When authors give shout outs to other great works, people, and events, it's usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literary References
Jane Austen (9.82)
Historical References
The Crimean War (1.44)
Catherine de' Medici (1.48)
Attila the Hun (1.48)
Charles Darwin (3.69) (4.13) (11.213) (Today.58)
Isaac Newton (4.16) (15.18) (15.168)
Delphic Oracle (9.70)
The Hundred Years' War (15.193)
Charles I (15.200)
Oliver Cromwell (15.205)
Charles II (15.275)
Albert Einstein (Today.16)
Carl Sagan (Today.16)
Astronomer Patrick Moore (Today.16)
Physicist (Today.16)
Pop Culture References
The reference to a Bos'n Higgs (a bosun is a sailor) is a sly nod to the Higgs-Bosun Particle (5.179)