A Brief History On January 6, 2014, only one year ago today, former Venezuelan beauty queen Monica Spear, age 29, was murdered on a lonely Venezuelan roadside along with her ex-husband during a botched robbery. Digging Deeper The beauty had previously reigned as Miss Venezuela 2004 and came in as the 4th runner up in the 2005 Miss Universe contest.  She had married British citizen Thomas Berry in 2008 and had a daughter, but the couple divorced in 2012. Of German and English extraction, Monica’s family had emigrated to Venezuela prior to her birth.  Monica herself had moved to Orlando, Florida…

A Brief History On January 5, 1895, French Army officer Alfred Dreyfus was falsely convicted of treason for allegedly having passed along secret information to the Germans in what famously became known as the Dreyfus Affair and was sentenced to live at the dreaded Devil’s Island prison in French Guiana.  Dreyfus was eventually pardoned and exonerated.  Although closed since 1953, Devil’s Island prison remains the epitome of notoriously miserable prisons and is virtually synonymous with the term “hellhole.”  Here we list 10 infamous prisons, places with cruel reputations that strike fear in the hearts of convicts and disgust in the hearts of reformers.  Presumably any…

A Brief History Shortly before 1 AM Eastern Time on January 4, 2015, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon Jones defeated formerly undefeated Olympian Daniel Cormier in a grueling five-round battle in Las Vegas.  With this victory, Jones cements his position as the all-time greatest light heavyweight mixed martial artist.  The youngest fighter to win a UFC championship, his accomplishments include having the most successful consecutive title defenses in the division and the longest win streak in UFC light heavyweight history. Digging Deeper Yet, probably one of his finest moments actually occurred outside of the cage.  On…

A Brief History On January 4, 1972, the famous Old Bailey court in London England witnessed the first appointment of a female judge when Rose Heilbron was allowed to sit on the bench.  This event raised the questions: Are women emotionally or hormonally fit to judge other people?  Should they have life-altering decisions placed in their hands?  These questions may seem silly now, but 40 years ago women still faced much discrimination for being the “weaker” sex.  Digging Deeper If you are a regular reader History and Headlines, you are familiar with our frequent articles acknowledging and lauding the accomplishments of women.  From their achievement of political…

Dear Readers, The first full year of our site’s existence has come to an end.  As you may have noticed, we recently changed our name to History and Headlines to reflect the direction our site has taken.  It has been a successful year with much growth, development and learning.  We would like to take this opportunity to summarize our Top 10 Lists and the Top 10 Articles as selected by your views.  So, bookmark this compilation and come back whenever you have time to peruse through our most popular pieces at your leisure to catch up on whatever you may…