It’s not all tea, crumpets, and royal weddings in the United Kingdom. In fact, Britain is home to some downright bizarre and truly weird and wonderful festivals.

To some outsiders, the Brits may seem prim, proper, and a bit too serious at times. But a closer look will dispel that notion. From ancient pagan rites to modern-day oddities, this small island has the power to charm, amaze, and occasionally disgust. But it’s always entertaining.

10 Summer Solstice At Stonehenge

Each year, thousands gather at the ancient stone monument in Wiltshire to mark the summer solstice. As the Sun rises, it aligns perfectly with the Heel Stone, the ancient stone entrance to the monument, and casts rays of light across the revelers gathered there.^[1]

Stonehenge is considered to be a sacred site by Britain’s pagan and druid communities. Visitors are not normally permitted to approach and touch the stones, but an exception is made for the solstice celebrations. It is unknown how, when, or why this ancient monument was constructed. However, there are many theories, each more fantastic then the last.

9 The Tar Barrels Of Ottery St. Mary

Each November 5, the usually quiet streets of Ottery St. Mary in Devon are lit up by the flickering light of flaming tar barrels. Men and women charge through the crowded streets while carrying these fiery barrels overhead. Each weighs as much as 30 kilograms (66 lb). Wearing thick gloves to protect their hands, the barrel carriers must have grit and courage to endure the heat.^[2]

Many generations of the same families appear as proud barrel rollers. However, the origins of the festival are unclear. Some believe that it has links to the famous gunpowder plot, while others think it is a pre-Christian pagan ritual intended to drive out evil spirits.

8 Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival

The small town of Whittlesea in the east of England celebrates the harvest in a particularly unusual way. Known as the “straw bear,” a man covered from head to toe in straw is paraded through the streets. Accompanied by musicians and led by a “keeper” or “driver,” the bear dances in front of houses and inns for gifts of food, money, or beer.

The event briefly died out in 1909 when a local police inspector banned it as a form of begging. However, the custom was revived in 1980 by the Whittlesea Society and now takes place during the second weekend of January.^[3]

7 Egg Throwing World Championships

Legend has it that the tradition of egg throwing in the English village of Swaton dates back to the 14th century. In an attempt to boost numbers at church, the abbot gave out free eggs to all who attended. In 1322, the river flooded and prevented locals from attending church. So monks threw eggs across the river, and the tradition was born.

The first Egg Throwing World Championship took place as a feature of the 2005 Swaton Vintage Day where the grand prize was scooped up by an “eggstatic” team from New Zealand. Teams of two compete for the prize by seeing who can pass the egg farthest without breaking it.

Additional events include the “Russian egg roulette” in which competitors take turns smashing eggs against their own heads. Of the six eggs available, five are hard-boiled and one is raw. The competitor who picks the raw egg loses and ends up with actual egg on his face.^[4]

6 Burning The Clocks

The seaside town of Brighton marks the shortest day of the year with the “Burning the Clocks” festival. Thousands of individuals line the streets to watch a procession of people with homemade fire lanterns. After parading through the town, the people ceremoniously burn the lanterns on the town’s beach.^[5]

The event organizers explain, “Burning the clocks is an antidote to the excesses of the commercial Christmas. People gather together to make paper and willow lanterns to carry through their city and burn on the beach as a token of the end of the year.”

5 Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

First performed in 1226, the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is one of Britain’s oldest surviving traditions. Dancing through the town are six men dressed with reindeer antlers, two musicians, a man dressed as a woman, an archer, and a fool who hits anyone who comes too close with an inflated pig’s bladder.^[6]

The reasons behind this strange event have been obscured by the mists of time. Some suggest that it was performed to mark the opening of the hunting season and to ensure a successful year. Others speculate that it is connected to ancient fertility rites. One thing is for sure: This ancient tradition is downright strange!

4 Maldon Mud Race

The Maldon Mud Race is held each year on the River Blackwater in Essex. At low tide, competitors race across the incredibly muddy riverbed and back with their footwear taped on firmly to prevent any lost shoes.

The event originated in 1973 when the landlord of the Queens Head pub was dared to serve a meal on the riverbank dressed in a tuxedo. The following year, a bar was opened on the riverbank for the day. About 20 people competed to dash across the river, drink a pint of beer, and return. The Maldon Mud Race was born.^[7]

3 ‘Obby ‘Oss

Perhaps the oldest dance festival in the UK, the ‘Obby ‘Oss is celebrated every May 1 in the Cornish fishing village of Padstow. Thought to be connected to the ancient Celtic festival of Beltane, the main event begins when two parades accompanying male dancers dressed as hobby horses (hence ‘obby ‘oss) swing through the town.

The ‘Obby ‘Oss consists of a large oval frame wrapped in a black oilskin with a strange horse’s mask and snapping jaw. The ‘Oss is accompanied by other dancers and musicians and led through the town by a teaser who prods the ‘Oss with a painted club.^[8]

As he passes through the town, the ‘Oss will attempt to catch young maidens and drag them under his cloak. To be caught by the ‘Oss is considered good luck.

2 World Toe Wrestling Championships

Established in Staffordshire in 1976, the World Toe Wrestling Championship is now held annually in the Bentley Brook Inn. Much like arm wrestling but with feet, contestants link toes and attempt to pin the other’s foot for three seconds. You’ll be pleased to know that the feet of all competitors are thoroughly checked by a podiatrist before they can compete.^[9]

1 Haxey Hood

First played in the 14th century, the Haxey Hood takes place on the 12th day of Christmas each year. Regulars from the town’s four pubs attempt to push the “hood” (a leather tube) to their pub, where it will remain until the following year.

Legend has it that in the 14th century, the wife of local landowner John de Mowbray was out riding when her hood was blown from her head. She was so amused by the efforts of the 13 farmhands who chased the hood across fields that she gifted the parish 13 acres of land on the condition that the chase be reenacted every year.

Said to be more about drinking than anything else, the game begins when the hood is thrown into the air and a large rugby-style scrum (known as the “sway”) converges on it.

There are no organized teams, and the only rules are that the hood cannot be thrown or run with. As many as 200 people can be playing at any point. The objective of the game is to move the hood to one of the local pubs. The game ends when the hood is touched by the pub’s landlord standing on his front step.^[10]

Will is an entrepreneur, yogi, and travel lover. He can be found at www.veganchocolateshop.co.uk.

The British Isles are home to some of the most lavish and historic landmarks, many of which are famous all over the world. Think Big Ben or the Houses of Parliament. But perhaps not as famous are the unbelievably named towns and villages found strewn throughout the land.

When we say “unbelievably named,” we actually mean humorous, rude, or downright bizarre names for places which are actually inhabited or visited by human beings. However, some of these places actually have amazing and rich histories, which are worth reading in their own right. Read on to discover ten of the rudest-sounding places in the British Isles . . . with unbelievable stories.

10 Brown Willy

Brown Willy is a hill that can be found in the county of Cornwall, the southernmost county of England. The hill supposedly gets its name from the Cornish Bronn Ewhella, which translates as “highest hill.” This is likely due to the fact that Brown Willy stands 420 meters (1,378 ft) above sea level and is the highest point in Cornwall. The hill is also known for the “Brown Willy effect,” a local phenomenon in which heavy rain that has developed on Brown Willy travels downwind causing showers in lower areas. The effects of this phenomenon can be serious flash flooding and dangerous amounts of rainfall, causing widespread damage.

In 2012, local visitors to the hill campaigned to have the name changed due to the “giggle factor”—but the name remains unchanged today.^[1] Interestingly, Brown Willy is widely regarded as sacred by UFO followers, who visit the hill annually. These followers believe Brown Willy was supercharged with what they call “holy energy.” We can only hope that this is a myth, and Brown Willy does not explode.

9 Cockermouth

Cockermouth is without a doubt the most stunning location of this list. Situated on the edge of the beautiful Lake District in the county of Cumbria, Cockermouth is known as only one of 51 “Gem” towns in the UK.^[2] The name is derived from the town’s location, as it is quite literally at the mouth of the River Cocker. Due to its proximity to the River Cocker, it has also, unfortunately, been home to terrible flooding. In 2009, it was so heavily flooded that the British Army had to take control of the town in an aid effort, airlifting people out from their homes.

Cockermouth traces its history back to the Romans, who built a fort, which was later destroyed, in the vicinity of the current town center. Cockermouth Castle was rebuilt near it. The town is also notable for being the birthplace of the famous Lake Poet William Wordsworth, and the town contains tributes to him. The most famous of these is Wordsworth House, his birthplace, which has been restored and is now a museum.

8 Bell End

Found in the county of Worcestershire, Bell End is a village with proximity to the notable towns of Kidderminster and Stourbridge. The village is home to a stunning Gothic revival mansion known as Bell Hall. The mansion is built on property dating back to Norman times and has a Norman chapel to go with it. According to some reports, Guy Fawkes hid on the property when he was on the run, after the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.^[3] Another notable resident, Lady Godiva, was said to have resided on the original grounds. Lady Godiva is most known for being said to have ridden naked through the streets of Coventry to protest against taxation laws. If the reports are true, then the estate has a fantastic link to some of the most infamous figures in Britain’s history.

So, why is Bell End on this list? For those not aware, Bell End shares its name with a British slang phrase for the glans penis and is frequently listed as one of the most unusual or shocking place names. Unfortunately for residents who have campaigned to have the name changed, it still remains Bell End today.

7 Sandy Balls

Set deep within the New Forest near Fordingbridge, Sandy Balls is a large area of parkland and forests with a long history of being a popular holiday spot. Sandy Balls is in the county of Hampshire, near the south coast of England. The name of the area goes back to medieval times in England, during which the circular, sandy domes gave the place the name “Sandyballas.” After the end of World War I, the area was developed as a school camp for a youth movement, but it has now been established as a popular holiday center.^[4]

The New Forest has been touted as possibly the most haunted part of Britain due to a number of sightings, the most famous being Rufus the Red, who was suspiciously killed by an arrow while hunting in the forest. Local stories say that Rufus’s ghost can still be seen today in the forest, and the blood of the man who was responsible for firing the arrow—Sir Walter Tirel—turns the Ocknell Pond red every year. Other apparition sightings include the Stratford Lyon, a large, antlered, red lion that carries a man on its back. The Lyon was said to have come from the ground after the man pulled at a set of antlers. Another is the Witchy White—a witch who casts love spells and who is said to wander the forest to this day.

6 Shitlington Crags

Shitlington Crags is an area in Northumberland which is a popular visitor spot. A crag, in England, is typically a group of cliffs which are known for climbing. Shitlington Crags is known as part of a larger walking area in the Hexham area of Northumberland. The crags get their name from an abandoned medieval village known as Shitlington. It was first recorded in 1279 but seems to have been gone by the 17th century.^[5]

Shitlington Crags is near the village of Wark, Northumberland, which is noted for having the Goatstones. The Goatstones are thought to be religious stones left by the Anglo-Saxons, and they get their name from Anglo-Saxon gyet stanes, which means “wayside stones.” Wark is also the home of a listed Milky Way Class Dark Sky Discovery Site, meaning the area is so secluded that the stars and Moon are illuminated brilliantly in the night sky.

5 Great Cockup

The amusing-sounding Great Cockup is a fell which is located in the stunning Lake District, in the county of Cumbria. A fell is a high, barren landform, like a cluster of mountains or large hills that can often be traversed by walkers. Great Cockup is partnered by its equally amusing-sounding neighbor Little Cockup.^[6] For those unaware, “cockup” is a slang term for badly messing up, particularly in an embarrassing way.

Great Cockup is part of a number of mountains in the area known as the Northern Fells. The Northern Fells include Souther Fell, which is most famous for a ghostly sighting that occurred in 1745. According to witnesses, on the evening of Midsummer’s Day in 1745, a line of troops marching were noticed walking along the ridge of the fell. The line included horses and carriages, and witnesses were said to be “sober and respected,” therefore verifying as credible. The following day, Souther Fell was scaled, and not a single footprint or carriage mark could be found along the edge where the army had traveled.

4 Tongue Of Gangsta

Yes, you read that right. Residing in the Orkney Islands, Tongue of Gangsta is a place that can be found on the Orkney mainland. Tongue of Gangsta is directly south of the capital of Orkney, Kirkwall.^[7] Kirkwall gets its name from the Norse name Kirkjuvagr (Church Bay), so we can only assume that Tongue of Gangsta has some Norse origins, too.

