ON THIS DAY: 17 June 1631 – Mumtaz Mahal, ‘The Exalted One of the Palace,’ died while giving birth to her 14th child. The Taj Mahal would be built as her mausoleum, and as a tribute from her adoring husband. Mumtaz Mahal was the second wife of the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, until her … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 7? June, 1558 – Robert Recorde, the man who invented the mathematical equals sign (=), died in a debtors’ prison in London. Recorde was born in Tenby, He earned his degree at Oxford in 1531 and went on to teach mathematics there as well as at Cambridge. At some point, he began … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 29 May 1991 – The Port Authority operating John F. Kennedy Airport in New York commenced the slaughter of 15,000 gulls at JFK. Sharpshooters were hired to kill gulls from May to August. Between 1979 and 1993, bird strikes at JFK caused 45 aborted takeoffs and 41 damaged or destroyed aircraft engines. … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 18 May 1812 – John Bellingham was hanged for assassinating British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. Perceval is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated. On 11 May 1812, the 40-year-old Bellingham walked into the lobby of Parliament and waited for Perceval. As Perceval approached, Bellingham took out two pistols he … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 1 May 1851 – The first public flushing toilets, known as ‘Monkey Closets,’ were unveiled at the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park in London. Designed by sanitary engineer and plumber Josiah George Jennings, they caused great excitement. For the cost of one penny, visitors were provided with a … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 28 April 1789 – Acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian organised a mutiny on HMS Bounty, which was transporting breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies. Relations had become strained between Christian and Captain William Bligh during a five-month layover in Tahiti, ultimately resulting in Bligh being forced from his ship and set adrift … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 26 April 1937: During the Spanish Civil War, Guernica, a town in Spain’s Basque Country, was bombarded from the air by Nazi Germany’s Condor Legion and Fascist Italy’s Aviazione Legionaria. An estimated 1,654 civilians were reported killed by the Basque government but exact numbers are unclear. This number could also have included … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 9 April 1216 – A peace treaty was signed, concluding the War of the Castle of Love, fought by Venice, on one side, and Treviso and Padua on the other. The war began in the most unlikely circumstances – with a courtly pageant. In 1214, Treviso announced a festival called the ‘Court … Read more
ON THIS DAY: 30 March 1867 – The United States signed the Alaska Treaty of Cessation and purchased Alaska—586,412 square miles—for $7.2 million (equivalent to $129 million in 2023) from the Russian Empire. The name Alaska is derived from an Aleut-language word meaning ‘the mainland.’ During the early 1700s, Russia established a colonial presence in … Read more
The Great Escape is one of history’s most famous prison breaks. Seventy-six Allied airmen made an audacious bid for freedom from Stalag Luft III, a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp, during the Second World War. The Nazis built this maximum-security camp 100 miles from Berlin, intending for it to be escape-proof. It was designed to house captured … Read more