National Razor

Slang term for the guillotine during the French Revolution.

Fact of the Day

Before the Normans came along, there was no English word for 'castle'.

Quote of the Day

"Revolution is not an apple that falls when it's ripe. You have to make it fall. "

~ Che Guevara

On This Day

1830 The Manchester to Liverpool train line opened, and caused the first train death (of MP William Huskisson).

1859 The great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel died.

1916 Tanks were first used on the Somme. They weren't ready for use in combat and many broke down.

1935 The Nuremberg race laws were introduced, stripping German Jews of their citizenship and forbidding them to marry Aryans.

1940 Hitler indefinitely postponed his invasion of Britain following a massive defeat of the Luftwaffe.

2008 The financial services firm Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the biggest such filing in US history, causing the Dow Jones to drop more than 500 points in a day.