Sometimes fact can be stranger than fiction and history is littered with strange tales of woe, mirth and the bizarre. Can you separate fact from fantasy?
Toby's experience comes from website design as well as experience running large forums and communities. After he married Debbie he developed a keen interest in history and found himself discussing history quite a lot!
Fact of the Day
Both England and Russia imposed a tax on beards in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, making having a beard a status symbol.
Quote of the Day
"Pray for me, now my calamity is at hand!
"
~ John Stubbs, just before having his hand removed for seditious writing, 1579
On This Day
1579Thomas Gresham, merchant, financier, and founder of the Royal Exchange, died suddenly, apparently of apoplexy. He bequeathed his estate, after the death of his wife, to the Corporation of London and the Mercers' Company to set up a college to provide free lectures to the public; Gresham College thus became London's first institution of higher education.
1916The hospital ship Britannic, sister-ship of Titanic, hit a mine and sank, killing 30.
1918Ten days after the Armistice, the German navy surrendered to the British in the Firth of Forth.
1920The assassinations of British intelligence officers ordered by Michael Collins in the Irish War of Independence led to thirty-one dead (from both sides) in what became known as 'Bloody Sunday'.
197421 people were killed and 182 injured when bombs exploded in two Birmingham pubs. The IRA was probably responsible, but the real culprits have never been found. The Birmingham Six, originally convicted of the bombings, were released because of dodgy police practices.
1981The proceedings of the House of Commons were televised live for the first time.