There is extremely limited information about the toponymy of Tongue of Gangsta. Kirkwall was historically an outpost or meeting place for Scandinavian travelers. It has been described as being the center of their world and as more Scandinavian than Scottish. The area was acquired by King James III in 1468 and has been under Scottish rule ever since. During World War II, in the nearby Scapa Flow, the Royal Navy used the port at Scapa as a main base. In 1939, the HMS Royal Oak was sunk by a German U-Boat and is now designated as a protected war grave.

3 Titty-Ho

Within the small market town of Raunds, Northamptonshire, is an area known as Titty-Ho. Titty-Ho is cited as being one of the most amusing names in Britain, and unfortunately for residents, the name has been highlighted on TV.^[8] Residents have noted that other people cannot contain their laughter when they disclose where they live.

Despite the immature-sounding name of one part of it, the town of Raunds has an interesting history. During the 1980s, excavations in the nearby Nene Valley revealed some remains of a Roman villa. This was in addition to finding medieval buildings such as a church and manor house the previous decade. Raunds has also been the site of prehistoric findings unearthed by English Heritage. Perhaps one day, a discovery may help archaeologists to determine exactly where the name Titty Ho comes from, but this may just be wishful thinking.

2 Wetwang

Wetwang is a village located in the historic county of Yorkshire. The village name is proposed as being a Viking name meaning “meeting place”—as the village is located on a crossroads of two main roads.^[9] The name can obviously be misconstrued as meaning something else entirely.

Wetwang is very old and is even recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086! The village is known to have existed long before 1086, however, and in 2001, a very exciting discovery was made under Wetwang. A chariot, belonging to British armies who fought against Julius Caesar, was uncovered alongside the remains of a female warrior. A street in Wetwang was renamed “Chariot Way” after this event.

Wetwang is also notable for its black swans and has a local public house named the Black Swan in honor of the local birds. The village often appears in lists of unusual or rude place names. During a Woman’s Institute centennial fair in 2015, the name of the village had to be censored on merchandise, as it was deemed as too rude!

1 Twatt

In what is probably the bluntest and most uncouth village name on this list, the village of Twatt can be found on the Orkney Islands. In a twist, there are actually two villages in the UK which share the name of Twatt. Interestingly, both villages are found right at the top of Scotland, with the second Twatt being located in the Shetland Islands.

The village in Orkney is situated on the Mainland island.^[10] The Orkney Twatt was the home of a Royal Navy airfield during World War II. The airfield was decommissioned in 1949, but an abandoned control tower still remains today and can be visited.

The village of Twatt in the Shetlands is a little less known but is definitely inhabited by people and known throughout the islands. The name of both Twatts derives from the Norse word thveit—meaning “small parcel of land.” As you would expect, both places frequently top the lists of the most rude-sounding village names in the UK.

Matt Garrow—I have an English degree (which I use) and a Law degree (which I don’t). I currently work a 9–5 and can found sleeping standing up because I have a 2 year old who doesn’t sleep. Peace !

In 1992, a recording leaked of Prince Charles telling his mistress (now his wife) Camilla Parker he wanted to be her tampon. The issue generated a huge controversy, as the prince was married to princess Diana. The marriage later crashed, and the princess blamed it on a third person people believed to be Camilla.

The British populace scorned Camilla for her suspected involvement in the breakup, and women threw bread rolls at her while shopping. But “Camillagate” was just one of the many embarrassing incidents that have plagued the British monarchy.

10A Man Sneaked Into Queen Elizabeth’s Bedroom

Queen Elizabeth II got the shock of her life on the night of July 9, 1982, when she was startled from sleep by a stranger standing by her bedpost. The stranger was Micheal Fagan, and he had entered her room by climbing the drain pipes outside the palace walls. According to initial reports, Fagan engaged Queen Elizabeth in a 10-minute conversation that ended when he asked for a cigarette. Fagan later clarified that he did not engage the Queen in any conversation. Rather, she ran out of the room to call a footman, who took him to another room for a glass of whiskey.

The break-in, which remains one of the most embarrassing in the history of the Buckingham Palace, was not Fagan’s first. It was his second. He had broken in a month earlier when he drank a bottle of wine in Prince Charles’s room and peed into a bin of dog food. During his second break-in, he walked around the palace and triggered the alarm twice. The police thought the alarm was malfunctioning on both occasions and switched it off.

9Edward VII Maintained A Special Room In A Brothel

The Duke of Wales, later King Edward VII of England, had a huge sexual appetite, which he ensured he quenched at every opportunity he got—even if it meant maintaining a private room in a brothel. The brothel was the high-class Le Chabanais of France, which the Duke frequented between the 1880s and the 1890s. His private room contained his coat of arms and a copper tub he filled with champagne to bathe with prostitutes.

The room also contained a chair called the “siege d’amour,” which translates to “love seat.” It was specifically made to allow the Duke have sex with two or more prostitutes at once. The chair remains in private collection although a replica is displayed at the sex museum in Prague.

8Edward VIII And His Wife Ordered A Rescue Operation For A Swimsuit

King Edward VIII of England (later Duke of Windsor) is remembered for giving up his kingship to marry Wallis Simpson. When World War II broke out, the couple pretended as if nothing important was happening—at least, until France fell to Germany. Their concern was not about the atrocities the Germans might commit against the French; it was about Wallis’s swimsuit, which was inside their villa in Southern France.

The task of rescuing the swimsuit fell upon the US ambassador to Portugal and the US embassy in France. Southern France was already overrunning with Nazi troops, but the diplomats still got the swimsuit out. Besides that, the couple maintained contact with top Nazi commanders, who they begged to look after their homes in Paris and southern France over concerns that their linen bedding might be destroyed.

7Edward VII’s Wild Sex Habit Caused Queen Victoria’s Husband Death

Edward VII—the same one who maintained a private room in a brothel—was the first child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Prince Albert was a moralist who was interested in ending the numerous sex scandals and illegitimate children who plagued the British monarchy. Edward VII did not share his opinions and got down with a prostitute called Nellie Clifden months before his wedding.

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were unimpressed with what Edward VII did, and Prince Albert took it upon himself to show him their displeasure. He had a long walk under the rain with Edward VII, where he expressed his deep disappointment at his behavior. Prince Albert came down with fever a few days after the walk, and it proved fatal and cost him his life. The disheartened Queen Victoria blamed Edward VII for her husband’s death.

6A 14-Year-Old Stole Queen Victoria’s Underwear

Edward “Thomas” Jones was not a fan of women, but he had a thing for Queen Victoria. He frequently sneaked into Buckingham Palace and was arrested on three occasions (and claimed he had been there a fourth time). On his first arrest, he was found with Queen Victoria’s underwear hidden inside his trousers. On two other occasions, he was caught sitting on the throne, and once, he helped himself to food in the kitchen.

Jones was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for the break-ins, but he kept on stalking the Queen. The government kidnapped and exiled him to Brazil, but he returned and was re-kidnapped and imprisoned on a ship in the middle of the ocean for six years. He took to burglary after his release and was arrested and shipped to Australia, where he was taunted for stalking the Queen. He returned as usual and remained in Britain until his brother convinced him to return to Australia.

5James III Was Rumored To Have Been Smuggled Into The Palace At Birth

In the past, people were called to witness royal births to ensure and certify there was no foul play. Such was the scenario during the birth of James in 1688, yet people said he was not the real child borne by Mary of Modena.

At that time, Catholicism and Protestantism were big issues in England. King James II was a Catholic, but his heir presumptive, Princess Mary, was a protestant. King James wanted a Catholic to rule over England, and the only way that could happen was if he and his wife bore a male child who would become heir apparent and supersede Mary’s claim to the throne.

When Mary of Modena was pregnant, there were rumors that the pregnancy was a fake. To put an end to the rumors, the couple invited 70 important people to attend the birthing at St. James’s Palace. The dignitaries witnessed the birthing, but there were still rumors that the baby was smuggled into the room inside a pan or through a secret passage. There were even claims the real baby died at birth, and baby James was just a replacement. These rumors led to the Glorious Revolution of 1689 that saw William of Orange and princess Mary II seize the throne of England.

4Queen Victoria Forced An Aristocrat To Have A Pregnancy Test

Lady Flora Hastings was an aristocrat and one of the several ladies-in-waiting who worked at Buckingham Palace during the reign of Queen Victoria. She was at the center of a pregnancy and political scandal that Queen Victoria described as the worst period of her reign.

The whole incident began in January 1839, when Flora arrived London from Scotland alongside Sir John Conroy, who Queen Victoria loathed. Flora took ill after her arrival, and her stomach began to protrude. Rumors went around she was pregnant by Conroy. Flora denied being pregnant, but Queen Victoria—who believed she was—ordered her to take a pregnancy test if she wanted to remain in the palace. The test returned negative, and the Hastings family requested an apology from the Queen. Queen Victoria refused to apologize, and the Hastings family released the details of the incident to the media.

The revelation degenerated into a heated face-off between members of the Tory party, who supported the Hastings, and the Whig party, who supported the Queen. The public blamed Queen Victoria for starting the pregnancy rumor, and they booed, mocked, and scorned her outside the palace. Flora Hastings died in the early morning of July 5, 1839. An autopsy revealed Flora’s protruded belly was caused by liver disease.

3A 17-Year-Old Took A Pot Shot At Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria survived at least seven assassination attempts throughout her 63-year reign. Many of the assassinations involved blanks and unloaded weapons, but the most embarrassing came from a 17-year-old called Arthur O’Connor.

On February 29, 1872, O’Connor followed Queen Victoria’s carriage as it entered the Buckingham palace. He got to within a foot of the Queen as she alighted and brought out his pistol, which he aimed at her head. Queen Victoria bowed her head, but O’Connor never fired, as the weapon was unloaded. He was quickly arrested and taken into custody. O’Connor was sentenced to one-year imprisonment and 20 strokes of the cane.

2Edward VII’s Lust Caused A Divorce

Edward VII—the same one who kept a room in a brothel and caused his father’s death with his super sex drive—was at the center of a divorce case in 1870. The couple involved were Sir Charles Mordaunt, a member of the British parliament, and his wife, Lady Harriet. The scandal began when Lady Harriet told her husband about her other lovers, which included Edward VII, because of fears her newborn baby was going blind.

Sir Mordaunt filed for divorce, and Edward VII was invited as a witness. His appearance marked the first time a prince of Wales would appear in court. Edward VII was afraid of going to court, but he went, not because he wanted to but because he felt his nonappearance would certify his guilt. One piece of evidence used against Lady Harriet was a letter of his, telling her he was coming visiting.

Edward VII diffused claims of infidelity during the visits, although he never explained why he only visited when Sir Mordaunt was away. The trial lasted seven days until it was agreed that Lady Harriet was suffering from “puerperal mania,” which is a mood disorder experienced by women after childbirth. Lady Harriet was taken to an asylum while Edward VII returned to his palace. People knew there was more to Edward VII’s visits, and they blamed him for the divorce. He was hissed at and booed in public

1Prince Harry Dressed As A Nazi

In 2005, the Sun newspaper published a picture of Prince Harry—an heir to the British throne—dressed in a German Nazi-era uniform. The uniform was a replica of that worn by the German Army Afrika Korps and was complete with collar flashes, an eagle insignia and the infamous black-white-red Nazi armband. The prince had worn the uniform to a private costume party where guests were expected to dress in colonial fashion.

The picture generated controversy and angered several people including the Israeli foreign minister, survivors of Nazi concentration camps, and members of the British government, who called for his expulsion from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. That was not the first time the prince was making the news for the wrong reasons. He had been in the news for being drunk and using cannabis. At another time, a photo of him playing billiards while naked surfaced on the Internet.

Half-American, half-human, Oliver Taylor is a freelance writer and bathroom musician who wants to write enough lists and sing enough songs to be able to afford a spaceship.

