On this day in
1066, during the Norman Conquest, in the Battle of Hastings, in England, on Senlac Hill, the Norman forces of
William the Conqueror defeat the English army and kill
King Harold II of England.
***
On this day in
1322,
Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats
King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's independence.
***
On this day in
1888,
Louis Le Prince films first motion picture:
Roundhay Garden Scene.
***
On this day in
1912, while campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the former President of the United States,
Theodore Roosevelt, is shot and mildly wounded by
John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Mr. Roosevelt still carries out his scheduled public speech.
***
On this day in
1933, Nazi Germany announces its withdrawal from the
League of Nations. Also on this day, in
1950, soon-to-be-cult leader
Sun Young Moon is liberated from prison in Korea. Thirty-two years later, on this day in
1982, Moon weds 6,000 Unification church couples in a mass Moonie wedding.
Bob Marley held his final concert on this day in
1980. These events are all connected somehow. Yer old pal Jerky just doesn't have the time to figure it out right now.
***
On this day in
1962, the world comes
thisclose to total nuclear annihilation when photographs taken by a U-2 spy plane offer incontrovertible proof that the Soviets had set up missile bases on the island nation of Cuba. That put Soviet nukes a mere 90 miles off the American coastline. During the next two weeks,
Nikita Kruschev and
John F. Kennedy played the highest-stakes game of chess ever played in the history of all mankind. Thank Godzilla it ended in a twenty-eight-year stalemate!
***
On this day in
1966, the city of Montreal, Quebec, begins the operation of its underground Montreal Metro rapid-transit system.
***
On this day in
1977, child-abusing crooner
Bing Crosby dies of a heart attack at 74 while vacationing in Madrid, Spain. Two months later,
der Bingle records his last ever Christmas special.
***
On this day in
1979, the first Gay Rights March on Washington, D.C., the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, demands "an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of lesbian and gay people", and draws 200,000 people.
***
On this day in
1981, Vice President
Hosni Mubarak is elected as the President of Egypt one week after the assassination of the President of Egypt,
Anwar Sadat. He keeps that job for a looooong-ass time.
***
On this day in
1982, U.S. President
Ronald Reagan proclaims a
War on Drugs. Chaos ensues.
***
On this day in
1994, the Palestinian leader,
Yasser Arafat, Prime Minister of Israel,
Yitzhak Rabin, and the Foreign Minister of Israel,
Shimon Peres, receive the
Nobel Peace Prize for their role in the establishment of the Oslo Accords and the framing of the future Palestinian Self Government.
