Feature

The tactics adopted by the Gallic leader Vercingetorix to resist Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul played into Roman hands.

Sex, scandals and celebrity were all part of a blame and shame culture that existed in the 18th century, one that often fed off the misfortune of women at the hands of men. Prostitutes, courtesans and ladies with injured reputations took up the pen in retaliation.

At the end of the 19th century, British antiquarian Arthur Evans sought to ‘re-enchant’ the world with his utopian interpretation of Crete’s ancient Minoan civilisation.

In 1706 a little-known mathematics teacher named William Jones first used a symbol to represent the platonic concept of pi, an ideal that in numerical terms can be approached, but never reached.

Bartitsu – rather than Baritsu – was a hybrid martial art that flourished in fin de siècle London. As an amateur boxer, Arthur Conan Doyle was fascinated.

St George only gained popularity in England in the 15th century and Richard the Lionheart had nothing to do with his adoption as the nation’s patron saint.

Friedrich Engels financed the research behind his friend Karl Marx’s epic critique of the free market, Das Kapital. His role is now being recognised.

Henry Tudor invoked providence to gain his throne in 1485, but it was skilful use of heraldic and religious imagery, as well as promotion of the cult of Henry VI that ensured he retained it.