Recently, I talked about King Tut. I thought it would be a nice follow up to write about Egypt again. This time, I’m going to write about pyramid building. Pyramid building was hard, dangerous work.

Imagine, if your a poor farmer, working for the rich. You just finished a year of hard work, and now it’s time for you to rest. However, you soon receive a request from the government officials to work on the Pharaoh’s pyramid.

There are 3 types of jobs in pyramid building, construction, design, and mining. To be a designer, you have to get every design correct. If you are talented with tools, then you are sent to be a miner, which is dangerous. If you weren’t talented, then you did the most common type of job: the building. You and a group of 20 heave blocks onto the pyramids. Every 2 minutes, 30 groups of 20 are required to bring a heavy stone block up.

If you are a miner, you go to the stone quarries. This is where stone is provided for the core of the pyramid. You use a wooden mallet, a hammer, and chisels made of copper to get the stone out. This is a grim job, and you have a high chance of being injured.

The least dangerous job is to design inside the pyramid. It is lit by candlelight, and is rather spooky. You have to get every detail correct, otherwise, you’ll be punished. You also have to use the correct design, because people think that the usual is better.

That’s what a pyramid builder did in ancient times. Even if they were done, they’d soon have to start working again, because of the death of the pharaoh. The next pharaoh always wanted to have his pyramid started up quickly, in case he died quickly.

Written by Dz

After the construction of Chartwell had been completed, Winston was starting to get restless again. He wanted to be an MP again. Except, this time, he wanted to participate in the conservative party. Their new policies had improved, and he had met some nice people from the conservative party.

Glad as he was when being re-elected, Winston was even more happy when the Prime Minister asked Churchill to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. He quickly agreed, and was wise with the country’s money for five long years. Clementine was quick to agree when the PM also offered a large mansion in London. But, Churchill still preferred Chartwell, and often stayed there.

Then, finally, the Conservatives lost the next general election. Winston had been re-elected MP, but they no longer took part in major politics. So, he retreated to painting and writing. But, he also observed that Germany seemed to be starting a war. Their new leader, Adolf Hitler, had took over Austria already. Churchill did not like this, and told their new Prime Minister, Nevill Chamberlain, to start fending off the Nazis. But, Chamberlain was still devastated by the last war, and was very reluctant. So, Chamberlain only tried to persuade Hitler to stop after the germans had declared war on Czechoslovakia. But, when Chamberlain actually AGREED to Hitler’s demand, he retaliated by saying he was a ‘man of peace’.

But, after Germany invaded Poland, Chamberlain finally had no option. He asked Winston to join again as the First Lord of Admiralty, and Churchill was quick to accept. Very soon, the UK had officially declared war on Germany.

The war was not going well. Germany had taken over much of Europe, and Britain was losing power. But, Churchill still reported about conditions on the front line, often giving positive speeches on radio broadcast. And now, there was an inner problem. Many politicians thought the reason that the war was starting badly was because of Chamberlain. They thought he was too afraid of Germany to do anything, and that Britain needed a new Prime Minister. Chamberlain couldn’t argue, and so, he thought of two likely candidates – Churchill himself and Lord Halifax.

When they were invited for tea with Chamberlain, they discussed who should be Prime Minister. Lord Halifax claimed that a Lord shouldn’t be a Prime Minister and backed down. Chamberlain tried persuading, but it wouldn’t work. So, just like that, Winston Churchill, aged 65, became the leader of his country.

After Churchill was demoted, he was not so active in the government. He had retreated to a house outside London. His brother, Gwendoline, taught Winston how to paint. Soon, he was painting hours a day, every day. However, Churchill was still dissapointed over the war. He wanted to fight with his troops at the front line, working as a commander. So, he left politics and the government behind and re-joined the army.’

A few days later, Churchill arrived in France, where fellow british soldiers were at war. Soon, he was promoted again, and he became a lieutenant. Once again, he had an army squad (battalion) at his command. But, strangely, after he had led his troops into war, he wanted to go back to politics. So, after another half year, Churchill returned home. He became the Minister of Munitions, who makes guns and other weapons for the UK.

