History Fun Facts September 21st

HISTORY FUN FACTS - SEPTEMEBR 21st

On This Day In History in 1411, Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, was born.

 

He is most famous for being unknown amongst British school children even though all of them will know his name. He is the Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain, the mnemonic to remember the colours of the rainbow (Red-Orange-Yellow-Groot-Bilbo-Indigo-Viagra).

 

Richard of York was almost a king, just a few more days and ... dead. Not king. Dammit.

 

As the great-grandson of King Edward III (on his father's side) and the great-great-great-grandson of the same King on his mother's side, he had a claim to the English throne. And didn't he know it.

 

During the reign of King Henry VI (two Henrys before the one everyone knows), the King went bonkers-wacko-Jacko. Richard stepped in to fill the void and served as Lord Protector.

 

This worked semi-well for the country, but it royally pissed off Henry's wife, Margaret of Anjou, who wanted to be the ruler herself.

 

Put all this together in a pot and let it simmer for a few months and wham, you have one heck of a Game of Thrones. Except this one didn't have any dragons.

 

And thus began the War of the Roses.

 

Skip ahead and Richard agreed to give up the throne of England, right after a failed attempt to take it. The peace agreement agreed that Richard would be agreeable and agree to a treaty. He did. It stated he'd give up the fight and would become King of England after Henry VI died.

 

Sounds reasonable.

 

However, a few weeks later, Richard died. Dammit. Almost had that darned crown.

 

It should be noted, Richard of York may not have become King of England himself, but his two sons did: Edward IV (the father of the Princes in the Tower) and Richard III (the one who killed the Princes in the Tower and who got killed by a car park).

 

On This Day in 1745, Sir John Cope and his Hanoverian army were defeated by Prince Charles Edward Stuart and his Jacobite forces at the Battle of Prestonpans.

 

It was the first major victory for the Jacobites in the Jacobite rising, a rising of Jacobites being Jacobiting. Fancy a bite, Jack? Sure, got any haggis? You make me sick. Bite me, Jack.

 

Basically Charles Stuart, also known as The Young Pretender, or Bonnie Prince Charlie, was trying to get back the throne his grandfather, James II, lost back in 1688.

 

Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite Rising lasted only ten minutes, much to the disappointment of his wife, as the pills wore off.

 

He had similar experience with the battle. It only lasted 10 minutes as well.

 

On This Day in 1792, The National Convention in France declared France a republic and abolished the absolute monarchy.

 

Heads are going to roll for that.

 

On This Day in 1937, The Hobbit, by J RRRRRRR Tolkien, was published for the first time. It tells a tale of a children's book with only a few pages being turned into three bloated movies just to fleece money out of cinema goers.

 

On This Day in 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor was unanimously approved by the United States Senate as the first ever female Supreme Court Justice.

 

On This Day in History in 1993, Boris Yeltsin, the Russian President, suspended parliament, and abandoned the constitution, triggering the Russian Constitutional Crises of 1993.

 

And that's why there should be an App on your phone to stop you texting people when you're drunk.