A Brief History On September 12, 1942, one of the saddest and most regrettable incidents of World War II took place following the sinking of the British ocean liner the RMS Laconia by torpedoes from a German U-boat. Digging Deeper The Laconia was the second British liner to bear that name. The first, in an ominous preview of history repeating itself, was sunk by a U-boat during World War I. Fitted with 8 x 6 inch guns and 2 x 3 inch guns, the passenger liner was as heavily armed as a light cruiser and thus a legitimate target for U-boats. On September 12, 1942,…
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A Brief History On September 12, 2014, Farsight Studios continued their goal of digitizing historic pinball machines by launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund the digitization of one of the most popular machines of all time: The Addams Family. Digging Deeper Just over a year ago, I wrote a well-received article for TopTenz that provides some background information on the history of pinball. At that time, Farsight Studios had launched an ultimately successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the digitization of the Terminator 2: Judgment Day pinball game. That success has helped inspire them to go forward with their next major effort to…
A Brief History On September 11, 1297, Scottish forces led by William “Braveheart” Wallace defeated the English at Stirling Bridge. Amazingly, in the 1995 Mel Gibson movie, the battle of Stirling Bridge is depicted without a bridge! Hollywood movies regularly get history wrong, and here 10 such movies containing inaccuracies are listed. Digging Deeper 10. One million Years B.C., 1967. A remake of a 1940 film, this one stars Raquel Welch (the leading sex symbol of the time) as a member of remarkably modern-looking cave people who interact with dinosaurs, although these died out at least 60 million years before cavemen actually…
A Brief History On September 11, 1792, in the midst of the confusion of the French Revolution, the crown jewels, which included the fabulous Hope Diamond (Le Bleu de France), were stolen. Digging Deeper Mined in India in the 17th century, it came to the attention of a Frenchman by the name of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier who brought it back to France with him where he sold it to the Sun King, Louis XIV. Known first as the “Tavernier Blue” and then “Le Bijou du Roi” (the King’s jewel), the Hope Diamond was originally a blue, 112-carat diamond. For the next 124 years, it remained the property of the French royal family…
A Brief History On September 10, 1898, Empress Elisabeth of Austria was stabbed in the chest by assassin Luigi Lucheni. Just as men have been targeted over the years, women have also found themselves at the receiving end of an assassin’s bullet, sword or poison. Here 10 women are listed who were famous or powerful enough that someone wanted to get rid of them for political reasons or personal convictions. Digging Deeper 10. Diana, Princess of Wales, 1997. Killed in a car wreck while supposedly trying to shake off paparazzi, rumors and conspiracy theories that Diana and her boyfriend (Dodi…