The United Kingdom really does have its unusual places. With such a long history of language developing over time, the country retains some of the oddest named places you may have ever heard of. Some of these can be quite hilarious. Bitches, sluts, muffs and breaking wind are just some of our features today. If you didn’t check out our first list on this topic, it can be found here:

SEE ALSO: 10 Rude-Sounding British Places With Unbelievable Backstories

10 Bitchfield

Bitchfield is an English village located in the county of Lincolnshire, on the east coast of the country. It is situated in the South Kestevan district and is referred to as a ‘shrunken’ medieval village, referring to the fact it was once likely much larger than it now is. The village was recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 and is listed as ‘Billesfelt’. The village is actually split into two distinct groups of buildings located in Bitchfield and Lower Bitchfield. The two groups of buildings are connected by Dark Lane and the village includes a parish church with Norman architecture. The village is largely unremarkable besides it’s tabloid coverage due to its humorous name – however this comes from a county with such spectacular names like Tongue End, Pode Hole, Cuckoo Bridge and Whaplode. Yes… these are all real places.^[1]

9 Townland of Stranagalwilly

The townland of Stranagalwilly is situated in Northern Ireland, in the parish of County Tyrone. The area is known as a townland, rather than a town, as it refers to the area of land rather than the place. The system of townlands come from Gaelic tradition, in which it is a designated area of approximately 325 acres. Other area sizes in Gaelic include an acre, a Gneeve, a Ballyboe or Ballybetagh. These system measurements sometimes are used as a prefix to villages and towns in Ireland and Northern Ireland, such as Ballyshannon or Ballybogey. In 1961, the townland of Stranagalwilly was the site of a discovery of four cist cemeteries dating back to the Bronze Age, with unburnt burials discovered alongside cremated remains. The discovery of the fourth cemetery happened when a local farmer was harvesting potatoes, with some of the remains indicating that the burial was of a leather worker.^[2]

8 Crapstone

Crapstone is an village located in the ceremonial county of Devon, on the South of England. The village is right on the edge of Dartmoor, the notorious haunt of many urban myths and legends. Most notably are the Dartmoor Hounds, which are said to be large black spectral hounds that haunt the moors. These hounds were the inspiration for The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The name Crapstone is reportedly derived from a family name which have strong roots in the town and helped develop the local church and a golf course. The town was featured on a 2007 British advert starring Vinnie Jones. However, there was a strong backlash from residents of Crapstone who said the advert used footage of a different village and the advert had used the unusual name of the village as the (excuse the pun) butt of their joke. Very much an oxymoron, the town is said to be extremely pretty despite it’s rather crude title.^[3]

7 Brokenwind

Now this one is a favourite of the ‘funniest’ or ‘rudest’ named places in the UK; The hamlet of Brokenwind, located in Newmachar in the county of Aberdeenshire. The name of Brokenwind, listed as ‘Broken Wynd’ from nineteenth-century records, takes its name from the layout of the area. A wynd is a snaking path between two larger roads and obviously this one must have been broken. The nearest village, Newmachar, was the location of one of many top secret British resistance patrols during the Second World War, put together in secret by Winston Churchill. The village had an operational base which housed the unit, who the in the aftermath of a Nazi Invasion, would have launched a guerrilla offensive preventing key lines of travel and communication. It is startling to ponder on the fact the UK could have become so desperate in its attempt to thwart Nazi Germany, and having to wage such desperation warfare is unthinkable.^[4]

6 Hole of Horcrum

The Hole of Horcrum is a part of the Levisham Beck valley in the moors of North York. The ‘hole’ is approximately 400 feet deep and features a horse-shoe like appearance, with high level trees surrounding the stunning valley. The Hole of Horcrum is described as ‘spectacular’ and a ‘must-do walk on the North York moors’ and is certainly the most visually magnificent place on this list. The unusual name comes from an urban myth about an Anglo-Saxon chief named Wade. According to legend, Wade was turned into a giant and when arguing with his wife, he picked up the turf and threw it at her – thus creating the hole of Horcrum. It’s unclear where ‘Horcrum’ comes from, but what is clear is that the bowl was formed due to a process called spring-sapping. Spring-sapping occurs when water welled up at the bottom of a hillside undermines the upper slopes, creating a small valley. Over time, this becomes deeper and wider.^[5]

5 Muff

Now the village of Muff is not strictly found in the United Kingdom. Sitting on the Irish border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, the village is actually part of County Donegal, Ireland. However it houses an influx of Northern Ireland residents who have crossed the border, as this is set to become a contentious issue in the current Brexit climate. However we have included it in this list due to its proximity to Northern Ireland and its ties with the area. The village name is Gaelic and means a ‘plain’. The word muff – in some British social circles – may be used as a slang word for the female genitalia. The village of Muff every August celebrates the Muff Festival, which includes a parade and street parties. It also has its own Mayor of Muff who is elected annually. Rather amusingly to some, the village has its own recreational diving club… named the Muff Diving Club. You couldn’t make this stuff up.^[6]

4 Wide Open

The village of Wide Open is situated in the northern part of the county of Tyne and Wear, in the North of England. The nearest city to Wide Open is Newcastle Upon Tyne. The village is very typical of a northern pit village, with roots in coal mining, as the Wideopen Colliery opened here in 1825. The colliery ceased operations in the twentieth-century and the town has declined since. The village is probably best known for the Grade-II listed Sacred Heart RC Church which is found just to the south, featuring multiple stained-glass windows. The village has been named in tabloids as one of humorous note, however it is commonly misspelled as ‘Wide Open’ (we have done so deliberately) when the correct local spelling is Wideopen. This mis-spelling is said to cause postal delivery issues to the area.^[7]

3 Penistone

Penistone is probably the largest place of this list, as it is a large town in the county of South Yorkshire. Penistone is a very typical Yorkshire town, with sweeping moors and rural countryside surrounding its picturesque town. Penistone is another place which is named in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is listed slightly differently as ‘Penstone’. The name is said to be derived from the word penn in Old Welsh, meaning ‘height or hill’ as the town is situated on top of a high ridge. The town was said to be flattened during the Norman Conquest of England during the Harrying of the North, but has obviously remained a constant place in the area throughout the centuries. The town is thriving and despite its name – which is often used in numerous town names lists like this one – the residents of Penistone have an active community with a market, sports and recreational activities and an annual agricultural show just some of the on goings in the area.^[8]

2 Sluts Hole

This is probably the smallest place on our list today but perhaps the most shocking and crudely named. Sluts Hole Lane, found near Attleborough in Norfolk, England, is a road that links Silver Street and Bunwell Road with the nearest village being a place called Besthorpe. According to reports, the street name is a typo error from the nineteenth century, when Victorian census takers are said to have made a mistake transcribing ‘Slutch Hole Lane’. Residents of Besthorpe have tried to restore the original name but this has been prevented, presumably due to the attraction the name brings to the area. ‘Slutch’ would have been the original name due to the muddy and wet surroundings of the area, as this is said come from the Dutch word for ‘sluice’ – used in draining fens. The closest major city to Sluts Hole Lane is Norwich, approximately 10 miles north-east of the lane. The lane is often found on eccentric and unusual place names in the UK and it’s not difficult to understand why. P.S.: I advise against doing a web search on this place name.^[9]

1 Fanny Hands

Fanny Hands Lane is a street which can be found in Lincolnshire, near a town called Market Rasen. The lane has been featured in newspapers as residents have seen their house value reportedly be around £80,000 less than those of streets around them. The term in the U.S. is used to describe someone’s bottom, in the U.K. it is a slang word for the female genitalia, or sometimes a name for a girl. Whichever way you use the word, it is certainly an unusual name to have as the street you live on. The town of Market Rasen was featured in the 1086 Domesday Book, deriving from an old English word meaning ‘plank’ – this is thought to refer to a plank over a river being used as a bridge.^[10]

Game of Thrones is clearly inspired by the jostling of power that has happened in the British Isles for thousands of years—with a few more dragons peppered in. In reality, British history is littered with tales of murder and betrayal that make the Red Wedding look like . . . well, a normal wedding.

Here, we detail 10 of the most fascinating and gruesome historical British massacres that have taken place in the name of conquest or just sheer bloodlust.

10 The Harrying Of The North

William the Conqueror successfully invaded Britain in 1066 and spent most of the rest of his life attempting to consolidate his power in one way or another. Three years after his initial invasion, his most notorious attempt came in the form of the Harrying of the North.

English rebels in the North had been employing guerrilla tactics—attacking when William’s Norman forces were off guard and then retreating. William found it incredibly hard to engage his enemy or get them to agree to any fixed battle in order for both sides to settle their differences swiftly. Therefore, William decided to fight dirty.

At the end of 1069, he launched a campaign of total annihilation in the North—burning down entire villages and slaughtering the inhabitants. He didn’t stop there. All food supplies in the North of England between the Humber and the River Tees were destroyed to guarantee any survivors would starve to death during the winter. It’s believed that over 100,000 people died.

The massacre was chronicled 50 years later by Benedictine monk Orderic Vitalis:

Never did William commit so much cruelty; to his lasting disgrace, he yielded to his worst impulse and set no bounds to his fury, condemning the innocent and the guilty to a common fate. [ . . . ] I assert, moreover, that such barbarous homicide could not pass unpunished.^[1]

9 The Massacre Of Glencoe

In 1692, 15 years before the Act of Union between England and Scotland, James VII was in exile in France as William of Orange looked to consolidate his power within the British Isles.

The clans of Scotland were bound to an oath they had made to James, and as such, William felt the need to clarify his newly acquired authority. He gave them a deadline of January 1, 1692, to declare their allegiance to him or face “the utmost extremity of the law.”^[2]

So loyal were the clans that they waited for word from James, still clinging to the idea that he might return and regain power. It took James until December 12, 1691, to admit to himself that it was impossible, and then he released the clans from their oath. It took a further 16 days for the message to reach the Highlands, leaving the clans only a few days to meet William’s deadline.

The MacDonalds of Glencoe struggled to meet the date. Their leader, Alastair MacIain, set off to sign a declaration of loyalty on December 31. Due to the amount of red tape and travel, his signing couldn’t be completed until days after the deadline. This pleased John Dalrymple, Scottish secretary of state, who had a particular dislike for Highlanders. He rejected the late signing and ordered the eradication of the MacDonald clan.

Commander Robert Campbell of Glenylon arrived at Glencoe 12 days before the massacre took place. The soldiers accompanying him had not yet been given their orders. They were friendly with the MacDonalds and requested shelter. The MacDonalds let the soldiers stay in their own houses.

During the night of February 13, Glencoe was caught in a blizzard. While the MacDonalds slept, their guests’ orders were finally laid bare. Thirty-eight were murdered, including MacIain. Of those who managed to escape, 40 more died of exposure in the hills.

8 The Massacre Of The Jews At York

On March 16, 1190, an estimated 150 Jewish people lost their lives. It was arguably the worst day in the history of York.

There was a strong undercurrent of anti-Semitism throughout Great Britain in the Middle Ages. In this case, the people of York were successfully riled up by four men in particular. They were William Percy, Marmeduke Darell, Philip de Fauconberg, and Richard Malebisse. The men’s motives were born out of financial incompetence and greed.

They had borrowed a large amount from Jewish moneylenders based in York and saw the increasing unrest in the city as an excellent opportunity to wipe their debts clean. Under the cloak of carnage, they were able to access all records of their financial failings and destroy them.^[3]

So successfully incensed was the general public that every Jewish person of York became a target and thus was forced to take refuge in the city’s castle. Even there, they were not safe. The crowd remained at fever pitch, unwilling to disperse. Many Jewish people inside the castle’s walls recognized this as an impossible situation and decided to take their own lives rather than eventually face the primal mob.

In the castle’s keep, patriarchs of Jewish families killed their wives and children before setting fire to their surroundings to kill themselves.

7 The Wihtwara Pagan Massacre

In 686, Caedwalla, the king of Wessex, conquered what was then known as Wihtwara and is now known as the Isle of Wight. It’s a strategically useful island off the south coast of England.

The island had changed owners quite a lot. Each time, the occupying power pushed its own beliefs on the existing inhabitants. However, once the dust had settled and the captors had moved onto bigger mainland projects, the people of Wihtwara would routinely revert to good old-fashioned paganism. It was a belief system that was abhorrent to Caedwalla, who professed the importance of Christianity.

To lay lasting claim to Wihtwara and to begin its proper Christianization, King Caedwalla gave every pagan islander a choice. He or she could either sincerely convert to Christianity or be killed. Caedwalla must have doubted many of the islanders’ sincerity because most people are believed to have been killed.^[4]

Records are kind of sketchy on what the actual death toll was. Only one survivor is recorded—the king of Wihtwara’s sister, who was married to King Egbert of Kent.

