This is the August 2024 edition of my fascinating facts newsletter, which includes a range of interesting topics. This includes writeups about Amazon Warriors, highway women and the world’s richest miser.
Fascinating Facts August 2024 Contents
You can download the full newsletter to read HERE, however some snippets are listed below.
Amazon Warriors
The word Amazons brings to mind images of warrior women with bows drawn and on horseback. But how many can you name? Perhaps Hippolyta, whose girdle was stolen by, and who was murdered by, the macho Heracles, or Antiope, lover of Theseus and mother of his ill-fated virgin son, Hippolytus. But there were other powerful ladies, even queens. Read More…
Highway Women Stealing on the Kings Highway
We are all familiar with the romantic folklore figure of the dashing highwayman Dick Turpin, an image that has excited the popular imagination for generations. But few ever consider the Highway women like Lady Katherine Ferrers a young, orphaned heiress, forced into a marriage of convenience, who turns to a life of crime with her handsome lover. The gentleman thief with swooning female victims falling under their charismatic spell has been around for centuries. Female robbers worked the highways, often with their husbands or part of a gang. Sometimes the family would be acting as lookouts or decoys. The Middlesex 1549 to 1688 Session records refer to cases of women accused of ‘robbery with violence’ with one woman hanged for robbing another. Read More…
Recycling
Historic re use of material was a form of recycling for many reasons, but there are dates when it became official. 1031 in Japan, World’s first official recycling declaration during the decline of the Japanese Imperial when court paper production moved from state control into common society. Private owners built paper mills to reuse waste paper to conserve materials and maximise output. Read More…
BREAKING THE CODE OF THE WORLD WAR 1 ZIMMERMAN TELEGRAM
The decryption of the Zimmermann Telegram has been described as the most significant British World War 1 intelligence triumph. It marked the earliest occasion in which a piece of signal intelligence influenced world events. This secret diplomatic communication issued by the German Foreign Office in January 1917 proposed a military contract between Germany and Mexico if the United States entered World War I against Germany. Read More…
JEMMY WOOD: RICHEST MISER IN HIS MAJESTY’S DOMINIONS
Born 1756, James “Jemmy” Wood inherited the Old Gloucester bank from his grandfather who founded it in 1716. He became nationally known as The Gloucester Miser, who it was said was worth at least £900,000 (£100,000,000 in 2024). Other than aristocracy, he was regarded to have been” the richest commoner in His Majesty’s dominions”. Read More…
