5 Facts You Didn't Know About Pocahontas.

She is commonly referred to as a Disney character who saved John Smith (in the movie, not exactly in real life). She was much more than that. She was a real historical person who faced hardships.

1. She was baptized with the name 'Rebecca.'

2. There is a portrait of her (right)

3. She died at about 22.

4. She was married two times.
5. When she died she left her husband John Rolfe a widow, he may have died after an Indian attack. 

Links/Sources/More Information:
John Rolfe (1585-1622): http://www.virtualjamestown.org/jrolfe.html
Pocahontas: http://www.powhatanmuseum.com/Pocahontas.html

10 Facts You Don't Know About Charlie Chaplin

Here are 10 facts you don't know about the famous actor and director:

What did he do?

1. He had a young child that died.

His child with his first wife, Mildred died after just 3 days. His name was Norman Spencer Chaplin. 2 years later Mildred and Chaplin divorced.

2. He was born in the same year as Adolf Hitler, Otto Frank, and Robert Taft.

3. He met Gandhi...

Proof is in the picture.

4. ...and Albert Einstein.

Way to go, Chaplin!

He knew who to meet.

5. He was exiled from the US.

it was for political reasons. He returned to win an Oscar and receive the longest standing ovation in the history of the Academy.

6. When he was 54, he married his third wife, an 18-year-old.

He was married to her for the longest, since the marriage was ended by his death.

7. That third woman he married (just mentioned) was Oona O'Neill the daughter of the famous playwright Eugene O'Neill.

They had eight children.

Chaplin and his third wife, Oona.

8. His body was stolen and held for ransom.

Yep, just a year after he died, his body was stolen. More info here.

9. His mother became mentally ill when he was a boy.

She had had two illegitimate children in and before her marriage. her husband had died before she drifted into insanity when he was 37. Charlie and his step-brother Sydney were taken in by the State.

10. He played a role as Jewish Barber who is mistaken as Hitler.

In the Great Dictator, Chaplin played a Jewish barber who is mistaken for Adenoid Hynkel and the dictator himself. Even though, Hitler is known by a different name in this movie it is easy to see that it is Hynkel is Hitler. The whole film, in fact, can be seen as just a parody of Hitler. Below is the trailer for the movie.

Sources:
Down but not out...:http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk/resources/bfi/biog/biog.php?fid=biog1
Edna Purivance: http://www.ednapurviance.org/
Chaplin A Life: http://www.chaplinalife.com/
Fun Trivia: http://www.funtrivia.com/en/celebrities/chaplin-charlie-16030.html
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032553/

Check out
The Autobiography of Charlie Chaplin
Click the picture link to know it all. Click it.

10 Misconceptions and Facts You Don't Know About Anne Boleyn

Henry VIII

It's so easy to obsess about Anne Boleyn. She is the most mysterious and questionable wife of all of the six of Henry VIII, who is the king you might recall I wrote before (see the post here).  There are so many fascinating facts and misconceptions about her, no wonder people are interested in her. 

Here is a little summary of her: She was the 2nd wife of Henry VIII of England who left his first for Anne because she could provide him with a heir.  The Catholic Church declared his marriage to Anne void and Henry separated England from the Church and declared himself as head of the Church of England. In this Church his marriage to Anne was legal and now Henry was able to receive a legitimate heir from Anne. However Anne was not able to give him a male heir. She was executed for adultery by the King. Henry went on to have six wives.

First are the 5 misconceptions:

1. Portraits of her are without a doubt accurately showing her.  

The coin showing Anne Boleyn.

The famous portrait of her

This is not true. Almost all of her portraits are debated and it is not even known if any of them actually portray her. The most famous painting is anonymous and is thought to be a copy of a lost original. It is the one pictured on the right. The only surviving official likeness of Anne is the badly damaged 1536 metal coin of her inscribed 'most happi'. Here are some of speculated portraits of her.

2. Anne Boleyn had an extra finger and in fact it was said by a contemporary she had "on her right hand six fingers."

This claim can be written off as a rumor by her political enemies because when her body was found in the Chapel of St. Peter Ad Vincula it showed no deformities. 

3.  Anne was guilty of adultery.
Some have protested this, but the overwhelming evidence says to the contrary.

4. Anne was Henry's one true love.
Though it is a romantic theory, Henry VIII chose to be buried with the 3rd wife, his 'one true love.'

5. Anne Boleyn was ugly.
She was not ugly but just pretty. She had a long neck and dark hair and beautiful eyes she knew how to use.

Here are the facts about Anne you don't know:

1. Anne had a pet dog called Urian.
Urian was a greyhound which Anne had a brought from France.


2. Thomas Wyatt wrote a poem about her, here is a excerpt.
'Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain
There is written, her fair neck round about:
Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.'

