The Cottingley Fairies appear in a series of five photographs taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, two young cousins who lived in Cottingley, near Bradford in England. In 1917, when the first two photographs were taken, Elsie was 16 years old and Frances was 10. The pictures came to the attention of writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who used them to illustrate an article on fairies he had been commissioned to write for the Christmas 1920 edition of The Strand Magazine. Conan Doyle, as a Spiritualist, was enthusiastic about the photographs, and interpreted them as clear and visible evidence of psychic phenomena. Public reaction was mixed; some accepted that the images were genuine, but others believed they had been faked. Interest in the Cottingley Fairies gradually declined after 1921. Both girls grew up, married and lived abroad for a time. Yet the photographs continued to hold the public imagination; in 1966 a reporter from the Daily Express newspaper traced Elsie, who had by then returned to the UK. Elsie left open the possibility that she believed she had photographed her thoughts, and the media once again became interested in the story. In the early 1980s, both admitted that the photographs were faked using cardboard cutouts of fairies copied from a popular children's book of the time. But Frances continued to claim that the fifth and final photograph was genuine. The photographs and two of the cameras used are on display in the National Media Museum in Bradford. (more...)
... that diamond prospecting permits have been awarded covering an area of 2,150 km2 (830 sq mi) between Temboc and Kasonga Lunda over the Kwango River(pictured) stretch of about 185 km (115 mi) in Angola?
... that although it is thought that the Jenny Lind Tower was moved to its present location by an admirer of the late singer, the admirer was born 17 years after Lind toured the United States?
... that the Polish canned fish paste paprykarz szczeciński was inspired by an African dish?
... that Crestwood Court, the first mall in the St. Louis area, has countered the loss of major retailers by adding tenants such as an art gallery and dance studio?
... that in 1909, journalist Jules Fournier was charged with contempt of court in Quebec for calling decisions made by its courts system a "prostitution of justice"?
... that due to safety concerns following the Waco siege, when Joseph Borg seized the headquarters of a Christian ministry in Tampa, he used an armored vehicle to ensure that resistance would be futile?
1637 – The contract prices of rare tulipbulbs(tulip pictured) in the Dutch Republic, which had been steadily climbing for three months, abruptly dropped, marking the decline of tulip mania.
An unpeeled and a peeled rambutan, the fruit of the rambutan tree. The plant is native to the Malay Archipelago and can be found through much of Southeast Asia, although its exact distribution remains unknown. The name is derived from the Malay word rambut, which literally means 'hairy'. The fruit flesh is translucent, whitish or very pale pink, with a sweet, mildly acidic flavour.
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