The two-hundredth anniversary.
Bicentennial
Fact of the Day
Pope John XII was rumoured to have turned an entire wing of the Lateran into a brothel, and was in the habit of drunkenly toasting Satan.
Quote of the Day
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
"
~ Martin Luther King
On This Day
1483 The proposed date of the coronation of the 12-year-old son of Edward IV, Edward V. The coronation never happened because his uncle, Richard, declared him illegitimate and became king himself.
1611 Navigator Henry Hudson was cast adrift after a mutiny in Hudson Bay. It was the last time he was seen alive.
1861 A huge blaze started on Tooley Street's Cotton Wharf, which was later compared to the Great Fire of London, caused £2 million worth of damage, and killed James Braidwood, superintendent of the London Fire Engine Establishment.
1941 The Nazis launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union, with the largest invasion force in the history of warfare.
