The 1914 Christmas Truce: A Plum Pudding Policy Which Might Have Ended The War

From the Indy

"The following letter from Private Frederick W. Heath, first printed in The North Mail on 9 January 1915, has been resurrected by researchers at christmastruce.co.uk, which is edited by Alan Cleaver and Lesley Park. Alan says it stands out among the many letters on the site, although research into Private Heath is still ongoing."

Futurology: The tricky art of knowing what will happen next

From the BBC

"A 1972 book which predicts what life would be like in 2010 has been reprinted after attracting a cult following, but how hard is it to tell the future?

Geoffrey Hoyle is often asked why he predicted everybody would be wearing jumpsuits by 2010. He envisioned a world where everybody worked a three-day week and had their electric cars delivered in tubes of liquid."

Ancient humans, dubbed 'Denisovans', interbred with us

From the BBC (includes video)

"Scientists say an entirely separate type of human identified from bones in Siberia co-existed and interbred with our own species.

The ancient humans have been dubbed "Denisovans" after the caves in Siberia where their remains were found."

History degree completed

As long-time readers of this blog may know i have been studying for a degree in History with the Open University for a number of years now. I got my final result last week for AA307 and have now completed the degree so have a BA Honours to go with my BSc from an earlier age.

In the new year i shall be looking into postgraduate options. MA West Midlands History at Birmingham University looks interesting.

Finger may point to solution in Amelia Earhart disappearance riddle

From the Guardian

"The riddle of Amelia Earhart's disappearance has only grown more complex in the 73 years since the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic went missing attempting to fly around the equator.

One theory had it that she crashed into the sea after running out of fuel during her expedition over the Pacific Ocean. Others claimed that Earhart was executed by the Japanese for spying, was pressed into making propaganda broadcasts from Tokyo during the war, or that she secretly returned to the US under an assumed identity."

Sidney St: The siege that shook Britain

From the BBC

"A hundred years on, the Siege of Sidney Street still resonates. The third of January 1911 was the day two Latvian anarchists held out in an East End tenement for seven hours against more than 200 armed police and a detachment of soldiers.

The might of the Empire turned against two desperate young Jewish men in an ordinary street. Thousands of Londoners came to watch. Winston Churchill, Home Secretary was at the scene too, in his distinctive Astrakhan collared coat: a stray bullet passed through his top hat."

Lost Civilization may have existed beneath the Persian Gulf

From Live Science

"Veiled beneath the Persian Gulf, a once-fertile landmass may have supported some of the earliest humans outside Africa some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago, a new review of research suggests.

At its peak, the floodplain now below the Gulf would have been about the size of Great Britain, and then shrank as water began to flood the area. Then, about 8,000 years ago, the land would have been swallowed up by the Indian Ocean, the review scientist said."

Iron-eating bug is gobbling up the Titanic

From AOL News

"Nearly 100 years after it struck an iceberg and sank, the Titanic has a new enemy: iron-eating bacteria.

A newly discovered microbe dubbed Halomonas titanicae is chewing its way through the wreck of the famous ship and leaving little behind except a fine dust, researchers report in today's issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology."

British languages 'in danger of dying out within a generation'

From the Telegraph

"Researchers from Cambridge University compiled a database of all that is known about languages which have disappeared in the recent past or are at risk.

Among them are Old Kentish Sign Language, a forerunner to the standard British Sign Language which was documented by Samuel Pepys in his diaries when he noted a silent conversation between a friend and his deaf servant about a fire in Whitehall in November 1666. However, no one is now thought to use it."

BBC chief Reith's abdication verdict revealed

From the BBC

"The head of the BBC believed a "miserable, second-rate American woman" was behind the abdication of Edward VIII, archive documents reveal.

The corporation's then director general Sir John Reith made the comments after Edward's historic 1936 radio address."

14th-century King Arthur manuscript sold for £2.4m

From the Indy

"An illuminated 14th century manuscript containing what is believed to be the oldest surviving account of the legends of King Arthur sold today for more than £2 million.

The Rochefoucauld Grail, a colourful illustrated account of the knights of the round table, Merlin and the Holy Grail, was sold by auction house Sotheby's in London."

Neanderthals: how needles and skins gave us the edge on our kissing cousins

From the Guardian

"On the ground floor of the Natural History Museum in London, arrays of Formica-covered cabinets stretch from floor to ceiling and from one end of the great building to the other. Some of nature's finest glories are stored here: pygmy hippo bones from Sicily, mammoth tusks from Siberia and skulls of giant sloths from South America.

Many treasures compete for attention, but there is one sample, kept in a small plywood box, that deserves especial interest: the Swanscombe skull. Found near Gravesend last century, it is made up of three pieces of the brain case of a 400,000-year-old female and is one of only half-a-dozen bits of skeleton that can be traced to men and women who lived in Britain before the end of the last ice age. Human remains do not get more precious than this."

Down Pompeii? The ruin of Italy's cultural heritage

From the Indy

"Collapses at the ancient site of Pompeii underline what experts have been warning for years: Italy's priceless cultural heritage is slowly but surely disintegrating and the famous archeological site's decay is a metaphor for the nation."

Operation Mincemeat: How a dead tramp fooled Hitler

From the BBC

"During World War II, the Nazis fell for an audacious British plot to pass off a dead tramp as an officer carrying secret documents. How - and are such tactics still in use today?

Rat poison does not furnish the desperate with an easy death. But this was how Glyndwr Michael, jobless and homeless in the winter of 1943, ended his life."

Staffordshire Hoard wanted by museums around the world

From the Birmingham Post

"The Staffordshire Hoard could be taken on a world tour after dozens of museums said they would like to host the Anglo-Saxon treasure."