A Brief History Back on March 18, 2016, we ran an article, “10 People (You Do not Know) Behind the Characters,” and today we take a look at 5 more characters and the persons or critters behind the character.  As always, feel free to illuminate us with more information about the character or person behind the character, or to nominate those characters you think should be on such a list. Digging Deeper 1. Lassie, television and movie star (dog). You may be surprised to find out that the dog that played “Lassie” in the movies was played by a male…

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A Brief History On March 17, 1891, a civilian ocean liner, the steamship SS Utopia of the Anchor Line ran into the moored battleship, HMS Anson in Gibraltar Bay, causing the ill-fated steamer to sink taking 562 of the 880 passengers to Davy Jones Locker!  We have frequently written about naval and maritime disasters, and today we include another one of those times a ship’s captain would love to have a “do over.” Digging Deeper As stated above, the British battleship HMS Anson (the 6th Royal Navy ship to bear the name, but not the last!) was anchored in Gibraltar…

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A Brief History On March 16, 1621, only about 4 months after landing at Plymouth Rock and setting up their new colony in what was then called Plymouth Colony (now Massachusetts and Maine) the Pilgrims that had traveled across the Atlantic on the Mayflower had their first friendly contact with a Native person, and that contact came as quite a shock!  On March 16, 1621, Samoset, a member of the Abenaki Sagamore people simply strolled into the Pilgrim village and greeted the Pilgrims in English!  Samoset was not yet through with startling the colonists… Digging Deeper The first thing Samoset…

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A Brief History On March 15, 2019, the early afternoon in Christchurch, New Zealand was shattered by scores of bullets being fired by an anti-immigrant domestic terrorist with an arsenal of guns.  The suspect in the first shooting used a body or helmet camera to live stream his murderous rampage, an explicit video that made its way onto YouTube, although administrators soon removed the video from the public viewing.  The first attack took place on Friday, March 15, 2019 at around 1 pm at the Al Noor Mosque. Digging Deeper The 17 minute long chilling video clearly showed the arsenal…

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A Brief History On March 15, 1493, Christopher Columbus made his triumphant return from his first voyage to the New World, a momentous occasion in human history and especially noteworthy for the Spanish Crown that he sailed for.  Today we look at 10 such Triumphant Returns, times when a person or a group of people made it back with an air of accomplishment, vindication, or victory, often with a page written in history about that very return.  No significance to the order listed, but feel free to add your own nominations to the list. Digging Deeper 1. Christopher Columbus, 1493.…

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