Cornelius Whalen died peacefully in hopsital on September 14, 2003 at the age of 93. Q: How was he a history-maker A: He was the last survivor of the Jarrow March. Q: Which did what A:

It's easier to say what he didn't do: invent the Internet, split the atom, discover the source of the Nile, appear on Celebrity Big Brother, hitch-hike round South America, DJ at the Ministry of

Let's start at the beginning. Lincoln was born on 12 February 1809 born in a one room log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky to Thomas Lincoln and his wife Nancy. Little Abe's

July 4th - that's Independence Day in the USA It certainly is: the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. On that day in 1776 the 'United Colonies' declared their resolve to break away once

Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry in Monster's Ball Halle Berry won her Best Actress Oscar for her role in Monster's Ball, recently released to widespread acclaim in the UK. It is a dark

All I know about Paraguay is that they've qualified for the World Cup Don't worry, you're not alone. If Paraguay gets mentioned at all in the UK, it's usually because of their football team and in

The Battle of Kohima has been compared to the siege of Stalingrad and, from another war, to the Somme. It stands as one of the great turning-points of the Second World War, and as testament to the

A. 2. And it's not rare. Q. Don't believe you. A. Try going to see a coin dealer, then. You're likely to emerge with a black eye, too, for wasting their time. It's an urban myth that seems to

A. No. The Black Death - the pandemic that killed more than a quarter of the population of 14th-Century Europe, was not bubonic plague, according to new research from America. It was previously

A. Steady on - we don't want that sort of treasonous talk on the Answerbank. I think you must be referring to claims in a book that a direct descendant of Bonnie Prince Charlie have been discovered

A. I think you mean old gold cup. The Bronze Age vessel, dating from the same time as Stonehenge, was been unearthed in a cornfield at Woodnesborough, near Sandwich, in Kent. That makes it between

A. Sorry. You've been taken in by an urban myth - but rather a good one. The story says that Title 14 (Section 1211) of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on 16 July, 1969, made it

A. I regret you can't - there are no plans to put it on sale. But I expect you'd like to hear a bit more about it Q. Oh yes. A. An Egyptian perfume used by the pharaohs has been rediscovered

A. Yes. Two academics believe that the face upon it is not of Jesus but of Jacques de Molay. Q. Who's he A. Leader of the Knights Templar, a religious military order established at the time of

A. According to new evidence, yes. Vatican documents have come to light showing that the Knights Templar were massacred in the Middle Ages for 'heresy, idolatry and sexual perversion' even though

A. Yes - and it looks as though it's going to stay that way. The Siegfried Line, 400 miles of Second World War defences built to keep the Allied armies out of Germany, has been granted protected

A. A band of at least 13 disaffected Catholics. Some would call them freedom fighters; others traitors. They were: Robert Catesby, Sir Everard Digby, John Grant, Thomas Percy, Robert Keyes, Ambrose

A. Yes - and in a sense he's been honoured for work that he did without knowing. Q. Without knowing How A. He was dead. Q. I think you'd better begin at the beginning. A. Good idea. A

A. The evidence is compelling. Curators at the British Library in London believe they may have found some of the gunpowder with which the legendary conspirator Guy Fawkes tried to blow up

A. The main structure was completed in 1868, seven years after the death of Queen Victoria's beloved husband Albert. The edifice, in Kensington Gardens opposite the Royal Albert Hall, was opened to