply the older you get.
From Arthur C. Clarke:
"I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.”
FatChemistryTeacher
We see what you did there, Mr. Clarke!
From "Abraham Lincoln":
""Don't believe everything you see on the internet."
TheGamingCJ
This one made you think twice, didn't it?
From Henry Hill, the lead in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990):
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."
[deleted]
Annnnd we all saw how that worked out, didn't we? Didn't go so well.
There's a treasure trove of great quotes out there. Read more and you'll never run out of quotes to make you laugh, cry, or feel inspired.
If you have a favorite quote of your own, feel free to share it with us in the comments below!
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When we think about learning history, our first thought is usually sitting in our high school history class (or AP World History class if you're a nerd like me) being bored out of our minds.
Unless again, you're a huge freaking nerd like me. But I think we all have the memory of the moment where we realized learning about history was kinda cool.
And they usually start from one weird fact.
Here are a few examples of turning points in learning about history, straight from the keyboards of the people at AskReddit.
Redditor Tynoa2 asked:
"What's your favourite historical fact?"
Let’s start off with some super weird facts that you probably never even considered. These are the best.
Trees are honestly really effing cool.
"For 60 million years trees didn't decay. When they died the just fell over and laid there. For 60 million years trees existed before the enzyme that broke them down when they died. So tons of massive trees in the oxygen rich environment just laid on the ground. Until they burned. That's how we have coal."
Tkieron
Did they believe her though?
disney bambi GIFGiphy"In 1726 there was a woman called Mary Toft who tricked doctors into believing that she gave birth to rabbits."
Solarflannels
"There was another woman who would take the eggs from her chicken, etch 'jesus has come' into them and shove them back into the chicken who would then lay it again and people actually thought the chicken was a prophet."
Stitchmidda2
A whole river.
"Some time in around the beginning of the 1500's Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli conspired to try to steal the Arno river. They both lived in the city of Florence and at the time there was hostilities with the city of Pisa which was nearer to the mouth of the Arno river and controlled trade on it."
"Da Vinci came up with the plan to create a canal to divert the river so it no longer flowed to Pisa which would allow Florence to dominate the whole region. Da Vinci drew up the plans and Machiavelli put them into action. However Da Vinci didn't oversee the project and instead the engineer who did decided to do it his own way."
"Which would take longer and need more people. In the middle of the project war broke out and the project had to be scrapped due to attacks from Pisa so it never came to be. Still a great historical footnote though."
Dakens2021
Some of the most stunning facts come from assassinations for some reason. Especially the ones that survive.
Beast mode.
"Roosevelt was shot in the chest during a speech and just continued on like nothing happened."
Alpaca1yps
"He was shot just before his speech and he knew it hadn't pierced his lung since he wasn't coughing up blood, so he bandaged it and went to give his speech."
Bob-Chaos
In another timeline, things might have been different.
John F Kennedy Democrat GIFGiphy"It is very possible - and some consider likely - that JFK could've survived the assassination had he not been wearing a thick, girdle-like back brace that kept him stiffly upright when in public. Kennedy had terrible back problems since serving in WWII that were continually worsening."
"The back brace began as early as JFK met Stalin for the first time and wanted to appear tall and strong since it was at the height of the Cold War, however his pain was so bad he often walked around the WH hunched over and looked decrepit. JFK continued to wear the brace to keep himself upright and portray the strong youthful image he crafted."
"When the first shot was fired, the brace made it nearly impossible to move, much less crouch down in the back seat to get out of the line of fire. He was then struck with the infamous shot to the back/throat which rendered him more immobile and finally the headshot that killed him."
"Parkland doctors testified to the Warren Commission how surprised they were at the size and tightness of the brace and how long it took to get off. One remarked it likely made him a "sitting duck" because of how immobile it would've rendered him."
StaySafePovertyGhost
Good to know before she was beheaded.
"When King Henry VIII was still married to Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard(his future fifth wife) was one of Cleves' ladies in waiting. They were close, even after Cleves' divorce. With all the tragedy and abuse from the men in her life, I'm just glad that she at least had one friend to trust."
Here’s the part you’ve all been waiting for- the facts about famous animals. You’re welcome.
The student teaches the teacher.
"Benjamin Franklin had a pet squirrel. As a little girl, I dressed as him, with a squirrel beanie-baby on my shoulder. My teacher had to look it up on the internet to check if I was right. She was amused."
MasterAqua2
Sounds on-brand for Jackson.
happy dr pol GIF by Nat Geo Wild Giphy"When Andrew Jackson died they had to remove his pet parrot from the funeral because it couldn't stop swearing."
Belligerentbanana69
"He also had a comically large cheese wheel."
Klaudiapotter
Lastly, we gotta shout out the presidents. Sometimes they actually did weird sh*t.
I guess we’ll never know.
"Abraham Lincoln once gave a speech which was so good that all of reporters forgot to take notes, still to this day we don't know what exactly he said."
SmilE_HACK
Well-portrayed in the Hamilton musical.
