Edmund Hillary reaches the top
On this day in 2008 the New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary died aged 88. He will always be remembered for the 1952 conquest of Everest,... Read More
Thomas Paine produces Common Sense
On this day 1776 Thomas Paine published Common Sense, a pamphlet that was a scathing attack on King George III’s reign over the colonies and... Read More
King Edward II, defeated by the she-wolf of France
On this day in 1326 King Edward II of England was deposed by forces led by his wife Isabella and her favourite, the exiled Roger... Read More
Khalil Gibran became an alcoholic
On this day in 1883 the Lebanese poet, painter and mystic writer Khalil Gibran was born. A Maronite Christian, Gibran believed in universal spirituality and... Read More
Francois Villon, bad boy French poet, banished for murder
On this day in 1463 the French poet Francois Villon was banished from Paris. He was born in 1431, the year that Joan of Arc... Read More
T S Eliot, heavy-smoking banker poet, died of emphysema
On this day in 1965 the poet Thomas Stearns Eliot died aged 76. A sickly child, born in St Louis, Missouri, he discovered poetry at... Read More
Cicero, Rome’s fearless statesman, marked for assassination
On this day in 106BC Roman Statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero was born. The surname Cicero means ‘chickpea’, probably his family were dry food merchants and... Read More