3. Anne was feisty.
Enough said.

4. Princess Mary, later bloody Mary hated Anne and Anne hated her.
Here is a quote by the Spanish Ambassador that mentions their relationship:
'Your Majesty must root out the Lady and her adherents.... This accursed Anne has her foot in the stirrup, and will do the Queen and the Princess all the harm she can.  She has boasted that she will make the Princess her lady-in-waiting, or marry her to some varlet.' 

5. Anne Boleyn was mother of Queen Elizabeth I, often called the virgin queen.

Elizabeth I

If want more check out 
The Lady in the Tower: the Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir! Click on the Image.

Anne Boleyn

Sources:
-Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland
-Could the Real Anne Bolyen Come Forward: http://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2011/02/07/would-the-real-anne-boleyn-please-come-forward/
-The Rise and Fall of Anglican Schism
 http://archive.org/stream/riseofschism00sanduoft/riseofschism00sanduoft_djvu.txt
-http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/boleyn-poems.html
-http://englishhistory.net/tudor/annedesc.html
-Notices of the Historic Persons Buried in the Chapel of St. Peter Ad Vincula by Doyne Courtney Bell

5 Facts You Don't Know about Ivan the Terrible

Ivan became the emperor of Russia when he was 3 . He would go on to pass some reforms limiting corruption despite having an overall bad reputation in his reign as ruler. All of the bad thoughts about him are warranted, he was insane.


Here are five facts about Ivan 'the Terrible' you probably didn't know:

Ivan displaying his signature
beard-he wouldn't be caught dead without it.

1. He was considered insane.

After the death of his first wife, he smashed his skull against the floor and threw his furniture; he had a complete nervous breakdown. He displayed sadist qualities, impaling his wife's lover outside her window.  He was constantly moody and his friends just couldn't keep themselves alive when Ivan disliked them.

2. His mother and wife were both poisoned.

His Mother.
Reminds me of Norman Bates except
their completely different.

It's long be suspected that they both were and so their bodies were tested for mercury. It has been confirmed.  Who would want to kill them? 

3. Ivan's uncle was sent to prison by Ivan's mother. 

His uncles had threatened Ivan's throne. So like any good evil Russian mother, she shoved into prison and left them to rot.




4. He killed his son and heir.

So sad, such a good heir.

Ivan beat his son's wife who had immodest. He had gotten rid of the last of his son's previous wives because of their sterility, his son saw how horrible his father was acting.  He rushed in exclaiming to his father "You put my first wife for no reason in a prison of a monastery, then you did the same with my second wife and now you have beaten the third to destroy the son in her womb!"  They fought some more and Ivan hit his son in the head with a iron staff. His son was loosened into unconsciousness and died a few days later.

his first wife

5. He went through 8 wives. 

His first wife, Anastasia died naturally.
His second Maria, died naturally, too
His third, Martha died two weeks after they married.
His fourth Anna, was sent to a convent.
His fifth another Anna, was replaced by the next wife.
His sixth committed adultery and was sent to a convent.
His seventh, he had drowned.
His eighth, survived him






Sources:
Ivan the Terrible: http://www.methacton.org/cms/lib/PA01000176/Centricity/Domain/121/ivan_the_terrible_
reading_and_questions.pdf
Tsaritsas' Hair Solves The Mystery Of Their Death: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/724240/posts
Historical Essay about Russia by Antonino Possevino: http://www.krotov.info/acts/16/possevino/041.html

10 Hard to Find Facts about Winston Churchill

A Prime Minister of Britain who was in office during the years of World War Two. He was among the big powers overseeing the Holocaust. Here are rare facts about him:

1.  On British policy: "What is our policy?…to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime."

V for Victory!

2. His Father's Death: It was long thought that his father died from syphilis at 45. His father actually died from a brain tumor.

3. Part American: Churchill was part American, from his mother, Jennie Jerome. 

4.Smoking Habit: He liked to smoke Havana cigars which he discovered in the military.

5. His occupations: Churchill before his career in politics, was a writer, he wrote many books. He was also in the military.


6. Comment on a Book He Wrote: Samuel Hoare said about one of his books:Winston's written an enormous book all about himself and called it The World Crisis.

7. History Lovers Unite!: He loved history, scoring well in it in school. He even thought of writing a book about Napoleon.

8. Hobbies: He loved polo when he was young but connected with art and started to paint when he was older.

9. Many life-threatening circumstances: he almost drowned and had serious pneumonia. One time someone actually tried to push him in front of a train, thankfully his wife saved him, she hit the person with her umbrella. 

10. That Club: he co-founded a club called 'The Other Club. (Don't get too imaginative; it was a dining club)


Sources:
Winston Churchill, Man of the Century, Course Guide by John Ramsden
Winstonchurchill.org
Oxford Essential Quotations

I am going to be writing sometimes every other day now. So if I post on Monday then next I will post on Wednesday. You have probably noticed my erratic posting schedule. I'll post soon and try to get out of this schedule.

Check out

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 

Its kinda cheap but still 5 stars!

Churchill wants you to click on the picture link