On This Day In History - February 21st

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY - February 21st

 

On This Day in 1437, King James-The-First-King-Of-Scotland-To-Lose-His-Balls was assassinated whilst hiding in a sewage pipe, which had been blocked off to stop his tennis balls getting lost.

 

During the night, thirty men, followers of the Earl of Atholl, had been secretly let into the residence at the Monastry of Blackfriars, Perth, Scotland. They had but one intent - to kill the king.

 

James the first of Scotland was warned by a servant about the intruders and fled his bedchamber. He headed down to the sewers, expecting to be able to escape. However, he had a fondness for tennis, and an inability to play.

 

He kept losing his balls in the sewers, so had them blocked off. This saved the tennis balls, but didn't save him. The intruders found him and killed him.

 

When one king dies, another takes his place.

 

On This Day in 1437, the six-year-old James-Get-Me-A-Fire-Extinguisher became king of Scotland after his father's assassination.

 

King James II, as he became known, after he got King'd, had the nickname "Fiery Face". This either referred to a party trick he liked to perform, where he dipped his face in petrol and then set on fire, or because he had a vermilion birthmark on his face.

 

In Other News On This Day In History

On This Day in 1925, The New Yorker was published for the first time.

 

On This Day in 1952, Winston Churchill's government abolished identity cards in the United Kingdom. Churchill said it was "to set the people free."

 

On This Day in 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated in New York at the Audubon Ballroom.

 

On This Day in 1971, The Convention on Psychotropic Substances was signed in Vienna, using crayons made from the horns of Unicorns.