This Day In European History
4th August
Events1265: The Battle of Evesham; Simon de Montford is beaten and killed by Prince Edward of England.
1693: A monk called Dom Perignon produces his first champagne, in France.
1704: The British seize Gibraltar from Spain; they would still like it back.
1730: Having been forced into the army when he was just ten, Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia tries to escape to Britain; he is caught, court-marshalled and imprisoned.
1789: Ancient feudal privileges of the French nobility are cancelled by the National Assembly.
1914: Britain declares war on Germany as part of WW1.
1966: John Lennon, British musician, jokes that his band are bigger than Jesus.
Births
1755: Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French inventor of the pencil.
1792: Percy Shelley, English poet.
1900: Queen Elizabeth, 'the Queen Mother'.
Deaths
1265: Simon De Montford, English baron.
1875: Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author.
1900: Étienne Lenoir, Belgian inventor.
1912: Raoul Wallenberg, Swiss diplomat who saved over 30,000 Jews from the Holocaust.
