The bikini was a social and commercial failure for a decade

Mussolini’s first mistress was Jewish and pro-British. Sadly for the world, he traded her in for a younger model

Taxing salt was a favourite way to raise money and nearly always a disaster

Overspending on St Peter’s lead to the great split in the Christian church

The one foolish thing that Marie Antoinette never said was ‘Let them eat cake’

Before Lister discovered disinfectant, you only had a 50% chance of surviving a hospital operation

Gerald Ratner lost his 2,400 jewellery stores, his job and his fortune with just one remark

Britain’s war against the Zulus was both cynical and completely illegal

The tobacco industry lied about health and addiction, but not about passive smoking

A hundred times more parliamentary time was spent on deciding about foxhunting than about invading Iraq

The Berlin Airlift crisis was caused by a new banknote

Chinese baby boys outnumber girls by 116 to 100 – creating a dangerous imbalance in the future