Historical Snippets 4 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Richard Cromwell

England initially became a republic in 1649 following the execution of King Charles I in January that year, and a follow up Act passed by Parliament four months later. The Protectorate itself began in 1653, with Oliver Cromwell installed as Lord High Protector of the Commonwealth. And what a cheerless term that was. Under this warts and all leader, all the more celebratory aspects of English society were banned, or, at the very least, heavily curbed. These included drinking to excess, inns, brothels, theatre activity, celebrations built around Christmas Day and horse racing.

More positive aspects of Cromwell's tour of duty included the building of a stronger Navy, greater religious tolerance, and the readmission of Jews to the country. This mattered little to an indignant public, and Cromwell had to rely heavily on his armed forces to maintain order. On his death in 1658, when his son, Richard Cromwell, took over as Lord Protector, he lacked the force of personality and the ability to not only control Parliament, but also the army as well. "Queen Dick" became his contemptuous nickname among the general public, and in the chaos that took place under his leadership, he was removed from power by Parliament in 1659. Mince pies, Christmas, maypoles, the theatre, a tipple or three, and the Merry Monarch (Charles II) were all welcomed back with open arms.

Answer: So he wouldn't be seen to be shivering

King Charles I (1600-1649), was born into the Stuart dynasty of British monarchs. This diminutive king was only 5 foot 4 inches in height (1.63m), a statistic about which he was rather sensitive. He believed, not only in the divine right to rule, but also that monarchs should be tall in stature to reflect this belief. He set about shaping his image to this belief, constantly wearing boots with higher heels than normal, and being painted either looking down from his horse, or being depicted taller than his actual height. Charles was also immensely stubborn, and attempted to force all his opinions and beliefs onto an increasingly annoyed parliament and public. This stubborn refusal to budge led to his ultimate downfall.

Following the English Civil War and the capture, trial and sentencing to death of the unyielding Charles, the bitterly cold day of his execution saw him stepping bravely out of the window of the Banqueting House of Whitehall onto the awaiting public scaffold. Charles was wearing two shirts on this day, not because he was afraid of his destiny, but because he didn't want to be seen shivering from the cold by the crowds outside - and have them thinking he was trembling from fear.

Answer: A glass grand piano

Princess Alexandra of Bavaria (1826-1875) was the daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria and a member of the House of Wittelsbach, whose family branches stretched all over Europe. Unmarried, she devoted her life to the pursuit of literature and as abbess of the Royal Chapter of Ladies for Saint Anne, a religious organisation for women from the aristocracy. Various volumes of her own work were published, the proceeds of some she donated to an orphanage.

Apart from being a polished and gifted writer, Alexandra was plagued for the major part of her life with mental health issues. She was obsessed with cleanliness for one thing, refused to wear anything but white clothing, and became utterly convinced in her early twenties that she had swallowed a grand piano made of glass, and that this piano still remained inside her.

Answer: He died when his neck was broken during the hanging

Guy Fawkes (1570-1606) was a member of a group of English Catholics who planned to assassinate King James I and blow up the British House of Lords in the famous, but foiled, Gunpowder Plot of 1605. The conspirators actually leased an undercroft underneath the building, and stockpiled barrels of gunpowder there until the time arrived to strike the match. The plan was to then place a Catholic monarch back on the English throne. The silly fellows didn't want any Catholics killed in the explosion, though, so warned one of them in advance - and he informed the authorities. Oh, the ingratitude.

Duly caught and arrested, the conspirators were manacled, and then put on the rack in two punishments described as "gentler torture". Guy Fawkes broke as the torture grew more severe. When found guilty at their follow up trial, the decreed punishment of the conspirators was to be dragged backward (drawn) to the place of execution, where they would be (half) hanged, then quartered while still alive. Guy Fawkes, however, was so weak from the days of torture that he had to be helped up to the scaffold. Once there, he either stumbled or jumped - and died instantly at the end of the noose. Not to be done out of their jolly fun, the aggrieved audience had his lifeless body quartered anyhow, sending the four portions to different parts of the kingdom as a warning to others who may also have had a yen to play with matches.

Answer: To prevent the spirit trying to return to the old body

The Gumbaynggirr Nation of Australia's indigenous people once stretched from the Nambucca River, a long distance south of Coffs Harbour, to the Clarence River in the North, and over to the Great Divide in the west. There were a number of different clans within this group, all united by a common language and similarities within their culture. Of their rituals dealing with deceased family members, bodies were tightly wrapped and bound in sitting positions, and then covered in bark. Because it was believed that the spirit left the body upon death, the bodies were bound in this way to stop the spirit trying to return to the old body after death.

It was often the case in many clans to also break the limbs of the deceased before binding them close to the body to reinforce this custom.

Answer: Beer

Samoset was a subordinate chief (known as a sagamore) from the Abenaki people who dwelt in an area of the United States known today as Maine. He lived from 1590-1653. In 1621, he walked into the founding settlement of the Plymouth Colony, and astonished all and sundry by greeting the Pilgrims in English. It was soon found that he had learned English from fishermen who frequently visited that area of Maine near Monhegan Island, and indeed was on first name terms with the various captains of those ships. Somewhat comically, the first thing Samoset asked for after various introductions were made - was beer.

