Before the Normans came along, there was no English word for 'castle'.
Quote of the Day
"We learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.
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~ Hegel (German philosopher, 1770-1831)
On This Day
490 BCEThe Athenians fought the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.
1440Henry VI founded Eton College for 25 poor scholars, but beware those with ill-kempt heads, unwashed faces and foul clothes!
1846Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning eloped to Italy. Elizabeth's father disapproved of her marriage and she was disinherited.
1914The First Battle of the Marne ended. Allied forces had stopped the German offensive in France, but had also prevented any hope of a mobile war, leading to the stalemate and trench warfare that characterised the First World War.
1919On a mission to report on potentially disruptive groups, Hitler attended a meeting of the German Workers' Party (DAP in German). Angered by a speaker, he entered into an argument that impressed Anton Drexler so much that Hitler was invited to join the party. Less than a week later, Hitler became the '555th' (in reality 7th) member of the DAP.
1922The Episcopal Church removed the word 'obey' from the bride's section of the wedding vows.
1943Ex-Dictator of Italy Benito Mussolini was spectacularly rescued from house arrest in Abruzzi by German commandos during the Gran Sasso raid.
1990The two German states and the four powers occupying Germany at the end of the Second World War signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany. In it, the four powers renounced all rights they held in Germany, paving the way to German reunification.
2012The Hillsborough Independent panel concluded the 1989 football stadium disaster, in which 96 men, women, and children died, was due to 'a lack of police control'.
