New book charts the history of deadly AIDS virus

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

How the AIDS epidemic REALLY began: New book charts the history of deadly virus to its origins in rainforest in Cameroon in 1908 and NOT Paris and NYC in early 1980s

David Quammen traces the history of AIDS in his new book, The Chimp and the River. He says AIDS began in Cameroon around 1908 when a hunter in the rainforest was infected by a chimp he killed.

convent debauchery

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Lesbian sex, seduction and murder... by NUNS in a Catholic convent: Incredible tale of debauchery that was exposed by a princess whistleblower is unearthed in secret Vatican archive

Herbert Wolf (top left), a leading scholar of the Catholic Church, learned of the Sant'Ambrogio scandal when he became one of the first allowed into the archives of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. What he uncovered was a shocking story of a beautiful young mistress, Maria Luisa, who, having convinced the other women she was experiencing visions and visits from heaven in the mid-19th century, made them engage in sexual activity at their convent in Rome. The naughty nun also entered into an erotic relationship with a theologian on the pretense he was possessed, and is thought to have murdered three other sisters. But when a German princess (centre) turned whistleblower fled the convent, a sex scandal hidden behind a habit for many years was unveiled. Wolf, a professor of ecclesiastical his­tory at University of Muenster, Germany, made the discovery and has retold it in his book The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio (right).

weird and wonderful history

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

You might have missed this the first time around...

8 weird and wonderful historical pictures

Hitler playing with a deer, Ronald Reagan posing as a model for a sculpture class, and Ku Klux Klan members taking a spin on a ferris wheel, are among the unusual...

HISTORYEXTRA.COM

Rawhide 1966

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

The classic CBS western "Rawhide," which starred Clint Eastwood and Eric Fleming, as cattle drivers Rowdy Yates and Gil Favor, ended its run on this date in 1966. Fleming had left the series in 1965. Photo of Eastwood and Fleming from the L.A. Times files.

April Douglas

GWTW

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Scarlett and Rhett....

The demolition of London's iconic Earl's Court

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

It's the place where Queen Mum surprised a stranger in the bath and Margaret 'took cocaine' with Jagger - now Earls Court's for the wrecking ball

The demolition men will soon be moving in to London's Earl's Court exhibition centre as part of an £8bn project to build new homes, reducing its famous art deco facade (inset) to rubble. 

In 1986 the Queen Mother visited the iconic venue for the Ideal Home Exhibition, where she chatted to a bathing model, while her daughter Princess Margaret was allegedly invited backstage by Mick Jagger (pictured with the princess top right) at a Rolling Stones concert. 

Take That (lower right) performed at Earl's Court earlier this month for the BBC Music Awards - which could be one of the last events to be held there.

Mandy Rice-Davies and Lady Thatcher Secret Pals

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Maggie, Mandy and a most improbable friendship: Thought Profumo temptress Mandy Rice-Davies had no secrets left? Here's the most startling yet!

Following her death from cancer last week at the age of 70, it has emerged that Mandy Rice-Davies (right) and Lady Thatcher (left) would eventually become so well-acquainted as to spend time on holiday together in the Nineties. Though she never spoke publicly about their relationship, and succeeded in keeping it from being reported by the Press during Thatcher's lifetime, it appears that Rice-Davies counted photographs of those trips among her most valued possessions.

Vintage Jamaica

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Professor Trevor Munroe has stressed that the Workers Party of Jamaica (WPJ), the communist organisation he led in the 1970s and early '80s, had no part in the bloody 1983 coup in Grenada, in which then Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, who led the New Jewel Movement, was among several government members killed: http://bit.ly/1wnZrQo

Photo: Dr Trevor Munroe leads his party at solidarity rally in this June 1985 file photograph. - Archives

April Douglas

Mona Lisa ... Da Vinci's mother?

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Was the Mona Lisa actually a portrait of Da Vinci's mother? Author says she was Chinese slave whose relationship with artist's father was frowned upon 

Italian historian Angelo Paratico said the fact Leonardo da Vinci, left, was left handed and the Mona Lisa, right, looks Chinese supports his theory the artist's mother was an Oriental slave.

Vintage Jamaica

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Recruits in World War I (and the dog)...from the album Jamaica & the Great War (author and dates unknown). ‪

April Douglas

Like

Vintage Jamaica

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Queen Victoria Jubilee Celebrations in Port Antonio July 1887....‪

April Douglas

Like

oldest solved cold case in America

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

The murder that became the oldest solved cold case in America

On Sept. 11, 2008, Janet Tessier — tormented for 14 years by her mother’s...

NYP.ST

Vintage Jamaica

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Staff at Military School, Up Park Camp ...

April Douglas

Like

Ann "Goody" Glover

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

On November 16, 1688, Irish Catholic Ann "Goody" Glover was hanged as a witch by the Puritans in Boston. Goody was born in Ireland in the first half of the 17th century and came to Massachusetts colony when she, her husband and daughter, like many Irish men and women, were deported from Ireland by Oliver Cromwell. 

She went first to Barbados, where her husband died, then to Boston. She and her daughter found domestic work in Boston, but unlike most other Irish Catholic immigrants of the time, they refused to convert, in spite of the lack of priests or a church to attend. Holding to her religion would prove a fatal mistake for Ann. Soon, she was falsely accused of stealing from her employer, John Goodwin, and was dismissed from his employ.