This horrible war against the Germans finally ended in Nov. 11, 1918. So, Winston again felt bored. While he was helping with the government, he also had his eyes on a large mansion. It was called Chartwell, with many acres of countryside land. But, Clementine was against the idea. She thought it cost too much, and she didn’t want to leave London. So, Churchill made a deal secretely. When his wife found out, she was furious, but it was too late to cancel.

But, next came a big blow to Winston’s career. He had failed to be re-elcted, and now he didn’t have a part in the government. But he then busied himself in helping the construction of his new home, Chartwell. Clementine was still mad over the matter, however, and often left to visit their old friends in London. But Winston didn’t mind. He was fine working on Chartwell and caring for his four children. It was a happy, peaceful life.

In the 1840s, children underneath the age of 10 worked in coal mines. All miners worked for 12 hours a day. They were looking for a substance that fuels the machines back then: Coal. Then, in the 1860s, life in the mines improved. Children no longer needed to work, and the safety in it improved. However, it was still a dangerous place.

Before, in order to get down the mine, you needed to go down through a basket. Afterwards, there was an iron cage, with no sides, to go down in. It was still dangerous, but safer than a basket. Down there, you would walk for a long time, before you reached the part you needed to mine in.

As you know, the mines are a dangerous place. There are endless ways to die in them. Here are some of the most common ways for the miners to get harmed or die. The mines have low roofs, so it is easy to bang your head on it. Also, it might collapse entirely. In this scenario, there is little chance for survival.

Another challenge is choking over poisonous gas. Underground, the amount of oxygen is extremely low. Therefore, there is a lot of poisonous choke-damp (carbon dioxide), that you might breathe in. Fortunately this problem was solved when they added a second exit, and the gas escaped through.

In 1840, the miners went on a strike. They weren’t satisfied with the amount of pay, so they refused to work. At first, the owners of the mine refused to do anything, insisting that the pay they were getting was fine. However, soon, mines all around Britain shut down, and they were forced to accept the requests.

Thats how miners work back then, and thats similar to how miners work now. I hope you know what it’s like in the mines now, and how, if you ever get into one, how to get out.

Written by Dz

Churchill left the Conservative party after four year. His strong opinions had more in common with the Liberal party’s rules. The Liberals won the general elections a couple years later.

At age 33, Churchill married Clementine. They had met in a dinner party six months before, and the marriage was on the Daily Graphic. They had two children in three years, Diana Churchill and Randolph Churchill (named after Winston’s dad). Then, he suddenly had a new job. He had been appointed the First Lord of Admiralty. After getting the new job, Churchill spent most of his time checking up on warships and sailors. When he wasn’t at work, he was with his family. But, he had other things to worry about. The germans’ navy was growing larger and larger. They British government was worried that they were planning a war. So, Churchill decided to build one more battleship a year than the german emperor.

As they had predicted, on August 4th, 1914, the Germans ventured into Belgium. But, the Germans refused to leave even after the Britains had declared war on them. Churchill sent many warships to attack the Germans, but the Germans were not about to go down. They sunk three British warships in one day, killing almost 1,500 sailors. But, now that Winston was part of the government, he couldn’t go to war in the front line like he did before. He was nostalgic of the moments when he was charging into battle on horseback. So, he joined the same Sir Kitchener to fight in Belgium. Meanwhile, back in London, Clementine was have her third child called Sarah Churchill.

When Churchill reached Belgium, he was disgusted by the trenches and dead bodies. After returning to the UK, Churchill found out that the Turkish people had started working against them now. Even when Winston sent large fleets of the British warships to intimidate them, the Turkish captured and killed vast numbers of their sailors. But, when Churchill refused to stop, the Prime minister finally demoted him to a minor war council member.

TBC in future blogs…

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

Back in 1922, the Ancient Egyptian pyramids were a mystery. Archaeologists were hired to study them, but had yet to find something like they were about the find. In 1922, Lord Carnarvon and his archaeologist found stairs that led into the young pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb. Newspapers went crazy about it. Today, I am going to come and tell you about Tutankhamen, and how he influenced life.

