The name Ivar the Boneless was one that struck terror into the hearts of Britons 13 centuries ago. He was a marauding Viking leader from Denmark whose ruthless cruelty was legendary. With his ferocious band of warriors he attacked and occupied several of the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that comprised 9th-century Britain; he’s also said to have conquered parts of Ireland. But why was he known as Ivar the boneless? Some 1,300 years after the Viking lived it’s not entirely clear, but perhaps the most plausible theory is that he had a medical condition which weakened his legs.

Amy Bock, who lived between 1859 and 1943, was a con artist. She became infamous throughout New Zealand, having gone to the most extreme lengths conceivable to earn a dishonest living. But history is littered with tricksters and cheats: what makes her so special? Well, her legacy is a complicated one. She was a grifter, to be sure, but her actions inadvertently came to challenge the conservative social attitudes of her day. Whether she meant to or not, Amy Bock became a symbol for a new way of living.

The advance of technology means that the job market of today looks drastically different to that of the early 20th century. Social media manager certainly wouldn’t have been an option 100 years ago, for example! And there are several professions from the Roaring Twenties that no longer exist, too. From lamp-lighters to lectors, here’s a look at 40 of the most popular jobs held back then, according to the 1920 American Census and other sources.

The story of widowed seamstress Betsy Ross painstakingly stitching the Stars and Stripes of the first American flag has been lovingly taught to every elementary school kid in the nation. Betsy is a national icon who embodies everything Americans love to believe they are: patriotic, skilled, and noble. Yet over the years, the provenance of Betsy’s tale has been picked over and questioned so much that many historians now believe it to be little more than a well-intentioned myth.