The Etruscans

 The first civilization in Italy was the Etruscan, which arose about 800 BC in central Italy. The Etruscans built cities on a grid pattern. Some of these cities still exist (including Arezzo, Chiusi, Cortona, Perugia, and Cerveteri). The Etruscans were also engineers who drained marshes and built roads. They were also skilled artists. The Etruscans made terracotta sculptures and worked in bronze. Their craftsmen also made jewelry of gold and silver.

The Katyn Massacre

 On 13 April 1943, the Germans announced that they had found the bodies of more than 4,000 Polish officers murdered by the Russians in 1940. The Russians invaded Poland from the east in 1939 after the Germans invaded from the west.). The Russians continued to deny the massacre at Katyn until 1990. https://localhistories.org/the-katyn-massacre/

Women in the 20th Century

 On 23 December 1919 the Sex Disqualification Act became law in Britain. Women were allowed to become vets, lawyers and chartered accountants. They were also allowed to be magistrates and members of juries.

The bikini was invented in 1946. In 1947 Christian Dior introduced the New Look, with long skirts and narrow waists giving an ‘hourglass’ figure. During the 1950s women’s clothes were full and feminine. However in 1965, Mary Quant invented the mini skirt and clothes became even more informal. localhistories.org/women-in-the-20th-century/

Nylon

 On 16 February 1937, Wallace Carothers patented nylon. Nylon stockings went on sale in the USA in 1939. (They were a huge hit). But in 1940, women only wore stockings. A man named Allen Gant introduced pantyhose (tights) in 1959. localhistories.org/a-history-of-clothes

The World is Getting Better

 Today the world is a much better place than when I was a boy in the 1970s. In the west, society has become more humane, kinder, and much more tolerant. In most of the world, there is far less extreme poverty and life expectancy has increased. The world has greatly improved in my lifetime and I am sure it will continue to get better. This article explains further.

Whipping

 In Britain whipping women was banned in 1820 but for men, it went on well into the 20th century. From 1862 the courts could order whipping with the cat o'nine tails or birching (which meant hitting a man on the bare backside with a bundle of birch rods). Birching gradually replaced whipping, although cases of the latter were recorded in Britain until 1947. In 1948 whipping or birching civilian men was abolished but it was legal in prisons until 1967. Find out more in my history of corporal punishment

Eyam, Derbyshire

 Most people in England have heard of the village of Eyam in Derbyshire. When the plague struck the village the people heroically quarantined themselves to stop it from spreading and most of them died. Sadly it's probably a myth. The village WAS quarantined but the evidence suggests the authorities imposed the quarantine (a common practice at that time). It also seems the wealthy villagers fled before the quarantine was imposed, leaving the poor to their fate (also a common practice). Over the years it became a romantic legend. But, as with so many such charming stories it probably never happened. This article examines the evidence: https://www.economist.com/1843/2020/04/16/eyam-revisited-lessons-from-a-plague-village