J.D. Blackwell articles

The Number That Wouldn't ChangeI sat in my car in the bank parking lot, phone in hand, refreshing my banking app for the fourth time in three minutes. The number stared back at me—$327.82 instead...

The Boarding Pass My Father SentSo here's the thing about getting an unexpected first-class upgrade—it feels amazing for about thirty seconds, then the impostor syndrome kicks in hard. I was standing at the gate, staring...

The Seat I'd EarnedLook, I'm not the kind of person who usually makes a scene. After six months of back-to-back consulting projects across three continents, I'd learned to pick my battles. But when I finally...

You know Alexander the Great, but he wouldn't be anything without his dear old dad, King Philip of Macedon. Born into the bloodthirsty Macedonian royal family, Philip survived the game of thrones to turn his backwater kingdom into the greatest power in Greece. But fortunes could turn quickly in Ancient Greece, and just as Philip was on top of the world, it all came tumbling down.

For a time, no woman was feared more in the court of King Henry VIII than the radical Protestant Anne Askew—and for very good reason. With the things she knew, Askew could have toppled the kingdom. But in exchange for facing down her enemies, all Anne got back was an utterly tragic end.

When King George I took over the English throne in 1714, the vaunted House of Hanover began its centuries-old reign over the British Empire, ending only with Queen Victoria. Yet dark secrets lay at the root of this seemingly glorious family tree, corrupting and corroding all that grew out of it.

History portrays Edward VI as the feeble and ultimately doomed son of Henry VIII, but the truth is so much darker than that. Far from a weakling, even as a boy, Edward proved nearly as twisted as his rotund father—and his gruesome end was likely a blessing for England. Don't believe us? Dive in and find out for yourself.

We spent years knowing him as the Prince of Wales, but Charles now goes by the title of King Charles III of England—and his scandalous and tragic past rivals the messiest monarchs in Britain’s long history.

Joseph Merrick kept his hideous face hidden behind a burlap sack. Another thing that’s hidden is his actual real life story. Don’t trust the movie—the truth is even more astonishing.