RR16/history

From the page: "When millions would have done anything to get out, one remarkable British soldier smuggled himself into Auschwitz to witness the horror so he could tell others the truth."

From the page: "The Audie L. Murphy Memorial Web Site site has been established to preserve the memory, honor, and history of the late Audie L. Murphy, most decorated American combat soldier of World War II who died tragically in an airplane accident in 1971. He received every decoration for valor that this country had to offer plus 5 decorations presented to him by France and Belgium."

From the page: "Historians are not certain who invented the first spectacles. In the late thirteen century around 1287 paintings first appeared with people wearing or holding spectacles. From these paintings we know that spectacles were invented in Italy.

Around 1300 the Venetian Glassmaker's Guild made regulations on glasses. They made it illegal for glasses to be made with glass lenses in place of the more valuable rock crystal.

In 1352 eyeglasses were only worn by the well educated, very rich noblemen or well read Italian clergy. At this time a monk named Tommaso da Modena documented the church had painted a fresco with an older churchman wearing glasses while looking over an old manuscript."

From the page: "An archaeological dig in Jerusalem has turned up a 3,700-year-old wall that is the largest and oldest of its kind found in the region, experts say.
The wall is built of enormous boulders, confounding archaeologists as to how ancient peoples built it.

The wall is built of enormous boulders, confounding archaeologists as to how ancient peoples built it.

Standing 8 meters (26 feet) high, the wall of huge cut stones is a marvel to archaeologists."

From the page: "Princess Diana: I've always believed the crash was not an accident
From Stephen Lawrence to the Birmingham Six, a radical lawyer has fought many controversial cases. In this exclusive extract from his memoirs he reveals his part in the most high-profile: the death of Diana"

From the page: "John Adams: "Liberty, once lost, is lost forever"
I've been watching the outstanding HBO miniseries, John Adams, and it's given me a new appreciation for the great man who was our second president of the United States.

In his travels during the American Revolution, he wrote many letters to his wife, Abigail Adams. This excerpt was from Familiar letters of John Adams and his wife Abigail Adams, during the Revolution, written July 7, 1775."

Inscribed on a clay cylinder in cuneiform discovered in 1879 now in The British Museum, London

... I am Cyrus. King of the world. When I entered Babylon... I did not allow anyone to terrorize the land... I kept in view the needs of people and all its sanctuaries to promote their well-being... I put an end to their misfortune. The Great God has delivered all the lands into my hand; the lands that I have made to dwell in a peaceful habitation..

From the page: "ROME (JTA) -- The United States and British governments suppressed information about the extent of the Holocaust, the Vatican's official newspaper charged.

The newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, also slammed Allied governments in World War II for deliberately failing to act to stop the systematic killing of Europe's Jews despite having detailed information about the Nazi plans to exterminate European Jewry, according to a lengthy article published Aug. 13."