Guy Fawkes

 Guy Fawkes was executed on 31 January 1606. They were going to hang, draw, and quarter him (hang him till he was unconscious then cut him down, and when he came around disembowel then dismember him) but when the hangman put the noose around his neck Fawkes jumped off the scaffold and broke his neck.

Wendy's Tudor Christmas

 This is Wendy's history of Tudor Christmas www.localhistories.org/tudorxmas.html

Darwin

 On 24 November 1859, Charles Darwin's book On The Origin of Species was published 

World Toilet Day

 19 November is World Toilet Day. So let's hear it for the men who invented the modern toilet. In 1596 Sir John Harrington invented a flushing lavatory with a cistern. However, the idea failed to catch on. However, in 1775 Alexander Cumming was granted a patent for a flushing lavatory. Joseph Bramah made a better design in 1778. In 1883 a Mr. Ashwell invented the vacant/engaged bolt for public toilets.

There were public lavatories in London in the Middle Ages but the first modern public lavatory in the city opened on 2 February 1852. It was for men. One for women opened on 11 February.

 In Britain, a cesspit was once called a bog. The toilet was the bog room. When people stopped using cesspits and had flushing toilets they kept calling the toilet room the bog room. Soon it shortened to bog. Apparently the Australian word dunny comes from an old English word meaning a store of dung.

Arsenic

 In the 19th century, it was common to adulterate foodstuffs by adding cheap substances. Calcium sulphate was added to peppermints. In 1858 a sweet maker in Bradford, England sent somebody to obtain some from a druggist. However, by mistake, the druggist's assistant picked up some arsenic thinking it was calcium sulphate. The arsenic was added to the sweets. As a result, 200 people became seriously ill and 20 died.

Tall Tales

For all lovers of tall tales: Henry VIII was 6 feet 2 inches. England’s tallest king was Edward IV who was 6 feet 4 inches tall. By all accounts, William Wallace was also very tall. It's believed he was well over 6 feet tall. Beating them all was Tsar Peter the Great at 6 feet 8 inches tall. Among women, Mary Queen of Scots was almost 6 feet tall (very tall for a woman in the 16th century)

Czech Heroine

On 28 June 1950 Milada Horáková, a heroine of the Czech resistance during World War II was executed by the Communists on trumped-up charges. https://www.private-prague-guide.com/article/milada-horakova/