History Heroes

History of Warley Telephone Box Museum

Initiated by the Warley Community Association (WCA), who ‘adopted’ the abandoned phone box for £1, the museum was brought to life through the creative vision of local artists Paul and Chris Czainski, who came up with the idea of transforming it into a museum. Drawing inspiration from their previous project, the ‘Museum of Curiosity’, a pop-up exhibition hosted in their own cottage during a local arts festival, they sketched out ideas and volunteered to manage the project.

The couple had resided in Warley for a decade, and had become fascinated with the village’s heritage. Their house is a converted church, and closely intertwined with the history of the area. Patrick Bronte, the father of renowned authors Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte, used to receive income from the rents of the neighbouring house.

Warley was also once home to Thomas Lister, a celebrated clockmaker responsible for maintaining the clock at St. Paul’s Cathedral, as well as James Oldfield, a member of the infamous ‘Cragg Vale Coiners’ gang, who was hung in York in 1770. The village has also been the home to notable residents like Wilfred Pickles, an English actor and broadcaster famous in the 1960s.

Their dedication to preserving and showcasing the village’s rich history has transformed the phone box into a treasure trove of exhibits, featuring displays of memorabilia themed around aspects of Warley history and prominent local figures.

The museum officially opened on 8 October 2016, attracting widespread media coverage.

Warley Telephone Box Museum today

Although it can only accommodate a maximum of 2 visitors at a time, the Warley Museum has yet to be acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s smallest museum, but its small stature has had an impact on the local community.

The exhibitions are rotated every 3 months, and feature a diverse range of themes. Past exhibitions have showcased local Yorkshire fossils, antique medical instruments, and a collection of cooking utensils. The phone box also organised an exhibition to celebrate King Charles III’s coronation, which became a collaborative community effort. Other exhibitions are planned to shed light on witchcraft and healing.

Although the museum is clearly labelled, many visitors initially mistake it for an ordinary phone box.

Getting to Warley Telephone Box Museum

Warley Museum is situated in the centre of Warley village, at The Maypole Inn in the Calder Valley. Its opening hours are 8am-4pm.

I have been fortunate to gain their unique insight and learn coping strategies for life’s many challenges – how to keep going in the face of adversity, how to have faith when all seems lost, how to forgive, how to be a good parent or husband. Preserving their stories is one of the best things about the work I have been lucky enough to do. But a few years ago I met one veteran who left a particular impression. Without his advice I would not be writing this, without whom there may very well be no History Hit at all.

Alastair Urquhart was just 19 when he was conscripted to serve King and Country in 1939. The young man found himself on a ship to the Far East. He was to be part of a British imperial force which would hopefully dissuade the Japanese from striking through South East Asia into the resource rich European colonies of the East Indies. The deterrence did not work. The Japanese invasion came and caught the British by surprise.

February 1942: British troops surrender to the Japanese in the city area, after the unconditional surrender of all British forces following the successful invasion of Malaya and Singapore.

Two mighty naval battleships were sunk and British forces quickly found themselves pushed back to the fortress of Singapore, the rock of their East Asian empire. Alastair told me of the surprise they all felt. They couldn’t believe the Japanese could inflict such a string of defeats upon the British. Then the unimaginable happened and Singapore surrendered.  80,000 British and imperial troops went into captivity.

For Alastair this was just the start of a horrific experience that would leave him traumatised for decades to come. Like many others he was then sent to work on the infamous Burma Railroad. With insufficient food they hacked their way through the most inhospitable terrain, beset by tropical diseases, whilst being continually beaten and humiliated by their captors.

I met Alastair in his cosy house on the east coast of Scotland in 2015. He played me his favourite music and even did a little dance, clutching two walking sticks. After the war he became a champion ballroom dancer. A world far, far removed from the nightmare in Burma. He described his captivity graphically and the effect it had on his mental state.

After a few months he stopped making friends because of the pain of seeing them die of disease or watching them beaten to death. His coping strategy was one of remaining absolutely alone. He remembers clearly that never once in the camps did he hear laughter, and went for years without hearing a bar of music. He caught cholera while working at Hellfire Pass, one of the biggest cuttings on the Death Railway.

Hellfire was so-called because it was lit by flaming torches which cast a ghoulish light on the bent and broken malnourished labourers that hacked at the living rock. He was sent back to Singapore to be transported to Japan where the demands of total war created an insatiable demand for manpower.

He embarked on one of a fleet of ships known as ‘Hell Ships’. They were the worst part of his time in captivity he told me. They were shoved into the hold of a cargo ship and men fought for floor space to lie down on. “We were reduced to animals,” he told me. The ship was sunk by an American submarine the crew of which had no idea of its human cargo. By pure luck he was one of a very few survivors.

After days clinging to wreckage he was picked up, covered in oil by Japanese fisherman who beat him unconscious. Once in Japan he was sent to a camp near the city of Nagasaki where he was worked relentlessly. Then, in August 1945 while he was cleaning the officers’ latrines he saw a searing flash and was blown across the room. The Americans had dropped their second nuclear bomb and within days the war was over.

Alastair was liberated and taken down through the wasteland that had been Nagasaki to the docks where he was hosed down with sea water, his first wash for three and a half years. Once aboard the US aircraft carrier he heard music again, it was Glenn Miller’s Sentimental Journey.

Alastair told me that he was still a captive. The memories besieged him 70 years later. He was in his nineties but his survival was miraculous. He had suffered from multiple cancers, possibly as a result of his exposure to radiation. The tropical diseases caused many enduring complications to his health and his mind had also never fully healed.

