A few people have asked if I have a list of my history threads. I don't keep one as they're a spontaneous thing mostly. But here's a few I remember.
Let's start with how the Knights Hospitaller had one of the largest airforces in Europe after WW2. Really.
Sod Pepsi's navy.
Let's talk about the point after WW2 where the Knights Hospitaller, of medieval crusading fame, 'accidentally' became a major European air power.
I shitteth ye not. 🛩️🛩️
Jul 31, 2021 · 9:10 AM UTC
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Then you've got Able Seacat Simon. The only cat ever to be awarded the Dickin Medal, the highest award for gallantry and service that a British military animal can be awarded.
Sod it. Have a Friday history thread.
Let's talk about Simon. Ship's cat for HMS Amethyst. Survivor of the 1949 Yangtse Incident and the only cat ever to be awarded the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.
ALT a very good tuxedo kitty. wearing his medal.
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How the allies used the 650 year old Anglo-Portuguese alliance twice in WW2 to avoid disaster.
Right. Friday history thread!
Let's talk about how not once, but TWICE, in WW2 a 650 year old treaty between Britain and Portugal (that the rest of the world had mostly forgotten about) was invoked to help the Allies win the war.
ALT treaty screenshot: there shall be from this day forward between our above said Lord Edward, King of England and France, and the lord Ferdinand, King of Portugal and Algarve and the Lady Eleanor, Queen and his consert, their successors in the a foresaid Kingdoms of England and Portugal and their realm, lands, dominions, provinces, vassals and subject faithfully obeying them, whatsoever true, faithful, constant, mutual, and perpetual friendships, unions, alliances, and leagues of sincere affection, and that as true and faithful friends they shall henceforth reciprocally be friends to friends, and enemies to enemies...
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How WW2 rationing almost killed Wensleydale cheese, and DID eviscerate a lot of British cheesemaking history and tradition.
Been a while since I did a history thread, so let's talk about a subject very dear to me:
Cheese
Specifically, how the LAST period of isolation from Europe and enforced austerity almost destroyed the glorious cheese of the north of England FOREVER
Let's talk about Wensleydale.
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Hidden soldier doodles under the Western front, and how they show us that WW1 soldiers were really just like us.
I took this picture in the (mostly) unexplored tunnel network beneath the Western Front back in 2019.
I love it, because it really highlights that there is very little difference between the average teenager in 1915 and a teenager today.
Not all Tommies were sad dreamy poets 😆
ALT shot of tunnel wall with "Jock the Cunt" written on it.
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The long forgotten Battle of Pulo Aura, where Commodore Dance defeated a French battle squadron with only some trade ships, tins of paint, and by MASSIVELY overplaying a bad hand.
Not done a naval thread in a while so...
~~ wobbly lines ~~
1804. Straights of Malacca.
Commodore Nathanial Dance, leading the China Convoy, is about to defeat a French battle squadron using only a brig, his merchants, some paint and the most overplayed hand in naval history.
ALT Sir Nathanian Dance, sepia portrait. Old, white haired, looks jovial and rather pleased with himself.
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Jim Steinman's long lost Batman Musical, and how you can still listen to bits of it if you know where to look.
Okay. As promised, and in memory of the legend that is Jim Steinman (RIP 😭), have a thread about:
1) his lost Batman musical
2) how the New Testament was written in the Bible
3) How 2) allows you to find bits 1) on Spotify
/1
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Mary Burchell, the Mills & Boon author who wrote books to fund her efforts to get Jews to safety before WW2. xitter.mooo.com/garius/status/12207110…
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Robert Smallbones, minor diplomat creator of the Smallbones scheme, through which up to 40,000 Jews were safely evacuated to Britain before WW2 (the scheme's success was kept secret to avoid spooking the British public about "too many furriners"). xitter.mooo.com/garius/status/13808579…
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The impact of being offered a good cup of tea in the Blitz.
Right. So this gives me an opportunity to tell my favourite WW2 tea story. I came across it in a short, limited run book of first-hand accounts of tea in combat published in 1945.
It's about a young lady, the Blitz, tea, and why small acts of kindness matter. (Pic: IWM) /1
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How military terms shape our language, and why a lot of football clubs have a 'Kop End' xitter.mooo.com/garius/status/13290565…
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How a bunch of Greek Cypriot wrestlers started Soho's Spanish quarter. xitter.mooo.com/garius/status/12512021…
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How Britain became the first, and so far only, nation to achieve and then abandon independent space flight. And poor little Prospero, the abandoned satellite still pinging us from space. xitter.mooo.com/garius/status/12141973…
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Spencer Perceval and James Stephen. The surprise bromance between an evangelical Prime Minister a playboy lawyer that helped force through the abolition of slavery in the UK.