6 The Betrayal Of Clannabuidhe

No entry on this list has acted as a greater inspiration for Game of Thrones and, in particular, the Red Wedding than the Betrayal of Clannabuidhe in 1574.

Sir Brian MacPhelim O’Neill, leader of the O’Neill clan of Clanaboy in what is modern-day Northern Ireland, had been well-liked by the English. He was knighted in 1568 in recognition of his service to the Crown. However, in the six years following his knighting, O’Neill fell progressively out of favor with the English.

The English were suspected of plans to garrison major buildings in Clanaboy, which strongly contributed to the dissolution of the alliance and O’Neill’s preemptive destruction of those structures to make the plans impossible.^[5]

It was in the name of peace that he invited the earl of Sussex to a feast at his castle at Castlereagh, and indeed, everything was amicable until the feast’s end. At that point, O’Neill and his close family were seized as English forces slaughtered between 200 and 500 unarmed, unsuspecting guests. O’Neill, his wife, and his brother were then taken to Dublin Castle, where they were hanged, drawn, and quartered.

5 St. Brice’s Day Massacre

St. Brice’s Day occurs on November 13 and has become synonymous with the massacre that took place on it in 1002.

Fed up with persistent Danish raids in the preceding years by Danish King Sweyn I, the English King AEthelred the Unready decided to take extreme measures. Fearing further Danish attacks and to prevent an uprising, AEthelred decided to kill every Dane already living within his territory.

The exact number of deaths is unknown, but it’s believed that many people died. Most likely, the campaign of extermination only took place in areas of England that were not in the Danelaw. Naturally, those places were protected by Danish law and had been for over 100 years. Any attempts at slaughter in the Danelaw would have been met with significant resistance.

We do specifically know that there were a lot of deaths in Oxford. AEthelred wrote of an incident at a local church:

All the Danes who had sprung up in this island, sprouting like cockle among the wheat, were to be destroyed by a most just extermination . . . those Danes who dwelt in [Oxford], striving to escape death, entered this sanctuary of Christ, having broken by force the doors and bolts, and resolved to make refuge . . . but when all the people in pursuit strove, forced by necessity, to drive them out, and could not, they set fire to the planks and burned, as it seems, this church.^[6]

In 2008, during an excavation at St. John’s College, Oxford, the charred remains of at least 35 men were found. Further tests found that they were Vikings.

4 The Storming Of Bolton

The Storming of Bolton (aka the Bolton Massacre) most likely resulted in the greatest loss of life of any massacre during the nine-year English Civil War. It occurred on May 28, 1644, when the Roundhead (Parliamentarian) town of Bolton was attacked in the night by the Cavaliers (Royalists), under the command of Prince Rupert.

His army consisted of 2,000 cavalry and 6,000 infantry. In the dark during a heavy rainstorm, Rupert’s forces adopted a slice-first-ask-questions-later policy that resulted in the deaths of around 1,600 people. This included civilians as well as off-guard soldiers.

As is often the case, the numbers are disputable. The death estimate comes from Roundhead sources. It could have propagandistic roots, with the Roundheads inflating the number of unarmed casualties to heighten perceptions of Cavalier barbarism. Only 78 Boltonians’ deaths are noted in the town’s parish register.^[7]

3 The Peterloo Massacre

In the years leading up to the Peterloo Massacre on August 16, 1819, there had been a tremendous amount of unrest in the entire Lancashire area. The textile industry was largely concentrated in the northern areas of England and was badly affected by a national economic depression.

Factory owners had cut the wages of their workers by as much as two-thirds. Also, the Corn Laws had been introduced in 1815, which enforced tariffs on grain. When these measures were combined with pay cuts, factory workers could no longer afford food. This affected around one million working-class people in the Lancashire area, yet they were represented by only two Members of Parliament.^[8]

Politicians such as Henry Hunt became incredibly popular with the working class during this period by championing parliamentary reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws. The massing of 60,000–80,000 people on August 16, 1819, was centered on hearing Hunt and others speak about such issues as well as sending a message that change was needed to the greater powers that be.

It’s been documented that the gathering was fairly calm. People brought their entire families and had picnics during the day. However, when Henry Hunt began to give his speech, the chairman of the local magistrates ordered his cavalry to arrest Hunt.

The cavalry was separated from Hunt by the crowd and decided to simply use their sabers to hack away all who stood in their way. It took 10 minutes for the crowd to flee, and 11–18 people suffered injuries that resulted in death. The number of nonfatal injuries has been estimated to be as high as 700.

As a direct result of this incident, a newspaper called the Manchester Observer was formed to report the truth about the Peterloo Massacre. Two years later, this morphed into The Manchester Guardian, which is now simply known as The Guardian.

2 The Massacre Of Berwick

When Margaret, Maid of Norway and recognized Queen of Scots, died in 1290, no clear heir was apparent. As a result, many people claimed that the throne was rightfully theirs. This prolonged period of uncertainty meant that the Guardians of Scotland, then serving as de facto heads of state, asked King Edward I to help arbitrate the dispute. Ultimately, he chose John Balliol to become the king of Scotland.

Edward thus expected a level of loyalty from Balliol that was not received. Edward ordered Scotland to send troops to help fight in England’s war against France. Not only did Balliol refuse, but in direct response, he formed the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France in 1295.

King Edward retaliated by sacking the economic stronghold of Berwick, which lies on the border between Scotland and England. The greatest atrocities happened in the days after the sacking, as documented in the 15th-century chronicle The Scotichronicon.

It states, “When the town had been taken . . . Edward spared no one, whatever the age or sex, and for two days, streams of blood flowed from the bodies of the slain, for in his tyrannous rage, he ordered 7,500 souls of both sexes to be massacred.”^[9]

Edward’s troops continued marching north through Scotland, decisively winning the Battle of Dunbar and forcing John Balliol to abdicate soon after.

1 The Menai Massacre

The Menai Massacre took place during the Roman conquest of Anglesey in either AD 60 or 61. Anglesey is the largest island in Wales and was the home of many druids, the spiritual leaders of the native people.

It also was a place of refuge for many tribesmen who fled Roman rule. Thus, the Romans came to see Anglesey as a particularly troublesome place and the site of a possible uprising. As such, the decision was made to massacre the island’s inhabitants.

By the time that Roman General Suetonius Paulinus and his legions reached the Menai Straits, the inhabitants of Anglesey realized that there was no escape. Roman historian Tacitus detailed what happened next:

On the shore stood a dense array of armed warriors, while between the ranks dashed women . . . with hair disheveled, waving brands. All around, the druids, urged by their hands to Heaven and pouring forth dreadful imprecations, scared our soldiers by the unfamiliar sight. [ . . . ] Then urged by their general’s appeals and mutual encouragements not to quail before a troop of frenzied women, they bore the standards onward, smote down all resistance, and wrapped the fore in the flames of his own brands.^[10]

The actual number of casualties is unknown. All traces of the druids were obliterated. However, it is clear that not everyone on the island was killed as the Romans established a garrison in Anglesey in which the native tribes were indentured.

David is a freelance writer and Creative Writing MA student. You can read more of his articles at CultureRoast.com. Follow him on Twitter and Like him on Facebook.

Before we go any further, we need to state right now that the following claims are ones that reside mainly on the fringes of the fringes of the conspiracy world. And as such are dismissed as outrageous nonsense by many, if not most. They revolve around the claim that the United States of America remains under the control of the British. Or more to the point, The Crown. And it remains so, through a group formed in the 17th century named The Virginia Company.

You have to make of these claims what you will, as they are most likely wide of the mark of accurate reality. The thought-process, however, and ways the dots have been connected are intriguing in their own right.

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8 The “Secret” 1604 Meeting In Greenwich, London

The best place to begin exploring these claims is to look at the Virginia Company. And more specifically an apparent meeting that took place in Greenwich, London in England in 1604. On the agenda were the potential opportunities of the new world that we know today as the United States of America. Or, perhaps more accurately, how they could benefit the many “elites” of the United Kingdom. This was also the case with other parts of Europe. As well as many of the secret societies that were essentially forerunners of the Freemasons.

According to the claims, one of those at this secret meeting was no less than King James I. And James, incidentally, had the largest share in the new venture. This investment would see the influence of the king grow considerably. It would do so as they seized land to exploit materials in the new world. And what’s more, the ultimate objective was to increase the overall wealth and influence of The Crown. This, however, opposed to popular belief, is not a reference to the Royal Family (we will come back to this in our next entry).

If we believe the claims, the meeting would result in the creation of The Virginia Company. This group would then set out on two separate missions to the promising lands of the new world. One would land in what is now Jamestown in 1607, named after King James I. The other would arrive at Cape Cod in 1620. Both would immediately claim rights to the land they had “discovered”.^[1]

7 The Crown – What Is It?

When most people think of The Crown, they very likely imagine a connection to the British Royal family. However, in this instance, it is a reference to The Crown at Temple Bar which resides in the City of London. This area is where the many lawmakers and bankers operate from. Indeed, those who subscribe to a world-wide conspiracy of elite overlords controlling everything state that The Crown is one of the central operating locations.

In the early-1600s, one of the main concerns of The Crown was the rapidly increasing influence from the conquests of the Spanish. Many of the territories in the south Americas, for example, were already under Spanish control. Because of this, the spread of the Spanish language was increasing. And perhaps of most concern to the elites of England at the time, so was the spread of Catholicism. A decision was made to beat them to the northern territories. Lest they challenge the influence of The Crown and the subsequent profits they could make.^[2]

6 The City Of London – A Law Unto Itself?

Much like the District of Columbia, which we will move on to in a moment, the City of London is a law unto itself. It resides right in the heart of London on grounds of only one square mile. And upon the conquest of William The Conquer would negotiate its own laws and freedoms. As a result, since 1067, it has acted as its own sovereign state. This remains fully in place today and was arrived at through “debt-financing”. Incidentally, this is perhaps one of the first examples of the start of the modern banking world.

Much is the same for the District of Columbia where the heart of the American banking system resides. This is known as the Federal Reserve and also operates under its own laws. And like the City of London, is a separate entity from the rest of the country.

What’s more, the twists and turns of America’s early years begin to become even more intriguing. For example, not only were a large portion of the Founding Fathers Freemasons, but many were also lawyers for The Crown. And their presence in the soon-to-be United States was for one reason only. To ensure that all decisions in relation to land, materials, and taxes were all tipped in their favour.^[3]

5 The Act of 1871 – Central To The Entire Conspiracy

One of the most intriguing parts of the Virginia Company and British control of United States revolves around the Act of 1871. According to the claims, the real purpose of the Act of 1871 was to create two separate entities. One, a country (the United States of America), and the other, a corporation (the United States). The corporation was based in the District of Columbia, which is a law unto itself with its own government. This is the Federal Government and is different from that of the United States.

Official history suggests that the grip of The Virginia Company ceased following the War of Independence. This would break the country from British rule and also force the group into bankruptcy. However, following the Act of 1871, bankers and private companies were able to operate out of the District of Columbia. They would ultimately profit from the debt of the United States government. This is largely because the United States was forced to borrow money from the reserve, much as they do today.

Over time, some began to question this set up. Many researchers even question whether the Federal Reserve is nothing more than The Virginia Company renamed. If this is the case, then that would mean that the United States of America was essentially still under British control. If only because of the vast amount of financial debt it remains in to the Federal Reserve.^[4]

4 The Maritime Law Claims

Perhaps one of the most bizarre claims connected to the Virginia Company are those of Maritime Law in America. And, if we accept them to be accurate for one moment, the reality of the United States courts looks entirely different.

Officially the United States court system operate under common law (or the Law of the Land). As the District of Columbia is home to the (private) Federal Government, though, it operates under Maritime Law. This is sometimes called Admiralty Law, which is essentially the Law of the Sea.

This means, if you subscribe to the theories, the court systems in federal cases are also operating under Maritime Law. And ultimately are operating under laws outside of the American legal system. Instead, some people claim that such cases are operating under the same systems as when under British rule.

Of course, we should remind ourselves once more that many, many people reject such claims. Indeed, most see them as nothing but twisted truths on one level and outright nonsense on the other.^[5]

3 Ties To Ancient Bloodlines And Secret Societies

There are several claims that revolve around the idea of a ruling elite bloodline stretching back to antiquity. And, of course, this runs through the Founding Fathers and their connections to The Crown in England. What’s more, these connections also run through the royal and elite families of Europe. Going one stage further, many of these same bloodlines stretch back to antiquity. And through such empires as those of ancient Rome, and Egypt, right the way back to the Sumer region.

