Where is Holy Island? Holy Island, or Lindisfarne, is an island in the North Sea about 3 km (2 miles) from the coast of Northumberland. It was here that St Cuthbert (AD 635—AD 687) came from Ireland to preach Christianity to the Northumbrians. In AD 793, the Norsemen landed, burning the monastery and killing many of the monks, as they did to numerous settlements up and down the coast of Britain....

Which English king is called the Great?   Alfred (AD 849—AD 899) is the only English king to be known as the Great, and he well deserved his title. When he became king of the West Saxons (Wessex) in AD 871, the Norsemen had overrun most of England north of the Thames. By AD 896, after a series of brilliant victories, Alfred had successively resisted their attempts to invade the south,...

Who stole the bronze horses? You have probably seen photographs of the bronze horses in front of St Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. But do you know their story ? It is believed that these Greek bronzes once stood on the Emperor Nero’s triumphal arch in Rome. Then they were taken by the Emperor Theodosius to adorn the city of Constantinople, now Istanbul, in the fifth century after Christ. When Constantinople was...

Where is Jellyfish Creek? In the summer of 196o, Helge Ingstad, a Norwegian writer and explorer, went to look at what was thought to be the remains of early sixteenth century colonial houses at an isolated fishing village called L’Anse aux Meadows, by Epaves Bay on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland. L’Anse aux Meadows is a corruption of the original French name, L’Anse aux Meduse — Jellyfish Creek ! Helge Ingstad...

How important were goddesses in Greek mythology? One of the most remarkable features of Greek religion and mythology is the important part played by the goddesses. In Greece itself, women played no part in public affairs, yet the goddess Athena was the protector of Athens, and there is a myth which tells us that she attained this position by overcoming the god Poseidon. Hera, the wife of Zeus, De-meter the goddess...

How old is the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece? About three thousand years ago, minstrels wandered in the beautiful land of Greece, telling wonderful tales of gods and men. At that time, the Greeks lived in huge fortified citadels built on the tops of hills. Each citadel had its own king, and he ruled the valleys around it, where olives and corn grew, and also the mountain slopes, where...

What is St. Elmo’s fire? St Elmo’s fire is the ghostly halo of light that is to be seen around the tips of ships’ masts and aircrafts’ wings, during storms. It is caused by lightning, which is a discharge of electricity, either between two clouds or between a cloud and the Earth. In the sixteenth century St Elmo was the patron saint of Mediterranean seamen, who believed that this luminous discharge...

What is lightning? When something has an electric charge, ether positive or negative, the electricity tries o ‘low away to nearby objects. The charge tries to spread itself out evenly. This is why electricity sparks from the comb to your hand as shown opposite. The electric charge jumps across the narrow gap through the air. An American inventor who lived 200 years ago, Benjamin Franklin, thought that lightning was something to...