Orders of/in Council are in the news. HISTORY THREAD TIME!
Meet James Stephen and Spencer Perceval, the playboy and the evangelist, the ODDEST political friends ever.
And the chaps who worked out how to ban slavery WITHOUT Parliament approval. It would cost one of them his life
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And (obviously) the recent tea one on the crazy wartime logistics and politics of tea rationing. Start here: xitter.mooo.com/garius/status/14196136…
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There's likely a bunch more tbh. I'm a history slut. The threads just tend to happen when I get excited about, or am reminded of, something. I don't really keep track of them.
If any longterm followers can think of history ones I've missed, feel free to add them to the replies.
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Oh yes! General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord. Hero of Weimar. Forgot about him. well remembered, @Maggie_Perhaps xitter.mooo.com/garius/status/11131145…
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Oh yes. The Yoghurt Wars. I should really include it for posterity, although that's what was spawning the questions.
Okay, as requested, more history of weird stuff with food and logistics.
Let's talk about how Ski Yoghurt utterly dominated the 70s UK yoghurt wars, by understanding how humans work better than humans do.
Oh, and also through strippers.
Read on... /1
ALT classic ski yoghurt pot, shaped like a milk churn.
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I also keep a public playlist of Interesting Things I have found and watched over on Youtube, on my Youtube channel.
If you want a weird mix of history talks showing up on your Youtube homepage rather than lies and fascism, follow it here: piped.video/playlist?list=PL…
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Think that's a reasonable summary of all my social media history activity.
To be clear, doing this stuff doesn't really make me any money. But I do spend a lot of money on weird old books. So book fund donations are a good way to guarantee future threads😆ko-fi.com/garius
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MORE! Guinea Pigs and how the Royal Navy discovered, then forgot, how to cure scurvy. Cheers @lrbudd for the reminder.
Okay. Let's talk about how the Royal Navy discovered the cure for scurvy, won the Napoleonic War, lost that knowledge without realising, then got saved by Norwegian guinea pigs.
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Admiral Collingwood, forgotten hero of Trafalfar
Spare some love for Collingwood. Legit brilliant commander in his own right. First into battle on Royal Sovereign. Took charge after Nelson got sniped by the French lad using bot hax.
Hated flogging. Loved by his men. Walked his dog and planted acorns for fun. #TrafalgarDay2021
ALT Cuthbert Collingwood in full uniform looking contemplative. Painting.
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The Battle for Itter Castle, when Wehrmacht and US forces fought alongside each other in WW2.
Right. Been a while since I did a history thread.
So let me tell you about the only time in WW2 that the German Wehrmacht and the US Army fought ON THE SAME SIDE in WW2.
This is the Battle of Itter Castle.
ALT itter castle, with gatehouse prominent.
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How Tesco Clubcard invented modern datamining
Right. Friday thread.
Let's talk about Project Omega, one of the most important milestones in the history of data science, which revolutionised the supermarket trade.
You know it better as Tesco Clubcard
WARNING: Thread contains an actual swordfight /1
piped.video/watch?v=qF26zjFU…
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Hugh Thompson Jnr. The Helicopter pilot who refused to stand by and do nothing during the massacre at My Lai in the Vietnam war. xitter.mooo.com/garius/status/15503974…
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A short thread on Hadrian's Wall, which we didn't believe was Hadrian's for much longer than you'd think.
Also the glory of footnotes!
It's Friday. Have some history.
So you know Hadrian's Wall? Well for over 1000 years everyone thought it was built by someone else.
Until, in 1840, John Hodgson, an unknown Northumbrian clergyman published the LONGEST footnote in history.
Read on... /1
ALT Bookplate engraving of John Hodgson, looking like a daper clergyman with fluffy hair.
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The truth behind the relationship between Lancaster Bombers and the US A-Bomb project.
Right. It's Friday. So have a (relatively) short history thread!
Let's talk about the plan to use Lancasters, not B29s drop the first atomic bombs.
Because I've noticed this story popping up a fair bit again recently. And there's truth in it, but often surrounded by myth. /1
ALT Lancaster flying alongside a hurricane
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