The Forbidden City, also known as Palace Museum, is a walled section of Beijing located right at its centre, enclosing the Imperial Palace, formerly the residence of the emperor of China. The ‘Forbidden City’ is the English equivalent of the Chinese name ‘Zijin Cheng’ – Jin meaning forbidden, with reference to the fact that no one could enter or leave …

In 1486, Bartholomew Diaz, a Portuguese nobleman set sail from Lisbon, determined to follow the African coast further than anyone had before. After he had passed the mouth of the Congo (now Zaire) River, a fierce storm sent his ship reeling out to sea. When the gales had blown themselves out, he tacked back to the coast and found to …

According to some sources, the word bucket comes from the French word ‘baquet’ which means cockpit. A bucket seat is much more comfortable, especially for long journeys. Bucket seats came into use after WW II in small cars due to the lack of seating room for a third passenger on account of the presence of a floor-mounted gear handle.

The Union Jack, the official flag of Britain since 1801, is really three separate flags in one, for it combines the English cross of St George, the Scottish cross of St Andrew and the Irish cross of St Patrick. England, Scotland and Ireland were originally independent countries, and the Union Jack symbolizes the fact that they now from the United …

In ancient times, colours were assigned to the cardinal directions – with black referring to the north. The Black Sea is an inland sea bound by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. It was also called “inhospitable” (dark area, black) before Greek colonization, because …

The royal python, a snake of equatorial West Africa, has an unusual way of protecting itself when disturbed. It can roll of into an almost perfect ball, and so has earned itself the name of ball python. Tame specimens can even be rolled along in this undignified manner!

The arrow-poison frog’s skin contains poison. The bright colors of skin, which include yellow, red, orange, and blue warn predators that the frog is poisonous to eat.

This is because world like pig, cow, sheep and calf come from the Anglo-Saxon or Old English language. After the Norman conquest in 1066 the wealthy French-speaking landowners called these animals by their French names when they ate them, giving us the words pork, beef, mutton and veal. The Anglo-Saxons, however, carried on calling the animals by their original names, …

In 1539 a large Spanish force get out from the town of Quito, in Ecuador, to find out what could be discovered to the east. As their supplies were running out, Gonzalo Pizarro, a brother of the conqueror of Peru, ordered a small party to retrace their route by boat and return with fresh supplies. Commanded by Francisco de Orellana, …

The name of the police headquarters is derived from its original location on Great Scotland Yard, a street within Whitehall. According to a 1964 article in The New York Times, the name derives from buildings in the area used to accommodate Scottish kings when they visited English royalty. The original commissioners of the Metropolitan police, Colonel Charles Rowan and Richard …