The annual commemoration (on 11 November) to mark the armistice that ended hostilities on the Western Front in the First World War.
Armistice Day
Fact of the Day
In 1875 the king of Fiji brought back measles from a state visit to Australia and wiped out 25% of his own people.
Quote of the Day
"A man must needs close his eyes and clench his teeth, wry-mouthed and shuddering, and filtering the stuff rather than drinking.
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~ Peter of Blois, 12th century, on English wine
On This Day
193 Roman emperor Pertinax was stabbed to death by his Praetorian Guard.
845 Vikings sacked Paris, possibly led by Ragnar Lothbrok. They left after being paid 7000 livres of gold and silver.
1917 Women were recruited for service with the British army in a non-nursing capacity for the first time.
1941 Writer Virginia Woolf filled her pockets with stones and drowned herself in the River Ouse in Sussex.
1987 Maria von Trapp, who provided the inspiration for The Sound of Music, died of heart failure, aged 82.
1991 A jury returned a verdict of 'accidental death' at the inquest into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.