Operation Tracer was a top-secret WWII mission…

Operation Tracer was a top-secret WWII mission in which six men were to be buried alive inside the Rock of Gibraltar so they could monitor enemy movements after the Rock’s capture. There was no way out and anyone who died within the chamber would have to be embalmed and cemented into the floor. The men […]

A New Orleans restaurant has been owned by the same…

A New Orleans restaurant has been owned by the same family since 1840. Antoine’s, famous for Oyster Rockefeller and Baked Alaska, has had five generations of the family run it, and a sixth is preparing to take over. It is the US’s oldest continuously family-run restaurant. 10

In 1954 Soviet prisoners overthrew their guards and…

In 1954 Soviet prisoners overthrew their guards and, for 40 days, established a gulag republic with a democratically elected provisional government, marriages between male and female prisoners, indigenous religious ceremonies and a general flowering of art and culture. 10

A lot of famous directors begin their careers by making…

A lot of famous directors begin their careers by making weird, experimental films. For instance, there’s the case of Martin Scorsese and his odd, six-minute film The Big Shave that he made in 1967. It had an alternative title, Viet ’67, because it was apparently a metaphor for the war in Vietnam, even though the […]