Historical Fun

Fun Facts About Julius Caesar: The Extraordinary Life of Julius Caesar. Follow me on Twitter for daily Historical Fun and #OnThisDay tweets. https://twitter.com/HistoricalFun The Ides of March:   On the 15th day of the third month in 44BC, Julius Caesar, the Dictator of Rome, was assassinated by Marcus Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus, and a whole host of other Roman Senators. Julius Caesar was stabbed to death on the Ides of March by a consortium of Roman Senators led by Caesar's friend, Marcus-I-did-Eat-Two-Brutus. Julius Caesar had been told to Beware The Ides Of March, but chose to ignore the prophecy. Just before Caesar passed into the shadowy world of gonna-return-as-a-zombie-and-eat-your-face-off, he looked into the eyes of his friend and whispered, "Et Tu, Brutus."  This translates into English as, "Your mamma was a snowblower." *** *** Real translation: "And you, Brutus?" FUN FACTS ABOUT THE EARLY LIFE ...

On This Day In History, May 14th 1610, King Henry IV of France was assassinated. During his lifetime King Henry IV of France had three assassination attempts made against him. Well, two attempted assassinations and one actual assassination. King Henry had been raised a protestant. When he became King of France in 1589, he was pretty much forced to convert to Catholicism, due to France being a catholic country, and them placing nipple clamps on him until he agreed. Everyone was happy about the King's sudden and unexpected change of religion, except for the protestants. They were not. At all. It also appeared that Spain wasn't happy either. Mainly with Henry, who they didn't like as he didn't share any of his chocolate biscuits with them. Henry IV was the first King of France from the House of Bourbon. Spain kept pestering Henry to give him those chocolate biscuits. Henry finally had enough. Instead of handing over the biscuits, he just went and declar...

HISTORY FUN FACTS - OCTOBER 3rd On This Day In History in 52 BC, Vercingetorix surrendered to Julius Caesar , who had just invented a salad, and thus ended the Battle of Alesia.   To save his people, Vercingetorix surrendered to Caesar. As a reward, Caesar held him prisoner for five years, took him back to Rome, paraded him nekkid at a Triumph, and then had him strangled, after getting jealous of his wedding tackle.   On This Day In History in 42 BC, which is after 52 BC , as everything counted backwards back then, just to confuse us all, The First Battle of Philippi raged.   The Battle of Philippi was a decisive battle fought between the forces of Mark Anthony and Octavian, and those of Marcus Brutus and Cassius, two of the assassins who assassinated Julius Caesar when he was assassinated by assassins.   On This Day In History in 382, the Roman Emperor Theodosius negotiated a peace treaty with the Goths.   The miserable ones wan...

The Assassination of President James A. Garfield On This Day In History in, September 19th, 1881, James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States of America died.   President Garfield had only been president for four months when he was shot by Charles J. Guiteau on July 2nd.   Guiteau was pissed at Garfield for not giving him a job. He wanted to be rewarded for doing virtually nothing to get Garfield elected as president and thought he deserved the position of consul in Paris.   It may have been a perfect job for Guiteau if he could speak any French and had any experience of that type of job. But he didn't. It also didn't help that he was a complete nutter.   Virtually all of President Garfield's movements, with the exception his bowel movements, were published in the newspapers. Guiteau followed these movements with interest and also the ones in the papers, and used them to plan the assa...

Historical Fun Fact - May 23rd   On this day in history in 1701, Captain William Kidd was executed for Piracy on the High Seas.   Captain William Kidd was a famous 17th century pirate.   That's Captain William Kidd. Not to be confused with Billy The Kid, who was a cowboy, not a pirate. Although Captain William Kidd's level of piracy is very much disputed.   Kidd was employed by the Governor of the Island of Nevis to sail his ship, Blessed William, with a small fleet of likeminded Captains, to protect the English settlement against the French.   They were given permission and the authority to pillage the French ships of whatever plunder they wanted.   Kidd was later tasked with hunting enemy pirates and capturing or destroying their ships.   So, far from being a pirate himself, he was actually hunting them down. He did this for a number of years and had a reputation for being a cruel Captain who didn't think twice about kill...

Historical Births On This Day In History On This Day in 1133, King Henry II of England was born.   Henry was also called Henry Curtmantle, Henry FitzEmpress, and Henry Plantagenet. Plus Henry-Squirrel-Feet, Henry-The-Hoover, and Only-Spank-Me-On-The-Left-Cheek.   Henry helped his mother, the Empress Matilda-Probably-A-Witch try to claim the Kingdom of England for her own. She was in a civil war known as The Anarchy with her cousin, King Stephen-The-First-And-Only-Step-Hen.   Henry's mother failed in her attempt to take control of the English throne, but it eventually went to Henry anyway. So all's well that ends well.   Henry married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1151, the cast-off of King Louis VII of France.   Did You Know: Double dipping in French Mayonnaise has been illegal in England since the 8th century.   But Henry was the King of England and going second wasn't an issue. The two produced eight children. And those child...

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY - 26th FEBRUARY On This Day in 1570 Elizabeth-The-First-Virginger-Queen was excommunicated by Pope-Pius-V-For-Vendetta for being ginger, and not catholic.   On This Day in 1616, after having a very rough week, Galileo Galilei, so good they named him twice, is formally banned from teaching or defending his views on the Earth orbiting the Sun, by the Catholic Church.   Burn the witch.   Hmm, I wonder if he was actually right about the Earth orbiting the sun? And, instead of being a witch, perhaps he was a scientist with real and factual scientific knowledge?   Nah, Burn the Witch.   On This Day in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act of Congress to establish the Grand Canyon, that massive hole in the ground that's hundreds of miles long, as a United States National Park.   On This Day in 1929, President Calvin Coolidge signed an Executive Order, because who needs an act of Congress when you're Cal...

