Viking names: what the real ones were, and what they actually meant
Most Viking name lists online are half invention. Here are names that genuinely appear in Old Norse sources, what they meant, and why the nicknames are better than the names.
Viking tattoos: six symbols that don’t mean what the internet says
Most Viking tattoos are not Viking. The compass is from 1860, the helmet is from an opera, and nobody knows what the valknut means. Here is what the evidence actually says before you book the appointment.
Königsberg: the 700-year-old city that was taken off the map
Königsberg stood for seven centuries, produced Immanuel Kant, and was erased in under two years. The buildings, the people and finally the name. What is there now is called Kaliningrad, after a man who never went.
Karelian evacuees: the 400,000 Finns who lost their homes twice
Finland lost a tenth of its territory and moved twelve per cent of its population. Then most of them went home, and had to leave all over again. The story of the Karelian evacuation, and the names that vanished with it.
10 inspiring Albert Einstein quotes to brighten your day
Albert Einstein provided more than just physics equations. His observations on life and the human mind remain relevant. These ten quotes offer a perspective on imagination and curiosity. Ten quotes from Albert Einstein 1. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” 2. “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” 3. “I have no…
The 19th century’s greatest writers as you’ve never seen them before. In colour.
When most of us picture the past we imagine it in black and white. Hardly surprising when you consider the history of colour photography. Although the first colour photograph was taken way back in 1861 by Thomas Sutton (the Englishman chose a tartan ribbon as his subject), it wasn’t until the 1970s that colour snaps…
