A Brief History On June 1, 1879, the so-called “Napoleon IV” died in the unlikely service of the British Army fighting Zulu warriors in what is now South Africa. Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the only child of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. Digging Deeper Born in Paris in 1856, the little Louis-Napoléon had the distinction of having the Pope as his Godfather at his baptism! His Godmother was Josephine, Queen of Sweden, the granddaughter of Napoleon I’s first wife, Josephine. In spite of this auspicious beginning, the young Bonaparte was fated to never succeed his father on the throne of Imperial…
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A Brief History On May 31, 2018, we look back on a month of jerks and heroes to recognize both types of people that have come to our attention. Today we name our Jerks of the Month, but also to flip the coin and recognize our Heroes of the Month as well. Digging Deeper 1. Jerk. Sterling Brown, parking violator. A 6 foot 6 inch NBA basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks, Brown got the attention of the police when he parked across 2 handicap parking spots. When being issued a citation for his jerkish parking stunt, Brown intimidated the…
A Brief History On May 30, 1899, one of the last of the Old West outlaws struck again, this time robbing a stage coach 30 miles Southeast of Globe, Arizona. What was somewhat different about this robbery, was the fact a woman, Pearl Hart, one of the Old West’s female banditos was the person doing the robbing. Today we list 10 women that are famous for being lawbreakers, murderers, robbers, crime family heads or whatever. Digging Deeper 1. Pearl Hart, Wild West Outlaw. Proving that the fair sex can be just as rotten as the next guy, Pearl came from…
A Brief History On May 29, 1935, the brainchild of Willy Messerschmitt, the Bf-109, made its first flight. The most produced fighter of all time, the Germans built 33,984 of them, while Czechoslovakia and Spain also built a few hundred more until 1958. The main German fighter of the pre-war period and early in the war, it was to be superseded by the more modern and more heavily armed FW-190, but the ease of manufacture and maintenance kept the Bf-109 in production during the entire war. Constantly updated and refined, the aging airframe remained competitive with allied fighters throughout the…
A Brief History On May 28, 1999, 22 years of hard work repairing and restoring Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, The Last Supper, was finally completed and the painting became once again open for public display. Believed to have been started around 1495 with a 1498 finish date, the famous painting had suffered environmental damage and human abuse throughout its existence, the trials and tribulations of its 500+ year existence qualifying it for consideration as the most abused painting in history. Digging Deeper Headline: In another incident of an outrage against a famous work of art, on May 27, 2018, a…
