A person seized or held as security for the fulfilment of a condition
Hostage
Fact of the Day
A seventeenth-century Frenchman who was trying to invent a steam engine was sent to a madhouse by Cardinal Richelieu.
Quote of the Day
"Were this the skeleton of the oldest man, then the oldest man was a freak
"
~ Mayer on the Neanderthal, 1864.
On This Day
1282 The last native Prince of Wales, Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, died
1688 King James II tried to flee to France during the Glorious Revolution. He was captured but allowed to escape again later that month.
1936 Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry American divorcee and socialite Wallis Simpson.
1941 Germany and Italy declared war on the USA.
1972 Apollo 17 became the last mission to land on the moon.