In 1875 the king of Fiji brought back measles from a state visit to Australia and wiped out 25% of his own people.
Quote of the Day
"Nothing can be said in his vindication, but that his abolishing Religious Houses and leaving them to the ruinous depredations of time has been of infinite use to the landscape of England in general.
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~ Jane Austen on Henry VIII
On This Day
870Louis the German and his half-brother Charles the Bald (grandsons of Charlemagne) divided Middle Francia between them, following the death of their nephew Lothair II, at the Treaty of Meerssen. It split Charlemagne's old kingdom into two parts that would eventually become France and Germany.
1503James IV's marriage to Henry Tudor's daughter, Margaret Tudor, was confirmed at Holyrood Abbey. Their union would eventually lead to the placement of James VI on the English throne as James I.
1523Jean Vallière became the first 'Protestant' to be burnt in France. However, as he believed Joseph, rather than God, to be Jesus' father, he would also have been considered a heretic by Luther.
1570Catholic martyr John Fenton was hanged, drawn and quartered for advertising the papal bull that excommunicated Elizabeth I and exhorted good English Catholics to disobey her.
1827Tory prime minister George Canning died suddenly of pneumonia just five months after taking office. He still holds the record for the shortest-serving prime minister.
1899The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent to Albert T. Marshall of Massachusetts for his household refrigeration device.
1918The Battles of Amiens started the final phase of the Allied First World War offensive known as the Hundred Days. The Allies advanced over seven miles on the first day in what General Ludendorff described as 'the black day of the German army'.
1942Controversially, six German saboteurs, who had previously lived in the USA, were electrocuted in Washington DC. They had been tried by a military tribunal that went against American legal precedent, and as such set another precedent that has since been used to justify other legally-questionable activities, such as the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
1963Fifteen robbers stole £2.6 million (£50 million today) from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London in what became known as the 'Great Train Robbery'.
