20th Century

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots…

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Fact of the Day

King John used the fat from 40 pigs to blow up the southern wall of Rochester Castle during a siege in 1215

Quote of the Day

"The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums. "

~ GK Chesterton

On This Day

534 BCE According to legend, Greek performer Thespis of Icaria (now Dionysos) became the first person to recite lines as a character other than himself onstage, making him the world's first known actor.

1499 Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the throne, was executed following several escape attempts. It is possible he was the younger of the Princes in the Tower.

1541 Kathryn Howard, Henry VIII's fifth wife, was stripped of her title as queen

1585 (Or possibly 20 November) Thomas Tallis, considered one of England's greatest composers, died. Despite his importance to English music, both his bones and his original memorial have been lost.

1940 Romania signed the Tripartite Pact, officially becoming one of the Axis powers during the Second World War.

1963 The first episode of Dr Who, with William Hartnell in the title role, was broadcast on BBC 1

1990 Beloved children's writer Roald Dahl died of a blood disease, aged 74.