Uploaded March 2015 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Nostradamus saw the future, right? Books and TV shows - especially the tacky clip-shows on the History Channel - would have us believe his quatrains predict everything from Hitler and the Second World War to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and a global nuclear war. These, prophecies are written in verse form in medieval French, and the version you've heard on the History channel, or in books by author who are just repeating late-edition mistranslations, bear little resemblance to the original quatrains.
In this series of videos I'm going to look at a few of the most famous quatrains and, with the help of Peter LeMesurier - the man widely regarded as the English-speaking world's leading expert on Nostradamus - show how these quatrains have first been twisted to give them a more ominous feel, or to make them less specific, and then been twisted again after major events, in order to make them fit. I won't be naming and shaming any of the John Hogues who take part in this butchery. Oops. Did I just mention a name? It looks that way. However, if you reverse, then invert, then replace all of the letters in "John Hogue", then remove a couple, then add a whole bunch of your own, it translates as, "Dude, that beret makes you look quite intelligent"
Nostradamus saw the future, right? Books and TV shows - especially the tacky clip-shows on the History Channel - would have us believe his quatrains predict everything from Hitler and the Second World War to the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and a global nuclear war. These, prophecies are written in verse form in medieval French, and the version you've heard on the History channel, or in books by author who are just repeating late-edition mistranslations, bear little resemblance to the original quatrains.
In this series of videos I'm going to look at a few of the most famous quatrains and, with the help of Peter LeMesurier - the man widely regarded as the English-speaking world's leading expert on Nostradamus - show how these quatrains have first been twisted to give them a more ominous feel, or to make them less specific, and then been twisted again after major events, in order to make them fit. I won't be naming and shaming any of the John Hogues who take part in this butchery. Oops. Did I just mention a name? It looks that way. However, if you reverse, then invert, then replace all of the letters in "John Hogue", then remove a couple, then add a whole bunch of your own, it translates as, "Dude, that beret makes you look quite intelligent"
