Spanning some 30 years since the first episode appeared, it’s not for nothing that The Simpsons is the most popular television series ever. One observer said that the show’s brilliant creators are ‘math geeks’. But they also have a solid history knowledge. How so?

Answer: One episode has school bully Jimbo Jones graffitiing a wall with Carpe Diem, or ‘seize the day’, a phrase first spoken by Ancient Roman poet Horace.

Nuclear plant owner Monty Burns’ stately mansion is a direct copy of seventeenth century Castle Howard in Yorkshire, England, which was also featured in the venerable BBC series ‘Brideshead Revisited’. Marge Simpson‘s maiden name is ‘Bouvier’, the same as First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

In one episode, Bart confronts a “soldier” who says he’s lost his nerves. Bart responds by slapping him and saying, “I won’t have cowards in my army.” Grandpa Simpson says “You can push them out of a plane. You can march them off a cliff. You can send them off to die on some desolate rock. But for some reason you can’t slap them. Now apologize to that boy right now.”

This is a reference to US General George Patton slapping a hospitalized shell-shocked soldier during World War Two. Patton was subsequently made to publicly apologize and removed from the front lines as a result.

Source: The Simpsons archives; General Historical Texts

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