Page 94 - All About History - Issue 56-17

HISTORY ANSWERS

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Did the Tower
of London

really house a
polar bear?

Kate McGee
Yes, and not just a polar bear — there were lions,
tigers, monkeys, elephants, zebras, alligators
and even kangaroos, too. Wild animals have
been kept at the Tower of London since the 12th
century and records from 1210 detail the wages
of the royal lionkeepers. The polar bear dates
back to 1252 and it was a gift for Henry III from
King Haakon IV of Norway.
Sadly, most of the animals were kept in
cramped cages and weren’t fed the right food.
For example, the royal keepers
assumed that elephants were
ALFRED COPS carnivorous! But the polar bear
Nationality: British was at least allowed to swim in
Born-died: ? - 1853 the Thames and hunt for fish,
albeit on a leash.
Alfred Cops had The Royal Menagerie was
previously been a opened to the public in the 16th
Brief
The fight for Berlin in the final days of showman at the century. Visitors could avoid the
World War II resulted in some of the Bio menagerie at the
highest casualty figures in history Exeter Exchange on three ha’penny admission fee by
the Strand. In 1822, he pulled bringing a cat or dog to feed to
strings to become keeper of the the lions and tigers!
What was the world’s Royal Menagerie at the Tower
of London and the collection
swelled from just an elephant
bloodiest battle? different animals.
and a brown bear to almost 300
Lee Diaz hardly better than a wild guess. The Siege of Baghdad
It’s an intriguing question, but accurate figures for in 1258, for example, ended in a sack of the city where
battle casualties don’t really exist much before 1800. most of the civilian inhabitants were slaughtered,
Without modern army unit formations, it is difficult but the death toll varies from 200,000 to 2 million
to even be sure how many soldiers were on the field, depending on if you accept Western or Arab sources.
let alone how many were killed or injured. Historical There is also the question of what counts as a single
battlefield reports are usually estimates and they often battle. The Siege of Leningrad in World War II may
lump together the numbers of killed, wounded and have resulted in as many as 4.5 million casualties, but
captured of both military and civilians in a variety of it also lasted nearly two and a half years! The Battle
inconsistent ways that make it hard to compare. of Berlin, on the other hand, ran for just two weeks in The Royal Menagerie was closed in 1835.
Reports of ancient battles from contemporary April 1945 and killed more than 200,000, with another The only animals there now are wire
sculptures by Kendra Haste
sources generally have casualty numbers that are million wounded or captured.
This day in history 14 September

81 CE 786 1741 1752

l Domitian becomes emperor l Night of the three caliphs l Handel’s Messiah l 11 days dissapear
Domitian is the last Roman Harun al-Rashid becomes the George Frideric Handel The British Empire switches
emperor of the Flavian fifth caliph of the Abbasid completes his oratorio over to the Gregorian calendar.
dynasty. Second son of Caliphate on the death of Messiah. It is in three parts, Since the old Julian calendar
Vespasian, creator of the his father. His son is born covering the birth, crucifixion is still only on 3 September,
Colosseum, Domitian will the same night, so three and glorification of Jesus the date skips forward 11 days.
rule for 15 years, until he is generations of caliphs are Christ. The music took just Catholic countries switched
assassinated by court officials. together for just this night. 24 days to compose. 170 years earlier.

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