One hundred and twelve years ago this month a pioneering aviator took on a challenge to photograph New York City from the air. His solution was to strap pontoons onto his Wright flier and take along a photographer from the American Press Association. Just 21 years old, the photographer, Adrian C Duff, became known as “The Camera Kid.” But his exploits would lead to an even more colorful moniker: Adrian C Duff was The Demon Photographer
An Olympic medal event only since 1998 you might think that curling is a relatively new sport apparently invented in Canada. And, of course, neither is true. The sport dates back at least to the 16th century, and comes from perhaps a surprising place.
During the later half of the nineteenth century numerous attempts were made to assassinate Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Killing the Tsar, however, turned out to be no easy task.
The St Louis World’s Fair, officially known as the Louisiana Purchase Expedition, was an enormous event, with more than 60 countries and 43 states maintaining exhibition spaces for nearly twenty million visitors. In addition to the many exhibitions, a variety of private enterprises set up camp near the fair in the hopes of making money off the guaranteed audience. Some of those ideas worked better than others, but few among them went as ridiculously badly as the attempt to put on a Spanish-Style bullfight.