Hi and welcome to Viral History we're here in Ye Olde Mitre Inn with Lacey from
History with Cats, Lacey can you tell us a little bit about you and your blog? I can
so I am Lacey I am a PhD student from back in the States and sort of on a whim
almost as a joke I started a Twitter account that has now grown into a
YouTube account and a Facebook account and a website called History with Cats
where I tell my cat short historical stories about people and events and post
the video online. So my cat is named Bruty she was originally Brutus until
we took Brutus to get him fixed and we found out that he was a she we had to do
a quick name-change and so now she's Bruty. And she's quite funny in your
videos she's kind of constantly pawing at your face that means she enjoys the
history story I think? I think she's very much into the the historical tales she
likes to be held like a baby so as long as I'm holding her like she's a little
infant and as long as she can touch my face with her paws she seems happy and
she seems like she's interested in most of the stories there's been one or two
videos where she slaps me at the end of them but most of them yet she seems very
into it. And where does your passion for history come from? So I've been
interested in history particularly of the Middle Ages since I was about
probably 10 or 11 years old. I read a book when I was in grade school
and it sort of kicked off my interest and I have been exploring different time
periods and locations ever since and it's one of the reasons why I wanted to
make the vlog because I want to share that passion with others. I think history
is really cool and I think that we can learn a lot from the videos as long as
there's a cat involved keep things interesting. And what do you see next
with your blog? Oh boy um I would I would really like to start filming at
different historical locations so that is the next
on my list, that might have to wait a year or so but I would like to start
featuring maybe different museums or historic sites. Right now all of my
videos take place in my living room on my couch with my cat propped up but I
would like to find maybe different actual historic sites that I could
either take the cat or just tell Bruty about later to actually film at the
historic sites I think that would be really cool. Cool and what
research are you working on at the moment? So right now I am working on my
dissertation research for my PhD and I'm researching medieval women and conduct,
different books telling women how they should and shouldn't act so that's where
my heart is and someday I'll do a video on that when I can get broody to sit
still long enough for me to talk about my dissertation!
Okay so Lacey we're going to put you to the test with a cat history quiz
All question are all related to historical cats okay so are you ready? I am I think.
So what cat deity did the ancient Egyptians worship? Oh my goodness I
think I did a video on what is her name well you can look back to a video that I
think I did maybe around May or March 25th is her name Bastet?
Yes indeed its' Bastet that's it that's it, I think we can give you that one. Which
goddess of Norse mythology had a sled pulled by two large white cats? Oh my
goodness I don't know but that needs a video! That will have to be one
of my next ones. Who is it? Freya Freya really yeah I did not know that. Oh see I'm getting a
lot of tips for videos on I think I only yeah I think I only have the one on actual
cats. Oh jeez you're giving me fuel. Which breed of
cat is still considered sacred in some parts of Thailand? Turns out I don't know
anything about cats, just history! They're quite niche questions. is it I want it to
be a calico but it's probably not? It's a Siamese. I really wouldn't
know that one, I wouldn't have got any of these. If you are what ever want to do a
video on any of these grab the closest cat! Okay final question in which country
do kimono cats (there's a clue there) cats with a special black mark on their backs,
are they said to hold the spirits of one's ancestors? Is it Japan? It's Japan!
That's 2 out of 4. That's halfway there and you know I I did know the answer to the other two I
just didn't want to ace the quiz! Well exactly your cat would be so proud! I
know well she she still has some to learn in apparently so do I! It was good
- it was good being here thank you