Interesting Facts

31st August 1997– Princess Diana, Al Fayed and their driver, Henri Paul, die in a high-speed car crash in a Paris tunnel. 1980 - Poland's Solidarity movement (Solidarnosc), was officially recognised. It is credited with playing a key role in the collapse of communism.

28th August 1963 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous, "I have a dream", speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before more than 200,000 people gathered for the Freedom March in Washington. 1996 -  Diana's divorce from Prince Charles became final today; she got to keep the title "Princess".

31st July 1498 - On his third voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus "discovered" the island of Trinidad. 1703 - Daniel Defoe was placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel. He had ruthlessly satirised the High Church Tories in a pamphlet, but allegedly, instead of throwing rotten veg and fruit at him, the crowd threw flowers. 1741 – Charles Albert of Bavaria invaded Upper Austria and Bohemia. 1790 – The first U.S. patent was issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process. 1792 - Director David Rittenhouse laid the cornerstone in Philadelphia for the U.S. Mint, the first building of the federal government. 1895 – The Basque Nationalist Party (Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea-Partido Nacionalista Vasco) was founded by Basque nationalist leader Sabino Arana. 1913 – The Balkan States signed an armistice at Bucharest. 1919 – The German national assembly adopted the Weimar constitution. 1938 – Bulgaria signed a non-aggression pact with Greece an...

21st June 1305 – King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia and Poland died. 1377 – King Edward III of England died. 1652 – Inigo Jones died. 1905, Jean-Paul Sartre was born. 1948 – Columbia Records introduced the long-playing record album (LP) in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. 1964 – Three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner, were murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States, by members of the Ku Klux Klan. 1982 – Princess Diana gave birth to Prince William, heir to the throne. 1985 - Scientists announced that skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were those of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele. 2001 – John Lee Hooker died. 2004 – SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight. 2009 – Self-rule was introduced in Greenland.

16th June 1487 – The Battle of Stoke Field was fought. The final battle of the Wars of the Roses. 1586 – Mary Queen of Scots recognizes Philip II of Spain as her heir. 1779 – Spain declared war on Great Britain, and the siege of Gibraltar began. 1871 – The University Tests Act allowed students to enter the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religious tests, except for courses in theology. 1883 – Panic broke out at The Victoria Hall theatre, killing 183 children. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company was incorporated. 1915 – The British Women's Institute was founded. 1963 – Russian Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. 1972 – Red Army Faction member Ulrike Meinhof was captured by police in Langenhagen. 1976 – A non-violent march by 15,000 students in Soweto, South Africa turned into days of rioting when police opened fire on the crowd and kiled 566 children. 1992 - Andrew Morton's explosive new book about Princess Dian...

20th November 1945 - The Nuremberg trial of Nazi war criminals began. 1992 - A major fire broke out at Windsor Castle. 1995 - Diana Princess of Wales admitted to having committed adultery in a TV interview.