Historical Fun

HISTORY FACTS - JULY 31st   ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, July 31st, 1703 , the world famous English novelist Daniel Defoe was punished for offending the government and church with his satire The Shortest Way With Dissenters.   He was made to stand in the pillory whilst the common folk pelted him with a varied assortment of rotting fruit and vegetables, horse muck, and the odd laptop that no longer worked due to the Windows 10 upgrade.   Well, that was idea. But, such was the love the commoners felt for Daniel Defoe, they pelted him with flowers instead, and then drank to his health.   Celebrity Birthdays   J.K. Rowling , not pronounced as in howling, or bowling, but rather pronounced "Holy cow look how rich I am from these kid's books" was born On This Day In History in 1965.   She is, of course, the very successful writer of the infamous Harry Potter books. She also had virtually no success writing under the pen name Robert Galbrai...

HISTORY FACTS July 30th   On This Day In History, July 30th 1963 , Lisa Kudrow, who could really use some friends, was born. She became famous as an actress on a semi-popular sitcom where she developed a fetish for smelly cats.   But, did you know, Lisa Kudrow was originally cast as Roz Doyle in the even more popular show Frasier, opposite Kelsey Grammer. Things went wrong, very wrong. In fact, she was terrible. During filming of the pilot episode, the part was re-cast in favour of the Roz we all loved, Peri Gilpin.   It all worked out in the end for Lisa, who was cast to play Phoebe in Friends a few years later. She knew she'd be back.   On This Day In History, July 30th 1947 , everyone's favourite psycho-cyborg-kindergarten-teacher, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was born.   He had a successful career as a bodybuilder but really wanted to be an actor. To this day, he still struggles with the actual "acting" part. Nonethele...

Historical Fact - July 29th   ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY - July 29th, 1565, Mary, Queen of Scots married her cousin in a semi-lavish ceremony in Edinburg, Scotland.   The act of Mary marrying her cousin, Lord Darnley, also known as Henry Stuart, annoyed the carping campers a lot.   Darnley was a Catholic and would became heir to the throne upon his marriage to Mary. Having a catholic heir to the Scottish throne royally peethed both Scottish protestants and also that wee country south of the boarder, England, which was now protestant country (after all that stuff with Henry VIII splitting from Rome).   Their marriage didn't go well. Lord Darnley was murdered two years later, February 10th 1567, under suspicious circumstances (it involved his valet and being found almost naked outside their bedroom window after an explosion - READ MORE HERE ).   Mary, Queen of Scots was then forced to abdicate, and, as it happen...

HISTORY FACT: On July 26th, 1775, The United States Post Office Department is established by the 2nd Continental Congress.   Kevin Costner is appointed its first Postman. It was a really long round. Let's hope they don't make a movie out of it.   EXTRA HISTORY FACT: Also, on July 26th, in the year 1788, New York finally ratifies the United States Constitution and became the 11th state of the United States of America.   And it's Kevin Spacey's birthday. He was born On This Day in 1959.

HISTORY FACT: July 25th, 1547, Henry II of France is crowned King of France.   Interesting Fact about King Henry II of France: He died on June 30th, 1559, after receiving a fatal wound in a jousting tournament.   Henry was actually doing pretty well in the opening rounds. Things went wrong when he came up against a fellow jouster called Gabriel de Montgomery.   Not taking into account that he was fighting the King, Gabriel went full pelt at Henry, his lance broke and a splinter sliced through the King's eye.   The wound became infected and the eye burst with puss and blood splattered everyone within twenty feet. Several people laughed, one took a video and uploaded it to #FailArmy , one knight fainted, two more vomited over a puppy, and King Henry died.

HISTORY FACT OF THE DAY: On July 24th, 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate and was replaced by her son, James VI, who was only a 1-year-old at the time.   Interesting Fact about Mary, Queen of Scots:   Mary also succeeded to the throne young. She was only 6 days old when she became Queen of Scotland.   Extra Fact: After her abdication, Mary fled to England seeking the protection of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, hoping Elizabeth had forgotten her insulting the ginger wig, not amerkin, it was made in England, she wore to cover up her baldness.   Due to a slight disagreement the two had a few years before (Mary had claimed she was the rightful Queen of England) Elizabeth didn't receive her very well.   In fact, Elizabeth imprisoned Mary, keeping her confined in various castles in England for the next 18 years. Until, one sunny morning, Elizabeth condemned her to death after Mary was found complicit in a plot to ...

A compilation of the top Pokémon Go memes.