By coincidence when I met Alastair I had been feeling a bit sorry for myself. I knew my time as a broadcaster for major TV channels was coming to an end. I felt helpless and a bit hopeless. I did not know what the future would hold. I was gripped with a rising panic that a career and lifestyle that I loved might be coming to an end. I knew I wanted to start a podcast, launch a website, maybe even a TV channel, but I didn’t have a clue where to start or who to go to for help.

I ended up telling Alastair about it all. My small, stupid, egotistical worries instantly faded as soon as I articulated them to him. But beyond that, Alastair gave me some advice. He simply said that what got him through everything, during the war and since, was a determination never ever to give up. I left his house feeling a little ashamed that I was anxious about the future when compared to Alastair’s experiences I had literally nothing to worry about. But I also felt a calm resolution. I was not going to go without a fight. I was not going to give up. I was going to persist, and if necessary fail, but I was not going to give up.

Alastair Urquhart died less than a year later. His example, his writing and his wisdom have changed the lives of so many people, and they changed mine too. It was one of those chance meetings that can transform our lives. Years later my ambition to build History Hit is a reality. Luck has played a bigger part than I’d like to admit, but thanks to Alastair Urquhart I kept at it, and for that advice at that time, as well as for so much else, I will remember him.

Charles became heir apparent aged 3 when his mother, Elizabeth II, acceded to the throne in 1952. He was educated at Cheam and Gordonstoun schools and later attended the University of Cambridge. After serving in the Royal Air Force and Navy for five years, he married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, and they had two sons, Princes William and Harry. They divorced in 1996, and Charles married his long-term partner, Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005.

As heir apparent, Charles undertook official duties and founded The Prince’s Trust, sponsored The Prince’s Charities, and was involved with over 800 other charities and organisations. He famously supports organic farming, the prevention of climate change, and architectural conservation, and has authored and co-authored multiple books.

After decades of public speaking and being in the media spotlight, inevitably there are a wealth of Charles’ statements, comments and quips on a wide range of subjects (…as well as some more infamous ‘private’ quotes that really had not been intended for public consumption). Here are just a few of Charles’ quotes from over the years while Prince.

Being the heir:

Queen Elizabeth II formally investing her son Prince Charles with the Coronet of the Prince of Wales during an investiture ceremony at Caernarfon castle, 1 July 1969

Image Credit: Alamy / PA Images

“I think it’s something that dawns on you with the most ghastly, inexorable sense. I didn’t suddenly wake up in my pram one day and say ‘Yippee'”

(On realising he would be king, BBC Radio interview, 1969)

“I learned the way a monkey learns: by watching its parents.”

(On his introduction to official royal life)

“Colditz in kilts”

(On his experiences at school at Gordonstoun)

“I find myself born into this particular position. I’m determined to make the most of it and to do whatever I can to help. And I hope I leave things behind a little bit better than I found them.”

(Interview with 60 Minutes, 2005)

Love:

Left: Princess Diana & Prince Charles leaving St. Paul’s Cathedral, 29 July 1981. Right: Prince Charles and Camilla leaving St George’s Chapel, Windsor, following the blessing of their wedding, 9 April 2005.

Image Credit: Left: Flickr / Joe Haupt / Sovereign Series Royal Wedding 1981, No. 27 / Prescott-Pickup Co. Ltd / (CC BY-SA 2.0). Right: Alamy / Alistair Grant / PA Images

“Faithful and honourable until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried.”

(Referencing the breakdown of his marriage to Princess Diana on a TV interview with Jonathan Dimbleby, 1994)

“It’s always nice to have somebody on your side . . . She is an enormous support. The great thing is we laugh a lot because she sees the funny side of life, thank God.”

(On his wife Camilla, Queen Consort, in the run-up to their 10th wedding anniversary in 2015)

“I count on the loving help of my darling wife, Camilla. In recognition of her own loyal public service since our marriage 17 years ago, she becomes my Queen Consort”

(Charles’ first address to the nation as monarch, 2022)

The environment:

Prince Charles smells a ‘Highgrove’ rose, during a visit by members of the royal family to the annual Chelsea Flower Show in London, 28 November 2008

Image Credit: Alamy / PA Images

“The sustainability revolution will, hopefully, be the third major social and economic turning point in human history, following the Neolithic Revolution — moving from hunter-gathering to farming — and the Industrial Revolution.”

(Speech in 2009)

“If you think about your and my grandchildren, this is what really worries me. I don’t want them – if I’m still alive by then – to say, ‘Why didn’t you do something about it?’, when you could have done.”

(BBC interview, 2005)

“On an increasingly crowded planet, humanity faces many threats – but none is greater than climate change. It magnifies every hazard and tension of our existence.”

(Paris climate change summit, November 2015)

Opinions:

The then Prince of Wales looks up as he wears a hard hat during a visit to the Royal Arsenal Woolwich housing project in London, 16 June 2005

Image Credit: Alamy / Anwar Hussein

“Why has everything got to be vertical, straight, unbending, only at right angles – and functional?”

(Speech marking the 150th anniversary of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 30 May 1984)

“You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe: when it knocked down our buildings it did not replace them with anything more offensive than rubble. We did that.”

(Criticising modern office buildings around St Paul’s Cathedral, 11 December 1987)

“As human beings, we suffer from an innate tendency to jump to conclusions, to judge people too quickly, and to pronounce them failures or heroes without due consideration of the actual facts and ideals of the period.”

(Foreword for King George III biography, 1972)

“I personally would rather see it as Defender of Faith, not the Faith, because it means just one particular interpretation of the faith (…) People have fought each other to the death over these things (…) when we’re all actually aiming for the same ultimate goal.”

(Interview outlining his views on the relationship between the monarch as supreme governor of the Church of England and other religious faiths, 1994)

“I believe passionately that everyone has a particular God-given ability.”

