Elementary stories and articles

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)

Jimmy Thorpe’ is not well-known today but he was a goalkeeper for Sunderland football club in the 1930s. He died when he was 23 after a heart attack caused by being kicked while he had the ball in his hands. The rules of the game were changed as a result (290 words).

In Britain, people live for Saturday and Sunday, the weekend. But in Saudi Arabia, the weekend is Friday and Saturday. How did this happen and why? Here we explore where the names of the days of the week come from and how they differ across the world. (965 words)

The Ostrich is a vey strange bird. It can't fly and it east stones! (200 words)

There are many stories and legends about the Ninja. They were expert assassins and spies and lived in mountains where their enemies could not follow them. This article is about their final years and battles. (415 words)

The English word 'thug' is used to describe violent criminals and it comes from the word used to describe groups of criminals who murdered and robbed travellers in India for hundreds of years. (300 words)

Britain ruled more of the world than any other country in history and became rich and strong. The best part of the Empire was India, a huge and wonderful country of mountains and deserts, different religions and ancient knowledge. Britain kept India by force and this is the terrible story of Amritsar and the killing of women and children. It illustrates the price India paid for the British Empire. (425 words)

Today, many people cannot enjoy football because of the dangerous fans that go to matches. They often don’t go to watch the match but to fight. But football has always been a dangerous game. It is not a new thing. Read about the history of football and the problems it has made (500 words).

Drifting is an international motor sport that started in Japan. It is popular in Saudi Arabia although it is illegal and very dangerous. (330 words)

Bengal tigers are the biggest in the world but we need to protect them and not take the land where they live (170 words).

It was Christmas 1914 and thousands of German, French and British soldiers were sitting in fields across Belgium. It was the first winter of the First World War and they wanted to be at home with their families. So they stood up and started playing football and singing songs together. (410 words)

Football is now big business but in the late nineteenth century, football clubs could not pay their players. Football was a game for people who liked sport as a hobby – not as a job. William Sudell man changed that but he also went to prison because of it. (660 words)

There is nothing more exciting than watching a football match with thousands of excited fans all around you. But sometimes, a great day at a football match ends in sadness and death. This story tells you about some of the worst accidents in football history (895 words).

There are many books about the First World War and the millions of people who died between 1914 and 1918. This short article tells the story of how it started. (500 words)

Early in the seventeenth century, Sweden was a great empire and had one of the strongest armies in the world. The king wanted the biggest and best ship too but his wonderful new ship sank after sailing about 1,000 metres. (415 words)

The Lusitania was an British ocean liner that the Germans sank in the First World War in 1915. More than 1,000 passengers, including women and children, many of them American, died. Two years later, it was part of the reason the USA entered the First World War. (515 words)

The twentieth century was a difficult time in South-east Asia: there was the Japanese war against China and many other countries; the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and the terrible civil war in Vietnam. Then, towards the end of the century, the leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia had millions of his own people killed in just three years. (725 words)

Ibn Battuta left his home in (what is now) Morocco many hundreds of years ago. He wanted to go to Mecca to do Haj as a good Muslim. He did not return for more than twenty years. He could not stop travelling. (370 words)

Britain in the early eighteenth century was a land of farms and fields but the Industrial Revolution changed the country for ever. James Watt, a Scottish inventor with only a little schooling, was the man that started it all. This is his story. (620 words)

The doctors told Francis Chichester that he had cancer and was going to die very soon. But Chichester decided to live his life very fast and very bravely. He learnt to sail and became the first person to sail around the world on his own. (315 words)

Faraday changed the world. He understood more about electricity than anybody who ever lived. Albert Einstein had a picture of Michael Faraday on his office wall. But Faraday was born poor. He never went to university and ate in the kitchen because his boss’ wife did not want to eat with him. (495 words)

Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 and, because of him, South America was Spanish for hundreds of years and most people still speak Spanish there today. But did you know he was Italian? And, although he made a lot of money for the Spanish king and queen, he never actually got paid himself. (400 words)

We will never forget the name of Auschwitz, the camp where Hitler and his Nazi government killed hundreds of thousands of Jews and many other people in the Second World War. This is the terrible story of one of the worst moments in human history (1020 words).