"That George Washington was known as this Really Talented Dancer, and was very in tune with the dances at the time of his being... Idk why I just never woulda thought this at all but it's dope to hear that dancing/socializing was always a thing!"
"Like from the passage I read it seemed like Whenever George was in attendance at the function, everyone knew he was gonna cut a rug and tear the house down.. and the ladies considered themselves lucky to be his dance partner."
BobbyCodone303
When in Prussia...
"August von Mackensen, imperial German field marshal, commander of the death's head hussar regiment (who the SS would later steal imagery from), was born in 1849. He therefore grew up watching telegraph and train systems grow up around him, and would be 9 when the first ironclad warship was commissioned in France (1859)."
"At that time several of Napoleon's famous marshals were still alive. He served in the Prussian and later German military, and would lead the invasions of Serbia and Romania in WWI. He died in November 1945, just before his 96th birthday.
"Having grown up with muzzle loaders, wooden warships, horse carts, and trains only just being adopted, he ultimately witnessed the rise of telegraph, cinema, radio, powered flight, electricity for the home, recorded music and later film, the early theories of the atom, automobiles, submarines, airships, plastics, early computers, the jet plane, and the nuclear bomb."
"He witnessed 6 German regimes, saw both the rise and fall of imperial Japan, being alive while it was still in isolation, and watched the US go from civil war to superpower. That's how much the world changed in a single documented lifetime, from the mid industrial revolution to the end of WWII. The sheer rate of change boggles the mind. He also had a really cool hat."
greg_mca
Little Fella
Looney Tunes Animation GIFGiphy"Stalin was only about 5’4” and wore high raised boots to make himself look taller"
Russian_Catgirl
Don't Hit Snooze
"Hitler overslept on D-Day and refused to send reinforcements because he believed it was a decoy."
MeLlamoDave
"Another funny story about him: The Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun became a scumbag Nazi sympathiser in the 30’s and 40’s, which led to him having a meeting with Hitler."
"Since Hamsun’s hearing was very poor, he kept asking Hitler to speak louder, and louder, till Hitler was screaming in rage. Witnesses said they had never heard him so angry, and Hamsun was lucky to live. I think he was declared as a national disgrace. His books were good, too, but he was a despicable man."
Sproutykins
Fast & Furious
"Orville Wright of Wright Brothers fame lived long enough to see an airplane fly faster than the speed of sound."
Iceman_1325
"Yeah it's weird to think about: the first flight was 1903, and we landed on the Moon just 66 years later. That's easily within a single lifetime."
VonAether
Get the Dogs
"In WWII the Soviets tried to make anti-tank dogs which were dogs strapped with bombs trained to run under tanks. The problem was that they trained on soviet tanks that ran on gasoline when German tanks ran on diesel. So long story short the first field test resulted in them running under their own tanks instead of the Germans and thus ended that wild chapter of history."
TrentonTallywacker
Fun Facts
"Coolidge also liked to have Vaseline rubbed onto his head while he ate breakfast. Presidential fun facts are wild. One of my favorite ones is Andrew Jackson's inauguration turning into an absolute rager. And him beating the living crap out of his almost assassin with a cane."
"Mary Lincoln had to invite people over for breakfast because Mr.Lincoln would just start working and then forget to eat, which was apparently a very common occurrence. He'd be socially obligated to join everyone for breakfast."
Klaudiapotter
Tag! You're it!
scooby doo halloween GIF by Boomerang OfficialGiphy"Calvin Coolidge, as president, played hide and seek with the secret service."
Boi-inc
Taunted
"The taunt 'kiss my a$' was first recorded being used by a German mercenary lord named Gotz von Berlichingen and nicknamed Gotz of the Iron Hand. (He lost a hand in battle and a blacksmith made him a high tech fake iron hand). He shouted that taunt to his enemy when he was told the surrender a fort he was defending."
Panzer_Doggo
Found in1999
"Nobody truly knows who was the first person to reach the top of Mount Everest. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first recorded people to reach the top, but many think climbers Mallory and Irvine reached the top before dying on the descent."
"Evidence pointing to this theory being correct is that Mallory always said how he would leave a picture of his family at the summit, and when his body was found in 1999 the picture was not in the pocket (but other papers like bills and otherwise unimportant notes were found)."
"The last person to see them alive noted that they were determined to reach the top that day and he saw them pushing towards the summit. Mallory's body was found with a pick-axe wound to the head, suggesting that his tool had bounced off a rock when he tried to use it to stop himself from falling, killing him."
DerickDillardsManBun
The Bard
william shakespeare GIF by will herringGiphy"William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers, poets and playwrights of British history, could not spell his own name right consistently, spelling it at least six different ways in his lifetime."
Diaper_Dragon
As for me, my favorite weird historical fact is that Anne Boleyn had an extra finger. That fact is frequently overlooked in favor of her identity as Henry VIII sixth wife. I could go into that, but they already made a whole musical about it.
Anyway, I hope this made history a little more fun for you. It's not all memorizing dates- sometimes you never know what you'll find in a history book
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