The AnswerBank Articles

Who was the last man to get a VC

A. It's a question of interpretation. The last two men to receive the highest British honour were Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Jones and Sergeant Ian John McKay. Both died in the Falklands War. Q. 00:00 Thu 25th Oct 2001

Who was Robert Emmet

A. Born 4 March, 1778; executed 20 September, 1803. He was an Irish hero or traitor, depending on your point of view. Q. Is this all to do with the 1798 Rebellion A. Yes. In 1798, Ireland was00:00 Tue 23rd Oct 2001

Which monarch had a square coffin

A. Cynthia Dyke asked the question and Janetx correctly answered: Anne Stuart, Queen of England. Q. But why square A. Because Anne (1665-1714) - Queen of Great Britain and Ireland (1702-14),00:00 Tue 23rd Oct 2001

What was the Beer Hall Putsch

A. An attempt by the Nazis to seize power at a rally in one of Munich's large beer cellars in 1923. A putsch is an uprising. Q. A bit of background first A. OK. The Nazis grew in power after00:00 Mon 22nd Oct 2001

What is the origin of the three wise monkeys

A. Thanks to poppy for the question and MistyLady for her answer. The three wise monkeys in question were carved over the door of the Sacred Stable, in Nikko, Japan, in the 17th Century. One covers00:00 Mon 22nd Oct 2001

What is the ceremony known as Changing the Quill on John Stow's monument

A. An interesting question there from gill girling. This is a memorial service, held at St Andrew's Undershaft, near the Lloyd's building in the City of London, every year on 5 April. John Stow00:00 Mon 22nd Oct 2001

Was Hitler gay

A. It would seem so. Adolf Hitler had numerous homoerotic friendships in the 1920s and the dictator's later life can be understood better by taking into account his gay preferences, according to a00:00 Mon 15th Oct 2001

Who was John Wycliff

A. John Wycliff (also spelled Wycliffe) was a religious reformer, Bible translator and a cleric used by the King to attack the Pope. Q. How did this all come about A. Wycliff, born in00:00 Mon 15th Oct 2001

A new Egyptian king has been found

A. An old one actually. A mummy left to gather dust in a Canadian corset factory that became a museum has now been identified by scientists as the long-lost remains of King Rameses I. Q. Who was00:00 Mon 15th Oct 2001

Who was Simon de Montfort

A. There were two of 'em. Simon de Montfort (c1160-1218), also known as Simon IV de l'Amaury, was created Earl of Leicester by King John in 1206. In 1218 he captured Toulouse, south-east of00:00 Mon 08th Oct 2001

Who was Lambert Simnel

A. Lambert Simnel (about 1475-1525) was pretender to the English throne. He, like Perkin Warbeck (click here for a feature on him) impersonated Richard, Duke of York, presumed to have been murdered00:00 Mon 08th Oct 2001

How did Nostradamus predict the World Trade Center disaster

A. What do you mean Q. Oh come on, you must have read the verse that Nostradamus wrote in 1654. It's doing the rounds everywhere on the internet: In the year of the new century and nine00:00 Mon 08th Oct 2001

What was the Battle of Edgehill

A. A decisive moment in English history. The day that the monarch's right was challenged. The Battle of Edgehill was the first major clash of armies of the English Civil War. It ended in a draw00:00 Mon 01st Oct 2001

How did Trotsky get it in the neck

A. With an ice-pick. At 45 Viena Street, Coyoacan, Mexico City, on Thursday, 22 August 1940. Q. Why A. Towards the end of his life the first Russian revolutionary leader, Lenin, favoured00:00 Mon 01st Oct 2001

Lady Godiva - any truth in her

A. Seems so - although perhaps not the full-frontal version. Q. Huh A. The basic schoolboy-snigger version of the legend is this: Lady Godiva told her husband that the townspeople of Coventry00:00 Mon 01st Oct 2001

Where is King Stephen buried

Q. I want to see the grave of King Stephen (1096-1154) one of the Plantagenet kings. Where is he buried I've been told it is in the parish church of St Mary of Charity, Faversham, but that seems00:00 Mon 24th Sep 2001

What was the Indian Mutiny

A. The mutiny of 1857-58 began with Indian soldiers in the Bengal army of the British East India Company but developed into a widespread uprising against British rule in India. It is also known as00:00 Mon 24th Sep 2001

What was the Mordaunt Scandal

A. A real Victorian scandal which dragged in the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. Q. A man noted for his, ahem, excesses A. Got it in one. The Prince - heir to the greatest empire on Earth00:00 Thu 27th Sep 2001

Who was the Earl of Essex

A. Aha! There were three of them. I presume you refer to Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex, favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. He was so famous - or infamous, I should say - that that the Tower00:00 Mon 17th Sep 2001

What's this newly-discovered treasure ship

A. It is believed to be the wreck of a 17th-century British warship called HMS Sussex that foundered in a violent storm off Gibraltar in 1694. Q. And the treasure A. The flagship's cargo of00:00 Mon 17th Sep 2001