Austrian paediatrician Dr Hans Asperger, a pioneer in the field of child psychiatry and a researcher into childhood autism, was for many years portrayed as an opponent of the Nazi regime under which he worked. When the aberrant behaviour of 'maladjusted' children became controversial in…
In the 19th century, the idea of the 'good life' still involved over-consumption and excess, which inevitably led to ill health, so this period of decadence gave birth to the need for a healthier way of life. Several visionaries were at the forefront of this…
Nineteenth September 1944. Some 40,000 Allied troops descend behind enemy lines in the largest airborne assault in history. Their mission was to break through the defences and penetrate into Germany. It was the start of a fierce decisive battle, part of the Allies' plan to…
Ada Lovelace, the illegitimate daughter of poet Lord Byron, grew up in Victorian times when women were not expected to be interested in science or technology and were even routinely denied an education. But with her mother's encouragement, Ada was determined not only to learn…
The medieval city where the streets were bustling with activity from morning till night, seven days a week, every day of the year, where most of the international trade with the most varied goods from all over the world flowed, where many languages resounded, and…
"We are all in a madhouse." These were the unambiguous words that one of the crew members of the Belgica summed up the atmosphere on board in the spring of 1898. The ship had then been immobile for several weeks, wedged in metres-thick polar ice,…
"After a long time, I can finally and sincerely speak for myself. I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to carry out the tasks that are my duty as a king without the help…
Far away from the eyes of the world, in the middle of the vast and unpopulated Kazakh steppe, on 12 April 1961, the atmosphere in the large Tyuratam research complex was so tense that it could have been cut. The time was a few minutes…
"President of what?" Lillian Carter asked when her son Jimmy announced he was running for the presidency. And no one really thought that the then Governor of Georgia, the astute Democrat Jimmy Carter, was flirting with the presidency of the United States. But like everything…
