The geological period before our own. It ran from 23 million years ago until 2.58 million years ago. See 'A Brief History of Climate Change'.
Neogene
Fact of the Day
Butchers who sold off meat in medieval London ran the risk of being placed in the pillory and having their meat burnt beneath them, so that the rancid smoke would rise into their face.
Quote of the Day
"I have offended God and mankind in not having laboured at my art as I ought to have done
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~ Leonardo da Vinci, speaking during his final illness to Francis I
On This Day
1215 English barons, in open revolt against King John's refusal to ratify the Magna Carta, take control of London.
1521 Edward Stafford, one of the few remaining peers with significant Plantagenet blood in Henry VIII's reign, was executed for treason for listening to prophecies about the king's death and plotting to kill the king. Historians have debated whether it was true, or a stitch-up to remove a rival to the throne.
1536 Henry VIII had his marriage to Anne Boleyn annulled, 'in consequence of certain just and lawful impediments which, it was said, were unknown at the time of the union, but had lately been confessed to the Archbishop by the lady herself.' We never found out what those grounds were, but Chapuys put it down to consanguinity.
1536 Five alleged lovers of Anne Boleyn, including her own brother George, were executed for treason. At the time, adultery with the queen was not a treasonable act.
1900 The British, led by Robert Baden-Powell, ended the 217 day Boer Siege of Mafeking during the Second Boer War. Baden-Powell became a national hero as a result.
1974 Thirty-three civilians and a full-term unborn child were killed, and almost three hundred were injured in a series of bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland. The loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force claimed responsibility, but no-one was ever prosecuted for it.
1978 Charlie Chaplin's coffin, containing his corpse, was found, 11 weeks after it had been stolen.