We are told that sweets and chocolates are bad for us, and should be eaten in small amounts, if at all. However, during a terrifying wartime winter, a delivery of Tootsie Rolls proved to be a lifesaver. Tootsie Rolls are bite-size chocolate…

In February the British Medical Association released a letter arguing that sanitary products should be made available to inpatients for free. Following on from this NHS England have now announced that sanitary towels and tampons will be…

In hip hop, diss tracks and long running feuds have become a staple of the art form. As Rory Lynam discussed in a recent article, musical conflict no longer seems to be pushing artists into creating great music, but this was not always the…

In 1893 a new guide for freshers began to circulate at St. John’s College, Cambridge. It was authored by ‘A Sympathiser’, later identified as Undergraduate Arthur John Story. Story was an Undergraduate at St John’s from 1893 to 1896…

The summer of 1816 has an unusual claim to fame. It is known as The Year Without a Summer. How did it come by this unusual moniker? The answer lies in the events of the previous year. In 1815 Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in the…

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (originally titled Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus) is often considered to be the first science fiction novel and is a landmark of gothic fiction. First published anonymously in 1818 when Mary Shelley was…

The first Olympic medal won by the Irish Free State was a silver medal in 1924, awarded Jack Butler Yeats for his 1923 painting The Liffey Swim. That may seem surprising today, however between 1912 and 1948 the arts took pride of place…

In 1660, James Duport, a fellow at Trinity College Cambridge compiled a list of 149 handwritten rules aimed at new students. In doing so he established a tradition of advice-giving that has endured over the centuries. Each new academic…

In 1981, Mayor of Chicago Jane Byrne took the unusual step of moving into one of the housing units in Cabrini Green. In these days of politicians having second homes and travel allowances this seems like a strange thing for a politician to…

In the centre of Coventry, a midlands city in England, there is a statue of a woman astride a horse, her head bowed, unclothed except for her long hair. Across the road, at the top of a slate grey brick clock tower every hour, on the hour,…