by David West | Oct 18, 2025 | News
On the 18th of October, 1009, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was completely destroyed by Fatimid caliph Al Hakim bi Amr Allah, who hacked the church’s foundations down to the bedrock. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, located in the Christian Quarter...
by David West | Oct 17, 2025 | News
The event which has caught my eye for the 17th of October is the founding of the University of Greifswald in 1456, according to Wikipedia, the second oldest university in Northern Europe. I confess that at first reading I missed the “northern” and thought no, Oxford...
by David West | Oct 16, 2025 | News
OK, hands up, I’m not writing about Harry Potter’s owl. Hedwig (in German), Hedvig (in Hungarian), or Jadwiga (in Polish) was crowned king of Poland, even though she was a woman, on the 16th of October, 1384. Born around 1373 or 1374, she was the youngest daughter of...
by David West | Oct 15, 2025 | News
I have posted about my interest in aviation, and I proposed to Claire in a hot air balloon, so I am drawn to balloons for today’s post. On the 15th of October, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers’ hot air balloon made the first tethered ascent with humans aboard, piloted...
by David West | Oct 14, 2025 | News
I decided to write about Chuck Yeager today, because on the 14th of October, 1947, he broke the sound barrier in level flight over Muroc Army Airfield in California, flying a Bell XS-1. I might have written about Mary Queen of Scots, because her trial began on this...
by David West | Oct 13, 2025 | News
On the 13th of October, 1307, hundreds of Knights Templar were arrested at dawn by King Philip the Fair. King Philip IV of France, known as Philip the Fair (Philippe le Bel), was born in 1268 and reigned from 1285 until his death in 1314. His moniker, ‘the...
