Non-Fiction

Tae kwon do is the martial art of Korea and one of the most popular in the world. It has taken a lot from Japan and China, but it has also become a sport with its own rules. The name ‘tae kwon do’ means ‘kick and punch’. It became very popular in the Korean War in the 1950s but it started hundreds of years before. Read more about it here (550 words).

This article tells us how scientists explore where we came from and who we are. It talks about different ideas of who we are and why some early peoples died out and others survived and became human beings. Of course, we cannot know anything about this for certain but this article describes some of the most important ideas today (935 words)

The name of Cleopatra will live for ever. Two thousand years after she died, she is still a symbol of beauty and intelligence. But she was also dangerous. She killed her young brothers; she had a baby with Julius Caesar; and she caused Marc Antony’s death. Famously, she died by putting a snake on her breast. But Cleopatra was also an educated woman in a man’s world. Read her story here (990 words).

A lobotomy is an operation on the human brain. Doctors do lobotomies because they want to change people’s personalities. This article tells the terrible story of the history of lobotomy and shows how we still use this operation today on children – some of them are as young as three years old. If you read this, you may never trust medical science again! (680 words)

Haigh did not kill people in acid baths. He put their dead bodies in them and they became like soup. He killed for money and did not think anyone would find out. He just kept killing and when people asked him questions, he killed them too. (810 words)

Ted Bundy is one of the most hated murderers in American history. He killed young women for no reason. Although he had many chances to get away from the police, he did not run for safety. It was more important to him to kill. This is his terrible story. (740 words)

We often hear that football is a dangerous game. Fans fight and even kill each other. Players hit each other on the field. But at the end of the match between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969, a war began between the two countries. This is the story of that war (250 words).

Every schoolchild knows Pythagoras’ triangle although we know very little about the man himself. We believe, however, that he hated beans so much that he let soldiers who were chasing him, kill him because he didn't want to run through a field where they were growing! Read more about this strange man (330 words).

The 47 ronin is one of the most famous stories from Japanese history. Their master killed himself because of a man who behaved very badly to him. The ronin decided to murder this man and planned their attack very carefully. After the man was dead, the ronin all killed themselves. Read their story (490 words).

Everyone knows about Roman gladiators and their fights to the death in the arenas of the Empire. Many were slaves and fought because they were going to die if they didn’t learn to use weapons. But others chose to fight because they wanted to be famous and rich. This is their story (400 words)

In 1966, the World Cup was in London but a few weeks before the matches started, someone stole the World Cup. Later, a dog called Pickles found it in a garden. He became famous. He got money, starred in a film and went to the party when England won the Cup. But did he also steal it? Read and find out more (410 words).

In the early 1960s, in Boston, USA, in just a few weeks, a mad killer murdered six women, all over fifty-five years old, in their homes. People were afraid to go out. Nobody knew why someone wanted to kill old ladies. Then the killing stopped and life returned to normal. But, after only three months, it began again. This is the story of the Boston Strangler (560 words)

This is the story of the Bedouin of Arabia, people who moved from place to place in the desert. They lived in tents and looked after camels and goats. Their lives were hard and sometimes they died of hunger. Now, there are not very many left. This is the story of their lives and traditions (600 words).

In 1905 the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin rebelled against the officers in what is now viewed as a first step towards the Russian Revolution of 1917. The mutiny formed the basis of Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin. (540 words)

In this short article, you can read about modern day piracy in the sea around Somalia and learn about the pirates of hundreds, even thousands, of years ago. Julius Caesar was taken prisoner by pirates in Roman times and robbery at sea has continued till the present day. We still love to watch films about pirates which show us a romantic life of adventure but life was very different if you lived on those ships. Read more! (920 words)