(Speech at a conference organised by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, November 2004)

“As you may possibly have noticed from time to time, I have tended to make a habit of sticking my head above the parapet and generally getting it shot off for pointing out what has always been blindingly obvious to me.”

(Speech, January 2014)

Hobbies:

The then Prince of Wales painting some of the surroundings of Paro in Bhutan whilst on a visit, 9 February 1998

Image Credit: Alamy / PA Images

“I just come and talk to the plants, really – very important to talk to them, they respond, I find.”

(TV interview discussing gardening, 1 September 1986)

 “The garden at Highgrove really does spring from my heart and, strange as it may seem to some, creating it has been rather like a form of worship.”

(An introduction to a book about the Highgrove estate, 1993)

“Painting transports me into another dimension which, quite literally, refreshes parts of the soul which other activities can’t reach.”

(Exhibition of Charles’s watercolours at The Garrison Chapel, London, 2022)

Monarchy:

Queen Elizabeth II with the Prince of Wales, Prince George, the Duke of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, and the Duchess of Cambridge appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace at the end of the Platinum Jubilee Pageant, on day four of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, 5 June 2022.

Image Credit: Chris Jackson / PA Images / Alamy

“Something as curious as the monarchy won’t survive unless you take account of people’s attitudes. After all, if people don’t want it, they won’t have it.”

(TV interview with Jonathan Dimbleby, 1994)

“Your Majesty, Mummy.”

(Speech at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, June 2022) 

Becoming King:

Prince Charles at Westport, New Zealand, 7 November 2015

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons / New Zealand Defence Force / CC BY 2.0

“Sometimes you daydream about the sort of things you might do … I think you could invest the position with something of your own personality and interest but obviously within the bounds of constitutional propriety.”

(On his future as King, in TV interview with Jonathan Dimbleby, 1994)

“If you chuck away too many things, you end up discovering there was value in them.”

(On the idea of bypassing his role as the rightful heir to the throne, Time Magazine, 2013)

“The idea, somehow, that I’m going to go on in exactly the same way, if I have to succeed, is complete nonsense because the two – the two situations – are completely different”

(On the role of monarch being completely different from his position as Prince of Wales, BBC interview 2018)

NATO was first established in 1949 to deter militarised nationalism and the expansion of the Soviet Union in the wake of World War Two. Originally comprised of 12 members, a further 18 have joined since.

The alliance has been involved in the Bosnian War, the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks and various other conflicts, relief efforts and counter-piracy operations.

Here are 10 facts about NATO.

1. NATO was established on 4 April 1949

In 1948, in the wake of World War Two, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg formed an alliance called the Western European Union. But with fears of Soviet strength mounting in the burgeoning Cold War, a firmer alliance was sought.

The 5 members of the Western European Union, along with Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal and the US, signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington DC. In doing so, they formed an alliance bound by a desire for collective defense, peace and stability. NATO was born.

Photograph of President Truman signing the document implementing the North Atlantic Treaty at his desk in the Oval Office, as a number of dignitaries look on.

Image Credit: via Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

2. NATO is now made up of 30 member countries

Since the original 12 member states launched NATO, 18 more nations have joined: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey.

The most recent nation to join the alliance was North Macedonia in 2020.

3. NATO also has security partners in more than 40 countries

As well as having members across North America and Europe, NATO utilises a network of security partners around the world. Based in more than 40 countries, NATO’s security associates include the African Union, European Union and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

4. NATO intervened in the Bosnian War

From 1992-1995, Bosnia-Herzegovina was embroiled in an armed conflict. In its first use of military force, NATO actively entered the conflict in 1995, launching airstrikes near Sarajevo against Bosnian Serb strongholds and deploying roughly 60,000 soldiers.

Through targetting the Army of the Republika Srpska, NATO contributed to the resolution of the conflict.

A warship frigate at sea in a NATO operation against piracy.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

5. An attack on one NATO member is an attack on all its members

Article 5 of the NATO agreement stipulates that an attack on any NATO member constitutes an attack on all of its members. This highlights NATO’s chief aim: the defend its member states and their citizens.

6. Article 5 was invoked after 9/11

NATO’s article 5 has only ever been invoked once: in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. The attacks, perpetrated by militants associated with al Qaeda, led to the actioning of article 5 the following day, on 12 September 2001.

In response, NATO launched military operations outside of the Auro-Atlantic area for the first time, heightening its investigations into terrorist activity across the globe. NATO also launched an anti-terrorism operation in the US, monitoring the skies for possible terrorist activity.

7. France left, and then rejoined, NATO’s military command

After 1958, French President Charles de Gaulle questioned the United States’ dominance over NATO’s management. As Franco-NATO relations became more strained, France withdrew from NATO’s military command in 1966. This meant NATO military personnel and headquarters were ejected from France, but that France still adhered to aspects of the treaty.

France rejoined NATO’s military command structure in 2009.

8. NATO members are supposed to spend 2% of their GDP on defense

As of 2014, NATO has asked that all member states spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. At present, only a minority of NATO members currently spend 2% or more on defense, with the US and the UK amongst those that do.

NATO projects that by 2024, 15 member states will be hitting the 2% target.

Soldiers stand in line beneath a NATO flag. Rukla, Lithuania.

Image Credit: Rokas Tenys / Shutterstock.com

9. Only one NATO member doesn’t have an army

Iceland is the only member state which doesn’t have a standing army. This is likely because of its small population and the funds required to sustain one. Instead, Iceland maintains a militarised coast guard, peacekeeping forces and air defense systems.

10. Article 10 outlines NATO’s ‘open door policy’

NATO’s 10th article delineates that the alliance remains open to any European country, so long as it can abide by the rules of membership. The decision of whether a nation is permitted to join is made by the North Atlantic Council.

