Status Updates From The Rest is History: Histor...

“A third-century bishop who gave away his money in order to help the poor, St Nicholas was already popular among Dutch New Yorkers, who called him Sint Nikolaas, or Sinter Klaas…He was exported back to Britain and merged with the pre-existing British tradition of Father Christmas to create the commercial jamboree we know (and sometimes love) today. Santa Claus himself arrived by reindeer from America in the 1870s.”

“The first British consul to arrive in Kumasi in 1820 was hugely impressed by what he saw, including a number of things that would still be remarkable in Britain today: daily litter collections; upper-class people washing themselves with soap; upper-class people cleaning their teeth. There were also windows sheathed in gold, flushing lavatories…This was confusing for a generation raised on tales of African savagery.”

“By the time Nelson’s men were gearing up to fight at Trafalgar in 1805, they were probably the healthiest Britons alive. Their ships were kept supplied with a steady stream of fresh carrots, cabbages, lemon juice (to prevent scurvy), beer and live pigs – a remarkable logistical operation in a world where everything had to be organised by letters.”

“ Sparta, a powerful, militarised and utterly bonkers city-state in Ancient Greece, has inspired the imagination of everyone from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the French philosopher, to Victorian headmasters, to the Nazis, to elite military units, to Hollywood. And now it’s your turn. Can you navigate Sparta’s complex social structures and join the Krypteia, the Spartan elite? Play our adventure and find out.”