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Proving he was as adept in business as inventing enduringly popular beverages, in 1784 famed Irish brewer Arthur Guinness signed a new lease for his brewery at St. James Gate, Dublin. What was remarkable about it?

Answer: The lease was for 9,000 years. Even better for Guinness, the annual rent was to be a mere £45. Guinness became in due course the richest man in Ireland. Ten of his 21 children, sadly, predeceased him.

Source: The Oxford Companion to Beer by Garret Oliver

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1908 – King Carlos I of Portugal and his heir, Prince Luis Filipe are assassinated by Republican sympathizers in Lisbon.

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A short, sharp hit of history in video format. Acclaimed Irish playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde was the toast of London society in the 1890s until things came decidedly unstuck through an association with a young British aristocrat, Lord Alfred Douglas, known as ‘Bosie’.

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“In Russia a man is a called reactionary if he objects to having his property stolen and his wife and children murdered.”

Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman

Source: The Wicket Wit of Winston Churchill by Dominique Enright

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HistoryWow’s Featured Historical Figure of Note

Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149BCE)

Roman statesman, soldier and writer of virtue, simplicity and wisdom. He condemned the luxury of his time and was nicknamed “the censor”. He became Consul in 195BCE, took part in the defeat of Hannibal at Zama, held command in Sardinia and Spain, and in 191 BCE assisted the Greeks in overthrowing Antiochus III at Thermopolyae.

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