A number of countries, primarily in Eastern Europe, currently aspire to join the alliance: Bosnia–Herzegovina, Georgia and Ukraine.

History Hit has partnered with this team, and in a special episode of Dan Snow’s History Hit podcast, Dan discusses the discoveries with them. Dan Snow is also working alongside the Belgian team to make a full length documentary about the discovery, set to premiere exclusively for History Hit TV, who will also produce a short film about the remains.

As Dan says, “Waterloo was one of the bloodiest battles in European history, yet until now only two bodies have ever been found on the battlefield. The discovery of these human remains, from places on the battlefield where the fighting was fiercest is a stunning opportunity to learn more about the men who fought here. A chance to highlight the individual experience, the grim, violent reality, in telling the story of the battle where too often that story is lost. This is a huge find for anyone who cares about military history, and those who fought and died, and shaped our world; we’re honoured that History Hit gets to be part of documenting the discovery.” 

A rare find

Due to the industrial exploitation of mass battlefield burials for the sugar industry in the middle of the 19th century, only two skeletons from the Battle of Waterloo had been found by archaeology in recent years.

These new skeletons – which have now been uncovered in two separate locations thanks to the assistance of Dominique Bosquet (AWap) of the Walloon Heritage Agency, as well as the research of Belgian historian Dr. Bernard Wilkin and German independent historian Robin Schäfer – therefore constitute the largest body of Waterloo casualties ever found. 

Collection of Battle of Waterloo bones

Image Credit: R. Schäfer, Dr. B. Wilkin

One of the discoveries is compiled of the bones of what appear to be 4 Prussian soldiers killed in the fierce battle for the possession of the village of Plancenoit – less than 1,000 yards from the inn of La Belle Alliance, Emperor Napoleon’s headquarters at the Battle of Waterloo. They had been resting in an attic for more than 40 years and are now in the possession and care of the Belgian State Archives in Liege. 

The remains of 6 more skeletons – British soldiers killed between Hougoumont Farm and the Lion Mound Memorial – were retrieved from another private household, having been found during illegal digs by metal detectorists, and have since been held in a private household. They will undergo further examination by Caroline Laforest at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

Based on objects found with the bodies, at least one of the British casualties was a soldier of the 1st Foot Guards. Interestingly, one iron cannonball was also found with the bodies. 

Skull from the Battle of Waterloo

Image Credit: R. Schäfer, Dr. B. Wilkin

What information can the skeletons tell us?

A number of the Prussian soldier’s bones bear witness to the brutality of the close-quarter fighting that had taken place for the possession of the village of Plancenoit. Several vertebrae show marks left by bladed weapons, one skull bears horrific damage caused by bayonet thrust or sword blow, while one front tooth seems to have been driven upwards into the jaw by a hard blow.

3D-Models of the skulls (by Toby Monks MSc):

Skull of a Prussian soldier killed during the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. It displays severe facial trauma. Discovered during construction work at Plancenoit / Maransart, Belgium.

Dan Snow will join the scientists as they uncover the results of the tests, and facial reconstruction will also be attempted by the Belgian criminal forensic services. 

After further research, the mortal remains of all soldiers will receive a formal burial and a grave marker / memorial, if funds and land can be acquired. Negotiations have already been initiated for this. 

Further significance

The finds underline the fact that even though it is unlikely that major burials of casualties of the Battle of Waterloo still exist, individual graves themselves may still do. 

Up until now, no remains of Prussian soldiers had been found. This discovery would link to the story of the Prussian Army’s decisive contribution not only at the battles of Ligny, Waterloo and Wavre, but also in bringing along the final downfall of Napoleon himself.

‘Prussian Attack, Plancenoit’ by Adolf Northern

Continued fighting by the French after Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815 is said to have brought an end to the Napoleonic Wars, thwarting Napoleon’s efforts to dominate Europe and ending a 15-year period of near-constant war. It also laid the foundations for a unified Europe for nearly a century.

However, today it is often forgotten that the Battle of Waterloo, which was ultimately decided by the timely Prussian arrival and by the fierce battle for Plancenoit on the French right flank, wasn’t the end of Napoleon or indeed the French Empire. Often ignored by anglo-saxon historiography – and not common knowledge in the UK – is that the French Army fought on after Waterloo. 

Prussian Troops Storming the French Occupied Cemetery at Plancenoit (Battle of Waterloo) by Carl Rochling

At Versailles, Sevres, Rocquencourt and other places, French troops fought off the Prussian army, and it was the Prussians who continued to lead the race towards and into Paris, the French capital. In the Alps and along the Rhine, other French armies fought German Armies from Bavaria and Wurttemberg, and General Rapp defeated the Austrians at the Battle of La Souffel on 28 June 1815. This, and not Waterloo, was the final major battle and the last French victory of the Napoleonic Wars.

But still the fighting continued much longer after this. While Napoleon had abdicated 6 days before, on 22 June 1815, many of his commanders sought to reverse the defeat of Waterloo, seeking one more, decisive battle to turn the tables.

Marshal Grouchy, too late to come to Napoleon’s aid at Waterloo and was unjustly much criticised for it, conducted a fighting withdrawal to Paris by 29 June, with Prussian troops hard on his heels.

On 1 July 1815, Generals Vandamme, Exelmans and Marshal Davout also began the Defence of Paris with an engagement at Rocquencourt, not far from Versailles, in which French dragoons supported by infantry and commanded by General Exelmans annihilated an entire Prussian brigade of hussars under the command of Oberstleutnant Eston von Sohr.

Fighting continued well after the Battle of Waterloo, right into September 1815 when the last Bonapartist fortress surrendered to a Prussian force under Prince Augustus. Indeed the Napoleonic Wars only ended after the Second Treaty of Paris, on 20 November 1815.

