Category: Very brief histories
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Pineapples: a juicy history
Reading Time: 3 minutes Imagine having to rent a pineapple to display on your mantelpiece, just to show off how rich and trendy you are? That’s exactly what people did during the 17th century.
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A history of London Underground seat patterns
Reading Time: 3 minutes You might have noticed that rough, patterned fabric your bottom graces if you’re lucky enough to nab the last seat on the London Underground. But did you know that this fabric is called ‘moquette’, and that it has an entire history…
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Chocolate: a delicious history
Reading Time: 3 minutes We’ve been consuming chocolate for over 4,000 years. But did you know that the Nazis once plotted to assassinate Winston Churchill using an exploding bar of chocolate? Or that white chocolate was invented by Doctors in Switzerland? Chocolate in Mesoamerica The Ancient…
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A history of rainbows: from the ancients to Issac Newton
Reading Time: 3 minutes What did people think rainbows were, before science? It’s hard to imagine, considering the modern day symbolism of the rainbow, but some ancient societies believed rainbows to be bad omens. Indigenous Australians referred to the rainbow as the ‘Rainbow Serpent’. This ancient…
