Bare Bones History

Stories, facts and animations from history's most colourful characters.

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Today would have been the 131st birthday of silent film legend Charlie Chaplin, who is said to have entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alike competition and lost! This incident doesn't appear in Chaplin's own memoirs, so may have just been a rumour. #CharlieChaplin #CharlieChaplinDay

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Although they are delayed this year, the Olympics Games are a tradition originating in ancient Greece. Supposedly Pythagoras would flaunt his shiny golden thigh at the ancient games to prove his divinity to anyone who doubted him or his abilities #Pythagoras #Olympics #Tokyo2020

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Style icon Amelia Earhart was an aviation editor at Cosmopolitan by 1928. Having already designed her own practical female aviator suits, launching her own fashion line was the next logical step - arguably the first celebrity fashion line. #AmeliaEarhart #NationalAmeliaEarhartDay

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen of England when her cousin Edward VI died very young without children. 467 years ago today, her nine day reign ended when she was executed by Edward's sister Mary I for high treason. She was just 16 or 17 at the time. #LadyJaneGrey #OnThisDay

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst had jiu-jitsu bodyguards to protect her from police during marches and protests. She encouraged all suffragettes to learn the martial art after their exposure to police violence and intimidation #EmmelinePankhurstDay #Suffragette #feminist #JiuJitsu

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

When Nikola Tesla exhibited a small remote controlled boat in 1898, some still failed to believe that the boat wasn't being controlled by magic, even when the technology was revealed. Some even suggested that there was a trained monkey pilot on board. #Tesla #NikolaTeslaDay

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

The first mammal ever cloned from an adult cell was born in 1997, 24 years ago today. Dolly the Sheep was named after country singer Dolly Parton because her DNA was originally taken from a cell from a mammary (milk) gland! #DollytheSheep #DollyParton #Dolly #OnThisDay

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Today is the 210 birthday of P T Barnum, founder of his famous travelling circus, menagerie and freak show. He notoriously claimed to own a real mermaid discovered near Fiji, but in reality it was just the body of a monkey sewn to the tail of a fish. #TheGreatestShowman #mermaid

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Happy 4th of July! Although Founding Father Alexander Hamilton was "strongly opposed to the practice of duelling" for both religious and practical reasons, he was eventually killed during a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr. #4thofJuly #AmericanIndependence #AlexanderHamilton

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

When Godiva's husband imposed heavy taxes on the people of Coventry, he only agreed to revoke them if she rode naked through the marketplace, believing that she never would. She was loyal to her people, riding only covered by her hair. #LadyGodiva #CoventryGodivaFestival

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Today would have been the 114th birthday of Estée Lauder, who initially could not convince shop managers in Paris to stock her beauty products. She 'accidentally' spilled bath oil on the floor and customers immediately began to ask how they could buy the scent. #EsteeLauder #boss

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Today would have been Henry VIII's 529th birthday! The king famous for his 6 wives and split from Catholicism was said to have eaten 13 meals a day and drunk 70 pints of ale a week! By his mid-40s he was so obese that he had to be hoisted onto his horse by crane. #HenryVIII #OTD

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Drag queen Marsha P Johnson famously climbed a lamppost during the Stonewall riots and smashed a police car by dropping a handbag containing a brick on it. Today is London Pride: a celebration that is only possible because of pioneers for equality like her! #Pride #MarshaPJohnson

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Today would have been the 170th birthday of Lord Kitchener, featured as the face of the recruitment posters for Britain at the outbreak of World War I for his masculinity, war hero status, position as Secretary of State, and probably also his fantastic moustache. #LordKitchener

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have coined the phrase 'an army marches on its stomach', and so carried bars of chocolate to provide him with energy during his campaigns, a tradition inherited by Aztec warriors. He was defeated at Waterloo 205 years today. #Napoleon #OnThisDay

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who fought his way out of his ludus (gladiatorial enslavement and training) using kitchen tools. He is remembered as a leader in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. #Spartacus #RomeRepublicDay #Rome #SPQR

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

@xavidali Thanks for sharing!

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

@lollypeezle Love fun facts like these! We have this one and loads more on our page :)

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

During World War Two Audrey Hepburn a trained ballerina, performed to raise funds for the Dutch Resistance, and was rumoured to have fought for them too! Food shortages there were so bad that she ate tulips to survive. Today she would have been 91. #AudreyHepburn #OnThisDay

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

@Helen_Ivy_ We just animated her alongside a fun fact! 🩰🌷

[Bare Bones History @BareBonesHist]

@Jopolkadot She used to dance to raise money for the Dutch resistance in WWII! We're about to post an animation of it if you'd like to see...