A jester at the court of Henry II, known as Roland the Farter, was famous for being able to jump in the air, whistle and fart at the same time.
Fact of the Day
Quote of the Day
"Nothing can be said in his vindication, but that his abolishing Religious Houses and leaving them to the ruinous depredations of time has been of infinite use to the landscape of England in general.
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~ Jane Austen on Henry VIII
On This Day
1097 The first major siege of the First Crusade began at Nicaea. The heavily fortified city withstood the siege for over a month, until it was taken on 19 June with the help of a Byzantine naval fleet.
1264 The rebel forces of Simon de Montfort met Henry III's army at the Battle of Lewes. It ended with Henry and his son, the future Edward I, being taken into custody and Simon de Montfort ruling as an uncrowned king.
1610 The tolerant Henri IV of France was assassinated by the extremist Roman Catholic François Ravaillac. Less than two weeks later, Ravaillac was executed - torn apart by four horses - for regicide.
1643 Louis XIV - the Sun King - became king of France, aged just four years old. During his 72 years on the throne he built up the system of absolute monarchy that existed in France until the French Revolution.
1796 British doctor Edward Jenner administered the first successful vaccination against a contagious disease - smallpox - on eight-year-old James Phipps. The technique was quickly adopted across Europe and the subsequent programme of vaccination contributed to the eradication of the disease worldwide.
1878 The last American witchcraft trial began in Salem, Massachusetts, after the Christian Scientist Lucretia Brown accused an ex-fellow member, Daniel Spofford, of hurting her through witchcraft. Unlike the trials two hundred years previously, Spofford didn't even bother to attend, and the case was dismissed.
1894 Blackpool Tower opened to the public. At the time it was the tallest building in the British Empire, reaching to 158m high.
1938 The England football team en masse gave the Nazi salute during a friendly game with Germany. They had been recommended to do so by the British establishment in an effort to further the appeasement programme with Hitler. England won the game by six goals to three.
1948 The Israeli Declaration of Independence was proclaimed by the prime minister David Ben-Gurion, following the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine. It established the first Jewish state in millennia, but also resulted in ongoing Arab-Israeli military conflict.