Perhaps one more point of interest is the notion that over 40 of the United States Presidents also connect to these bloodlines.

It is easy to see, then, where the idea of a ruling elite controlling resources all over the planet comes from. And why the idea blossoms easily in the minds of some researchers. And if true, The Virginia Company is just one part of that overriding control.^[6]

2 Intriguing Clues In The Names

Tied in and around these claims to the connections to secret societies and bloodlines are further intriguing clues. Ones that some researchers claim are hidden in plain sight for everyone to see.

And once again, we will turn to the District of Columbia and its apparent discreet origins to Babylon. For example, one of the most important deities in Babylon was Queen Semiramis. This divine being also goes by the name, Venus Columba. It doesn’t take too much study to see the near match in the words Columba and Columbia. Might it be that the District of Columbia is, in fact, the District of Columba? This would essentially mean it is the District of Venus Columba, or Queen Semiramis of Babylon.

This is simply one such clue that those who subscribe to claims of secret control over the world – including the United States – feel endorses their argument. Most would accept that such conspiracies are highly unlikely. There is still, however, that tiny bit in most of us that questions, just a little bit, if they just might be true.^[7]

1 The Words Of George Bush

While there is considerable doubt as to what he actually meant, a quote usually attributed to George Bush Sr is intriguing. And is looked at as being some an admission regarding the control a very select few have over the rest of the world’s populace.

According to the claims, Bush would state “if the American people knew what we had done, they would string us up from the lamp posts”.

Was he referring to the claims we have discussed here? After all, the above statement could be used in relation to many such incidents of the twentieth century. Anything from oil scandals, for example, to the death of JFK, to the many scandals of the Reagan era.

Was this what Bush Sr meant when he claimed they would be strung up from lamp posts if people knew the truth? It is certainly food for thought, of that there is little doubt.^[8]

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Being a member of the British royal family isn’t as easy as it looks. You can’t be political, controversial, or show emotion. And any slipup you do make will be all over the news across the globe in very short order.

The queen mother’s motto was, “Never complain, never explain,” but when words fail, actions can speak louder, and those actions can be passive-aggressive or just plain ruthless. Here are ten examples of when a royal let their guard down.

10 Taking The Saudi Prince For A Ride

Queen Elizabeth II loves to drive. She learned during World War II as second subaltern in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service as a truck driver. As queen, she is not required to hold a driver’s license.

Former Saudi ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles recalled a visit made by Crown Prince Abdullah in 1998.^[1] After lunch at Balmoral, the queen suggested a tour of the Scottish estate and directed her guest toward the royal Land Rover. The crown prince sat down in the passenger side and was shocked to see the queen position herself in the driver’s seat. She started the engine and tore around the narrow roads, chatting away to the prince as they went over the rough terrain. Eventually, the panicky prince was forced to ask her—through his interpreter—to slow down. It may be a coincidence, but at the time, women were banned from driving in Saudi Arabia.

The prince survived his spin with the queen, and in June 2018, Saudi Arabia’s driving ban was finally lifted.

9 The Trial Of Paul Burrell

Paul Burrell (left above) was personal footman to Queen Elizabeth II and then went on to work for Princess Diana. The two formed a close bond, and Diana allegedly referred to him as “my Rock.” After her death in August 1997, Burrell quickly rose to fame. He became a regular on TV and took on a high-profile role with the charity set up in her name.

On January 18, 2001, Police raided Burrell’s home and found 342 items belonging to Diana hidden in the attic. The haul included signed CDs, clothing, personal letters, and photo albums. Burrell strongly denied any wrongdoing. He was charged with theft, and the trial began in October 2002.

The world’s press were out in force to report on the story. However, on day nine, the case was adjourned. The judge, Mrs. Justice Rafferty, sent the jurors home with no explanation. The following day, they were again told to stay home. Meanwhile, the queen, who had been unaware of the case, had seen a news report about the trial. She then recalled Burrell telling her that he had Diana’s possessions stored safely in his home.^[2] The police were informed, and Prosecutor William Boyce, QC, told the court there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction. Burrell was free to go.

Outside the court, he famously said: “The queen came through for me.”

This brought an abrupt end to what many predicted would be a lengthy trial full of royal secrets. A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said, “There is no question of the Queen interfering.” Diana’s possessions were returned to her family, and Burrell continued with his media career. The royal family have never commented on the case of Diana’s missing things.

8 The Queen Puts Mrs. Thatcher In Her Place

Margaret Thatcher became the first female prime minister of the UK. Together, Queen Elizabeth II and Mrs. Thatcher were the most powerful women in the country. The queen was often irritated by Thatcher’s habit of turning up early for their meetings and had been heard referring to her as “that woman.” When Thatcher suggested that she and the queen should match their outfits for an occasion, Buckingham Palace responded: “The Queen does not notice what other people are wearing.”

The Commonwealth countries were important to Queen Elizabeth—having spent much time on tours there. Thatcher saw it as an outdated institution. Matters came to a head in the 1980s as people became uneasy about apartheid in South Africa.^[3] The queen wanted to impose trade sanctions as a way of keeping the Commonwealth united. Thatcher disagreed.

In 1986, a headline appeared in The Sunday Times : “Queen dismayed by ‘uncaring’ Thatcher.”

The article went on to detail the rift between them. The Palace issued a denial, and the queen personally telephoned Thatcher. This was puzzling for the editor of The Sunday Times, as his source for the story was Michael Shea—the queen’s press secretary. It was unthinkable that Shea would have spoken without royal approval.

Despite this, Elizabeth grew to respect Thatcher. After Thatcher’s death in 2013, the queen made a last-minute decision to attend her funeral, even though duty did not require her to.

7 Royal Nanny Out In The Cold

The first rule of working for the royal family is: Keep your mouth shut. In 1932, Marion Crawford was employed as nanny to Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Their privacy ended forever when their uncle, Edward VII, abdicated to marry Mrs. Simpson, making their father King. The family moved into Buckingham Palace, and “Crawfie,” as Marion was known, went with them.

Over the years, Crawfie became such a trusted servant to the royals that she stayed in service until 1948, when Princess Elizabeth became engaged to Phillip Mountbatten.

In 1949 the American Ladies’ Home Journal approached her for a piece they were writing on royal children.^[4] Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (aka the mother of Elizabeth and Margaret) thought it would be a good way for Crawfie to earn some extra money. There was a strict understanding, however, that she would be anonymous.

The article was full of sweet anecdotes from the royal nursery and perfect for the American public. But when the magazine hit the stands, there was one glaring mistake—Marion Crawford was named as the interviewee. The queen mother was furious and instantly blamed Crawfie, saying that she had “gone off her head.”

The family severed all ties with Crawfie, who moved back to Scotland and never got over the rejection. She suffered from depression and attempted suicide twice. She kept the letters from the queen mother giving her consent to speak to the magazine locked away. Even though they could have cleared her name, she refused to release them.

Marion Crawford died in a nursing home in 1988, still hoping to hear from the royal family. In her will, she requested that all personal letters be returned to the Palace for safekeeping. The royal family have never mentioned her again or the role she played in shaping the future queen.

6 Diana’s Rage

After his divorce from Diana, Charles employed Alexandra “Tiggy” Legge-Bourke, a well-connected young woman, to help care for his sons. Tiggy’s job was to be a fun older sister rather than stern nanny, and she quickly formed a close bond with the princes. Their mother was not impressed with Tiggy’s role. Tensions grew between the two households, and soon, Diana began to suspect, wrongly, that Tiggy and Charles were having an affair. Diana seized upon a false rumor doing the rounds that Tiggy had gotten an abortion. Diana made an appearance at a staff party in December 1996, strolled up to Tiggy, and allegedly said: “So sorry about the baby.”

Tiggy instructed top libel lawyer Peter Carter-Ruck to write to Diana’s solicitors demanding an apology for the offending remark.^[5] Tiggy continued to work for Charles until 1999, when she left to get married. She has remained close to Princes William and Harry.

5 The Attempted Kidnap Of Princess Anne

Princess Anne is known to be a strong character, and this was tested to the limit when Ian Ball attempted to kidnap Queen Elizabeth II’s only daughter.^[6] On March 20, 1974, the princess, her husband Mark Phillips, a bodyguard, and Anne’s lady-in-waiting were traveling in a royal limousine. Ball, a 26-year-old unemployed man from London, drove his car into the royals’ vehicle and then jumped out, brandishing two handguns. Anne’s bodyguard approached him and was shot in the shoulder. Ball then tried to get into the car, shouting, “Open or I’ll shoot!” Anne and Phillips tried to hold the door shut.

Anne’s chauffeur approached Ball, only to be shot in the chest. Ball was now free to reach into the car, and he seized Anne’s wrist while Phillips—a captain in the British Army—clamped onto her waist.

“Please come out,” pleaded Ball.

“Not bloody likely!” was Anne’s reply.

Incredibly, Ball shot a further two people—a police officer and motorist who tried to help. Finally, a passerby punched Ball in the head. As police arrived, Anne bizarrely said to Ball, “Go on, now’s your chance.” Ball fled toward a park but was caught and arrested.

On searching Ball’s rented vehicle, police found handcuffs, Valium, and a ransom note addressed to the queen. The note demanded that £2 million be delivered in person by the queen and stated, “Anne will be shot dead.”

Ball was sentenced to life in a psychiatric unit. All those who came to Anne’s aid survived and were rewarded. Anne later described her experience with Ball as “a very irritating conversation.”

4 The Death Of A Princess

On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris. The news of her sudden death caused shock around the world. The royal family was on their summer break in Scotland. Apart from a short statement, little was heard from the royals about the tragedy.

In London, crowds flocked toward her home, Kensington Palace. People laid flowers and wept openly in the streets, and there was a growing mood of anger toward the royals. Some people began to turn their attention to Buckingham Palace, where the flag was still flying at full mast. To some, this was symbolic of how Diana had been treated in life.

In reality, the queen’s flag, called the Royal Standard, is never flown at half-mast, as it represents the monarchy itself, which is continuous.^[7] When a monarch dies, there is instantly another to take their place. There was no Royal Standard flying from Buckingham Palace at that time, as the queen wasn’t in residence. Instead, it was the Union Jack, which is only flown at half-mast when a royal styled as “HRH” dies. Diana, as ex-wife of Prince Charles, had lost her HRH status in their divorce.

The media picked up on the public mood, and stories about the coldness of the royal family began to appear along with scenes of public anger. Headlines screamed, “Where is the Queen?” The Royal family stayed on holiday, and the flag stayed at full mast.

The night before the funeral, the queen made an unexpected speech on TV and paid tribute to Diana. Finally, on the morning of the funeral—without announcement—the flag was lowered to half-mast and stayed there until midnight as a last-minute mark of respect.

3 Farewell, Britannia

Some of Queen Elizabeth II’s happiest days were spent with her family on the royal yacht, Britannia. Launched in 1953, she toured the world and hosted many famous guests, including Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela. Britannia was also used for the queen’s private family holidays and was the place she felt most at peace.

In 1997, Tony Blair was the new prime minister. In a cost-cutting exercise, he blocked a £17 million refurbishing bill for the Britannia. At the time, the royals were being criticized for the cost of works at Windsor Castle after a fire. Blair made it clear that he would prefer the money to be spent on public services. The royals are not allowed to air political views, and so in December 1997, Britiannia was decommissioned.^[8]

Queen Elizabeth and Princess Anne stood at the dock and openly wept as Britannia was sent to become a tourist attraction next to a shopping mall in Edinburgh. Even 14 years later, the loss was still felt by the royal family. In an interview, Prince Phillip commented, “She was sound as a bell and she could have gone on for another 50 years.” This may also explain why, when Prince William married Kate Middleton in 2011, the only former prime minister not to receive an invitation was one Tony Blair.

2 An Awkward Meeting

Queen Elizabeth II was very close to her cousin, Lord Mountbatten, who became a mentor to the young Prince Charles. In 1979, Mountbatten was killed when a terrorist bomb exploded on his boat in Ireland. His grandson, 14, and a local boy, aged 15, were also killed. The IRA claimed responsibility for the attack.