Watch this space…

History Hit has partnered with the Belgian-German team who made the discoveries (including Belgian historian Dr. Bernard Wilkin and German independent historian Robin Schäfer, as well as with Dominique Bosquet (AWap) of the Walloon Heritage Agency), and are working alongside them to document their findings and assess what the skeletons can teach us about the men who fought at the Battle of Waterloo.

In addition to Dan’s podcast, later this year History Hit TV will exclusively premiere a full length documentary about the discovery and also produce a short film about the remains. 

It has been claimed that Les Prophéties predicted the execution of Charles I, the Great Fire of London, the French Revolution, the rise and fall of Hitler and Napoleon, the assassinations of JFK and Benazir Bhutto, the 9/11 attacks, the 2015 mass murders in Paris and the coronavirus pandemic.

Ardent followers of Nostradamus’ Les Prophéties claim that almost 70 percent of his predictions have proved to be true. So who was Nostradamus, and what are his predictions for 2023?

Read on to find out.

He was a self-proclaimed prophesier

Michel de Nostradame was born in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Though his family were converted Catholics, he later capitalised upon his Jewish ancestry to claim that his natural instinct for prophecy was ‘inherited from my forbears’. He made a living as a travelling apothecary, tending especially to plague victims, and was particularly well-known for creating a ‘rose pill’ that purportedly protected against the disease.

He lived at a time where the newly-invented printing press meant that the transmission of ideas was much more readily available. In addition, it was an era of significant social division and uncertainty, meaning that his supposed ability to see into the future was welcomed by many. From 1550 onwards, he capitalised upon these circumstances, producing annual almanacs that included thousands of prophetic verses. It was also at this time that he first Latinised his name to ‘Nostradamus’.

Nostradamus: original portrait by his son Cesar, c. 1614, nearly fifty years after his death

Image Credit: César de Notre-Dame, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

He may have made the predictions while high on nutmeg

In 1555, Nostradamus published Les Prophéties, in which he aimed to set out the future of the world in 1,000 quatrains. A number of these, as many of his prophecies had been beforehand, were reportedly dictated to his secretary while he was high on nutmeg, which causes hallucinations when taken in large doses.

Indeed, he was seen by many as a madman. In 1558, First Invective of the Lord Hercules the Frenchman Against Monstradamus was published which claimed that Nostradamus was a ‘certain brainless and lunatic idiot’ who shouted his ‘nonsense… fantasies on the streets’.

Nonetheless, his fame grew and he became a close friend of Catherine de Médici, the queen of France, the death of whose husband, Henry II, he is reported to have predicted.

He predicted his own death… sort of

It is commonly stated that Nostradamus predicted his own death in 1566. However, he made this prediction a day before he died when he was near-bedridden with arthritis, dropsy and arteriosclerosis.

Indeed, there are a number of examples of Nostradamus predicting events that appear to be inevitable, just days before the event. There are also examples of Nostradamus writing ‘predictions’ of events that had already happened, thus skewing the perceived extraordinary accuracy of his prophecies.

Lithograph of Michael Nostradamus

Image Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

He predicts a sharp rise in inflation… and cannibalism

Nostradamus states that rising prices will result in a failing economy in 2023. He said, ‘No abbots, monks, no novices to learn;/Honey shall cost far more than candle-wax/So high the price of wheat,/That man is stirred/His fellow man to eat in his despair.’

While political instability, Brexit and a worldwide pandemic have all contributed to a boom in inflation in recent years, it’s not necessarily the case that people will be driven to eating each other… though only time will tell.

He predicts that there will be a great war

Nostradamus’ predictions for 2023 are pretty grim. His writings predict a European apocalypse, stating, ‘Seven months the Great War, people dead of evil-doing. / Rouen, Evreux shall not fall to the King.’ Some have suggested that this relates to a significant escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war into a full-blown third world war. According to Nostradamus, Parisians should probably hole up in Rouen to wait out the threat of nuclear annihilation.

He predicts that there will be a disaster on Mars

He has also suggested that there will be a disaster on Mars, stating that a ‘celestial fire when the lights of Mars will go out’ is imminent, perhaps thwarting Elon Musk’s plans to colonise the planet.

Portrait of Nostradamus, taken from ‘Li mirabili et pretiosi secreti lasciati nella morte del eccellentissimo Filosofo M. Michaelle nostradamo’, by Antonio Ruggiero (1568)

Image Credit: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

He says the world will be plagued by droughts and flooding

He also suggests that countries will be plagued by droughts and flooding, stating that extreme weather events will be commonplace and have a huge impact. He wrote ‘The dry earth will grow more parched, and there will be great floods when the rainbow is seen’. In light of the disastrous effects of climate change, extreme weather events are indeed becoming more common and destructive.

He says that civil unrest will be more widespread

Nostradamus also predicts that civil unrest will become more pronounced, stating that the political landscape will be characterised by ‘trumpets shaking with great discord’ and ‘an agreement broken’. Cheerfully, he also states that ‘Sooner or later you will see great changes made – dreadful horrors and vengeances.’

Whether all of this comes true remains to be seen.

Whilst all of these podcasts and their episodes are brilliant and well worth a listen, here are the top 10 of the most popular episodes from 2022. If you haven’t listened to these yet then get them on your playlist.

1. Ukraine and Russia: A Quick History (Dan Snow’s History Hit)

Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. As European leaders gathered and Ukraine made preparations to defend itself, the world watched. At the time, in light of this escalating situation, host of the Gone Medieval podcast, Matt Lewis stepped in for Dan and ran through a brief but complex history of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine.

He provided some context to the way in which the two states view each other and why Russia asserts that Ukraine is a possession of Moscow despite Ukraine’s fierce independence. In doing so, Matt covers a millennium of history that includes Vikings, Mongols, horrifying famine, nuclear disaster and the fall of the USSR.