The "stolen" items were found to have been misplaced, but the downward spiral of Ann Glover's life was set in motion. When Goodwin's four children began acting "strangely" after Ann departed, no one doubted the cause: witchcraft. 

Who then was the witch? 

Certainly an Irish Papist with a possible grudge against the Goodwins was first on the list. Glover spoke only Irish, no doubt another reason she was looked on with suspicion. She was interrogated by the Reverend Cotton Mather, of later Salem Witch Trial infamy, using translators whose actual knowledge of the language we can only speculate. It was no surprise that Mather claimed Annie Glover had confessed she was a witch. 

Though no other confessed-witch had ever been hanged at the time, Mather condemned Ann Glover to death. On November 16, 1688, Ann Glover was hanged in Boston, for, in all likelihood, the misfortune of being a resolute Irish-speaking Catholic in Puritan New England. 

On November 16, 1988, the Boston City Council took note of the injustice done to Ann Glover 300 years ago by proclaiming that day "Goody Glover Day" and condemning what had been done. 

Read more about this week in the history of the Irish here:
http://thewildgeese.com/…/this-week-in-the-history-of-the-i…

How Hollywood's most famous detectives were named

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

How two of Hollywood's most famous detectives Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe were 'named after and inspired by black private eye'

Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe - portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep - were inspired and named after Samuel Marlowe, a historian says.

Queen Victoria and servant John Brown

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Queen Victoria slept in the same bed as her servant John Brown... but they didn't have sex, claims top historian 

Rumours that Queen Victoria and her devoted ghillie John Brown were lovers endure until this day, but her biographer, AN Wilson, claimed their relationship was never consummated.

Bible ... secrets to reveal

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Does the Bible have secrets to reveal? Scholars hope to restore hidden text in ancient New Testament manuscript

Cambridge University has secured over £1 million to study the Codex Zacynthius, which is regarded as an important text in studying the development of the New Testament.

Harry's Misery

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Diana phoned Camilla one night and said: 'I sent someone to kill you - and they're outside': Shocking new details of the poison that scarred Harry's childhood - by a top royal biographer

Even before his mother's death Harry had endured the misery that comes with a broken home, warring parents and a dad who was often absent. The prince was only eight when he and William, aged 10, went on their first holiday without their parents in the summer of 1993, almost two years after Charles and Diana's very public separation. Like his brother, he had to endure his parents' very bitter divorce, the revelation of their affairs and even their most intimate secrets, from Diana's eating disorder and self-harming to Charles's excruciatingly embarrassing phone conversations with Camilla (top right). Contrary to what Diana believed, there was no campaign to discredit her following the separation. A lot has been written about his parents' marriage and why it failed, but the facts need to be reiterated because it affected Harry deeply. The man he is today is a product of that broken home and all that he heard and felt during his childhood, writes PENNY JUNOR.

Britain's cruelest father?

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

 Is this Britain's cruelest father? One of these babies was his legitimate child, the other his darkest secret... What followed was a saga...

Gradually, SUSAN SWINGLER uncovered the web of lies and obfuscation created by her father and the woman he took with him from the UK to...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2746224/Kourtney-Kardashian-proves-shes-regal-aspirations-shares-two-photos-shes-crown.html#ixzz3CaqsJp6h

Jack the Ripper unmasked

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

+7

GUILTY: A DNA sample has proven Polish immigrant Aaron Kosminski was Jack the Ripper

It is the greatest murder mystery of all time, a puzzle that has perplexed criminologists for more than a century and spawned books, films and myriad theories ranging from the plausible to the utterly bizarre.

But now, thanks to modern forensic science, The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal the true identity of Jack the Ripper, the serial killer responsible for  at least five grisly murders in Whitechapel in East London during the autumn of 1888.

DNA evidence has now  shown beyond reasonable doubt which one of six key suspects commonly cited in connection with the Ripper’s reign of terror was the actual killer – and we reveal his identity.

A shawl found by the body of Catherine Eddowes, one of the Ripper’s victims, has been analysed and found to contain DNA from her blood as well as DNA from the killer.

The landmark discovery was made after businessman Russell Edwards, 48, bought the shawl at auction and enlisted the help of Dr Jari Louhelainen, a world-renowned expert in analysing genetic evidence from historical crime scenes.

Using cutting-edge techniques, Dr Louhelainen was able to extract 126-year-old DNA from the material and compare it to DNA from descendants of Eddowes and the suspect, with both proving a perfect match.

The revelation puts an end to the fevered speculation over the Ripper’s identity which has lasted since his murderous rampage in the most impoverished and dangerous streets of London.

In the intervening century, a Jack the Ripper industry has grown up, prompting a dizzying array of more than 100 suspects, including Queen Victoria’s grandson – Prince Albert Victor, the Duke of Clarence – the post-Impressionist painter Walter Sickert, and the former Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2746321/Jack-Ripper-unmasked-How-amateur-sleuth-used-DNA-breakthrough-identify-Britains-notorious-criminal-126-years-string-terrible-murders.html#ixzz3CaaJFo4J