Martin McGuinness was a former IRA leader who later became deputy first minister of Northern Ireland.^[9] In June 2012, the queen made history when, on a visit to Belfast, she met and shook hands in public with McGuinness. On their second meeting in 2016, when he asked her how she was, she responded, “Well, I’m still alive.”

1 Sitting Pretty

Marrying into the royal family can be tricky. Even if you are accepted, your family may not quite match their requirements. Famously, many in-laws quietly fade into the background. (Thomas Markle, take note.)

When Kate Middleton married Prince William, her family were thrust into the spotlight. They appeared to be a loving and close unit, in contrast to Prince Charles, who could be awkward and distant. After the arrival of his grandchildren, Charles began to feel that he was being edged out of their life. Matters came to a head when the couple chose to spend Christmas with her parents, avoiding the traditional meet at Sandringham.

Aware of his disapproval, Charles’s staff began to freeze out the Middletons, which upset William.^[10] News of the rift reached the queen, who was reportedly very fond of Kate’s family. A few weeks later in September 2016, the Middletons were invited to stay at Balmoral as personal guests of the queen.

The press turned out to photograph the royal group as they drove to a shooting party and were treated to the sight of the queen behind the wheel with Kate Middleton next to her as guest of honor. Her security team were relegated to the back seats. Game, set, and match to her Majesty.

I am an avid reader of and thought I would try my hand at a list. I have an interest in the royal family and history, but my first attempt may be a bit clunky. I am keen to improve, so feedback is gratefully accepted.

Most of us can name a couple of British kings off the tops of our heads. Interested in English history? William the Conqueror and Henry VIII. Classic literature? The Scottish king Macbeth and Henry V (or at least, Shakespeare’s historically skewed versions of them). American history? George III, or as he’s more commonly known, “Mad King George.” And who hasn’t heard of Queen Victoria?

The kings and queens of Great Britain are probably the best-known royals in history. But there are still some British monarchs who achieved great things in their lifetimes but are almost unknown today. Here, we’re exploring the lives of 10 British monarchs you’ve never heard of.

10 King Louis

In May 1216, the heir to the French throne landed unopposed on the island of Thanet with a big army in tow. From there, he marched on London. Instead of rejecting the French king, the people of London opened the city’s gates and proclaimed him king of England in Old St. Paul’s Cathedral with many of the English nobles and even the king of Scotland watching. His claim to the throne was tenuous at best.^[1]

The English nobility had grown sick of King John’s reign. They invited Louis to take the throne after it became clear that John had no intention of keeping the promise he’d made when he signed the Magna Carta the year before.

John abandoned London to Louis and then the old Anglo-Saxon capital of Winchester, which Louis had also seized by June. By midsummer, over half the kingdom belonged to him.

However, the momentum turned when John died of dysentery in October. Suddenly, the king of England was a nine-year-old Henry—a much smaller threat to baronial authority. His regent was William Marshal, one of the most respected men in England at the time. He was able to persuade the barons back from Louis’s side.

Though the odds were stacked against Louis, the war continued for another 12 months. In September 1217, after losing some key battles and having his supply lines cut, Louis was forced to sign the Treaty of Lambeth. In it, he agreed that he’d never return to England and that he’d never been the legitimate king of England. In return, he received 10,000 marks.

He became king of France in 1223.

9 King Kenneth I

At the time of Kenneth’s birth around 810, modern-day Scotland was split between the Gaelic kingdom of Dalriada and the kingdom of the Picts. Pictland had been much stronger than Dalriada, but by the time Kenneth became king of Dalriada in 839, it was in the middle of a crisis. Five different claimants fought over the kingdom over the next decade, severely weakening it.

Around 848, Kenneth became king of the Picts and united Scotland under a single monarch for the first time. How exactly he became king is unknown. Among the various theories are that his mother was related to a Pictish claimant, that he was elected by the Picts, or that he seized the kingdom by force.

Kenneth faced some initial resistance from some of the Picts but was able to endure. His 10-year reign laid the foundations for a dynasty that lasted until 1034 and a state that has remained united until this day.^[2]

He is mostly known for moving the administration of the Scottish kings inland to protect it from Viking attacks, which relocated the religious capital from Iona to Dunkeld. He was also the first Gaelic king of all Scotland. Not a single Pict became king of Scotland after his reign. Therefore, he started the process of Gaelicization that led to the disappearance of the Picts by 1100.

8 King Athelstan

Athelstan was elected king of Mercia in 924 following the death of his father, Edward. By late 925, he’d been elected king of Wessex, too, though not before he had to put down a rebellion.

With the might of the two greatest Anglo-Saxon kingdoms behind him, Athelstan finished what his grandfather Alfred the Great had started. In 927, Athelstan conquered the last Viking territory in England—the Kingdom of York—and became the first monarch in history to be king of all England.

He didn’t stop there. By 934, he’d also invaded Scotland and forced the Scottish king, Malcolm, to pay him homage. King Malcolm was unhappy with this arrangement and sided with the Vikings to invade northern England in 937.

The ensuing Battle of Burnanburh was a decisive victory for Athelstan and secured his position as the most powerful man in Britain for the rest of his lifetime. He called himself the king of Britain, and the Welsh and Scottish kings were forced to attend his council, where they witnessed and accepted his laws.^[3]

Athelstan was a king who was actively involved in the government of the realm. More laws survive from his reign than any other 900s king. He centralized the Anglo-Saxon government and made efforts to reform the currency, but the majority of his legislation was aimed at tackling the rampant anarchism and robbery that dominated England at the time.

His council was the first in English history to regularly contain figures from across England rather than from just a single Anglo-Saxon kingdom. However, Athelstan himself rarely left Wessex. This way of governing, an early form of national assembly, did much to break down the regional barriers between the old kingdoms and to establish a common English identity.

7 King Edmund Ironside

Edmund Ironside was never expected to be king. During a time of peace and stability in Anglo-Saxon England, he was third in line to the throne behind his two brothers. However, that changed when the Viking King Cnut invaded in 1015.

Many of the English earls turned their backs on King Aethelred and supported Cnut, but Edmund raised an army to resist them. He was betrayed by the English Earl Eadric Streona, leader of Mercia, who submitted to Cnut.

When his father failed to arrive to lead the army he’d raised, Edmund and Earl Uhtred of Northumbria took matters into their own hands and joined forces, raiding Eadric’s lands in retaliation for his betrayal. Cnut’s army landed in Northumbria and forced Uhtred to submit before killing him, leaving Edmund without any allies.

When Aethelred died in early 1016, Edmund made his way to London to be crowned the new king of England. Both of his brothers had died in 1014. In a final effort to halt the Danish invasion, he went to Wessex to raise an army. He fought the Danes at Penselwood and Sherston. Then he made his way to London where he successfully broke the Danish siege.

He pursued them to Brentford and won a decisive victory. His forces were depleted, however, and he retreated to Wessex to raise another army. By this time, Eadric and several other English earls had switched back to his side.

Edmund defeated the Danish army once again, this time at Otford, and chased Cnut’s retreating army into Kent. The momentum clearly appeared to be with him. Things changed, though, when he met the Danish army at Assandun.

Eadric, who was leading a portion of Edmund’s army, once again defected and retreated in the middle of the battle, leaving a hole in the English lines. Cnut quickly capitalized on this and won a devastating victory, putting an end to Edmund’s campaign. His reign came to an end with his death later that year. He’d been king for less than 12 months.^[4]

6 King Edgar The Atheling

Edgar the Atheling was one of the shortest-reigning monarchs in British history. Part of the Anglo-Saxon resistance during William the Conqueror’s invasion, he was elected king by the royal council in London in October 1066. By December, he had sworn homage to King William and fled to Scotland in exile. So ended the reign of the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, barely two months after it had started.^[5]

That wasn’t the end of his story, though. He returned to England in 1069 to lead a rebellion in Northumbria and joined forces with the Danes in 1070 when they invaded northern England, even seizing York in his name. The rebellion lasted for almost a year, with Edgar leading a guerrilla campaign from the Yorkshire marshes before eventually retreating to Scotland.

In 1074, the French King Philip offered him lands and a castle in northern France to harass William’s lands. Edgar accepted. But his ship from Scotland was caught in a storm, and he was shipwrecked on the English coast.

He and a handful of men barely escaped to Scotland with their lives. Seeing his attempts as futile, the Scottish king, Malcolm—who was also the husband of Edgar’s sister—convinced Edgar to give up his claim and return to England.

In 1093, Malcolm died. The kingdom should have gone to his son, Edgar (named after the Atheling), but instead it was seized by another noble. Edgar the Atheling had become quite powerful in England by this time. So he raised an army and led it north, driving out the pretender and installing his nephew on the Scottish throne.

5 King Robert II

Robert II of Scotland was in his fifties when he became king of Scotland in 1371. He had been the heir presumptive for over 50 years. He was also the first king of the Stuart dynasty, which ruled Scotland until 1603 and then all of Britain until 1714.

By the time he became king, Robert was very experienced in the government of the realm and knew exactly how to twist it to his desires. While the last king had tried to dominate and suppress his nobles, Robert instead granted them more local powers and earned their goodwill. Rather than take their lands by force, he paid them significant amounts of money and then gave the lands to his sons.

By the end of Robert’s reign, over half the most powerful nobles in Scotland were Stuarts, all but ensuring their dominance of Scotland for the next few centuries. Unlike previous Scottish kings who’d spent most of their time courting their followers in lowland Scotland, Robert frequently toured the entire country with his court, engaging in diplomacy with his vassals and securing their support and respect.

His skills in diplomacy extended beyond the kingdom, too. Within weeks of being crowned, Robert formed the alliance with France that would be crucial to Scottish security in later centuries by defending them from English ambitions.

However, his wise, levelheaded approach to governance couldn’t last forever. When tensions began to rise once more between England and Scotland, Robert did everything he could to avoid war and alienated many of his supporters in the process.

Eventually, the royal council stripped him of a large portion of his royal power. They gave it to his son as lieutenant of Scotland, who promptly led the kingdom to war. Robert spent the rest of his reign as a figurehead king with little, if any, power.^[6]

4 King Edgar The Peaceful

While Athelstan was the first actual king of England, it was Edgar the Peaceful who laid the foundations of a long-lasting, powerful realm. He worked tirelessly to centralize the power of the monarchy over the whole kingdom. He was also responsible for defining a system of weights and measures to be used across the kingdom. Although many kings had tried this, he was the first whose system was widely implemented and used.

His laws fundamentally shaped medieval England and would long be considered the standard which English people expected their kings to follow. When King Cnut invaded decades after Edgar’s death, Cnut swore that he would continue to uphold the laws of King Edgar.^[7]

Edgar the Peaceful was also instrumental in the foundation of a modern, nationalized currency for England. Before his reign, coinage was produced on a regional basis. The average silver penny varied in size, weight, and stamp across the kingdom.

By the end of his reforms, the penny had a standardized size and was stamped with the same design at all the royal mints. Edgar’s currency reform dramatically increased the wealth of the English monarchs and allowed later Anglo-Saxon kings to keep the peace by paying money to the Vikings, preventing them from burning coastal settlements.

3 King William II ‘Rufus’

When William the Conqueror was dying of his wounds in 1087, he made the succession clear: His eldest son, Robert, was not to be king of England. Instead, he would be made duke of Normandy and the kingdom that William had built for 20 years would pass to his second surviving son.

Rufus—a nickname that supposedly referred to his ruddy complexion and possibly to his drunkenness or angry nature—was far from perfect as a king. But he was certainly a better choice than Robert, who’d once started a full-on rebellion because his younger brothers emptied a chamber pot over his head.

When William Rufus became king, Robert naturally disputed it. He launched a rebellion against Rufus, but the rebellion fell apart quickly when Robert failed to turn up.

Secure in his throne, Rufus ruled for 13 years. He was triumphant against the Scots, securing the border and taking Cumbria for the English throne, and he made lots of money for the royal coffers by levying high taxes on the realm.

He also profited from the free investiture rules (enacted by his father) by purposely leaving bishoprics empty, meaning their incomes automatically went to Rufus. However, this also deprived people of the religious leadership they wanted.

This act in particular seems to have earned him many enemies. Alongside the fact that he had never married, this may have led to the widespread anger and accusations of sodomy that many chroniclers (who were usually monks) threw at him in the years following his death.^[8]

William Rufus was an unpopular king either way and was said to have been more interested in enjoying himself than governing the country properly. When he died in a hunting accident in 1100, very few people mourned his loss.

