Founded in 1904, FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association: ‘International Federation of Association Football’) soon fell into dispute with the International Olympic Committee about the sport’s position in the Olympic…

Born on 5th October 1713 in the city of Langres in eastern France, Diderot was destined for a life in one of the professions, initially as a clergyman and then…

In March 1807, as a response to the growing popularity of the abolitionist movement the British Parliament passed An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, which made the…

For over six-hundred years a series of Shogun dynasties had dominated Japanese politics, with the Emperor reduced to a largely symbolic role. Yet, in 1866, the leaders of two feudal…

Richard Arkwright, pioneer of industrialisation, was born on 23rd December 1732 in Preston, Lancashire. The son of a poor tailor, Richard had no formal education and became an apprentice barber.…

In June 1578, Sir Humphrey Gilbert – soldier, Member of Parliament, and explorer – secured letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I, which entitled him to claim any lands not already…

In the mid-eighteenth century the Swiss aristocrat and naturalist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure became a regular visitor the French town of Chamonix, which sits at the foot of Mont Blanc, the…

In 1899 Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Baden-Powell published Aids to Scouting, a manual of reconnaissance skills based on his military experiences in South Africa. That same year, Baden-Powell commanded a force of…