On This Day

[Altobelli]

13 NOVEMBER

1002 English king Aethelred II ordered the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice's Day massacre.

1093 Malcolm III of Scotland, son of King Duncan, died at Alnwick, Northumberland, during his fifth attempt to invade England.

1312 Birth of Edward III, King of England from 1327.

1553 Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer and four others, including Lady Jane Grey, are accused of high treason and sentenced to death under "Bloody" Mary I

1642 First English Civil War: At the Battle of Turnham Green (Middle***), the Royalist forces withdrew in the face of the Parliamentarian army and failed to take London. Charles and his army retreated to Oxford for secure winter quarters.

1779www.beautifulbritain.co.ukThomas Chippendale, English cabinet-maker died. (Note:- He was born in Otley, Yorkshire and there is a statue to him outside the former Grammar School.

1789 Ben Franklin writes "Nothing . . . certain but death & taxes"

1841 James Braid first sees a demonstration of animal magnetism, which leads to his study of the subject he eventually calls hypnotism

1850 Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, was born.

1887 'Bloody Sunday' in London when violence erupted in Trafalgar Square at a Socialist rally attended by Irish agitators.

1901 The Caister (Norfolk) Lifeboat Disaster. Eight bodies were subsequently recovered at the scene with another, that of Charles Bonney George being washed away, only to be recovered months later in April of the following year. The victims are all buried in Caister Cemetery where a monument raised by public donation was raised to them in 1903.

1910 The birth of Pat Reid British Army officer and author. He was a prisoner of war at Colditz Castle and was one of the few to escape. He wrote about his experiences in two best-selling books, which became the basis of a film, TV series and even a board game.

1916 The Battle of the Somme (World War 1) ended. By the end of the battle, the British Army had suffered 420,000 casualties including nearly 60,000 on the first day alone. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000. The battle epitomised the futility of trench warfare and the indiscriminate slaughter of so many men.

1927 The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City

1933 1st modern sit-down strike by Hormel meat packers in Austin, Minnesota

1936 King Edward VIII told the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, that he intended to marry twice divorced Mrs. Simpson.

1940 Walt Disney's animated musical film Fantasia is first released, on the first night of a roadshow at New York's Broadway Theatre

1947 Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Dalton, resigned after admitting he had disclosed tax proposals to a reporter several minutes before presenting his Budget speech.

1947 The Soviet Union completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles

1954 Great Britain defeated France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup, held in Paris, in front of around 30,000 spectators.

1956 The Supreme Court of the United States declares Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott

1969 Britain's first live quintuplets this century were born, at Queen Charlotte's maternity hospital in London.

1974 Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murders his entire family in Amityville, Long Island in the house that would become known as The Amityville Horror

1979 The Times newspaper was published for the first time in nearly a year. The paper's disappearance from news stands followed a dispute between management and unions over manning levels and the introduction of new technology.

1980 US spacecraft Voyager 1 sends back 1st close-up pictures of Saturn

1985 Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts in Colombia, killing 25,000

1987 With a view to encouraging 'safe ***', or AIDS prevention, the BBC screened its first condom 'commercial' (without a brand name).

1995 18 year Leah Betts was on a life-support machine after taking a single ecstasy tablet at her 18th birthday party. She died three days later without ever regaining consciousness.

Famous Birthday's

Edward III
(1312 - 1377)

John Dickinson
(1732 - 1808)



Robert Louis Stevenson
(1850 - 1894)



Ken Shuttleworth
72nd Birthday

Whoopi Goldberg
61st Birthday

Famous Deaths

George Grenville
(1712 - 1770)

Camille Pissarro
(1830 - 1903)

Elsa Schiaparelli
(1890 - 1973)

Thomas Chippendale
(1718 - 1779)

Famous Weddings

1160 Marriage of Louis VII of France with Adele of Champagne.

1929 Writer E. B. White (30) weds literary editor Katharine Angell (37)

1934 Actress and dancer Ginger Rogers (23) weds "All Quiet on the Western Front" actor Lew Ayres (25)

1960 US Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr marries Swedish actress May Britt (divorced 1968)

1987 MLB baseball player Cal Ripken Jr (27) weds Kelly Geer at Towson United Methodist Church in Maryland

Famous Divorces

1922 Architect Frank Lloyd Wright (55) divorces socialite Catherine Tobin after 33 years of marriage

2011 Torrei Hart divorces actor and comedian Kevin Hart (32) due to irreconcilable differences after 8 years of marriage