Interesting Facts

28th April 1789 – Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors were set adrift and the rebel crew returned to Tahiti briefly and then set sail for Pitcairn Island. The incident became known as the Mutiny on the Bounty. 1920 – Azerbaijan was added to the Soviet Union. (I collect stamps and coins, not countries). 1932 – A vaccine for yellow fever was announced for use on humans. 1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were executed by a firing squad consisting of members of the Italian resistance movement. 1949 – Former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, 61, was assassinated while en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and 10 other people were also killed. 1952 – The United States occupation of Japan ended. 1965 – United States troops landed in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate U.S. Army troops. 1970 – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally au...

18th February 1478 - George - Duke of Clarence, who had been impeached for treason by his brothers Edward IV and Richard III, was, allegedly, drowned in a gigantic vat of Malmsey wine at the Tower of London. 1517 - Mary I, Queen of England was born. 1678 - John Bunyan's Pilgrim’s Progress was published. 1946 - Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutinied in Mumbai harbour, from where it spread throughout British India. 1949 - Opportunity Knocks, the forerunner to the X factor and other talent shows, was presented for the first time (on BBC radio) by its creator, Hughie Greene. 1991 - One man was killed and 43 people injured by an IRA bomb at Victoria Station, London. 1996 - An IRA bomb detonated prematurely on a bus travelling in central London, killing Edward O'Brien, the IRA member who was transporting the device. Eight other people were injured.