Historical lateral thinking puzzles

There were many reasons why John enjoyed coming here. But his wife Mary hated this place, as did other women in the city. Why?

Over 80 percent of Greenland is covered in ice. But why then it was called Greenland (a green land)?

An artist took an order to paint a portrait of a very ugly and arrogant woman. Everyone tried to dissuade him, claiming that she wouldn’t pay a penny, because the portrait would be bad. And so it happened. But two days later, the woman returned and begged the artist to sell her the portrait. Why?

Bill always wore a silk scarf to work, whatever the weather. What’s his job, and why does he need this scarf?

When kids were watching TV, they were not frigthened so much. But when they saw others suffering, they realized that something was not right.

The woman is speaking something and she is upset. Nobody can understand her but a man is filming her on camera. Why? And what is happening?

Why is it better to have round manhole covers than square ones?

Why Alexander the Great told his army to shave off their beards?