Category: It happened today…

1087  Death of King William I of England. 1513  Scottish and English forces meet at the Battle of Flodden Field. 1585  Birth of French statesman Cardinal de Richelieu. 1901  Death of French artist Henri...

1157   Birth of King Richard I of England. 1760  French forces at Montreal surrender to the British. 1841  Birth of Czech composer Anton Dvorak. 1925  Birth of English comedy actor Peter Sellers. 1974  President...

1533  Birth of Queen Elizabeth I of England. 1571  The Ottoman fleet is destroyed at the Battle of Lepanto. 1812  Napoleon’s forces defeat the Russians at the Battle of Borodino. 1860 Birth of American artist...

1566  Death of Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent. 1666  The Great Fire of London is finally extinguished. 1757  Birth of French statesman Marquis de Lafayette. 1941  Nazi Germany makes it compulsory for all Jews...

1569  Death of Dutch painter Peter Breughel the Elder. 1847  Birth of American outlaw Jesse James. 1922  American aviator James Doolittle, makes the first coast to coast crossing of America by plane. 1946 Birth of...

1907  Death of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. 1948  Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates in favour of her daughter. 1965  Death of French Nobel Prize winner, Albert Schweitzer. 1970  Russian ballerina Natalia Makarova defects...

1189  Richard the Lionheart is crowned King Richard I of England at Westminster Abbey. 1651  English Civil War battle at Worcester. 1658 Death of English Puritan and Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. 1883 Death of Russian novelist...

1834  Death of Scottish engineer and bridge builder, Thomas Telford. 1910  Death of French painter Henri Rousseau. 1937  Death of the French founder of the International Olympic Committee, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. 1945  Japan...

1557  Death of French explorer Jacques Cartier. 1666  Death of Dutch painter Franz Hals. 1715  Death of French “Sun King” Louis XIV. 1875 Birth of American novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan. 1904 Helen Adams Keller,...

12       Birth of Roman emperor Caligula. 1422  Death of English King Henry V. 1688 Death of English author John Bunyan. 1867  Death of French poet Charles Baudelaire.. 1928 Birth of American actor James Coburn....

1862  Confederate forces under “Stonewall” Jackson defeat Union forces at the second Battle of Bull Run. 1881  German inventor Clement Ader patents the stereo system. 1896  Birth of Canadian actor Raymond Massey. 1908  Birth...

1782  HMS Royal George sinks at Spithead on the Solent in Hampshire while undergoing repairs. More than 800 people perished. 1842  The Treaty of Nanking is signed between the British and Chinese. 1877  Death of Mormon...

1749  Birth of German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 1828 Birth of Russian author Leo Tolstoy. 1899 Birth of French actor Charles Boyer. 1925 Birth of American actor Donald O’Connor. 1944 Birth of American actor and singer, David...

1576  Death of Venetian painter Titian. 1813  Napoleon’s forces are victorious at the Battle of Dresden. 1908 Birth of US president Lyndon B Johnson. 1928 The Kellog-Briand Pact is signed by 15 nations condemning war. 1957...

1346  English forces defeat the French at the Battle of Crecy. 1740  Birth of French hot air balloon pioneer Joseph Michel Montgolfier. 1850 Death of French King Louis Philippe, the “Citizen King”. 1920  The US...

1819  Death of English inventor of the steam engine, James Watt. 1867  Death of English chemist and physicist Michael Faraday. 1875  Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim the English Channel. 1905  Birth...

79       Mount Vesuvius erupts, destroying Pompeii. 1572  Beginning of the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in France. 1759  Birth of the English anti slavery campaigner William Wilberforce. 1814  British forces set fire to...

79       Mount Vesuvius erupts, destroying Pompeii. 1572  Beginning of the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in France. 1759  Birth of the English anti slavery campaigner William Wilberforce. 1814  British forces set fire to...

1305  William Wallace, Scottish patriot and subject of the film Braveheart, is hung drawn and quartered in London. 1680  Death of Captain Blood, who 9 years earlier had tried to steal the Crown Jewels from the...

1485  The Battle of Bosworth Field sees King Richard III of England being killed. 1862  Birth of French composer Claude Debussy. 1893  Birth of American writer Dorothy Parker. 1911  The Mona Lisa is stolen...