Tutankhamen was a pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. He reigned when things were going down for Egypt. His father had forced people in Egypt into believing in another god. So when his father died when he was 9, the officials put him in the position of king, to fix his father’s mistake. However, his reign was incredibly short, and nobody really knows what happened during it. However, we do know, that he died at age 18, making his reign only 9 years. That, however, wasn’t what made him special. That’s what happened in his lifetime. Its what happened thousands of years later that made him what he is today.

Back when Ancient Egyptians king died, people mummified it, and then bury it with tonnes of treasure to prepare the kings for the “afterlife”. Most kings had large tombs, and a lot of treasure. The opposite was for Tut. He had a small tomb, and still a fair amount of treasure, but not as much. As you can imagine, people eventually found out about the treasure. Even though they were filled with traps, some robbers still got through. King Tut’s tomb had already been robbed twice by the time it was discovered by modern day people.

As you know, Lord Carnarvon and his archaeologist Howard Carter found the tomb. Howard Carter survived for a while, but Lord Carnarvon died soon after, of an infected mosquito bite. For some reason, people believed this to be a curse from King Tut. It is also rumoured, that the moment Carnarvon died, his dog died as well. No one knows if this was true, but this started another title on the newspaper, known as the curse of King Tut. Anyone who had anything to do with the tomb’s death was blamed on a tomb. Once, a man who visited the tomb, was shot by his wife, and the blame was put on Tut.

Eventually, the nonsense came to an end. However, up till this day, people still remember the story of King Tut, and his curse.

Written by Dz

After Churchill was captured, he and some of his colleagues planned to escape. Churchill had noticed how one section of the bathroom was always in the dark, making it hard to see. He escaped through it, and patiently waited for his friends. But they didn’t come. And now, he had another problem to solve – he was more than 250 miles away from British territory.

Churchill decided to take a lift. He traveled faster by jumping up onto a coal train. But, he couldn’t stay there too long, just in case he got discovered. But now there was an even bigger problem. The boers had discovered Churchill was missing, and they had issued a ‘wanted’ poster. The reward for capturing him was 25 euro (1,850 today). Churchill was running out of food (he only had four chunks of chocolate) and needed rest, but he didn’t know who would turn him in.

That’s when an amazing stroke of luck hit Winston. As he reached a coal mine, he knocked on the door of a random house. John Howard opened the door. He was a fellow English man, so of course he helped Churchill. He gave Churchill tons of rations (two roast chickens, a loaf of bread, some melon, and three bottles of tea) and shelter for three days, until the boers had left the area. Then, Howard handed Churchill a pistol and sent him on his way on a train. When he arrived home at last, Winston discovered he was famous from his speeches. So, he ran again for MP. This time, he won the election. Another great adventure, another great book.

Churchill’s life in politics had begun.

TBC in future blogs…

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

After participating another war, Winston wrote another book. However, he was still starting to owe people money despite the extra payment from writing news articles. So, Churchill decided to go to the polo tournament in India, win it, then return to the army.

However, things weren’t going for Churchill at the beginning of the tournament. Just before the games started, Winston was injured. He had fallen off his horse and landed on his shoulder. Luckily, he was still participating in the matches. Churchill scored the winning goal in the finals.

After winning, Churchill took a break from the army. He returned home and finished his book on the campaign in Sudan. Then, Churchill decided participate in a new election in the house of commons. The Conservative Party were missing a Member of Parliament (MP) representing Oldham town. However, despite all the inspiring speeches that he gave, he still lost. But politicians weren’t just about to forget him. Churchill had left them with a good memory about him. Another career opportunity now appeared.

But Winston was still very interested in battle. So, when the news of a war between the Brits and Boers (Dutch people) came, he joined immediately. Now that he was famous, many newspapers wanted him to report for them. Before the war had even begun, the Morning Post already had a deal. If Churchill reported daily, they would pay him 250 euro a month. (That’s 18,500 euro today, which is 23.7 million korean won.)

But the war did NOT go well. When Churchill arrived, the british were already retreating. However, he still fought bravely. But, when his train was caught unsuspected by some dutch soldiers.

