Do you find it fascinating??

[taliesin238]

Any certain story or event which happened in the past that u find just sooooo fascinating??? At the mo i cant stop thinking about the man in the Iron mask!! Who the f*** was he????? Do u really think he was the identical twin of the king??? Im a historian and find many events about the past fascinating but this is really interesting. I also find the Titanic really interesting!! (and before you ask their is absolutely no relevance to Leonardo De Caprio with my fascinations in case you were wondering)

[tiggerblue10]

I expect we will never really know what happened to The Princes in the Tower or The Last Dauphin of France.

[naomi24]

I find most history fascinating, but taliesin, when you say you're an historian, do you mean that's what you do for a living?

[jno]

some theories:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_in_the_iron_m ask

[taliesin238]

No not yet, just finishing my last year in uni!!

[toby99]

You are obviously enjoyign your course - For me it is the Cathars.

[naomi24]

taliesin, that's great. I wish you well.

[taliesin238]

Thank u Naomi24!!x

[Octavius]

It is a sad story really. It is thought that he may have been forced to wear the mask for up to 42 years, even at death in 1703. Although speculation and gossip that he was very important, and well-dressed, and the prison governor called him �my prince� was rife, it was Voltaire who in the 1720�s suggested that he looked like someone very famous, the idea that it was the twin of the King was one put forward by a journalist in 1789 (86 years after his death). A story elaborated and perpetuated by Dumas in the 19th C.

As said above, it is unlikely we will ever know. But I reckon truth and fact gave way to idle gossip and speculation, and at the time nothing could be more fascinating than the prisoner being a contesting heir to the throne of France. One would assume if this really were the case then they would have been put to death, not held captive for so many years. I find it more likely that the handsome dandy was perhaps a contesting beau in the court of Versailles and the King was jealous of his looks or his affairs.

[taliesin238]

Thats brilliant Octavius!! Some really good points to think about there!! Cheers for that!!

[Octavius]

Similarly speaking, the prospect that Jack the Ripper was a Royal, or a Royal Surgeon created so much more intrigue for the case than would ever be merited should JTR have been suspected of being someone far less prominent. The �Royal� connection perpetuates the story to this day, mixing fact with myth and gossip.

[dannyday5821]

world war 2 for me personally. love reading about it. but i much prefer reading about the personal effects it had on individuals. ya know, accounts of people who were evacuated from schools, people who ran the home guard, individual solider accounts. this for me, is what makes history feel more real, not just facts and figures. i also am facinated by the cold war! i love reading about the research, the weapons and such. love it! it was history that taught me how important politics actually is in the world.

[paddywak]

I find most of history pretty interesting, Last year I did a History course with the 6th form at the local school (I'm nearly 60) and found both the course and ineracting with a bunch of 17yr olds great , I even manage to get a grade B in the exam. I'm now considering going for an OU degree but dont really know much about it so If anybody out there has any info about it I would be pleased to hear from them

[4GS]

My degree is History, my dissertation was on an English Civil war general called John Lambert, however, my fascination is with 11 o clock, 11th November 1918, the end of World War One which is what I really wanted to research but a fellow student got in there first.