Gaius Julius Caesar was born on 12 (or 13) July in what we now call 100 (or 102) BC. It is enough for great people to have fame; the peculiar feature of Caesar is how he got the name and how others have since used it. Romans had three names, the personal first, the family… Continue reading #OTD 12 July – What is a caesar?
Month: July 2025
#OTD 11 July – China in the Indies
Eighty-seven years before Christopher Columbus founded a New World, the Chinese Empire sent Admiral Zheng He on a publicity trip across the Indian Ocean. The trip was not done by halves. When the fleet left on 11 July 1405, it comprised 317 ships and 28,000 crewmen. Zheng He has long been venerated in the Chinese… Continue reading #OTD 11 July – China in the Indies
#OTD 10 July – The short history of naked women
On 10 July 1057 (or 1040, depending), Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets of Coventry. Two versions published around the same time tell us something about how men see, or don’t see, women. In both, the pious wife implores her husband to relieve the town of Coventry of heavy taxation, he says he will… Continue reading #OTD 10 July – The short history of naked women
#OTD 9 July – Turbulence and priests
The Archbishop of Canterbury does not always have an easy time of it. Simon Sudbury was beheaded by the peasants during Wat Tyler’s rebellion. William Laud was beheaded by parliament for being too high church. Thomas Becket is history’s most famous victim of the device much loved by rulers, asking of a question in the… Continue reading #OTD 9 July – Turbulence and priests
#OTD 8 July – The flight of the saucer
News is made up of text and context, but memory meshes them up. The text from 8 July 1947 is famous. Something shiny crashed in New Mexico, the Roswell Army Air Force base issued a press release about a recovered “flying disc”, the press release was retracted later the same day, and a conspiracy theory… Continue reading #OTD 8 July – The flight of the saucer
#OTD 7 July – We are come down to bind thee
In the mid 18th century the Whigs needed backers to finance the suppression of the Jacobite uprising. The foremost backer was Sampson Gideon, a Sephardic Jewish banker later called the Rothschild of his day. In the following decade, Gideon and others lobbied Prime Minister Henry Pelham to introduce what became known as the Jew Bill.… Continue reading #OTD 7 July – We are come down to bind thee
#OTD 6 July – Bearding faith
On 6 July 1535 Sir Thomas More was beheaded. He is supposed to have said to his executioner that his beard was innocent of any crime and did not deserve the axe and then to have placed the beard so that it would not be harmed. More died upon his inability to acknowledge King Henry… Continue reading #OTD 6 July – Bearding faith
#OTD 5 July – An Amazon of choice
An online bookseller uses its success selling books to sell us groceries. For groceries, there’s Spam, released 5 July 1937: A book to read with the snack? Go to the books section to pick up Isaac Newton’s Principia, first published 5 July 1687: One thing that you can’t get at Amazon is a photo of… Continue reading #OTD 5 July – An Amazon of choice
# OTD 4 July – The US as a post-colonial colonist?
4 July 1776 is the day that the American colonialists declared their independence from Britain. On 12 June 1898, the Philippines declared its independence from Spain. The declaration did not stop the major powers making the Treaty of Paris in December. The treaty marked the effective end of the Spanish Empire and the controversial beginning… Continue reading # OTD 4 July – The US as a post-colonial colonist?
#OTD 3 July – The long long eve of independence
Today, the eve of July 4, is an inspiration for those into the long slog and provides a little irony along the way. On 3 July 1754, a young lieutenant colonel from Virginia suffered the only surrender of his career at the Battle of Fort Necessity, an early climax of competition between the French, the… Continue reading #OTD 3 July – The long long eve of independence