From Dr. Seuss to Charles Dickens, Christmas stories have always captivated people. Many of us can remember sitting at someone's knee to hear a folkloric tale of Kris Kringle and his helper elves. Heck, the entire holiday has storybook elements!You have the magical Christmas tree decorations, a special Christmas dinner, and a mysterious gift delivery with all you've wished for. We all accept these as simply Christmas traditions but have you ever stopped to wonder, what's the real h...

For a man who played third billing to Siamese twins and trained seals, Bob Hope became the most recognized profile and talent in the world. And, in the entire history of show business, no individual traveled so far, so often, to entertain so many.Hope's entertainment persona was evident in every decade of the 20th century, from impersonating Charlie Chaplin in front of the firehouse in Cleveland in 1909, to celebrating an unprecedented 60 years with NBC in 1996.For a man wh...

Ferdinand Magellan is known for circumnavigating – sailing around – the world. From Spain he sailed around South America, discovering the Strait of Magellan, and across the Pacific.Though he was killed in the Philippines, his ship the Victoria continued westward to Spain, accomplishing the first circumnavigation of the globe. But in some cases, his journey was filled with more than he would bargain for. Magellan's story is filled with war, storms, mutiny, and hostile native encount...

The Battle of Marathon was fought in August or September 490 BC during the Persian Wars (498 BC–448 BC) between Greece and the Persian Empire. Following Greek support for an uprising in Ionia (a coastal area in modern-day western Turkey), Darius I, emperor of the Persian Empire dispatched forces west to inflict retribution on those Greek city-states that had aided the rebels. After a failed naval expedition in 492 BC, Darius sent a second army two years later.