Tuesday 25 October 2016

Fun History Facts for October 25th

Historical Fun Facts October 25th

On This Day In History, October 25th, 1154, The Anarchy was over, at least for King Stephen of England, as he died.
 
Yes, you heard me correctly, there was a king of England called Stephen. He was often called Stephen of Blois, or You-Utter-Git, by his cousin, Matilda.
 
Stephen of Blois was the grandson of William the Conqueror and King of England between 1135 until his death in 1154.
 
His reign was troubled, to say the least. Most of it was referred to as The Anarchy, as he was fighting a civil war with his cousin, The Empress Matilda, who also claimed the throne.
 
Matilda, who was almost, perhaps, probably not, maybe technically, but unlikely, the Queen of England for a few days, lost her fight to rule England. However, after the death of King Stephen, Matilda's son, Henry II, became King of England.

On the 25th October, 1415, King Henry V of England and his army, as he didn't do it on his own, although he did try, defeated the French (yes, all of them) at the Battle of Agincourt.

The French army was far larger than the English army. The French had up to 36,000 troops, and anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 were killed.
 
The English army totalled about 9,000 and around 112 were killed.
 
Crikey Mr Spikey, that's a huge difference.
 
King Henry V of England actually took part in hand-to-hand combat, and even the odd bit of head-butting and shin-kicking. However, Charles VI, the French King at the time, was suffering from Me-Is-Big-Chicken syndrome and was therefore unable to personally fight.
 
On This Day in History, October 25th, 1760, King George II died whilst having a crap on his toilet.
 
The half blind, almost deaf King rose early in the morning. After drinking a nice cup of hot chocolate, he did what most people do, and took a poo, yes a number two, in the loo.
 
His valet heard a loud crash, like thunder. That was one heck of a dump.
 
He rushed into the bog to find the King on the floor, ever so slightly soiled. Feel sorry for the guy cleaning up that mess.
 
The valet carried the king to his bed, but he was already dead.
 
 
On This Day In History, October 25th, 1760, King George III became King of Great Britain.
 
King George III ruled Great Britain for 60 years, one of the longest reigns of any monarch in British history.
 
It wasn't without its troubles, though.
 
George-The-Turd-Thrower enjoyed taking a dump on the throne and chucking it out the window at the commoners. He did this on instructions from the gorilla in the purple tutu.
 
Yes, in case you had no doubt, George-Third-Of-His-Name was nutso-bonkers-crazy.
 
King George III was the third British Monarch of the House of Hanover and was also King of Hanover at the same time. And, unlike the previous two Georges, he was actually born in England. He also spoke English, and Klingon when conversing with the tutu-clad gorilla, and never actually visited Hanover.
 
But, George III is best known for having many episodes of insanity. They took over his life in 1810, so much so, his son, the Prince of Wales took over running the country as Prince Regent.
 
Upon the death of his father on January 29th, 1820, the Prince Regent became King George IV.
 
Fun Fact About George III: On May 15th, 1800 King George III of the United Kingdom survived two separate assassination attempts on one day.
 
That's crazy. But not as crazy-bonkers-nutso as the king, who was whacko-jacko.
 
Ironically, James Hadfield, who unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate the king that day, was later tried and then acquitted by reason of insanity.

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