Short Histories

A list of just some of the black people who arrived on these shores before 1900 and found huge success  more  

Just decades after the American and French revolutions, rebellious fervour was in the air in Britain. In February 1820, a group of British radicals came close to pulling off an aud...  more  

Life was not always so cheery for the 'Merry Monarch', who spent six weeks on the run from the people who killed his father  more  

When a British officer was kidnapped by the IRA in 1920, he probably expected to be executed. What followed was a comic tale of poker, whiskey and an unlikely friendship  more  

The Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 had many people looking back with a morbid curiosity at the infamous Black Death of the mid-14th Century. But what was the Black Death, and how can it...  more  

Was Michael Malloy the toughest man who ever lived? Discover the story of the alcoholic Irishman who was blissfully unaware that a whole gang of men were trying to kill him  more  

An old Welsh legend held that a 12th century prince left his homeland and discovered a new world across the Atlantic. The story was not given much credence until the early 18th cen...  more  

Throughout the 1910s a mysterious killer prowled the streets of New Orleans. As silent as he was deadly, he had the entire city gripped with fear but disappeared before anyone coul...  more  

A colourful inventor was so proud of his lighthouse in the English Channel that he vowed to spend the night there. He was never seen again  more  

The world famous union boss whose disappearance sparked one of history's greatest mysteries  more