10/02/10

Baghdad fell to the Mongols in 1258.  Robert the Bruce murdered John Comyn in front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries in 1306.  In evidence that students have always had their priorities straight, a dispute between two Oxford students and some local residents over beer turned into the St. Scholastica Day Riot in 1355.  The fights lasted for two days and in the end, 63 scholars and 30 local residents were dead.  Vicky and Albert got married in 1840.  New Delhi became the capital of India in 1931 and the US traded Soviet spy Rudolf Abel for Francis Gary Powers in 1962.

Born today:  John Suckling (1609-1642), Charles Lamb (1775-1834), Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), Roberta Flack (1937) and Michael Apted (1941).

Strangely enough, it is the feast day of St. Scholastica.