Merlin (Welsh: Myrddin) is a legendary figure best known as an enchanter or wizard featured in Arthurian legend and medieval Welsh poetry. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c.…

Arminius (German: Hermann; 18/17 BC – AD 21) was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe who commanded an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, in which three Roman legions were destroyed.
His victory at Teutoburg Forest…

During World War II, STEINWAY AND SONS produced specially-built pianos for the American troops. Called the Victory Vertical or G.I. Steinways, the pianos were sometimes airdropped onto battlefields to provide a bit of relaxation...

Priests survived because they were taller than their animal sacrifices

Ossip Samoilovich Bernstein was a Ukrainian-born chess player who went on to become a master in the most memorable of ways. He was born in 1882 to a wealthy Jewish family. He started playing chess at the age of nineteen while he was simultaneously studying…

In a reference so obscure only the most determined fan would find it, Game of Thrones' in-house linguist translated insults from Monty Python into the show's Low Valyrian language

Panda diplomacy is China's use of giant pandas as diplomatic gifts to other countries. The practice existed as far back as the Tang dynasty, when Empress Wu Zetian (625–705) sent a pair of pandas to the Japanese emperor.

A new scientific study has reached the conclusion that the fresh water found in Puerto Williams town in southern Chile's Magallanes region is the purest in ...

The Letter of Last Resort is a handwritten letter from the Prime Minister to the commanding officer of each of Trident's submarines...

Major bovine linguistic breakthrough

"What a stupid question!" I bet this is the natural reaction of many readers once they see the noscript of this article. Indeed it is a dream of any chess fan to play like Magnus Carlsen. OK, let me rephrase the original question: Should we play our openings…

LONDON (Reuters) - Up to 70 percent of British men and half of all Western European men are related to the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, geneticists in Switzerland said.

In 2010, I wrote a story about Bill Murray that examined his unique status with the current crop of moviemakers…

Cobalt is named for the German word “kobold,” or goblin. The association wasn’t innocent. It got the name because cobalt was responsible for the horrible and mysterious deaths of miners.

“My whole damn life has been worth it just for this moment.”

Check out Empire to find out all about the Three Stooges; the 1940s comedy legends whose fame resulted in them being considered Hitler's personal enemy!

The American animated science fiction sitcom Futurama, created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company, aired on Fox from March 28, 1999, to August 10, 2003; Cartoon Network's Adult Swim aired reruns of the show from 2003 through 2007. Following…