Articles by Jo Foster

The Louvre in Paris is the world's largest art museum and one of France's most prestigious historic monuments. The landmark building, located on the Right Bank of the Seine and covering a huge area of 72,735 square metres, is home to around 380,000 historic objects. As the world's most visited art museum in 2018, 10.2 million people viewed the treasures on display there. The history of the L...

The sinking of Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose almost 500 years ago has fascinated historians for centuries. Although various theories have been put forward about why she sank in the mid-16th century, the cause remains a mystery. Even the discovery of her remains in 1971 and the successful 11-year recovery mission to raise the stricken ship from the ocean bed didn't provide a definitive ...

One of the most memorable novelty songs of the 1970s was Ernie, the Fastest Milkman in the West, recorded by famous British comic Benny Hill in the same innuendo-laden style as his TV sketch show. Anyone old enough to remember the pop charts of the era will undoubtedly recall the sight of the rotund comedian driving a milk float pulled by a horse. Living up to his nickname, Ernie drove a...

Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels was a zany Hanna-Barbera cartoon that was broadcast between 1977 and 1980. Like its counterpart, Hong Kong Phooey, it often didn't seem to make much sense, but kids found it hilarious anyway! Three crime-busting young women, Dee Dee, Brenda and Taffy (known collectively as the Teen Angels) find a frozen prehistoric caveman in a block of ice during one of t...

The Cancun underwater museum in Mexico is an incredible place to go scuba diving. The contemporary museum's official name is the Museo Subacuático de Arte, known as MUSA. It links art, marine life and science, creating a fascinating destination for scuba divers from all over the world. The monumental MUSA contains more than 500 permanent life-size sculptures, making it one of the world's lar...

The sewing machine is an important appliance, for both domestic and industrial use. In the United States, the invention of the appliance is considered so important that National Sewing Machine Day is observed annually. The sewing machine has made manufacturing faster, easier and more uniform, while it enables people to make and repair their own clothes and stitch other household items, such ...

One of the most famous cookery books ever published was Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management in 1861. Even though it was published more than 150 years ago, it remains a top seller today, with the latest edition released in 2016. Also known as Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book, it was written by Isabella Beeton, the legendary Victorian housewife, cook, journalist and writer. She began compiling ...

There are around 24.8 million miles of roads spanning across the earth, which have been built using hundreds of millions of barrels of oil. Now a Scottish company is piloting a scheme to conserve natural resources and build future roads out of plastic - helping to solve the growing problem of plastic waste. Engineer Toby McCartney has come up with the perfect solution to the abundance of car...

The giant oceanic manta ray, or manta birostris as it's also known, is the largest ray in the world. Boasting impressive wingspan statistics, this ray is also gentle, intelligent and graceful. © Michael Bogner / Adobe Stock Image Spotting a giant manta ray You'll need to head to tropical or sub-tropical climates to be in with a chance of glimpsing a giant manta ray, as they prefer ...

Britain is well-known for its great bakers, who produce a multitude of traditional tasty treats, including pasties, scones, loaves and biscuits. For most of the population, baking at home was something that didn't begin until the mid-19th century. Prior to this, most ordinary people, at the poorer end of the social scale, couldn't afford adequate cooking facilities, as ovens weren't a standa...