Once again, despite my love of British history, the only thing that I seem to remember from my school days about King Alfred is that he was holed up somewhere in some sort of boggy terrain following a lengthy battle and, due to exhaustion had fallen asleep by a fire and managed to burn some cakes!

Did Jeannie Donald murder Helen Priestly back in 1934? Was the forensic evidence available at the time sufficient to convict Jeannie of the crime? Had it been purely an accident?

On 21 April 1934, 8 year old Helen Priestly was sent from her home in Urquhart Street, Aberdeen, to the corner shop by her mother to buy a loaf of bread. It was one of the things that most children throughout the United Kingdom at that time were asked to do and the children seldom came to harm but on this particular occasion a trip to the corner shop proved fatal for Helen.

Statistically, more men become mass murderers than women, but this lady from Liege in Belgium became a real digitalis dame back in the 1930s and it’s claimed she poisoned at least 10 people.

Marie Becker was born in the late 19th century in Liege, married a cabinet maker, Charles Becker, when she was 33 and was considered to be a model wife but, after about 20 years, unbeknown to her friends and neighbours, she was becoming disillusioned with her life so it didn’t take much to lure her away from her dull existence and opt for a more exciting and profitable one.