2. Russia’s Threat to Invade Ukraine (Dan Snow’s History Hit)

Amid Moscow’s increasing build-up of troops along the Ukrainian border and the preparation of infrastructure for a possible invasion, tensions between Ukraine and Russia continued to mount. Dating back centuries, the history of the relationship between the two countries is one of complexity – but one that is important to understand to make sense of the current crisis.

A. D. Miller is a former Moscow correspondent for the Economist, and the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of ‘Independence Square,’ a novel set in Kyiv during the Orange Revolution. In a conversation about the historical dispute behind Russia’s current threat to invade Ukraine, A. D. Miller and Dan discussed the key events in the 20th century, including the turning point – the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the relevance of NATO. They also detailed the consequences of the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the most recent of tensions.

3. The Troubles: How It Started (Dan Snow’s History Hit)

With Kenneth Branagh’s film, Belfast, hitting cinemas – we ran down the historical background of the early years of the decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland.

Dan was joined by Tim McInerney, co-host of The Irish Passport podcast, for this deep dive into the pivotal events of 1969 to the early 1970s. This episode establishes the century-long roots of sectarian tensions, paints a picture of the political atmosphere in Northern Ireland as the decade came to a close, and tracks the series of escalating conflicts that climaxed in the deployment of British Troops.

4. The Origins of London (The Ancients)

London is today one of the greatest cities in the world, and the story of its origins is fittingly spectacular. Founded by the Romans as Londinium in around 47-50 AD, the metropolis served as a major commercial hub and indeed military target until its abandonment in the 5th century. It wouldn’t be until the turn of the following millennium that London regained its eminence under the Anglo-Saxons.

Thanks to centuries of astonishing discoveries and decades of key archaeological research, we actually know quite a lot about Londinium; perhaps even why the Romans chose to found it there in what was previously a rural and peripheral landscape under the Celtic Britons.

In this episode, Tristan chats to ‘Mr Roman London’ himself Dr Dominic Perring, Professor of Archaeology at UCL, who shares incredible insights into the origins of London and what its artefacts tell us about the very first Londoners.

5. The Execution of Charles I (Dan Snow’s History Hit)

On 30 January 1649, Charles I, king of Great Britain and Ireland, stepped out of the Banqueting House in Whitehall, to be beheaded in front of a huge London crowd. It was a deeply shocking moment not just in the lives of those people who witnessed it, but also in the longer span of British history. But the regicide didn’t just happen out of the blue, it was part of a truly revolutionary period – one that experienced civil war, regime change, religious upheaval and, for the only time in British history, a period of republican government.

Rebecca Warren, an early modern historian who specialises in the history of the church during the British civil wars and interregnum between 1640-1660, joins Dan on the podcast. They discuss the reason king and parliament went to war, the Battle of Preston in August 1648 as a turning point, the day-by-day details of the trial, and how the image of Charles as a martyr became immediately fostered as a result.

6. Sitting Bull: The Life and Death of a Native American Chief (Warfare)

Sitting Bull, best known for his initiative and victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn, is a greatly revered Native American Chief. But he was more than a fierce leader of his people. Bestowed the name ‘Sitting Bull’ at only aged 14 by his father, he showed characteristics of courage, perseverance, and intelligence beyond his years – traits that would come to define him, and the relationship between Native Americans and the US government for generations.

In this episode, James is joined by Professor Jeff Olster, who specialises in the impact of the United States on Native Americans between the 18th to 20th centuries. Together they discuss who Sitting Bull was, the journey that led him to Little Bighorn, and the injustices inflicted upon the Native American people by the US Government.

7. Crisis in Ukraine: Putin & NATO (Warfare)

Ukraine has been invaded by Russia. But why? What is NATO’s purpose, and why does it bother Vladimir Putin so much?

In this episode of Warfare, we’re joined by Jamie Shea, the Former Deputy Assistant Secretary-General at NATO, who’s sat across the table from the Russian President himself.

Jamie and James explore the birth of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the questions surrounding its membership, and how it impacts the current situation in Ukraine. Jamie has decades of experience working for NATO since the Cold War era, and shares incredible insights into the ups and downs of its relationship with Russia over the years.

8. After Nuremberg (Dan Snow’s History Hit)

The 1950s in West Germany saw a sharp decline in Nazi war crimes investigations and trials. Instead, there were campaigns for amnesties and reductions of earlier sentences, many led by former high-level Nazis and supported tacitly by conservative politicians. Prosecutions lacked any serious or systematic effort, and in both German states, the emphasis was more on integration and rehabilitation, with the aim of stabilising their war-torn societies, rather than the rigorous investigation of Nazi crimes.

This began to change in West Germany following scandals about former Nazis in prominent positions. As the 50s wore on, several new trials spotlighted the horrors and scale of Nazi atrocities.

Rainer Schulze, Professor of Modern European History at University of Essex and Editor of The Holocaust in History and Memory, joins Dan on the podcast for a conversation about the prosecution of Nazi war criminals in post-war Germany.

They discuss the turning point of the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann, how the 1963-1965 Auschwitz Trials in Frankfurt brought the Holocaust back into broad public consciousness and the legacy of Nuremberg in the present day with the case of the 100-year-old man who stood trial in Germany in 2021, charged with assisting in the of the murder of 3,518 people as a former SS guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

9. Who Was Joan of Arc? (Gone Medieval)

Joan of Arc is a name that’s instantly recognisable to most. A controversial figure in her own day, she has remained so ever since, often being adopted as a talisman of French nationalism. But how much do we really know—or understand—about the young woman who ignited France’s fightback against England during the Hundred Years’ War, but who paid the ultimate price at the age of just 19?