It's a little puzzling though why this initial meeting isn't stressed more in the history books of early American settlement, and the fact that English speaking fishermen were quite familiar with the waters around Maine, before any Pilgrims on the Mayflower arrived.

Answer: Two eggs

Billy Hughes (1862-1952) was Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 until 1923. He is best known for attempting to push through a referendum in the country in 1917, to enforce conscription of Australian men into the army during the First World War (1914-1918). Australia at that time in history had a population of less than five million, and some 500,000 men enlisted to fight over the course of the war - 10 percent of that nation's life blood. Gladly and bravely joining up of their own free will to defend king and country, enforced conscription into the army was another matter altogether for a nation known to be somewhat defiant of authority.

On his way by train from Sydney to Brisbane during the fiery debates surrounding conscription, Billy Hughes had a stopover in Warwick, Queensland, to give a speech on the topic to a less than enthusiastic crowd, when suddenly two louts in the crowd threw a couple of eggs at the PM. One knocked Billy's hat clear off his head, and the fiery little Prime Minister went to jump into the ensuing melee right away but was prevented from doing so by the police guard. On his return to the platform to finish his speech a short time later, he was heckled again by one of the protesters and the enraged little PM made it into the scuffle this time, wielding his walking cane with all the ferocity of an infuriated little bantam rooster. He demanded the heckler be charged under Commonwealth law, but the on duty police officer at the time replied he couldn't do that, as this was a matter for State and not any Commonwealth authority. Hughes, known in the history books as the Little Digger because he never backed off a fight, was furious. The upshot of it all was he promptly set about establishing Australia's Commonwealth Police Force whose authority went nation wide instead of stopping at State boundaries - and this is the "eggsact" truth.

Answer: Dry linen cloths

Soap was in use in England by the 13th century, but it was for the cloth manufacturing industry, and for laundry purposes - not for personal use. It wouldn't be until the 18th century that hot water and soap became the thing to use to keep the body clean. The major reason for this was that Tudor medical authorities believed that disease entered the body through the pores of the skin and, to prevent this happening, one should never wash with hot water - which opened up the pores - and that those troublesome pores of the skin should be kept as tightly covered as possible. It was recommended, instead, for the purpose of cleanliness, and as detailed in his 1545 work "This is the Myrrour or Glasse of Helth" by physician Thomas Moulton, that all underwear touching any part of the body should be made of linen. Leather, wool or silk could be worn externally, but should never be in direct contact with the skin.

The reason for this was two-fold. Unlike the other materials, linen was easy to wash, and it had the real benefit of being absorbent, with the ability to soak up excess sweat, oil and grime. This was very fine for the wealthy who could afford fresh linen every day. Poorer people, however, would have been undoubtedly on the nose. One way around this, and also highly recommended by the medical authorities of the time, was to scrub one's skin all over every day with a dry linen cloth - to "rubbe the body with a course lynnen clothe, first softely and easilye, and after to increase more and more, to a harde and swyfte rubbynge, untyll the fleshe do swelle, and be somewhat ruddy...", as cited in Sir Thomas Elyot's book "The Castel of Helth" (1534). Even the poorest person could thus afford a scrap of linen. These were known as rubbing cloths, or body cloths, and were often found recorded in household inventories of the time.

Answer: He had omitted to include a staircase in the design

Wortley Hall in South Yorkshire was originally built over an existing Manor House in 1586. Its long life has been colourful and interesting ever since, with links to royalty, the higher echelons of politics, the British army (whose occupation left the beautiful old home in a tragic state of disarray) and its ownership by the British Labour movement and associated Trade Unions.

In 1800, when the then owner, Baron Wharncliffe and his new wife, Lady Elizabeth Crichton, went to move into the recently rebuilt Hall at the start of their marriage, it was discovered that the architect had forgotten to add a staircase into the multi-level building.

Answer: Its wheel sizes resembled two coins of the time

The penny-farthing became popular in Europe in the second half of the 19th century, but wasn't initially called that name by the general public. Instead, it was known as the "high wheeler" or an "ordinary". It was only when it was being replaced by what we'd recognise today as a modern bicycle in the late 1880s that it began to be referred to as a penny-farthing. This name was based on the relative size of two coins in use in England at this time - the penny and the farthing. The penny, which represented the large front wheel, was a large copper coin worth four times the amount of the smaller copper farthing coin, which represented the much smaller back wheel of this bicycle.

Frightfully dangerous to ride upon if one was thrown off the bicycle from the height of its seat, the advantage of the penny-farthing was that the large front wheel allowed much faster speeds to be achieved. Because of this danger, though, riders of this fascinating device took to removing their feet from the pedals when zooming down hills and putting their legs up over the handlebars, so that if they were thrown off hitting unexpected bumps, they'd shoot off feet first.