2 King Henry I

Henry was unlike his brother Rufus in almost every way. Henry’s nickname, Beauclerk, hinted at his learned nature and his knowledge of Latin. When Rufus died in 1100, Henry was on the same hunting trip and his brother Robert was away in the Holy Land. The coincidence has led many historians to accuse Henry of assassination.

As the older brother, Robert felt that he had a greater claim to the throne than Henry and hurried home from the crusade to take the kingdom for himself. To begin with, many of the nobility were on his side, but Henry was able to turn them by issuing the Charter of Liberties, a document which pledged to undo the corrupt practices of his brother and restore law and order to the kingdom.

It also promised to clear any debts or murder charges still facing any nobles who joined Henry, a cunning scheme to persuade them to take his side to avoid their punishments. The Charter of Liberties placed many restrictions on the king and effectively prevented him from interfering in the succession of his vassals at all.

Henry imprisoned Robert for life after capturing him in 1106. With Henry in a much stronger position, he ignored many of the restrictions set out in the Charter of Liberties.

Instead, he was responsible for establishing the most efficient and advanced English state that had been seen up to that point. He made many new royal justices who roamed the countryside ensuring that courts were functioning properly and that all criminals paid their fees to the crown.

He also established the office of the exchequer, which even today manages the income and expenditures of the British state. Henry reformed the currency three times during his reign—in 1107, 1108, and 1125. The first pipe roll, the records that kept track of royal expenditures, was created in 1130.^[9]

1 King Constantine II

If Kenneth was the first king of a united Scotland, then his grandson Constantine was the king who shaped the country into something we’d recognize as Scotland today. Over the course of his 43-year reign, it went from being called the Kingdom of the Picts to the Kingdom of Alba, the Gaelic word for “Scotland.” The words “Scot” and “Scotland” were first used during his reign.

In the third year of Constantine’s reign, the Vikings returned and pillaged the kingdom. They made it as far as Dunkeld, where they looted many Scottish religious treasures. From then on, Constantine’s main focus seems to have been on defeating the Vikings.

He allied himself with the English for much of his reign, even deigning to visit the court of Athelstan and witness his laws in return for peace and cooperation. In 918, he worked with the Northumbrians. Together, the Scottish and English armies met the Vikings at the Battle of Corbridge.

The most powerful Vikings were the Ui Imair, who had their base in the Hebrides. While the history of the conflict between Constantine and the Ui Imair is shrouded in uncertainty, their influence had faded in the face of a centralized Scotland by the end of Constantine’s rule.

When he was in his sixties, Constantine had been king for so many years that he simply handed the kingdom to his nephew, Malcolm, and lived the rest of his life as the abbot of St. Andrews, dedicating his time to teaching and study. The peaceful succession was a rarity in both Scotland and England at the time and reveals just how successful his efforts to create a peaceful, stable realm had been.^[10]

As we have all been reminded these past few weeks, the royal family is no stranger to controversy. With so much money, power, and influence, this is hardly surprising. But when you have so much money, power, and influence, everything you do tends to be pretty well-documented, so no matter how well you think you hide something, who knows what historians in the future could uncover. In the case of the Royal family, it seems there are a few connections they tried to hide, but ones that historians today felt were too good to leave buried.

See Also: 10 Plans Hitler Would Have Put In Motion If The Nazis Had Won

10 Edward VIII

If you’ve seen the movie The King’s Speech, then you’ve already got an understanding of why King Edward VIII is so famous. That’s right, the man who worked so hard at overcoming his fears and inspiring the nation was none other than his brother George VI, who became the unexpected King when Edward abdicated in 1936. Now pretty much known as the man who gave us Queen Elizabeth, there is a lot more to Edward’s story than the first few minutes of that film would suggest.

You may think that working as an officer in World War 1 would have instilled some anti-German sentiment in young Edward, but it seems the opposite is true. Having witnessed the horrors of war, he grew up with a desire to ensure that the UK and Germany had better relations moving forward, and his sympathies for the Nazis are well-documented.^[1] In the early 1930s, this wouldn’t have been particularly uncommon, but the fact that he was heir to the throne made his support a little more controversial.

In 1934, the Prince began an affair with his future-wife, a twice-divorced American named Wallis Simpson. Although the public were unaware of the relationship, both British & US intelligence suspected Wallis Simpson of being a Nazi spy. She was accused of having a second affair with Germany’s ambassador to the UK, Joachim Von Ribbentrop,^[2] and of passing on sensitive information to the Nazis. However, neither of these allegations have ever been proven, and it is possible that they were simply character attacks aimed at a woman who had the gall to marry three times.

During World War 2, Edward gave speeches advocating reconciliation both before and after his abdication, much to the chagrin of the British people. In 1937, he even took his controversial new-wife on an official visit to Germany, where they were met with cheering crowds, Nazi salutes (which they reciprocated), and even joined the Fuhrer himself for some afternoon tea. Although Edward told an interviewer in 1966 that he had been “foolish and naive”^[3] about Hitler, it is hard not to look back and wonder if there was more to this story that hasn’t come to light.

9 Churchill’s Weeders

We often hear that history is written by the victors, but most of us probably underestimate just how much work goes into the editing process before that history is published. That saying is often (albeit, unreliably) attributed to Churchill himself, and while he may not have been the first to say it, he certainly took the advice to heart.

As soon as the war was over, one of Churchill’s first acts was establishing an elite team known as “the Weeders”. Their job was to sift through any records in Berlin that they could get their hands on, looking for any useful information, particularly any information that could have been damaging to the British. But while they did succeed in uncovering some potentially unflattering files, they unfortunately weren’t the first.

The files in question were a number of German telegrams sent in 1940, most notably one that describes a conversation Edward & Wallis had with Nazi officials. According to the telegram,^[4] the couple were intrigued when the officials said that the war could result in them returning to the throne if the Nazis were victorious.

As the telegrams had been intercepted by both US & French intelligence, Churchill got to work on ensuring they were not released. President Eisenhower agreed that they were likely Nazi fabrications aimed at sowing distrust amongst the Allies, and that no good would come from their release. Their publication was delayed until 1957.

The Weeders may not have retrieved enough solid information to enable us to make an informed decision on whether the telegrams were fact or fiction, but the fact that they are in the public domain does leave us with another big question: if these files were released after roughly a decade, what did the Weeders discover in the files that the Royals requested be locked up for 100 years?^[5] Come back in 30 years to find out.

8Operation Willi

With such strong ties between Edward VIII and the Nazis, it should come as no surprise that there was one final, last-ditch attempt to win him over to the Nazi cause. Or, more accurately, take him over by force.

Once France had fallen to the Nazis in 1940, Edward & Wallis fled to Spain in order to evade capture. Although Spain was technically neutral at that point, it quickly declared a state of “non-belligerency”, which essentially meant supporting the Nazis when provoked. That explains why, when the Spanish Foreign Minister asked how to deal with the royals, Joachim Von Ribbentrop requested that they be detained for 2 weeks, but without letting them know it was at the request of the Nazis.

During this delay, the couple continued on to Portugal and Edward allegedly spoke about his dislike for the royal family, their policies, and their treatment of his wife. While the Nazis gleefully listened and agreed that he’d be much better without the Royals, Churchill heard about the conversations and sent 2 telegrams to Edward. The first ordered him to return to Britain, with a reminder that Edward was technically a military man and could face a court-martial; the second announced his new role as Governor of the Bahamas, and instructed him to go there immediately.

Although Edward was reluctant, he seemed to be giving serious consideration to the Governorship, and it was at this point that Hitler began Operation Willi,^[6] a plan to kidnap the couple and either use them as peacebrokers or reinstall them on the throne of a German Britain. The first step of the plan was to intimidate the couple, which included throwing rocks through their windows, sending a bouquet of flowers with a threatening note, and spreading rumours amongst the staff that British intelligence was planning to assassinate the couple.

The operation came to a head on August 1st, when Hitler learned that the couple were making their way out of Portugal to the Bahamas. While the Spanish ambassador to Portugal tried to convince the couple not to go, the car carrying their luggage to the port was sabotaged, and a phoney bomb-threat was made against the ship they were supposed to be travelling on. Despite these efforts, the couple made their escape, bringing a decisive end to Edward’s relationship with the Nazis.

7 Charles Edward

When Charles Edward was 16 years old, he was asked to move to Germany by his grandmother, Queen Victoria. Even though he had no knowledge of or desire to learn about German culture, the Queen had chosen him personally to become Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, where her husband was born and their family got its name, so he was shipped off without a second thought. In the ensuing years, he threw himself fully into his new life, ultimately marrying the niece of Wilhelm II, the last German Kaiser and King of Prussia.^[7]

When World War One broke out and the house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha became the house of Windsor, Charlie decided to side with his new family instead of the old. When George V was replaced by Edward VIII, Charlie wore a full Nazi military uniform to the funeral, and immediately set to work on leveraging Edward’s pro-German feelings to his advantage. After Edward’s abdication, Hitler appointed Charlie as President of the German Red Cross,^[8] which sounds nice, but the position was really used to euthanize up to 100,000 disabled people. Despite his royal blood, Charlie was held in a brutal internment camp while he awaited trial after the war. Due to his deteriorating health, he was spared a prison sentence, but had essentially all of his wealth confiscated in fines.

6 Home Video

Because we now know so much about what the Nazis were doing during World War Two, it can be easy to look back with hindsight and wonder how people could have supported them or seen them as anything other than monsters. You can argue about how much people should have known and by when, especially when you see the information that was available at the time. But we could easily make the same arguments about all sorts of current political issues, so it should not come as a surprise to see well-known figures aligning themselves with the bad guys.

This was the essence of the statement put out by the Palace in 2015, when The Sun published a 17-second video of the royal family that was shot 82 years earlier.^[9] The 1933 footage, believed to have been filmed in Balmoral, features the Queen Mother alongside Prince Edward and Princess Elizabeth, both of whom would go on to rule the nation. In it, all 3 are seen giving the Nazi salute, with Elizabeth giving the sign first and most frequently. Understandably, the Palace said that taking out-of-context footage of a child making a gesture before it had taken on any significance as a symbol of oppression was unfair criticism, but the video still made waves in the tabloids, and made people question what else the royal family may be sitting on.

5 Princess Alice

Although the Royal family does have some very questionable links to the Nazi regime, there are also some examples of Royal-Nazi relations that they can actually take some pride in. Probably the best example of this comes from Princess Alice of Battenberg (mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth), also known as Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, after her husband. While most royals have some sort of charity-work to their names, Alice is one of the ones who truly devoted a lot of her time to helping those in need,^[10] which many attribute to the fact that she was born partially deaf.

When the Nazis invaded Greece in 1943, Alice was contacted by Rachel Cohen, a Jewish widow of Haimaki Cohen, a longtime family-friend. Years earlier, Haimaki had helped King George, who promised to repay the favor one day. Although both men had since died,^[11] Rachel reached out to to Alice seeking refuge from the occupying forces. While four of her sons planned to join the exiled Greek government in Egypt, Rachel and her daughter needed shelter in Athens, and were later joined by one of Rachel’s sons who failed to make the journey across the mediterranean sea. The Cohen family stayed with Alice until Greece was liberated from the Nazis the following year, during which time the Gestapo became suspicious of Alice and interviewed her at her home. Using her deafness to her advantage, Alice pretended she had trouble understanding the questions (she was a fluent lip-reader in three languages) and frustrated the process enough to keep the family safe until the war was over.

4 Nazi Costume

Even though most of the royal family’s Nazi-related anecdotes understandably take place around the 1940s, possibly their most well-known Nazi scandal was a lot more recent, having taken place in 2005. As many of you may remember, that was the year a 20 year-old Prince Harry dressed up as a Nazi while attending a private party.^[12] As you can imagine, many members of the public were upset, and he quickly issued a public apology.

Since Harry was still living with his father at the time, the statement was issued by the office of their residence, Clarence House, and Charles ended up taking a lot of the heat. A book released in 2011 claims that even the Queen blamed Charles for the incident, calling into question his skills as a father. While the scandal did not ultimately do too much damage to the royals as a whole, it is undoubtedly something that will follow Harry around for the rest of his life.