To get to the heart of the real ‘Maid of Orléans’, Matt is joined in this episode by Dr Hannah Skoda, a Fellow and Tutor in Medieval History at the University of Oxford.

10. ENDURANCE22: A Story of Antarctic Survival Part 1

In late 1914, the charismatic and brilliant explorer Ernest Shackleton led 27 men on a voyage to cross Antarctica from one side to the other. But what should have been a successful expedition turned into a two-year nightmare of hardship and catastrophe when their vessel the Endurance was crushed in the Weddell Sea pack-ice and sunk. Stranded with no ship, no contact with the outside world and limited supplies, it would be up to the men to find their own way back to civilisation.

This is the first part of a special mini-series that dramatically retells the extraordinary story of the 1915 Endurance Expedition.

Find out more about History Hit’s podcasts

Lots has been written about Queen Elizabeth II’s remarkable life, reign and times, though in our Book of the Month for December 2022 – Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait – Gyles Brandreth tells the story from his perspective as someone who knew her husband well, and had met her, talked with her and kept a record of those conversations.

Whilst we clearly didn’t know Elizabeth as personally as Gyles did, here we explore some of the lesser-known facts about her that may surprise you.

Her birthplace is now a fancy Cantonese restaurant

The Queen’s birthplace – a London townhouse at 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair (the home of her maternal grandparents) – is now a world-famous Cantonese restaurant called Hakkasan.

Her first horse was called Peggy

The Queen’s first horse was a Shetland pony called Peggy, given to her by her grandfather King George V when she was aged 4. She rode horses ever since.

King George VI and Princess Elizabeth in 1937

Image Credit: Anonymous, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

She became a homeowner aged 6

The Queen was gifted a miniature thatched Wendy-house cottage by the people of Wales on her 6th birthday. It was named Y Bwthyn Bach, which means ‘little cottage’, and was placed in the grounds of Royal Lodge in Windsor. The house was modelled on a typical Welsh cottage and contained a miniature radio, china set, portrait of the Queen’s mother, books, pots, pans, brooms and a working telephone, all made to scale.

The Queen could speak fluent French

After her father became King in 1936, Princess Elizabeth began studying constitutional history and law. She also studied French, German and music while educated at home by her tutor and governess, Marion Crawford. In later years, when visiting France, the Queen would always speak in French.

She volunteered as a truck driver and mechanic during World War Two

Despite the risks, Elizabeth joined the women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service and trained as a truck driver and mechanic in 1945, when aged 18 years old. This made her the first female member of the royal family to serve in the military. Until her death, she was also the only living head of state who had officially served in World War Two.

Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth of Great Britain doing technical repair work during her World War Two military service, 1944.

Image Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo

Her diamond tiara snapped on the morning of her wedding

Whilst it’s well-known that the then-Princess Elizabeth bought the material for her wedding dress with ration coupons (and a 200-coupon supplement from the government) due to post-war austerity measures, less well-known is that her diamond tiara snapped on the morning of her wedding in 1947 as it was being secured to her veil.

With only two hours to go, the tiara was rushed to the royal jewellery house workshop (Garrard) under police escort, where it was quickly welded back together. The tiara contained a halo of diamond-studded spikes, and had been created in 1919 for Elizabeth’s grandmother Queen Mary.

4 out of 5 UK residents weren’t alive when the Queen ascended the throne

Before her death, most British people hadn’t known another monarch besides Queen Elizabeth II: according to data shared by the UK Office of National Statistics in 2017, 81% of UK residents weren’t alive when she ascended the throne upon the death of her father in 1952.

Queen Elizabeth II wearing her Coronation robes and regalia, June 1953

Image Credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

She technically owned all the dolphins in the UK

As monarch, in addition to owning all of the country’s dolphins, the Queen also owned all the sturgeon and whales due to a still-valid statute from the reign of King Edward II in 1324. This states that, “Also the King shall have … whales and sturgeons taken in the sea or elsewhere within the realm”. Most aquatic creatures are technically labelled ‘fishes royal’ and are claimed on behalf of the Crown.

In the 12th century, the British monarchy also laid claim to “all mute swans” in the country, which back then were considered a delicacy and eaten at feasts. The Queen also owned an elephant, two giant turtles, a jaguar and a pair of sloths – though these were all presents from other countries, and were all sent to be cared for at London Zoo.

The Queen owned over 30 Corgis and invented a new breed of dog

Elizabeth’s father brought home the royal family’s first corgi in 1933. On her 18th birthday, Elizabeth was gifted her own corgi named Susan. Many of her subsequent corgis descended directly from Susan, with the Queen owning over 30 corgis across her life, which were apparently all very well controlled and obedient.

One of the Queen’s corgis once mated with a dachshund (‘Pippin’) that belonged to Princess Margaret, thus creating the ‘dorgi’ dog.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip sit beside one of the royal corgis. Balmoral, 1976.

Image Credit: Anwar Hussein / Alamy Stock Photo

The Queen first sent an email back in 1976

The Queen posted her first ever tweet to the @RoyalFamily account in October 2014, and published her first Instagram post in 2019.

As Princess Elizabeth, the Queen made her first public speech on 13 October 1940, with a radio address to the children of the Commonwealth, many of them living away from home due to war. Her first televised Christmas Broadcast was in 1957.

Since 1989 the Queen wore only one shade of nail polish

The Queen reportedly wore the same nail polish since 1989 – Essie’s classic pale pearly pink shade ‘Ballet Slippers’. The nail varnish is surprisingly cheap, retailing for around £8.

She had many hobbies

These included horse riding and pigeon racing. Apparently the Queen also took an interest in football – and is rumoured to have been an Arsenal supporter.

Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May 2008.

