Computer identifies the most boring day in history

From the Telegraph

"Computer programmer William Tunstall-Pedoe has calculated that to be the most objectively dull day since 1900.

On that day a general election was held in Belgium, a Turkish academic was born and an Oldham Athletic footballer called Jack Shufflebotham died. Apart from that nothing much happened.  "

Earliest known paintings under study in France

From Euronews (includes video)

"The Chauvet cave in southern France is home to some of the earliest known man-made paintings, dating back some 32,000 years.

A team of scientists is studying the works in order to find out more about their history. Their work will help build a reconstruction site for visitors in years to come."

Antarctic ice reveals trapped secrets of climate change

From the Guardian

"They were found deep below Earth's surface, provide vital information about our climate's history and, for the first time, will be publicly displayed in their full freezing glory. Three pieces of ice core, drilled from the Antarctic icecap, one containing bubbles of air from the year 1410, will this week be installed in a glass-fronted freezer cabinet in the Science Museum in London's new Atmosphere gallery."

Birmingham Airport's old Maglev carriage sold on eBay

From the BBC

"A carriage from a magnetic shuttle used to transport airport passengers to a nearby railway station has been auctioned off for charity.

Birmingham Airport used Maglev carriages between 1984 and 1995. They were then replaced by cable cars."
 

Roman settlement unearthed in Syon Park, west London

From the BBC

"A Roman settlement filled with ancient artefacts and human remains has been found on a west London building site.

Archaeologists excavating the listed Syon Park site made the discovery of more than 11,000 Roman items just half a metre below the ground."

Vintage Paris: Sensuality, fantasy and haute couture

From the Indy

"Vintage photographs of a collaboration between Paco Rabanne and photographer Jean Clemmer go on show in the UK for the first time next week - exploring themes of sensuality, fantasy and haute couture.

The suggestive images of models wearing Rabanne's 'unwearable' fashions provide a glimpse of the radical ethos and sexual freedom of 1960s Paris."

New evidence may write Lindbergh out of history as first to fly Atlantic

From the Indy

"The greatest single mystery of the early days of aviation has been solved, according to French researchers.

The American pilot Charles Lindbergh was not the first person to fly the full width of the Atlantic in 1927, the researchers say. He was merely the first person to land his aircraft successfully, and the first to live to tell the tale."

Magna Carta anniversary celebrations to begin

From the BBC

"Celebrations leading up to the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta in 2015 are to get under way later.

Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger and Lord Chancellor Ken Clarke are due to address a public launch at a memorial site in Runnymede, Surrey, where King John sealed the document in 1215."

Ancient Rome's biggest temple reopens

From France 24

"The biggest temple of ancient Rome reopened to the public on Thursday after nearly 30 years amid heavy criticism of Italy's management of its artistic heritage after the collapse of a house in Pompeii.

"We're restoring to Rome one of the most important symbols of the power and greatness of the Roman Empire," Claudia Del Monte, the architect in charge of repairing the Temple of Venus and Roma, told AFP at the opening."

From trench to tomb: The unknown warrior's journey

From the BBC

"The unknown warrior was carried from a French battlefield 90 years ago, to be laid to rest among kings and statesmen in Westminster Abbey. But how did this symbol of the sacrifice of war come to be chosen?"

Stone age etchings found in Amazon basin as river levels fall

From the Guardian

"A series of ancient underwater etchings has been uncovered near the jungle city of Manaus, following a drought in the Brazilian Amazon.

The previously submerged images – engraved on rocks and possibly up to 7,000 years old – were reportedly discovered by a fisherman after the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon river, fell to its lowest level in more than 100 years last month."

Inflation and earnings: what is the cost of a pint of beer?

From the Telegraph

"It were all so much cheaper when I were a lad... or was it? Professor Ian Stewart looks at how the money in your pocket has really changed over the years.

The price of a pub pint of beer could soon go up to £4 and ‘has doubled in the last 19 years’ said The Guardian a while back, in an article warning about the soaring price of barley. ‘Car road tax was a mere £10 in 1950 - think of what it is today,’ wrote a motoring journalist in a different paper. Every day we are bombarded with this kind of historical comparison of prices, intended to show how everything is soaring out of control and how badly off we all are.

It sounds plausible. My first house was worth £1100 in 1971, but it would sell for about £230,000 today. That’s a big increase. But how big?"

History of drugs: Narcotics antiquitus

From the Indy

"The illegal drug business is, we know, colossal, gigantic, oceanic.

After arms and oil, it's the biggest money-spinning market on the planet, pulling in £200bn every year. And soon we'll be celebrating, if that's the word, 50 years of its illegality. It was in 1961 that the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs was launched, and we can see how successful that well-meaning organisation has been. But does anyone think that the phenomenon of people getting off their heads goes back only as far as the early 1960s?Try this for size. It's the report of a dope-fest that took place on the Bay of Biscay in the 1670s, recorded by one Thomas Bowrey, an English sea captain. He and his friends watched with interest the weird reaction of the locals to a liquid called bhang, made from crushed cannabis pods mixed with milk, and thought they'd try it themselves. They each bought a pint (for the equivalent of sixpence), locked themselves in a house and knocked it back."

Location, location and how the West was won

From the BBC

"On his current visit to Beijing, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said China will soon reclaim its position as the world's biggest economy - a role it has held for 18 of the past 20 centuries. But how did the US, Britain and the rest of Europe interrupt this reign of supremacy? It comes down to location.

Why does the West dominate the world?

Europeans have been asking this question since the 18th Century, and Africans and Asians since the 19th. But there is still not much agreement on the answers."

Simon Schama: my vision for history in schools

From the Guardian

"In these economically and politically tricky times we need history's long look more than ever, says historian and government adviser Simon Schama, as he sets out six of the key events no child should miss out on."

BBC film unearths Beatles photos

From the BBC

"Unpublished photos of The Beatles taken in 1963 when they spent a week at the seaside in Somerset have surfaced during the making of a BBC film.

Just before Beatlemania broke out, the band played twice-nightly for six days at Weston-super-Mare's Odeon Cinema."

Digger finds Neolithic tomb complex

From the BBC

"Archaeologists on Orkney are investigating what is thought to be a 5,000-year-old tomb complex.

A local man stumbled on the site while using a mechanical digger for landscaping."

Bronze Age hoard found intact in Essex field

From the BBC

"Archaeologists have unearthed a collection of Bronze Age axe heads, spear tips and other 3,000-year-old metal objects buried in an Essex field.

The items include an intact pottery container with heavy contents which has been removed undisturbed."