Month: January 2024

William Somerset Maugham (1874)

Maugham was an English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer who abandoned a career in medicine when his first novel had some success. He wrote several popular plays and a total of eight novels before writing his breakthrough masterpiece, the partly autobiographical Of Human Bondage (1915). An expert storyteller, Maugham based many of his stories on his own experiences, including what short story collection that influenced Ian Fleming’s James Bond series? Discuss

Pirate Mary Read

Read, an Englishwoman who was born in the late 17th century, spent much of her life disguised as a man and working in industries generally reserved for men. She was on a ship bound for the West Indies when it was captured by pirate captain Calico Jack Rackham. Read joined his crew and became one of the most notorious female pirates of the time. When Rackham’s ship was captured and the crew sentenced to death, Read received a stay of execution after she “pled her belly,” a reference to what? Discuss

Japanese WWII Soldier Found Hiding in Guam Jungle (1972)

Shoichi Yokoi was a Japanese soldier who went into hiding in the jungles of Guam in 1944 as Allied forces took the island; 28 years later, he was still there. He had hidden in an underground cave, fearing to come out of hiding even after finding leaflets declaring that WWII had ended. In 1972, he was found by hunters and returned to Japan. He was the third-to-last Japanese soldier to surrender after the war, before Hiroo Onoda and Teruo Nakamura. What did Yokoi allegedly say upon his return? Discuss

Hadrian (76 CE)

The nephew of Roman emperor Trajan, Hadrian became emperor when he was adopted and named successor just before Trajan’s death, after years of intrigue. After executing his senatorial opponents and abandoning many of Trajan’s conquests, he began to travel widely, and many of his accomplishments were related to his visits abroad, including the beginning of construction of Hadrian’s Wall. The wall is one of the largest and most significant remains of the Roman occupation of what area? Discuss

Rubies

Rubies are precious gemstones that range in color from light pink to blood red and are second only to the diamond in hardness. They are found chiefly in Myanmar, Thailand, and Sri Lanka and are classified among the most valuable of gems. The rare star ruby, which shows an internal star-shaped formation when cut into a cabochon, is an example of a gemstone whose value is actually increased by an inclusion. Why can rubies be found beneath building foundations in some Asian countries? Discuss