Teresa Sampsonia

Teresa Sampsonia.
Teresa Sampsonia (1589–1668) was a noblewoman of the Safavid Empire of Iran. She was born into a noble Orthodox Christian Circassian family and grew up in Isfahan in the Iranian royal court. In 1608 she married the Elizabethan English adventurer Robert Shirley, who attended the Safavid court in an effort to forge an alliance against the neighbouring Ottoman Empire. She accompanied him on the Persian embassy to Europe (1609–15), where he represented the Safavid king Abbas the Great. She was received by many of the royal houses of Europe, including the English prince Henry Frederick and Queen Anne, who were her son's godparents. The historian Thomas Herbert considered Robert Shirley "the greatest Traveller of his time", but admired the "undaunted Lady Teresa" even more. Following the death of her husband from dysentery in 1628, she left Iran and lived in a convent in Rome for the rest of her life.

Benty Grange helmet

Benty Grange helmet.
The Benty Grange helmet is a boar-crested Anglo-Saxon helmet from the 7th century. It was excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1848 from a burial mound at the Benty Grange farm in Monyash in western Derbyshire. The grave had likely been looted by the time of Bateman's excavation, but still contained other high-status objects suggestive of a richly furnished burial, such as the fragmentary remains of a hanging bowl. The ornate helmet was constructed by covering the outside of an iron framework with plates of horn and the inside with cloth or leather, now decayed. It would have provided some protection against weapons, but may have also been intended for ceremonial use. It was the first Anglo-Saxon helmet to be discovered; others have been found at Sutton Hoo, York, Wollaston, Shorwell, and Staffordshire. The helmet is displayed at Sheffield's Weston Park Museum, which purchased it from Bateman's estate in 1893.

Alodia

Alodia.
Alodia was a medieval Nubian kingdom in what is now Central and Southern Sudan. Its capital was Soba, near modern-day Khartoum at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers. In 580 it became a part of the Christian world, following the other two Nubian kingdoms, Nobadia and Makuria. Alodia reached its peak during the 9th–12th centuries, when it exceeded its northern neighbor and close ally, Makuria, in size, military power and economic prosperity. A large, multicultural state, Alodia was ruled by a powerful king and provincial governors appointed by him. Soba was a prosperous town and trading hub, and literacy in Nubian and Greek flourished. Goods arrived from Makuria, the Middle East, western Africa, India and even China. Alodia began a slow decline in the 12th century, possibly because of invasions from the south, droughts and a shift of trade routes, before finally collapsing around 1500.

Æthelberht, King of Wessex

Æthelberht, King of Wessex.
Æthelberht was the King of Wessex from 860 until his death in 865. He was the third son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife, Osburh. In 855 Æthelwulf went on pilgrimage to Rome and appointed Æthelberht as king of the recently conquered territory of Kent. Æthelberht's older brother, Æthelbald, was named king of Wessex. After the deaths of his father in 858 and his brother in 860, Æthelberht ruled both Wessex and Kent without appointing a sub-king, fully uniting the two territories for the first time. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he reigned "in good harmony and in great peace". He appears to have been on good terms with his younger brothers, the future kings Æthelred I and Alfred the Great. The kingdom came under attack from Viking raids during his reign, but these were minor compared to the invasions after his death. Æthelberht died in the autumn of 865 and was buried next to his brother Æthelbald at Sherborne Abbey in Dorset. He was succeeded by Æthelred.

Marjorie Cameron

Marjorie Cameron.
Marjorie Cameron (April 23, 1922 – June 24, 1995) was an American artist, poet, actress, and occultist. After serving in the navy during the Second World War, she settled in Pasadena, California. There she met the rocket pioneer Jack Parsons, whom she married in 1946. After Parsons' death in an explosion at their home in 1952, Cameron came to suspect that her husband had been assassinated, and began rituals to communicate with his spirit. She was part of the avant-garde artistic community of Los Angeles; among her friends were the filmmakers Curtis Harrington and Kenneth Anger. She appeared in two of Harrington's films, The Wormwood Star and Night Tide, as well as in Anger's film Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome. In later years, she made appearances in art-house films created by John Chamberlain and Chick Strand. Cameron's recognition as an artist increased after her death, and her paintings were shown in exhibitions across the country.

Georgetown Car Barn

Georgetown Car Barn.
The Car Barn is a historic building in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Designed by the American architect Waddy Butler Wood, it was built between 1895 and 1897 by the Capital Traction Company as a union terminal for several Washington and Virginia streetcar lines. The Exorcist steps, later named after their appearance in William Friedkin's 1973 horror film The Exorcist, were built during the initial construction to connect M Street with Prospect Street. Almost immediately after its construction, it was converted to accommodate electric streetcars. The building has undergone several renovations, the most extensive in 1911, when the original Romanesque Revival façade was significantly modified and the interior was almost completely gutted. Changing ownership over time, it maintained its original function of housing streetcars until 1950, when it was redeveloped as office space. Today, it is used as an academic building by Georgetown University.

Albert Pierrepoint

Albert Pierrepoint.
Albert Pierrepoint (30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His first execution was in December 1932, assisting his uncle Thomas. His father Henry had also been a hangman. In October 1941 he undertook his first hanging as lead executioner. During his tenure he hanged 200 people who had been convicted of war crimes in Germany and Austria, as well as several high-profile murderers—including Gordon Cummins (the Blackout Ripper), John Haigh (the Acid Bath Murderer) and John Christie (the Rillington Place Strangler). He undertook several contentious executions, including Timothy Evans, Derek Bentley and Ruth Ellis. He executed William Joyce (also known as Lord Haw-Haw) and John Amery for high treason, and Theodore Schurch for treachery. In the 2005 film Pierrepoint he was portrayed by Timothy Spall.