History Challenge & Journal

[Jimbob]

Could you repeat that please?

I beleive it is something to do with French whores, although some of the spelling is a bit off.

Charge by the heure? Cheaper than doctors by the hour?

[dtaai-maai]

I was a princely Renaissance playwright and author (and many other things) whose name became an adjective that is rarely complimentary. The end justifies the means.

Who was I?

[Bristolian]

Machiavelli ?

[dtaai-maai]

Tsk, yes!

Next one will be more difficult. Prepare to Google...

[Bristolian]

Tsk, yes!

Next one will be more difficult. Prepare to Google...

I already needed to Google the spelling of "Machiavelli", just to be sure

[dtaai-maai]

history.jpg (32.64 KiB) Viewed 279 times

I was adopted by a man who became a father to me, as well as something of a father to others of his kind, although it's since been claimed he may have been partially responsible for me being an orphan in the first place.
However,things began to look up for me then, somewhat literally.
I learned my trade in Russia and went on to be come the first of a kind, not only in my country but in the world.
My fame was national rather than international. You probably don't know my name, but you may have passed through me.
I lived to a ripe old age and died in the 21st century.

[Bristolian]

Sabiha Gökçen
22 March 1913 – 22 March 2001

Sabiha Gökçen was a Turkish aviator. According to the Air University, she was the world's first female fighter pilot and the first Turkish female combat pilot, aged 23

She was one of the eight adopted children of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk**

The second international airport of Istanbul, Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, on the Asian side, is named after her.

**Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish army officer, reformist statesman, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey. His surname, Atatürk (meaning "Father of the Turks"), was granted to him in 1934 and forbidden to any other person by the Turkish parliament.
(Thanks to Google and Wikipedia)

[dtaai-maai]

Curses! No more time today, but you can rest assured the next one will be fiendishly difficult...

Well done - getting the last 2 is a nice pair of Bristolians.

[dtaai-maai]

I am extremely old, about 5,000 years all told, though on balance it could be said that in my younger days I served a slightly different purpose.
I am not a person.

What am I?

Feel free to ask questions and use Google.

[Bristolian]

Yer not giving away much on this one

Weighing scales of some description?

[dtaai-maai]

Well spotted - not scales, but closely related.

[dtaai-maai]

I don't want to be too obscure, but I think if I tell you what it actually was, I'll be giving the game away altogether...

Not scales, but what's on the scales.

[Siani]

Weights? Something to do with clocks?

[Bristolian]

Standard measures - Weights?

[dtaai-maai]

yes, a unit of weight originally, but I evolved into something else.