¿ YES or B.S. ?

Wakey wakey: A bird’s-eye view of Wake Island (NASA/Public domain) Wake Island is a tiny isolated coral atoll in Micronesia, more than 1,000 miles east of Guam, in the central Pacific Ocean. Just 2½ square miles in size, the island is arguably best known for the Battle of Wake Island, which took place on 8 December 1941 (the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii) and eventually saw the island occupied by Japanese forces. Ultimately a major component of the Pac

“Uh oh. We’ll have to switch to gin.” (Pixabay) When the surrender of Nazi Germany was announced on Soviet radio shortly after 1 o’clock in the morning on 9 May 1945, those fun-loving Russians took no time at all to make the most of the occasion. The celebrations began almost instantly, with many revellers taking to the streets in their pyjamas to celebrate the end of the War in Europe. And what better way to celebrate than with a cool shot of Russian vodka? Or two. Or nine.

“That’s not the dress code!”: General Lee surrenders at Appomattox (Public domain/Wikimedia) When two sides go to battle, the clean up afterwards can be a prolonged operation. Just like when the old guy who used to live opposite my parents’ house threw a bag of dog poop over his neighbours’ car. That took him ages to clean that up. Though in fairness, he’d been warned not to let his builders spill dolomite over his driveway, so you could say he kinda deserved it. But I digres

They say war is hell. A brutal, unrelenting experience with no real winners when all is said and done. That is, of course, unless you happened to be a member of the army of Liechtenstein—the tiny principality that sits snugly between Switzerland and Austria—in the mid nineteenth century. Then you might find war to be a rather enjoyable affair and, what’s more, a great chance to make new friends. Our story begins back at the start of the Austro–Prussian War in June 1866. With

The 16th century French philosopher, Michel de Montaigne, once said of marriage that it should be between a “blind wife and a deaf husband.” Based on this quote, we can only speculate how blissful M. de Montaigne’s own marriage might have been, but what we do know for certain is that marriage can sometimes be a tough old game. So, what do you do if your marriage heading for the rocks? Seek marriage counselling? Get divorced? Fight your spouse to the death in a convoluted duel

What would be your first reaction to someone firing artillery at you in a warzone? A. Run away B. Try and find some way to fight back C. Assume it was a friendly hello, and go and send someone out talk to the person who shot at you Well, if you answered C to that question then it seems you’d be perfectly suited for the job of Marine Corps Captain of the Spanish Army in colonial Guam. Because that’s exactly what the holder that title, a Mr Pedro Duarte, did when the island of