And this book will tell you about women and men who had great misfortune!
No point in getting angry or away!running
Sure...maybe they should have had a lucky charm or something like that to counter their bad luck, but their stories are so peculiar that they are still told today!
Thanks to these “highly tools”technological created specifically for the occasion, we will check the level of bad luck of our characters!
Unlike Maximus, Caepio is a noble of ancient lineage and has no intention of supporting the plans of his “colleague.” So, while Maximus tries to come to terms with the enemy, Caepio and his troops launch an attack on the Cimbri camp.
What happens? The Romans suffer heavy losses.
But that’s not all:
The enemies fiercely counterattack and turn the Battle of Arausio (this is the name of the place where it takes place) into one of the most famous and bitter defeats of the ancient Roman army.
DEAR GNEUS MALLIUS, MY FRIEND...COULD YOU PAY THE CHECK JUST NOW? I’LL PAY YOU BACK LATER...
What does Caepio do? He runs away!
UMM... DO YOU TAKE CARDS?
The architect in charge is Bonanno Pisano, who has designed a magnificent project for that tower, which will touch the sky and will be admired for centuries. Construction work begins; little by little, the tower rises up. When they get to the third floor, someone notices that the tower is leaning!
Unfortunately Bonanno has made a mistake; he didn’t take into account the composition of the ground where the tower would be built, ground that is actually made of soft clay. Because of its weight, the tower begins to lean!
MASTER, ARE WE SURE IT IS GOOD?
The tower was completed in the following decades. Today it is known throughout the world as the “Leaning Tower.”
OF COURSE...UMM... IT IS INTENTIONALLY LEANING... IT WILL BECOME THE MOST FAMOUS LEANING TOWER IN THE WORLD, YOU’LL SEE! BUT FOR NOW, LET’S GET AWAY FROM HERE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!
GUILLAUME LE GENTIL
Venus in opposition
A passionate French astronomer from the eighteenth century can show us how nerve-wracking tracking a planet can be!
In 1760 Guillaume Le Gentil joined an ambitious international study with the aim of measuring the distance between the sun and Earth. To do this, various astronomers had to observe the transit of Venus from different parts of Earth and then make some complex calculations.
Guillaume has no idea what is waiting for him!
Guillaume is sent to the French colony of Pondicherry in India, where he is supposed to arrive by June 6, 1761. The astronomer begins his journey a year before that date but, during his travels, a war breaks out between France and England.
The British occupy Pondicherry, and Guillaume is prevented from reaching it. He tries every way to carry out the observation from the ship, but it is impossible.
The next ship on which she is hired to work is the flagship of the White Star Line. Of very recent construction and labeled “unsinkable,” its name is the Titanic.
Heard of it?
In April 1912, during the maiden voyage between the United Kingdom and the United States, the Titanic is irreparably damaged during a collision with an iceberg and ends up on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Violet is one of the survivors.
Bad experience for young Violet… who soon goes back out to sea.
NEXT TIME I’M GOING TO GET THE TRAIN!
In 1916 Violet is aboard the Britannic, the sister ship of the Olympic and the Titanic, when the vessel is hit by a mine in the Aegean Sea and sinks! Violet is injured, but she manages to survive her third shipwreck, and she returns to work on the high seas until she retires!
MEOWW
BRENNUS Guarding ducks
In 390 BCE, Gallic tribal chief Brennus arrives in Rome to besiege the city. With his soldiers he tries to breach the Capitoline Hill, where part of the population has escaped to. After days of attempts that leave the Romans exhausted and hungry, a group of Gauls led by Brennus manages to reach the top of the hill.
Ancient Roman Brennus
A temple dedicated to the goddess Juno is built right on top of the Capitoline Hill, and there lives a group of ducks, which are animals sacred to the goddess.
But this is also a stroke of luck. The “space stone” that she now uses as a doorstop is worth a good amount of money. Before being able to make money, however, Ann has to go to court against her landlady, who declares herself the rightful owner of the meteorite because it fell on her property. In the end everyone ends up calling it the “Hodges meteorite.”
The lawsuit drags on until, unfortunately, the rock is no longer worth anything!
IT’S MINE!!!!
ORDER! ORDER, LADIES!
FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE...OR FOR WHICHEVER PLACE THAT THING COMES FROM!
LEN TAUNYANE
Dog tired
Running a marathon is no easy task, especially if you are not a trained athlete. Then sometimes bad luck has a hand in it and makes the race even more complicated! In 1904, a marathon is held in the American city of St. Louis.
Ready...set... go!!!
The organizing committee decides to invite two South African citizens who are in town to participate in the city’s World Fair as veterans of the Second Boer War, in which they had participated as relay racers.
ALL GOOD FOR NOW...
Len is one of the two and shows up at the start after being assigned the number 35.
The race begins and the runners set off.
The competition is quite bizarre; the athletes have to run amid lots of dust raised by the cars that continually pass by them.
SIR, THE RACE IS THIS WAY...
WOOF, WOOF, WOOF
One runner gets a lift from a car to finish first, another one snacks on a rotten apple and has a bout of vomiting…
And Len? He finishes ninth.
He takes the lead at the start and everything seems to be going well, when a pack of stray dogs comes out of nowhere and starts chasing him. Len is forced to take a diversion several miles long before being able to finish the race, after having escaped the angry dogs!
YES, I KNOW. I’LL BE BACK SOON...
WOOF
VINCENT VAN GOGH
Misunderstood art
A portrait by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh sold at auction for over $80 million, an incredible amount, which the painter never saw in his lifetime...
Sunflowers: Vincent’s true fixation!
He was an artist who is internationally recognized as one of the most famous in the history of art. Yet, at the time he lived and worked in the second part of the 19th century, Vincent was not famous at all.
