History Facts June 30th

History Facts for June 30th

On this day in history, 30th June 1559, King Henry II of France decided to do a bit of jousting.

 

He did pretty well in the opening rounds, but then he came up against a fellow jouster called 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...."

 

On this day in history, 30th June 1934, Adolf Hitler proved way before the start of World War 2 what a complete and utter git he was by eliminating most of his political rivals in Germany.

 

It is known as The Night of the Long Knives, not because the blades were knives and really long, but because the knives were blades and not short.

 

Not his fault, Hitler was just going through a stabby phase in his life. Soon to move onto a blow up everyone phase with plans for the King of the Universe phase.

 

His phases ended in 1945 with the obligatory shoot-himself-in-the-head-phase. Yay!

 

 

 

Historical Births On This Day - March 5th

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 children were ungrateful little devils and tried to cause havoc later in Henry's reign.

 

King Henry-The-Second-Dipper was energetic and sometimes ruthless, driven by a desire to restore the lands and privileges of his grandfather, King Henry I of England. And that's all I'm going to write about his love life.

 

On This Day in 1324, King David II of Scotland was born.

 

King David-The-Second-Haggis-Almost-Killed-Me was the oldest son of the infamous Robert the Bruce. He was also the only one of Robert's children to survive. And Robert had eleven of them. Although only three were actually legitimate. He had the stamina of a Scot who ate haggis and hated the English.

 

King David-The-Second-Wife-Will-Be-The-One became King of Scotland on the 7th of June, 1329, at the age of five-years-old upon the death of his father, Robert-Not-The-First-To-Hate-The-English.

 

David was crowned two years later at the age of seven, at Scone, on the 24th of November 1331, along with his wife, Joan of the Tower.

 

Yes, King David II was already married when he became King of Scotland at the young age of five-years-old.

 

On the 17th of July, 1328, because of the terms set down in the Treaty of Northampton, David was forced to marry Joan of the Tower, the daughter of King Edward II of England.

 

On This Day in 1326, King Louis I of Hungary was born.

 

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On This Day Facts - March 5th

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY - 5th MARCH

 

On This Day in 1946, Winston Churchill, now longer the Prime Minister, made one of his most famous speeches, of which there were more than a few, as that guy knew how to write and deliver good speech. The speech he made on this day in history in 1946 was the one in which he used the infamous phrase "Iron Curtain" to condemn the Soviet Union's policies in Europe.

 

"From Stettin in the Baltic to the Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent."

 

It is commonly believed that this was as close to an official announcement of the commencement of the Cold War as you could get.

 

Winston Churchill had been invited to speak at Westminster College, Missouri, which I believe is in the United States of-We-Appreciate-Churchill-More-Than-The-British.

 

Winston Churchill had played a key role in winning World War 2 as Britain's Prime Minister. But, it seems, the man who led Britain in a time of war, was not the man to lead Britain in a time of peace.

 

In July 1945, to everyone's surprise, apart from those who didn't vote for him, Winston Churchill lost the General Election in a landslide victory to the opposition Labour Party.

 

And this was just after defeating the Germans in the Second World War. The guy was a hero. Loved by the whole country. And the world. And they kicked him out. Bunch of gits.

 

Upon hearing of his defeat, Churchill took a long drag of his cigar, made from dried-out flattened hedgehogs, which are then rolled in tobacco leaves, and muttered, "They have a perfect right to kick us out. That is democracy. That is what we have been fighting for."

 

Churchill didn't quit parliament. He also refused to step down as leader of the Conservatives. He stayed on as Leader of the Opposition, even after losing the following General Election in 1950.

 

He'd get his opportunity again. Another General Election was called in 1951 and Churchill won, returning to 10 Downing Street and the Premiership.

 

Read more Fun Facts About Winston Churchill

 

He made his trip to America in 1946, and the Westminster College, Missouri, invited him to speak. He was joined by President Harry S. Truman.

 

Churchill's speech began with praise for America, which he told, stood at the pinnacle of world power. His speech was to continue, but with a darker tone. He condemned the Soviet Union in no uncertain terms.

 

He said that Britain and America needed to work together and forge an even closer "special relationship."

 

Churchill declared the Soviet Union had communist fifth columns operating throughout Western Europe. They were unchallenged and he drew analogies to the disastrous appeasement of Hitler before the commencement of open warfare before World War 2.

 

He said of the Soviet Union, "there was nothing they admire so much as strength. And there was nothing for which they had less respect than for military weakness."

 

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.”

 

Also On This Day In History

On This Day in 1616, the book On The Revolutions Of The Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus was added to the Index of Forbidden books, 73 years after being first published.

 

And that's pretty much when everyone wanted to buy it. Nothing boosts sales of a book than getting it banned. It's Amazon ranking the day before was over three million. They day after it hit #2 on the bestseller list.

 

On This Day in 1836, Samuel Colt patented the first production-model revolver - the .34-caliber pistol.

 

On This Day in 1850, The Britannia Bridge was opened to the public for the first time. The bridge spans the Menai Strait between Anglesey and mainland Wales.

 

On This Day in 1982, Venera 14, a Soviet made probe, landed on the planet Venus.

 

Fun Fact

Even though Venus is a lot further away from the sun than the planet Mercury,

Venus is actually much hotter. It's all down to the atmosphere. Mercury has none, and loses heat quickly. Venus has an atmosphere and can retain heat at the surface.

 

On This Day in 1984, over six thousand minors decided they'd go on strike at Cortonwood Colliery, England.

 

What the heck is a coal mine doing employing children? That's just wrong. I'm seriously going to .... Oh, wait, that's meant to be miners. That's embarrassing.

 

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Historical Fun presents a Humorous History account of Historical Births On This Day In History March 5th