Instructions for allowable Sunday amusements, designed to curb puritan disapproval of Sunday pass times that weren't related to Bible study. Originally issued by James I, but allowed to slide due to puritan opposition, Charles I reissued it in 1633 and ordered the clergy to read it from their pulpits.
Book of Sports
Fact of the Day
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.
Quote of the Day
"The enemy should have to carve his way over heaps of corpses.
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~ General von Below's orders to the German army on the Somme, 1916
On This Day
1297 Scottish hero William Wallace defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
1649 Cromwell's siege of the Irish town of Drogheda ended with the massacre of about 2,800 soldiers and at least 700 civilians.
1878 268 miners were killed in an explosion at the Prince of Wales Colliery in Abercarn, Wales.
1929 The state of Georgia executed Homer Simpson.
1978 Medical photographer Janet Parker became the last person in the world to die from smallpox after accidental exposure in a lab.
2001 The world stood still as it witnessed attacks on, and the destruction of, the World Trade Center. The attacks resulted in 2,996 immediate deaths.