Some Anglo-Norman's French accents were so bad it was rumoured there was a cursed spring in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Those who drank from it would end up speaking 'Marlborough French'.
Quote of the Day
"The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums.
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~ GK Chesterton
On This Day
1707Four ships of the fleet led by Sir Cloudesley Shovell were shipwrecked on the Isles of Scilly after bad weather and navigational mistakes sent them off course. Between 1,400 and 2,000 people were killed, making it one of the worst maritime disasters in British history.
1797André-Jacques Garnerin made the first notable parachute jump from a hydrogen balloon 3,200 ft above Paris. He landed shaken but in one piece half a mile away from the take-off site.
1877Two hundred and seven people died in Scotland's worst mining disaster, when firedamp ignited at Blantyre Colliery. It would not be the last time the mine experienced disaster: further explosions occurred in 1878 and 1879.
1975The Soviet unmanned space probe Venera 9 landed on Venus. It was the first such probe to return images from the surface of another planet.