Nat Turner was a slave in America and was never famous in his lifetime. We know him today because, one day, he decided to kill the people who took away his freedom. In a few hours, he murdered many white men, women and children. He was the first slave to use violence to fight against his slavery in the USA. This is his story. (385 words)

We know nothing about Socrates or his books. We only know what other people said or wrote about him. He died thousands of years ago in Greece. This story is probably not true but it is very, very short and easy to read! (110 words)

We remember Caligula as the craziest Roman emperor. He was only the head of the Roman Empire for four years but he did some terrible things. What did he do that was so bad? And how did it all start? (400 words).

We think we are the strongest animals on Earth. But is that really true? This is the surprising story of bacteria and viruses and the places they can live, how fast they can grow and how dangerous they can be. Bacteria and viruses can kill millions of people in just a few years (1470 words)

The story and the film are famous. A huge ship was travelling from Britain to the United States a hundred years ago. It was the largest ship in the world and it was full with more than two thousand people - rich and poor. But it hit an iceberg and most people died. This is the story of The Titanic (560 words)

Every night we go to sleep and, in the morning, get up again. But we do not understand a lot about why we need sleep or what our bodies do when we are in bed. This story tells you something about sleep and the problems that happen when we do not sleep enough (830 words).

Johnannes Gutenberg changed the world. Before him, people copied books by hand. They wrote every word and started the page again if they made a mistake. Of course, books were very, very expensive and so nobody learnt to read. Gutenberg made a machine that made books cheap and easy to copy fast – very fast. This is his story (420 words)...

Martin Luther King is the only American with a national holiday for his birthday. But he was not a great soldier or president or businessman. He was black and fought for his people to have the same rights as whites. Read about his story here (830 words).

In 1945, the Second World War was coming to an end. The Germans stopped fighting in Europe and Hitler was dead. But, in the East, the Japanese preferred to die as soldiers. The Americans knew that many of their soldiers were going to die fighting. So, they dropped the first atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is the story of the hundreds of thousands that died (400 words).

One hundred years ago in Britain, women could not choose the government. They could not be politicians. Almost no woman had a job. This is the story of a brave woman who died because she wanted to give women chances in life. Read about Emily Davison (500 words).

Mohindas Gandhi fought all his life for Indians’ rights. But he was a man that fought with ideas. He never used a gun or a knife and he nearly died many times to stop others killing people. In the end, he got the British out of India and freedom for his country but he did not live to enjoy his country’s new rights. This is his story (1,070 words)

The French Revolution of 1789 changed the world. We all know the pictures of the guillotine, the machine that cut people’s heads off, but the Revolution also made Napoleon Bonaparte, the man who started a European war. It changed the way we think too – even today. This is the story of what happened in Paris in 1789 (400 words)

Everybody knows that diamonds are beautiful, romantic and expensive. But where do they come from? What is the biggest diamond in the world? What is the most expensive? And what are they made of? This story will tell you all you want to know (480 words).

Suleiman was the greatest Turkish sultan. He made the Turkish empire the largest in the world and all Europe worried that he was going to make Europe a Muslim continent. But Suleiman was also an artist and a man who never killed people just because they were of different religions. He changed Turkey by his laws, his art and the beautiful buildings he made (800 words).

Two thousand years ago, the Romans were living in Britain. Many people fought them but others thought it was safer to make friends. Boudica’s husband, a king, believed it was better to stay friendly. So, when he died, he gave the Romans half his land. But that was not enough for the Romans. They wanted everything. Boudica fought them, burnt London and became a symbol of independence. This is her story (250 words).

Archimedes is still one of the most famous and important scientists in the world but he died two thousand years ago. We do not know everything about him and some things we learn at school are certainly not true. Did he really jump out of his bath and run naked in the street because he had a great idea about mathematics. Read this story about him and find out more! (760 words)

Every schoolchild in America learns about Abraham Lincoln. He was the President that lived in a small wooden home when he was a young man, but spent his last day in the White House. He ended slavery and stopped the states in the South from leaving the USA. Read more about him in this short story about his life (650 words).