3 Prince Ernst

Prince Ernst August of Hanover may not be the most famous prince, but he is pretty emblematic of royalty in the modern era: a descendant of Queen Victoria, whose father is brother-in-law to Queen Elizabeth, and who himself is married to Princess Caroline of Monaco, Prince Ernst is not really a prince of anywhere since Germany became a republic, although the family still uses the styling “of Britain and Ireland”, despite the fact that his relatives are the royals of Britain, and Ireland has none. In general, Ernst is most well-known for his controversies, such as public urination and aggravated assault.

Despite the fact that he was only born in 1954, Prince Ernst found himself tangled in a web of Nazi legal troubles as a result of his grandfather, who was also called Prince Ernst (Duke of Brunswick). In the 1990s, the youngest Ernst brought legal action against Bild-Zeitung,^[13] Germany’s leading tabloid, which had claimed that his wealth was a result of Nazi operations against the Jewish community before, during, and after World War 2. The allegations were that the grandfather Ernst had taken huge, even majority, shares in Jewish-owned businesses, such as Munich Bank, and the largest construction firm in Germany at the time. Although they were never charged, both Prince Ernst’s grandfather and father (who was also called Prince Ernst) were Nazi supporters, with the middle Ernst even signing up to the SS. While that lawsuit went nowhere, the questions surrounding the Prince’s money persist to this day, with others claiming the family smuggled artefacts out of Germany to sell back to the German government after the war.

2 Princess Ileana

Despite being the great-granddaughter of both Queen Victoria and Tsar Alexander II (not together), Princess Ileana isn’t a very well-known historical figure. While she did lead a relatively exciting life, living through two world wars, the forced abdication of her father, and was exiled from her country, Ileana is probably most well-known (among those who know her at all) for her anti-communist speeches and books. But not everyone is convinced that her public proclamations were an accurate reflection of her private beliefs.

In 1953, Ileana’s cousin Archduke Franz Josef wrote to a Senator in New York (where Ileana was living at the time) to alert him that the Archduke would be bringing legal action against the Princess. In it, he claimed that Ileana was not the anti-communist heroine she would lead people to believe, and that she had in fact leveraged her position as a royal to benefit from the Nazi regime.^[14] He claimed that when Hitler first invaded Austria, the Princess and her husband greeted him by telegraph. Because of this, Hitler allowed them to continue using their Royal titles, and the couple stayed in Nazi Austria for the next 7 years, schmoozing with the elites.

The Archduke also claimed that during this time, Ileana stole a number of his Austrian properties by travelling to Berlin and using her royal status to lay claim to the buildings. After Austria had been liberated from the Nazis, Ileana spent several years in Romania before moving to Argentina, where many Nazis fled after the war, before ultimately settling in America.

1 King George VI

Even though his brother may have been working with Nazis behind the scenes, there seems to be no doubt that the loyalties of King George VI lay with the British. While the British were planning Operation Overlord, which would culminate in the Normandy landings, they enlisted the help of the King for Operation Fortitude, part of a larger plan to deceive the Nazis about the Normandy invasion.

Throughout 1944, King George, Queen Elizabeth (the Queen mother), and Princess Elizabeth made visits to the troops around Britain. That is pretty standard stuff, so the public wouldn’t have had any suspicions. But the hope was that the Nazis would.^[15] The locations that the royals visited had been carefully selected to make the Nazis believe they were really there for planning, and the photo ops were just a cover. In reality, the sites they were visiting were intended to lead the Nazis away from Normandy, and suggested that Norway and Calais were the real targets. At the same time, newspapers published articles that “attempted” to conceal the location of the royals, while giving away just enough information for the Nazis to figure it out. In the end, the plan worked, with the Nazis taking the bait, and the Battle of Normandy is now seen as one of the main factors in their defeat.

About The Author: Simon can be found on Twitter @simongireland

Country estates, castles, and afternoon tea. In recent years there have been several British TV programs that have taken the world by storm and given viewers “insight” into British life.

A prime example is the popular Downton Abbey which first aired in 2010. Reaching a total of 120 million viewers worldwide, the show was sold to over 220 territories and broke numerous records. The period drama focuses on the lives of a wealthy aristocratic family in early 20th Century England. Many were swept away by the tradition and opulence of this family’s life.

As entertaining as they might be, these programs do not accurately portray British life. Here are ten TV programs that show what British life is actually like.

Related: 10 Awesome Fan Theories About Extremely Popular Series

10 The Inbetweeners

With an average of 459,000 viewers per series, The Inbetweeners has been one of the most popular British sitcoms in recent years. Spanning three series, the opening episode of its final series attracted 2.2 million viewers, the highest ever audience for an original commission for the British digital TV channel, E4. Known for graphic language and lewd behavior, the series is a million miles away from Downton Abbey.

The program centers on Jay, Will, Simon, and Neil, four teenage boys at a British state school. The series follows the awkward group as they try to navigate secondary school. In stark contrast to Downton Abbey, the series includes projectile vomiting, buying shoes off a homeless person to get into a nightclub, and much more. It may sound extreme, but its display of the mundanity, inanity, and routine humiliation of teenage life has been described as “painfully accurate.” The success of the series spawned two movies, the first of which drew in more than three million UK viewers.^[1]

9 Peep Show

Another all too realistic British sitcom is Peep Show, which aired from 2003 to 2015. Enormously popular, Peep Show became the longest-running comedy in Channel 4 history. The show also won numerous awards, including Baftas. Set in Croydon (London), the program follows the main characters, Mark and Jez. The program is unique in that each character speaks directly to the camera.

Like many Londoners, Mark and Jez are forced to live together to save money. However, Mark, a responsible and uptight man, and Jez, irresponsible and often unemployed, make an ill-suited pair. Both men are hopeless in their own way, and the series follows their misadventures and relatable, albeit exaggerated, gaffes. One of the most notorious episodes is when Mark, on the way to his own wedding, spots an attractive woman reading a book about Winston Churchill and decides that she is his perfect woman. The episode culminates in Jez wetting himself in church and Mark’s wife-to-be fleeing in tears.^[2]

8 Gogglebox

Watching other people watch TV? This is the bizarre concept behind Gogglebox. Released in 2013, Gogglebox has become a national obsession and has won numerous awards, including a Bafta. Although the concept seems odd, the program has been praised as “surprisingly great entertainment” and “proof that TV brings people together.” Its comparison to the highly acclaimed The Royle Family (see number 7) is a testament to its success.

In each episode, families and friends from all around Britain are recorded as they watch and critique the latest shows. Now on its eighteenth series, the cast has inevitably changed over the years. However, stand-out characters who continue to feature on the show include the Malone family (since 2014), best friends Jenny and Lee (also since 2014), as well as the Siddiqui family, who have appeared on the show since the beginning. Those looking for an accurate picture of British life need look no further than this show which offers an “intimate look inside Britain’s living rooms.”^[3]

7 The Royle Family

The Royle Family is an all-time favorite British series. Despite only running for three seasons, the show was hugely popular and placed 31st in the British Film Institute’s list of 100 greatest British television programs. Following its conclusion, the cast reunited for several Christmas specials, the most popular of which (“The Golden Eggcup”) attracted 11.74 million viewers.

The show centers on Jim Royle and his wife Barbara, their daughter Denise and her fiancé (and later, husband) Dave, as well as Jim and Barbara’s teenage son Antony. The Royle family is a working-class family whose only leisure activity consists of watching TV. Crammed on the sofa, the family joke and bicker as the TV blares in the background. Alongside the hilarious scenes are genuinely touching moments such as the death of beloved “Nana.” Despite its sometimes crude moments (such as Jim’s trademark phrase “My arse”), the show has been praised for its “sympathetic and warm portrayal of working-class family life.”^[4]

6 Coronation Street

First airing in 1960, Coronation Street has amassed 10,230 episodes, each of which draws in around 6 million viewers. The show has won numerous awards, including “best soap” at the Inside Soap Awards. Episodes include: leather-glove-wearing murderers, sons who push their mothers down the stairs, and fistfights. As such, Coronation Street might not sound like the most accurate portrayal of British life.

Yet, in addition to murders and adultery, this soap opera keeps its finger on the pulse of British society, with episodes regularly tackling emotive national debates. In 2014, Coronation Street dealt with the controversial issue of euthanasia when one of its most-loved characters took her own life rather than endure the final stages of cancer. At the time, the legalization of euthanasia was being debated in the UK, and the episode was praised for the “balance” of opinions it displayed.^[5]

5 Derek

One of the most heart-warming and sensitive British series in recent years is Ricky Gervais’s Derek. Set in a UK care home, the series follows the life of a vulnerable, middle-aged man who works in a care home for the elderly. Despite only lasting for two seasons, episodes managed to attract up to two million people. Ricky Gervais was even nominated for an Emmy in both 2014 and 2015 as an Outstanding Lead Actor in the series.

The series turns the spotlight on the plight of some of Britain’s most vulnerable members of society. Many years later, the care of the elderly in these homes remains a topic of national debate, with a recent survey finding that care homes have 30% less staff than needed. Derek, at many points, is touching and sensitively deals with the issues faced by UK care homes, such as budget cuts and inadequate resources. Derek, like much of Gervais’s work, is not without its controversy, with some arguing that the lead character mocks learning disabilities.^[6]

4 The Office

Described as “the smartest, warmest and funniest sitcom in British TV history,” it is difficult to find a more iconic British series than The Office. Despite only running for two seasons, the show became a huge success and spawned 10 international versions, including winning numerous accolades such as the Baftas and Golden Globes. A record-breaking 6.5 million people tuned in to watch The Office Christmas special in 2003.

The mockumentary centers around David Brent, an office manager at a paper factory in Slough, near London. Brent is the epitome of the socially awkward manager everyone can relate to, a man who, in a desperate attempt to be liked, makes inappropriate jokes, shares his latest catchphrases, and even inflicts the occasional shoulder massage. However, a closer look reveals the lengths the show went to replicate the painful monotony of the average British working day. From the churning photocopier and awkward office romance to the soulless strip lights, everything is designed to be as authentic as possible.^[7]

3 Shameless

Petty crime, social security fraud, alcohol, drugs, sex, and parties, the British TV series Shameless has it all. Set on the Chatsworth estate in Manchester, the show focuses on the perennially unemployed and drunk Frank Gallagher, his family, and the surrounding community. Despite criticisms that the show outstayed its welcome, the final episode drew in 1.3 million viewers. At its peak, episodes drew in 3.5 million viewers.

While some of the stories were outlandish, Shameless has been praised for “its refreshingly honest depictions of life on the British breadline.” Frank is a useless single parent and is always driven by his hunt for the next free drink or drug. At first sight, it might sound like Shameless is an attack on Britain’s working class. However, aside from the scandals, Shameless ultimately portrays a close-knit community looking out for each other in difficult circumstances. An exaggerated depiction of Britain’s working class, the show’s demise was blamed on hostility toward the alleged “benefits culture.”^[8]

2 Car Share

What could be more ordinary than watching two colleagues share a commute to work? Peter Kay’s Car Share is a British sitcom that follows supermarket assistant manager John and his colleague Kayleigh as they commute to work together via their company’s car-sharing scheme. Despite its simplicity, Car Share has been praised as “one of the highest achievements of 21st century TV comedy,” with the finale pulling in 6.4 million viewers.

Director, Peter Kay, is one of Britain’s most loved comedians, well known for his witty and astute societal observations. Car Share is the culmination of these observations and brings an “everyday situation to such rich life.” As expected, there are moments that make you laugh out loud (such as when Kayleigh spills urine on John), but it’s the subtle moments such as facial expressions, heart-warming conversations, and background spoof radio ads that really make this show.^[9]

1 Two Doors Down

Last but not least is the popular Scottish TV series Two Doors Down. Set in a Glasgow suburb, Two Doors Down follows the lives of the Baird family and their “crazy” neighbors. The show became one of the BBC’s top-performing comedies and won the Best Comedy award at the 2017 Royal Television Society Scotland Awards. The show performs particularly well in Scotland, attracting 400,000 viewers per episode.

Similar to The Royle Family, scenes are mainly filmed in the living room of Eric and Beth Baird. Their house appears to have a revolving door, with neighbors regularly dropping by unexpectedly. There are “the show-offs” (Colin and Cathy), “the complainer” (Christine), and Beth and Eric’s son, Gordon. The premise of the show is that we all know a “Cathy” or a “Christine.” This, and the fact that we are given an intimate look into the family’s living room, makes the show feel familial and familiar. The stories and scandals may be exaggerated, but the characters and setting feel authentic.^[10]