Japan has always been seen as an inscrutable nation. More so than the Chinese, Vietnamese or Korean people, the Japanese have maintained a reputation for being insular, self-contained and private. […]
Read More →In the mid-nineteenth century, shows featuring people with unusual physical attributes or abilities peaked in terms of commercial success. Favourite exhibitions included mermaids, Siamese twins, bearded ladies, giants and dwarves. […]
Read More →In 1883 Tom Thumb died of a stroke. He was aged 45. His friend Barnum commissioned a life-sized statue to be placed above his grave in Connecticut. Tom Thumb’s passing […]
Read More →Charles Sherwood Stratton was born in Connecticut in 1838 or 1839. He had stopped growing at seven months old (although some reports suggest at the age of two). Unusually, he […]
Read More →Outside of Wexford, Carlow was one of the biggest centres of rebel activity in Leinster in 1798, and tales of the rebellion and its suppression at a local level are […]
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