Agatha Christie disappeared for 10 days and no one knows why
On the evening of 3 December 1926 the couple fought and Archie left their home to spend a weekend away with friends, including his mistress. Agatha departed the house later that same evening. The next morning her abandoned car was found several miles away partly submerged in bushes. The fact that the driver was missing but the headlights were on and a suitcase and coat remained in the back seat only fuelled the mystery. A huge manhunt was undertaken by thousands of policemen and eager volunteers, and a local lake known as the Silent Pool was also dredged. Home Secretary William Joynson-Hicks put pressure on police to find the writer, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sought the help of a clairvoyant to find Agatha. Ten days later, the head waiter at a hotel in Yorkshire contacted police with the startling news that a guest by the name of Theresa Neale might actually be the missing writer in disguise. (via Historic UK)
Christopher Nolan's brother was charged with murder while using the name Oppenheimer
Sometimes life can be stranger than fiction, and that appeared to be the case with a bizarre rumor that movie director Christopher Nolan's brother was a hitman using the codename "Oppenheimer." In 2009, Matthew Nolan was arrested and charged with the murder of accountant Robert Cohen in Costa Rica. Costa Rica unsuccessfully applied for Nolan to be extradited from the United States in 2009. In their records, they made a number of claims about the situation. Another man was initially convicted of the murder in 2005, but the extradition court documents point to Nolan's involvement as a "hired killer." There is evidence that Matthew Nolan used the alias Matthew McCall-Oppenheimer. According to a 2010 article, he chose the name Oppenheimer to link himself to the wealthy diamond family. He was never convicted of involvement in the murder. In 2009, four years after the death of Cohen, he filed for bankruptcy in Chicago. (via Newsweek)
What really happened to all the trees on Easter Island? Scientists have a new theory
Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is famed for two things. Its iconic moai statues, and the story which tells how calamity ensued after its inhabitants cut down the trees they needed to survive. Today, the Moai still stand, but the story is falling to pieces. According to a new study’s authors, before human settlers arrived, Easter Island was dominated by a unique species of large palm, which could live for up to 500 years, but took 70 years to mature. Then around 1200 CE, the Polynesians arrived with various non-native species, including sweet potatoes which they farmed, and Polynesian rats, which they ate. The rats, however, cut loose and made themselves at home in the canopy, where they feasted on the palm trees’ fruit. With no native predators to control their numbers, the Polynesian rat population boomed. Within 50 years, there were 11 million rats and an estimated 95% of the palms’ seeds had been eaten.(via Discover Wildlife)
Hi everyone! Mathew Ingram here. I am able to continue writing this newsletter in part because of your financial help and support, which you can do either through my Patreon or by upgrading your subscription to a monthly contribution. I enjoy gathering all of these links and sharing them with you, but it does take time, and your support makes it possible for me to do that. I also write a weekly newsletter of technology analysis called The Torment Nexus.
The child actor who set the British theatre world on fire in the early 1800s
In the early afternoon of 1 December 1804 groups of excited people began to gather outside London’s Covent Garden theatre. When the doors finally opened, a huge crowd stampeded into the auditorium, fighting for seats. The scene quickly descended into chaos: several hundred spectators jumped down from the packed lower boxes into the pit, adding to the crush in front of the stage. The cause of the hysteria was not the play itself, which was a mediocre tragedy called Barbarossa. The theatregoers were desperate to catch a glimpse of one of the actors, William Betty, who was making his London debut in the role of Selim, Sultan of Algiers. William was just thirteen years old. Child actors were not uncommon, but William took on lead roles in adult productions. He had already caused a sensation – and earned a fortune – dazzling audiences in Ireland, Scotland and northern England with performances as Romeo and Hamlet. (via All Things Georgian)
The governor of the Montana territory died by falling off a riverboat. Was it murder?
Officially speaking, a total of four U.S. governors have ever been assassinated. But there might actually be a fifth. On a summer night in 1867, Thomas Francis Meagher fell off a steamboat into the Missouri River, his body never to be recovered. To this day, nobody is sure why he fell. Theories include that he was drunk, committed suicide, or was disoriented from illness. But the most intriguing hypothesis was that he was murdered. Territorial Montana in the 1860s was a violent place, and in his short time there, Meagher made many enemies with his pro-Irish stance and support for a representative form of government. But he was also a heavy drinker, and he had been sick with dysentery. Had he stumbled to the ship's railing to throw up, a small slip could have been all that was needed to send him overboard. But then again, maybe his weakened state was the perfect time for his enemies to get rid of him. (via Atlas Obscura)
Ian McKellen performs a speech written 400 years ago during a riot over immigration
Acknowledgements: I find a lot of these links myself, but I also get some from other places that I rely on as "serendipity engines," such as The Morning News from Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack, Jodi Ettenberg's Curious About Everything, Dan Lewis's Now I Know, Robert Cottrell and Caroline Crampton's The Browser, Clive Thompson's Linkfest and Why Is This Interesting by Noah Brier and Colin Nagy. If you come across something you think should be included here, feel free to email me at mathew @ mathewingram dot com
