Historical Fun

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY - 30TH JUNE   30th June 350, Nepotianus, who had a sore bottom, was killed by Magnentius, played by Ian Mckellen, opposite Patrick Stewart.   Nepotianus, get some cream to rub on that, became a usurper and then Emperor for a staggering 28 days, but then suffered a humiliating defeat when Magneto stormed into town ahead of an army of mutants to claim the crown.   30th June 1559, King Henry II of France decided to do a bit of jousting . I've got a bad feeling about this.   He did pretty well in the opening rounds, but then came up against a fellow jouster Gabriel de Montgomery. And, not taking into account that he was fighting the King, Gabriel wounded Henry and then Henry died.   Everyone was shocked that the king didn't win, and that he was mortally injured, no more so than Henry himself.   Henry's last words were, "You little bast...."   30th June 1934, Adolf Hitler proved way before the start of W...

On This Day In History - 29th June.   29th June 1194, Sverre is crowned King of Norway.   He is considered to be one of the most bestest important kings of Norway as he was short.   And who doesn't love a short king?     29th June 1644, Charles-the-first-Charles-whose-head-was-offed had a slight glimmer of hope during the English Civil War when his army defeated the Parliamentarian army at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge.   It was a great battle and a great victory, then it all went wrong. He lost the rest of the war, was captured and had his head chopped off.   The Battle of Cropredy Bridge was actually the last battle won by an English King on English soil. So, at least Charles I had that going for him.   29th June 1995, during the closing stages of the Space Shuttle Program , just when the world will need them the most, the STS-71 mission and the space shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian space station Mir. ...

On This Day In History - 28th June.   28th June 1461, King Edward IV of England, perhaps, because , well, he may not have been legitimate, was crowned King of England.   Edward IV became the first Yorkist King of England. That's a mix between a chocolate bar and a small terrier dog.   There were constant rumours throughout his reign of his maybe perhaps not so much father wasn't actually his father. Edward was tall and Daddy was not. Yep, that's good enough for me.   28th June 1491, King Henry-of-the-many-numbers(8) of England, was born . And born without any numbers, as his brother, Arthur, was meant to be king.   An unfortunate early death for Henry's big brother allowed Henry to jump to the head of the queue and become heir to the throne. As well as the crown that was meant for his brother, Henry also took his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Keeping it in the family.   28th June 1645, during the English Civil war ( read about t...