Interesting Facts

1298 – King Edward I of England and his longbowmen defeated William Wallace and his Scottish schiltrons outside the town of Falkirk. 1456 – John Hunyadi, Regent of Kingdom of Hungary defeats Mehmet II of Ottoman Empire in Belgrade. 1894 – The first ever motorized racing event was held in France between the cities of Paris and Rouen. The race was won by Jules de Dion. 1916 – In San Francisco, California, a bomb exploded on Market Street during a Preparedness Day parade killing 10 and injuring 40. The true identity of the bomber (or bombers) remains unknown. 1933 – Wiley Post became the first person to fly solo around the world, traveling 15,596 miles in 7 days, 18 hours and 45 minutes. 1934 – "Public Enemy No. 1" John Dillinger was mortally wounded by FBI agents, outside Chicago's Biograph Theatre. 1942 – The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto began. 1944 – The Polish Committee of National Liberation published its manifesto, starting the...

3rd July 1844 – The last nesting pair of Great Auks was killed. They were found incubating an egg off Iceland. Jón Brandsson and Sigurður Ísleifsson strangled the adults and Ketill Ketilsson smashed the egg with his boot. 1884 – The Dow Jones published its 1st stock average. 1928 - The first colour television transmission took place in London. 1969 - Former Rolling Stones guitarist, Brian Jones (born Lewis Brian Hopkin-Jones) drowned. 1971 - Jim Morrison, the lead singer of American rock group The Doors, was found dead in a bathtub in Paris of heart failure. He was only 27. 1976 - Israeli commandos rescued 103 hostages held by Arab militants at Entebbe airport, Uganda. 1987 - Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie was sentenced to life imprisonment at a court in Lyon. 1988 - Missiles fired from an American naval warship, the USS Vincennes, brought down an Iranian passenger jet in the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard. 1996 – The Stone of Scone was returned to S...

19th June 1269 – King Louis IX of France ordered all Jews found in public without an identifying yellow badge to be fined ten livres of silver. 1306 – The Earl of Pembroke's army defeated Bruce's Scottish army at the Battle of Methven. 1865 – Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas, United States, were finally informed of their freedom. The anniversary is still officially celebrated in Texas and 13 other contiguous states as Juneteenth. 1961 – Kuwait declared independence from the United Kingdom. 1964 – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate. 1970 - Edward Heath became prime minister after a surprise victory for the Conservatives in the general election. 1975 - An inquest jury decided Lord Lucan murdered the 29-year-old nanny of his three young children. 1978 – Garfield comic strip was first published. It has grown to over $1 billion in revenue, and is dis...

19th April 1587 – Francis Drake sank the Spanish fleet in Cádiz harbour. 1775 – The Battle of Lexington and Concord began, which started the American Revolution against the British. 1839 – The Treaty of London established Belgium as a kingdom. 1961 – The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba ended. 1984 – Advance Australia Fair was chosen as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours. 1987 – The Simpsons premièred as a short cartoon on The Tracey Ullman Show. 1989 – Daphne du Maurier, British novelist died. 1992 – Benny Hill, and Frankie Howard died. They were both English comic actors. 1995 – A bomb in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, killed 168 people. 1999 – The German Bundestag returned to Berlin. 2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI on the second day of the Papal conclave.

11th April 1945 – The Buchenwald concentration camp, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil, was liberated. 1951 – The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, was found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalists from its place in Westminster Abbey. 1957 - Britain agreed to self-rule in Singapore. 1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. One week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 1968 – German student leader Rudi Dutschke is shot in Berlin. 1976 – The Apple I was created. 1979 – Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was deposed. 1981 – A huge riot in Brixton, South London, resulted in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries. 1987 – Primo Levi, Italian chemist and author died. 2001 – Harry Secombe, Welsh actor and co...

6th March 1988 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers were murdered by the SAS on the territory of Gibraltar. 1987 – The British car ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsized just outside the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, in about 90 seconds killing 193 people. 1974 -  The miners' strike came to an end following a pay increase of over 30%. 1970 - The British Government announced an indefinite ban on the importation of domestic pets to prevent rabies. 1964 – Nation of Islam's Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Robert Poole) officially gave boxing champion Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali. 1961 – George Formby, British comedian and singer, died. 1957 – Ghana became the first Sub-Saharan country to gain Independence from the British 1945 – Cologne (Köln) was captured by American Troops. 1899 – Bayer registered aspirin as a trademark. 1836 - Mexican forces captured the Alamo in San Antonio killing the last of 187 defenders who had held out...

20th January 2001 - George W. Bush was sworn in as the 43rd president of the United States. 1993 - Bill Clinton was sworn in as the 42nd president of the United States. 1987 – Church of England envoy Terry Waite was kidnapped in Lebanon. 1986 - Soviets launched the space station Mir. 1981 - Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the 40th president of the United States. 1962 - John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth. 1961 - John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president of the United States. 1958 - The UK government announced the naval dockyards at Sheerness were to close. 1936 - Britain's King George V died and Edward VIII became King of the United Kingdom. 1841 – The island of Hong Kong was occupied by the British. 1783 - Great Britain signed a peace treaty with France and Spain. Officially ending hostilities between the countries in the American War of Independence. 1649 - Charles I of England went on trial for treason and other "high cri...

26th November 1865 - Lewis Carrroll (Charles Dodgson) published the book Alice in Wonderland (aka Alice's Adventures in Wonderland). 1984 - US troops withdrew from the Lebanese capital, Beirut. 1987 - The Church of England's General Synod voted by a huge majority in favour of the ordination of women priests.

According to the Halifax bank, over the last 27 years pocket money in the UK has outstripped wages with payouts to children up 462%. (Children have seen a rise from on average  £1.13 a week to  £6.35, but over the same period, the typical annual wage for working adults has increased by just 188%, from £11,648 in 1987 to £33,511 in 2014. I think the difference is that children aren't afraid to ask for a rise.  After all, no one is going to sack them because they cost too much, are they?) Of course parents paying out pocket money might want to click here (sorry kids).