One of the last pieces of armour to survive in the British Army was the gorget. It was a kind of collar, originally worn to protect the throat. Discoveries made in Egypt show that warriors wore armour as long ago as 1500 B.C., and by the sixteenth century both horse and rider were encased in steel from head to foot. …

The ‘capelin’ or ‘lobster-tail pot’ was a helmet worn in the cavalry for a hundred years or so from around 1630. It was oriental in origin. The hemispherical skull piece was fitted with a vizor made up of cheek pieces, an adjustable rod to protect the nose, and overlapping plates connected with joints to guard the neck.

For many centuries, there were tales of islands lying somewhere out in the Atlantic. One of these was the ‘Island of the Blessed’, an earthly paradise just over the horizon. Several Irish monks decided to look for it but although they braved many dangers, they took fright at last when they saw an Icelandic Volcano. Because of this voyage, ‘St …

This famous old cannon can be seen at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. It is known to have been used at a siege in 1479. In 1489 an account recorded eighteen shillings being paid for drinks for its gunners, when they ‘cartit Monss by the King’s Command’. In 1650 there appears a mention – by Oliver Cromwell – of the ‘great Iron …

An old South American legend told of a strange coronation ceremony. It took place high in the Andes on the shore of Lake Guatavita. Every new king had his body anointed with oil and then covered with gold dust. Glittering with this golden skin he plunged into the lake whilst his subjects cast in further gold and jewels as offerings …

The best sound we can get in our home is not from records or even tapes, but from compact discs. These small silvery discs are only 11 cm in diameter, but may contain more than an hour’s music on just one side. They need a special player which contains a laser and computer, and give superb sound without any background …

Bones of many adult birds are hollow and are connected to a system of air sacs dispersed through the body. Bone or osseous tissue consists of phosphate and carbonate of lime, salt and a few other substances. They are not filled with marrow and contain more calcium than mammalian bone, which tends to make them more brittle and prone to …

Joseph Banks, the naturalist, who went with Cook to the South Seas in the 1760s was busy collecting botanical specimens when he saw a very unusual creature. It was large, brown and hopped along on strong hind legs. He learned from the natives that it was called a ‘Kangaroo’. This was but one of the many strange animals and birds …

The Bayeux Tapestry represents scenes of the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, culminating in the Battle of Hastings. The scenes number seventy-two and over each is a short description in Latin. It is embroidered in colored wool on linen, and is more than 60 m long and about 50 cm wide. The tapestry, recorded in an …

Mountaineers of today owe a good deal to a Swiss scientist called Horace Benedict de Saussure, who was born at Conches, near Geneva, in 1740. He changed the general attitude to mountains from one of superstition and dread to one of inspiration. De Saussure was professor of physics and philosophy at the University of Geneva and a pioneer of geology, …