The men in the iron masks: WWI tank crew's protective masks

It looks more suited to the battlefield of Agincourt to protect against the volleys of French arrows.But this medieval-style chain mail mask is actually a rare survivor of the Western Front of the First World War. It was worn by the pioneering British tank drivers at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.The vehicles, which were still in their infancy as machines of war, were piloted from fume-filled cabins....

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A carbonised loaf of bread from Pompeii

The loaf is round and plump, like a cake, and divided into eight wedges. But it is unmistakably bread, and rather appetising, too. Which is extraordinary, considering that it was put in the oven to bake one morning in Herculaneum nearly 2,000 years ago. The baker left his stamp. His name was “Celer, slave of Quintus Granius Verus”.For all the distance of years, the food of Pompeii seems sunny...

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