Interesting Facts

21st August 1770 – James Cook formally claimed eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales. 1831 – Nat Turner led black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. 1879 – The Virgin Mary, along with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist, reportedly appeared to the people of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland. Paving the way for lots of little plastic figurines. 1911 – The Mona Lisa was stolen by an employee at the Louvre in Paris. 1968 - Dozens of people were killed in a massive military clampdown in Czechoslovakia. 1983 - Benigno Aquino, the Philippines opposition leader, was murdered just minutes after returning home from exile. 1986 - 1,700 people died when a cloud of lethal gas escaped from a volcanic lake, Lake Nyos, in Cameroon.

9th March 1009 – Lithuania was mentioned for the first time (in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg). 1566 – David Rizzio, private secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, was murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland. 1831 – The French Foreign Legion was established by King Louis Philippe to support his war in Algeria. 1841 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the United States v. The Amistad case that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them to captivity had been taken into slavery illegally. 1925 – The first Royal Air Force operation conducted independently of the British Army or Royal Navy began. It was called Pink's War. 1946 – Bolton Wanderers stadium disaster at Burnden Park, Bolton, England, killed 33 and left hundreds more injured. The disaster led to Moelwyn Hughes's official report, which recommended more rigorous control of crowd sizes. 1959 – The Barbie doll made its debut at the American International Toy F...

Original Photo by Takomabibelot The electric doorbell was invented by Joseph Henry in 1831. (I guess there were no:- Knock Knock Who's there? Isabell. Isabell who? Isabell a ding-dong. ... jokes before then.)