Monthly Archives: November 2012


Who was the first President of America? It has to be George Washington, right? The great Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and vanquisher of the British? Washington was certainly the first President of the United States of America under the United States Constitution. But America had a whole clutch of presidents before 1788. In a similar vein to the frustrating exercise to locate America’s […]

The first President of the United States


One of the greatest fears of radical revolutionaries in America was the threat of monarchy emerging out of the nascent republic. But, whilst clearly not establishing a monarchy in the traditional sense, America’s founding fathers were influenced by the stability of government in the European monarchies. Did they create a non-hereditary and elected King of America? The crown of a new nation was really his for […]

Is the President of the United States really the King of America?



In March 1981 Ronald Reagan defied an assassin’s bullet and went on to lead America for another seven years. Did the President also dodge something more powerful than a gun? Did the Gipper survive and even break the Curse of Tippercanoe? On 7 November 1811, US army forces led by William Henry Harrison, then Governor of the Indiana Territory, defeated the Shawnee Confederacy of Native Americans […]

Did Ronald Reagan break the Curse of Tippecanoe?


Vaguely Interesting Snippets | 13 November 2012  Mein Kampf was required reading in Hitler’s Third Reich – so much so that the state provided marrying couples with a special version for free – the Hochzeitsausgabe, or Wedding Edition. It came in a white slipcase and featured the seal of the province embossed in gold onto a parchment-like cover. The Queen’s Speech is written on goatskin vellum […]



What do you call someone from Kent? This is not the opening line in a rubbish joke and it is not intended to elicit some of the ruder comments that such a question might invite. It is, instead, a straight forward question – what is the proper name for people from the county of Kent? It should be simple, right? Kentish. Most English counties do not […]

Men of Kent and Kentish Men


Queen Elizabeth I spoke, read and wrote in French, Flemish, Italian, Latin and Greek. She was a passionate reader of history and won widespread acclaim for her education and erudition. Was the Virgin Queen England’s most learned monarch?  There is no doubt that Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen of England, benefited from a true Renaissance education. She was lucky to have three excellent and sympathetic tutors […]

Was Elizabeth I England’s cleverest monarch?