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY - 25th FEBRUARY On This Day in 138, Roman Emperor Hadrian, the guy who hated the Scots so much he built a massive wall across northern England to keep them out, adopted Antoninus Pius as his son.   That is so sweet, adopting a little boy because he had no kids of his own. His adoption, as well as getting a daddy, also made little Antoninus heir to the Roman Empire.   Hang on, one plus two, multiply by the square root of .... son of a .... Antoninus wasn't a little boy when he was adopted. He was 44 years old.   On This Day in 1797, the Last Invasion of Britain ends after Colonel William Tate issues an unconditional surrender.   On This Day in 1870, Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first African-American to sit in the US Congress, is sworn into the United States Senate. He was a Republican from Mississippi. Oh, come on, no one's perfect.   On This Day in 1919, the state of Oregon put a 1cent per US gall...

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY - 24th February   On This Day in 1386, King Charles III of Naples , was assassinated by Buddha. Oops, that should have said "at Buda." Because why would Buddha assassinate anyone?   King Charles III of Naples was also King Charles II of Hungary, although he was better known as Charles the Short.   He became King of Hungary after the death of Louis I of Hungary, by sitting on the throne and claiming baggsie. This royally annoyed the daughter of Louis, Mary of Hungary, who should have been Queen, and Mary's mother, Elizabeth of Bosnia.   They decided enough was enough and conspired together to have the King assassinated. It was a botched job, as the deed was done on the 7th of February 1386. It took a few weeks before he eventually died as a result of the wounds.   On This Day in 1848, King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates his throne.   On This Day in 1868, President Andrew Johnson is impeached...

Fun and Fascinating Facts About James Earl Jones 1. James Earl Jones is an African-American actor most famous for having one of the best voices on the planet. He was born on the 17th of January 1931, in Arkabutler, Mississippi, which happens to be a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. 2. James Earl Jones is well known for being the voice of Darth Vader in the mildly popular Star Wars movies. His parents were Shmi Skywalker and the Force itself. Or midichlorians. Or something like that. 3. His actual parents were Robert Earl Jones, who was an actor, boxer, and chauffeur, and Ruth Connolly Jones, who was a teacher and maid. 4. His father, Robert, left the family soon after little James Earl Jones was born. When he was five, James moved to Jackson, Michigan and was brought up by his maternal Grandparents. 5. James Earl Jones once described his grandmother, Maggie, as "The most racist person I have ever known." 6. James Earl Jones h...

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 5th FEBRUARY On this day 5th February 1788, Sir Robert Peel was born. Although he served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 67% of British people who recognised his name, didn't realise. Most will know him as the guy who set up the Metropolitan Police Force in London. Police officers in Britain are often called "Bobbies" or "Peelers" as a throw back to Robert Peel, the Met's creator. Robert Peel actually served as Prime Minister twice. The first term between 1834-1835, and the second between 1841-1846. But, as stated above, he is better known for the creation, in 1829, of the Metropolitan Police Force based at Scotland Yard, London. When Peel set out the principals of policing a democracy, he said, "The police are the public and the public are the police." Before adding: "Which one of you thieving scumbags stole my sandwich?" It was the first permanent police force of its kind...

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 31st JANUARY On This Day, 30th January 1606, the infamous Guy Fawkes was executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot.   During his torture, I mean interrogation, there's a difference apparently, Guy Fawkes was asked the question, "What are you doing in possession of so much gunpowder."   He was found in the tunnels beneath the Houses of Parliament with 36 barrels. Trying to explain your way out of that one and claim innocence would not be easy.   Guy Fawkes asked for the mildly hot poker to be removed from his bottom, a popular interrogation technique still used by the United States, and not torture, as there is a difference. He then said, "to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains."   "To blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains." - a popular English drinking game in the early 1600s. King James, who would have been blown to teeny-tiny bits along with the Palace of Westminster...

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 18th JANUARY On This Day, the 18th of January 350, Magnentius, played by Sir Ian McKellen, opposite what-a-really-smooth-head Patrick-Make-It-So-Stewart, deposed the Roman Emperor Constans and proclaimed himself the new all-powerful Mutant Magnet Magnentius Emperor of Rome. On This Day, 18th of January 532, in Constantinople,  the tit-for-tat between the supporters of two teams of chariot racers (the Blues and the Greens) which escalated into The Nika Riots a week ago, finally came to an end. For the last seven days, Constantinople had been plunged into chaos. Half the city was burned and destroyed, and thirty thousand people were killed. Celebrity Birthday On This Day, the 18th January 1955, American actor, direct, producer, singer, Kevin Costner was born. He once built a baseball stadium for ghosts that was engulfed in water, along with the entire world, before protecting Whitney Hous...

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 17th January   On This Day, the 17th of January 1595, King Henry IV of France , the first king of the House of Bourbon, declared war on Spain.   Henry had been raised a protestant. When he became King of France in 1589, he was pretty much forced to convert to Catholicism, due to France being a catholic country, and them placing nipple clamps on him until he agreed.   Everyone was happy about the King's sudden and unexpected change of religion, except for the protestants. They were not. At all.   It also appeared that Spain wasn't happy. Mainly with Henry, who they didn't like as he didn't share any of his chocolate biscuits with them. Spain kept pestering Henry, who finally had enough and declared war. My biscuits. My lovely crème biscuits. You not get none of these fabulous Bourbon Crème Biscuits.   King Henry IV had many people try to kill him over the years. And not just the entirety of Spain. Pierre B...