Pope Innocent VIII allegedly drank the blood of three young Jewish boys in the hope of capturing their youth. He is also reported to have had the first blood transfusion, in 1492.
Fact of the Day
Quote of the Day
"People in high or in distinguished life ought to have a greater circumspection in regard to their most trivial actions. For instance, I saw Mr [Alexander] Pope...to the best of my memory, he was picking his nose.
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~ William Shenstone
On This Day
1227 Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire and responsible for perhaps 40 million deaths, died.
1510 Henry VII's two most hated - and most efficient - servants, Edmund Dudley and Richard Empson, were executed on the orders of Henry VIII in what was possibly his first act of judicial murder.
1590 The Roanoke colony was found mysteriously deserted, with the word 'CROATOAN' carved on the pallisade.
1783 A huge fiery meteor was seen in the sky over the east coast of Scotland and England, before moving over the Continent. Some reports have it that the meteor finally disappeared over northern Italy.
1939 The Nazis set up the Reich Committee to assess whether each newborn child with a disability should be 'euthanised'.