Image Credit: Steve Parsons / PA Images / Alamy

It is claimed she could imitate the sound of a Concorde jet landing

The Queen was known to have a great sense of humour, yet less well-known is that she apparently also had a talent for mimicry. According to the Queen’s chaplain Bishop Michael Mann, “the queen imitating the Concorde landing is one of the funniest things you could see.”

Her drink of choice was gin

The Queen was said to enjoy gin mixed with Dubonnet (a fortified wine) and a slice of lemon on the rocks every day before lunch. She sometimes drank wine with lunch, sometimes  later a dry martini and also reportedly had a glass of champagne every evening.

However, in her later years the Queen was advised by doctors to give up her alcoholic drinks in favour of water and juice.

During her reign, the Queen is said to have carried out more than 21,000 engagements

She also sat for over 200 official portraits, sent around 50,000 Christmas cards and travelled to more than 115 countries. (She visited Canada 22 times and France 13 times – more than any other country in Europe, possibly due to her fluency in French.)

The Queen’s wreath paid tribute to Prince Philip

The wreath that sat on top of the Queen’s coffin was made from some of her favourite flowers including sweet peas, picked from the Balmoral Estate. This was thought to be a tribute to Prince Philip as after he died in April 2021, the Queen had also picked out sweet peas for his funeral wreath. Sweet peas are often associated with the idea of goodbyes.

To mark their diamond wedding anniversary on 20 November 2007, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh re-visited Broadlands where in November 1947 they spent their wedding night.

Image Credit: Alamy: Tim Graham/PA Wire - Image ID: GAEHJW

Flights were cancelled over London to ensure quiet during the Queen’s funeral

On the day of the Queen’s funeral (Monday 19 September 2022), flights that were due to pass over central London were cancelled to ensure the skies were silent, as a mark of respect.

Gyles Brandreth is a British author, presenter and former politician, with a reputation as an accomplished raconteur and public speaker. His book, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait is our Book of the Month for December 2022. It is published by Penguin Michael Joseph, and available to buy now.

It has already been over 60 years since Yuri Gagarin became the first person to travel into space in 1961. Since then, spacesuit technology has rapidly improved. Where spacesuits used to be overheated, cumbersome and tiring, they are now much more efficient, comfortable and durable. Looking to the future, spacesuits will be adapted for astronauts to travel to planets such as Mars, and even more remarkably will even be used for commercial spaceflights.

Here’s a breakdown of the history of the spacesuit.

They were initially based upon aeroplane pilot suits

The first American human spaceflight program, known as Project Mercury, took place between 1958 and 1963. The spacesuits developed for this were based upon the pressure suits of aeroplane pilots from the US Navy, which NASA then adapted to protect the very first astronauts from the effects of sudden pressure loss.

John Glenn wearing his Mercury space suit

Image Credit: NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Each spacesuit featured a layer of neoprene-coated nylon on the inside and aluminised nylon on the outside, which kept the suit’s inner temperature as stable as possible. Six astronauts flew into space wearing the suit before it was retired from usage by NASA.

Project Gemini suits attempted to implement air conditioning

Project Gemini saw 10 Americans fly in low Earth orbit between 1965 and 1966, and crucially, they conducted the first spacewalks. Astronauts reported that they found it difficult to move in the Mercury spacesuit when it was pressurised, meaning that the Gemini suit had to be made more flexible.

The suits were also connected to a portable air conditioner to keep the astronauts cool until they could hook themselves up to the spacecraft’s lines. There was also up to 30 minutes of backup life support included in some of the suits in case of emergency.

However, the Gemini suits still presented many problems. Astronauts discovered that extravehicular activities quickly caused the body’s temperature to rise, resulting in severe exhaustion. The inside of the helmet also fogged up due to excessive moisture, and the suit couldn’t be effectively cooled just by providing air from the spacecraft. Finally, the suits were heavy, weighing 16-34 pounds.

The Apollo programme had to make suits adapted for walking on the moon

Mercury and Gemini space suits weren’t equipped to complete the aim of the Apollo mission: to walk on the moon. The suits were updated to allow more free movement on the lunar surface, and suitable boots were made for the texture of the rocky ground. Rubber fingertips were added, and portable life support backpacks were developed to hold water, air and batteries. Moreover, the spacesuits weren’t air-cooled but rather used nylon underwear and water to cool the astronauts’ bodies, much like the system used to cool a car engine.

Buzz Aldrin salutes the deployed United States flag on the lunar surface

Image Credit: NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Protection was also created against fine regolith (dust as sharp as glass), protection from extreme temperature swings and better flexibility. They were also designed to last hours away from the spacecraft; however, astronauts still couldn’t move far away because they were connected by a hose to it.

Free floating suits were propelled by jetpack

In 1984, astronaut Bruce McCandless became the first astronaut to float in space untethered, thanks to a jetpack-like device called the Manned Manoeuvring Unit (MMU). Though this is no longer used, an evolved version is used by astronauts who spend time in space maintaining the space station.

Many spacesuits used today are Russian-designed

Today, the sharp, blue-lined spacesuit many astronauts wear is a Russian suit called the Sokol, or ‘Falcon’. Weighing in at 22 pounds, the suit is fairly similar to the space shuttle flight suit, though it’s mainly used to protect people who fly inside Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, which NASA pays to use for its own astronauts’ travel to and from the space station.

The crew of Expedition 7, Commander Yuri Malenchenko (front) and Ed Lu are both wearing Sokol KV2 pressure suits

Image Credit: NASA/ Bill Ingalls, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Future spacesuits will allow astronauts to explore places like Mars

NASA aims to send people to places that humans have never yet explored, such as an asteroid, or even Mars. Spacesuits will have to be adapted to facilitate these purposes such as better protecting astronauts from yet more abrasive dust. New suits will also contain parts that can be swapped out.