Before Winston Churchill left for the Western Front during World War I, he wrote a letter to his wife of seven years, Clementine, which was to be opened only upon his death. In the letter dated July 17, 1915, Churchill told Clementine, "On the whole, especially since I met you my darling one, I have been happy and you have taught me how noble a woman's heart can be." Knowing he may not return, Churchill told Clementine, "Do not grieve for me too much... death is only an incident, and not the most important..." One the more pragmatic side, Churchill also included instructions on how Clementine could pay off his debts and what life-insurance benefits she would receive.

On November 14, 2008, Prince Charles celebrated his 60th birthday. As his peers begin to reach retirement, Prince Charles has become the oldest British monarch-in-waiting. (The next oldest was Queen Victoria's son, King Edward VII, who was 59 years and two months old when he became king.) Although Prince Charles may be the oldest British monarch-in-waiting, he has not yet waited the longest. Since Prince Charles was four-years old when his mother became queen, he has waited 56 years, while King Edward VII waited 59 years.

On November 18, 1978, members of the People's Temple (a cult led by Rev. Jim Jones) committed mass suicide at their Jonestown compound in Guyana. Over 900 people drank the cyanide-laced purple drink and died; over 300 of these were children. For some reason, Jim Jones did not drink the poison, but instead, shot himself in the head.

For three decades, people have wondered how it could be possible to convince so many people to take their own lives. Although no one has yet solved that mystery, a small piece of that puzzle has recently been found by CNN. According to research by CNN, the mass suicide was not a spontaneous event. Rather, the cyanide used in the lethal concoction had been arriving in Jonestown little by little for over two years. This means that Jones had deliveries of cyanide to Jonestown begin even before the People's Temple moved from California to the Jonestown compound in 1977.

After much controversy, the historic Tempelhof Airport in Berlin was officially closed on October 30, 2008. The Tempelhof Airport had a long history, beginning with being built in the 1930s by the Nazis as a glorious entryway into Germany. However, it is best remembered as a sign of hope for its role in the Berlin Airlift during 1948 to 1949, when planes filled with the much needed coal, food, and other supplies landed at Tempelhof. Unfortunately, because of its location in the city of Berlin, Tempelhof Airport's runways are too short for large, modern aircraft and there is no room in which to lengthen them. For the last few years, Tempelhof has been used for small, short flights but those just weren't bringing in the revenue to maintain such a large structure. Although many Berliners are sorry to see the historical airport close, the city felt they needed to close it for financial reasons.

In 1935, the Nazi government sponsored an expedition of three Nazi researchers to Brazil. Their mission was to explore the area and determine the feasibility of establishing a Germany colony there so that the "super race" would have room to expand.

One of the three researchers never made it back home to Germany because he died of "fever" and was buried. His grave is just one of many found deep in an Amazon rainforest. For more about the graveyard (plus pictures) as well as more information about the Nazi scheme to colonize Brazil, read this interesting article in The Mail Online.

At 7:14 a.m. on June 30, 1908, a giant explosion shook central Siberia. The explosion caused a magnitude 5.0 earthquake and leveled 80 million trees. Although many believe a meteor caused the blast, no crater or pieces of meteorite have yet been found. What happened in Tunguska?

In a strange quirk of fate, I happen to be in the middle of reading Studs Terkel's book, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression when I heard the news that Terkel passed away at his home on October 31, 2008. Terkel spent over four decades (1952-1998) as a radio host for The Studs Terkel Program on Chicago's 98.7 WFMT station. Although one might say he spent a lifetime on the radio, Terkel started a whole new career - for which he is more famously known - at age 55. In 1967, Terkel published the first of his monumental oral histories, Division Street: America, which was followed by Hard Times (1970), Working (1974), American Dreams (1980), and The Good War (1985). It was The Good War that earned Terkel the Pulitzer Prize and my great esteem - it is one of my favorite books.

Louis "Studs" Terkel (his nickname came from Studs Lonigan, a trilogy by James T. Farrell) died in his home after complications from a fall. He was 96 years old.

On October 10, 2008, the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site held its grand opening. Located on the campus of Tuskegee University near Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, the historic site includes the George Washington Carver Museum and Booker T. Washington's house (The Oaks). The museum hosts exhibits as well as two, 30-minute films about Carver and Washington.

When the news broke that an episode of a Belgian cooking TV show was to feature how to cook Adolf Hitler's favorite meal, many people were outraged. The episode, one in a series about celebrity entrees, was to have the host, chef Jeroen Meus, cook Hitler's favorite meal (trout in a butter sauce) at Eagle's Nest. After various groups and individuals protested, the episode was canceled.

Do you think airing a TV show about Hitler's favorite food would humanize Hitler and make the evils he perpetrated seem mundane? Or would it just be an interesting fact to know what Hitler's favorite food had been?

At 6:22 a.m. on October 23, 1983, a truck carrying explosives drove into the United States barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The massive explosion, estimated to be the equivalent of six tons of TNT, leveled the four-story building, killing 241 Americans (most of whom were Marines) and wounding 60 more. A couple of minutes later, another truck carrying explosives was driven into the French barracks, leveling the eight-story building and killing 58 Frenchmen. An Islamic extremist group took credit for the bombings, but many believe Hezbollah took part in the attack.

The attack led to the withdrawal of the peacekeeping force from Lebanon a few months later. The success of the bombing also led many to believe that using terrorism against the United States would be a successful tactic.