Interesting Facts

18th June 1429 – French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeated the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay. This turned the tide of the Hundred Years' War. 1767 – Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sighted Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island. 1812 - The United States declared war on on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 1815 – The Battle of Waterloo led to Napoleon Bonaparte abdicating the throne of France for the second and final time. 1858 – Charles Darwin received a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that included nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin's own. This prompted Darwin to publish his theory. 1873 – Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 US presidential election. (The 19th Amendment (Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution, which prohibits each of the states and the federal government from denying any citizen the right t...

22nd February 1774 - The House of Lords ruled that authors do not have perpetual copyright. 1797 - The Last Invasion of Britain by the French began near Fishguard, Wales. 1900  - Hawaii became a US territory. 1928 -  Australian aviator Bert Hinkler completed the first solo England to Australia flight. 1943 -  Members of  the White Rose were executed in Nazi Germany. 1958 - Egypt & Syria formed the United Arab Republic. 1968 -  Rock group Genesis released their 1st record "Silent Sun". 2006 - At least six armed robbers staged the biggest cash robbery in Britain, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or 78€ million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

On the island of Foula, in the Shetlands, it is Christmas Day today. (Foula, located about sixteen miles from the west mainland of Shetland, is one of Great Britain’s most remote permanently inhabited islands. Way back, in 1752, they remained on the Julian calendar when the rest of the Kingdom of Great Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar. They even adhered to the Julian calendar by keeping 1800 as a leap year, but when they didn't observe a leap year in 1900, they ended up one day ahead of the Julian calendar and 12 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Confused?  You will be. This all means that they observe Christmas Day on 6th January, the day we all take down our decorations for 12th night (epiphany), and they celebrate New Year's Day on 13th January. Well, I guess it keeps Father Christmas busy.  Happy Christmas to the people of Foula. I will join in this evening with a glass of sherry, just to be polite.)