A rhinoceros kept as an exotic 'pet' during the Enlightenment was given three bottles of wine a day
Fact of the Day
Quote of the Day
"Were this the skeleton of the oldest man, then the oldest man was a freak
"
~ Mayer on the Neanderthal, 1864.
On This Day
1513 Edmund de la Pole, strongest Yorkist claimant to the throne of England, was executed by Henry VIII. Until March 1506 (NS), he had been a guest of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I but when the emperor's son was blown off course on a sea voyage and landed in England, Maximilian was obliged to hand Edmund over to Henry VII, on condition that Edmund wouldn't be killed.
1789 George Washington was sworn in as the first president of the United States of America.
1945 Adolf Hitler and his new wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide in his Berlin bunker. In accordance with Hitler's will, Admiral Karl Dönitz became the new leader of Germany.
1980 Six armed men stormed the Iranian embassy in London and took twenty-six hostages in their campaign to achieve national sovereignty in the south Iranian area of Khuzestan. The siege was brought to an end six days later when the SAS took the building.