The captain immediately reversed the train, but there was a fallen carriage in the way. Churchill leapt off the train to help. But a group of boers had surrounded him. He didn’t have his pistol. As a desperate resort, he finally surrendered. He was taken prisoner by the dutch.

At age 23, Churchill got his first opportunity to a real war. Sir Bindon Blood was going to lead an army to the Indian border, where some tribesmen had rebelled.

Churchill decided he couldn’t miss out. He contacted Sir Bindon Blood, then traveled to the war zone, without knowing the reply. Sir Bindon’s reply came when Churchill was already at the city of Bombay. “Very difficult; no vacancies; com up as a correspondent; I’ll try to fit you in.” (-credits to ‘Winston Churchill’ written by Katie Daynes)

Churchill was thrilled. He immediately set off on a train to the war zone. However, back at home, his mother was worried about all the money that Churchill was spending. Luckily, she made a deal with the Daily Telegraph. Winston would report from the front line, writing a news article that cost 5 euro (370 today) per column.

The war lasted for a few months. But these months were the most exhilarating Churchill had ever experienced. He loved the feeling of danger and bravery all around him. Thankfully, he didn’t get injured severely. Inspired by the war, Winston published an 85,000 word book about it. It was very successful. This would bring him luck later on.

Now, Winston was famous for being a news reporter as well as being a courageous soldier. When Sir Herbert Kitchener was preparing a campaign in Sudan, Churchill asked if he could join as well. But Kitchener had heard about Churchill. He didn’t like how he was so ambitious, writing news columns while at war. So, his reply was a big, fat, “No.” When his mother heard this, she was not happy. She had known Kitchener, but even she could not persuade the stubborn captain. Then, something incredibly amazing happened. The prime minister of England had just finished reading Winston’s book. He had found it intriguing, and wanted to know who its author was. Churchill was pleased to meet the prime minister. The PM thought Churchill was a pleasant young man, and when Winston told him about sir Kitchener, he decided to help. Sir Kitchener finally allowed Winston to go, he was delighted.

When he reached Africa, the army was just about to leave. At first, they traveled by steamboat. Then, after they had reached the scorching desert, they started to ride on horseback.

Finally, across the burning desert, they spotted their enemy. Sir Kitchener ordered the calvary soldiers to spread out into a line. Then came what Churchill had been waiting for. Sir Kitchener shouted “CHARGE!!” and the soldiers did just that. Churchill felt jubilated as he charged.

At the end of the day, there had been many casualties and losses, but the Brits won in the end. Winston was encouraged by the war to write a book, so he did. But, despite all the extra money, he was still running out of cash…

TBC in future blogs…

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

Winston Churchill was the prime minester of the UK during world war two. He led the allies to a great victory, and was re-elected later on. He was a hero. I’m going to talk about his life today.

Winston Churchill started going to a boarding school at age 5. He was not the best student – he always disliked the subjects except for English. One of his hobbies was commanding toy soldiers. He graduated from boarding school at age 14, then joined army school. However, he couldn’t seem to learn enough. After two failed attempts to get into army, his parents sent him to a crammer school.

Sadly, Winston injured himself severely during a game of tag, and ended up staying in his father house to heal. Sometimes, when Lord Randolph’s (Winston’s dad) colleagues came over, Winston got to listen to them talk about politics. Occasionally, Winston even got to go to the House of Commons to watch the political leaders debate. During this time, he learned about politics and became very interested. These were just like word wars!

After healing completely, Winston was sent back to school. In his college, he was eighth out of 150 people, and he decided to become a calvary soldier. His parents were reluctant, however, because horses were expensive. But they let Winston in the end, and he joined.

At his new army training place, Churchill used all of his free time to read about politics and history from books his relatives sent. He became well educated, and enjoyed politics very much. He wanted to be at the house of commons when he wasn’t participating in a war.

Then, finally, the first war call came. Some Indian tribesmen were causing trouble, and Winston Churchill was invited…

TBC in future blogs…

Thanks for reading! -Written be EZ