The Lover's Confession: A late-fourteenth-century Middle English work composed by John Gower, at the request of Richard II, which is often considered one of the great works of the period. It consists of a prologue and eight books, consolidated by the overarching story of an ageing lover making a confession to the chaplain of Venus.
Confessio Amantis
Fact of the Day
The Persian invasion of Greece in 484BCE was the biggest amphibious military operation until D-Day, almost 2,500 years later.
Quote of the Day
"There are decades when nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen.
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~ Lenin
On This Day
1189 Richard the Lionheart initiated the Third Crusade to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin.
1549 Parliament passed the First Act of Uniformity, requiring the Book of Common Prayer to be used in all public church services.
1793 Louis XVI was executed in the Place de la Revolution in Paris, after being convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers.
1908 New York city made it illegal for women to smoke in public.
1911 The first Monte Carlo car rally was held. Seven days later it was won by Henri Rougier.
1924 Vladimir Lenin, architect of the Bolshevik Revolution and first leader of the Soviet Union, died of a brain hemorrhage.
1941 The Daily Worker, official newspaper of the UK communist party, was banned because of its views on World War II.
1950 George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm, died after a three year battle against tuberculosis.
1976 The first Concorde jets carrying commercial passengers simultaneously took off at 11:40am from London and Paris.
2008 Black Monday saw the FTSE 100's biggest ever one day fall. Euro markets had their worst result since 9/11 and Asia's fell 14%.