The Revealer Game: Clue #1
Can you guess who this is and what he was famous for? Born in 1843 in Buckinghamshire, UK – he considered himself a merchant adventurer – travelling the world importing objects from Japan and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa. He was very much associated with beautiful textiles that are still sought after, even today.
Think you know who it might be? Submit your guess in our Comments section, and keep checking back for more clues in the days leading up to Thursday's big Reveal! If you're the first person to get it right, we'll give you a shout-out during Thursday's BackStory.
From Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street
Back from covering widespread Middle East unrest, CNN's Ben Wedeman looks at more modest Occupy Wall Street protests in New York.
Unusual Early U.S. Snowstorm Forces CNN Crew to Sleep in Airport
A record October snowstorm roared through the northeastern United States this weekend.
Nearly 80 centimeters of snow fell on the states of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.
Blackouts drove many people into temporary shelters and brought public transportation to a standstill.
The blizzard stranded longtime CNN reporter Richard Roth at the Hartford airport.
Reporter as Zombie to Celebrate Halloween
Halloween is celebrated in theU.S. and Europe with costumes, trick-or-treating and visits to haunted houses. It’s big business too.
Some estimate revenues from haunted houses at more than 300 billion dollars, but visitors to haunted houses are more demanding than ever and owners are turning up the fright factor to the delight and horror of their patrons.
CNN’s Rob Marciano got in on the action this year at a spooky mansion near Atlanta, Georgia in the U.S.
Sentences for Argentina's Dirty War criminals
After two years of emotional testimony, a historic trial came to a close late Wednesday in Buenos Aires. Our Brian Byrnes was outside the courthouse as some of the former Argentine military officers who carried out heinous crimes during the country's Dirty War were finally brought to justice.
The Dangers of Journalism: When reporting puts you in harm's way
Reporters often encounter danger on the job. Call it survival journalism – the fine line some journalists walk between reporting the truth and not getting killed. Four female reporters were recently honored for courage in journalism by the International Women's Media Foundation. We had the pleasure of talking to one of the honorees.
Parisa Hafezi is the Tehran Bureau Chief for Thomson Reuters news agency. Last year, she was abducted as punishment for reporting controversial news about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. To this day, Reuters offices in Tehran remain under constant surveillance. But Parisa remains, even after being threated and targeted by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. She talked with BackStory about why she stays.
From Bras to Spacesuits: The Untold Story of Apollo 11
July 16, 1969. The world waited with bated breath as three men in a rocket hurtled skyward, bound for the moon.
Half a billion people tuned in to watch the grainy black and white images of Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong step out of the Eagle and onto the lunar surface.
Armstrong's first step was a triumph in a complex operation that marked a new era for mankind.
A group of seamstresses in a small town called Frederica in the state of Delaware was among those watching that moment on the moon. Their role in the American space story is unrivaled.
These unassuming women, who started off their careers stitching bras and girdles, had in fact sewn the spacesuits - 21 layers of material all together.
"I had something to do that was great. I did something great in my lifetime. I built the suit that went to the moon," 75-year-old Bert Pilkenton told CNN.
For 42 years, Pilkenton, along with some 80 other young women, individually tailored spacesuits for International Latex Corporation (ILC)Dover, which had been part of the Playtex group in the 1960s. Their intimate knowledge of the human body and skills with synthetic materials and body-hugging shapes meant they triumphed over the hard amour-like spacesuits designed by military contractors and favored by NASA's engineers.
"Lower arm, upper arm, torso, setting zippers, the convolutes. I had a part in all of it. Wherever they needed help. We just helped each other," said Ruth Ratledge who still works at ILC Dover as a seamstress, aged 77, having given up on retirement.
At times, the girls needed to blind stitch the suits, feeling underneath to get the parts to come together, sometimes within a 64th of an inch.
For the astronauts, it was a matter of life or death. Without oxygen and the protective suit, Aldrin and Armstrong would have perished on the moon in less than 30 seconds.
As a result, sewing pins were deliberately rationed. If the spacesuits were X-rayed and had stray pins left in them where the tailors had pinned the material together, they had to start all over again.
For Ellie Foraker, who began her career with Playtex in 1952 sewing baby pants, finding pins in the suits became too much to bear one day when she realized one particular seamstress had a left a pin in the suit.
She said, "I showed her the pin and I said, "You see this? It just came out of that garment that you sewed. So I'm gonna show you what a pin will do" and I stuck her in the butt. And I said, "Do you think you will remember the next time you leave a straight pin in something?" She said, "Yes ma'am"."
Once the astronauts landed safely back on planet earth, the suits went to the Smithsonian National Air andSpaceMuseuminWashingtonwhere they remain today as a testament to the women behind the suits that put man on the moon.
Bert Pilkenton laughed as she let on a secret - "When we built the Apollo suit - the one that is in the Smithsonian Institute - some of us girls names are inside that suit."
The Revealer Game, Clue # 3
Here is your third clue for this week's segment of The Revealer. Take a look at the video clue from researcher Olivia, and then place your guess in the comments section below. We'll "reveal" the name of the first person to get it right... coming up on Thursday's BackStory.
A Career Under Water
We talk a lot these days about the state of the global economy and the lack of jobs and recently, CNN's Richard Quest and his team at Quest Means Business have been looking at the World at Work.
They're talking to people with unique, sometimes enviable jobs to learn the tricks of their trades.
This time they went underwater to find out more about a man who spends a good portion of his day with the creatures of the deep. All without leaving London. CNN's World at Work producer Rosalie e'Silva gave us a look at what went into the shoot.
See Aquarium Curator Jamie Oliver talk about what makes his job so special in the full story here
Hunting Sharks for their Fins
Sharks have been swimming our oceans since the age of the dinosaurs. But these amazing animals are dying out and fast, due to the high demand for their fins.
In fact, the environmental organization Oceana says up to 73 million sharks are killed every year. Many people consider the practice of finning to be very barbaric.
Here's why:
Fishermen actually hack off the shark's fins and throw it back into the sea alive. The shark then slowly starves to death, drowns or is eaten alive.
Environmental groups say poachers often enter protected areas to illegally slaughter sharks for their fins. One Costa Rican organization says enough is enough.
CNN Senior Latin American Affairs Editor Rafael Romo has the story.
It's hard to imagine enjoying shark fin soup after watching that graphic video, but there may be a cruelty-free alternative to the traditional Chinese delicacy. Here is CNN's Kristie Lu Stout with a Back|Story flashback from 2009.
About The Revealer
A new Back|Story series that unearths fascinating new secrets about places and stories you thought you knew. Every other Thursday on Back|Story“The Revealer” Game
Join the action on our new series, “The Revealer.” Use the photo clues to figure out what the subject of this week’s episode will be. Click on the picture to the left for more.
