14 October

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 14 October:

1. Born on this date in 1797 was Ida Pfeiffer, an Austrian traveller and author who wrote 13 books about her seven journeys around the world. She visited Egypt, Iraq, Brazil, Iceland, Tahiti, China, Madagascar and India, and collected insects and reptiles to sell to fund her travelling. On one of her journeys, she was attacked by cannibals, and beat them off with an Umbrella. She kept the broken off handle of the umbrella as a trophy.
2. The one historical date everyone remembers is 1066, the Battle of Hastings, which was fought on this date at Senlac Hill, 7 miles from Hastings. William, Duke of Normandy defeated Harold of England to claim the English throne and became known as William the Conqueror. Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England didn't come out of it so well, becoming one of only three Kings of England to have died in warfare, (the others being Richard the Lionheart and Richard III). He died from an arrow in the eye according to historians.
3. In 1993, the largest Lasagne in the world weighed in at 8,188 pounds and 8 ounces, and measured 70' x 7'. The monster lasagne was cooked up in Salinas, California.
4. Alan Alexander Milne's book Winnie-the-Pooh published on this date in 1926. The tales were about his son, Christopher Robin and his stuffed toys, including Pooh Bear, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger.
5. There was a storm in the Bay of Biscay on this date in 1877. The pontoon vessel Cleopatra, which was transporting "Cleopatra's Needle" to England, was caught up in it, resulting in the loss of six men. The needle didn't sink, though; it was found floating in the Bay some days later by Spanish Trawlers. After repairs in Spain it eventually made it to London.
6. In 1947, Air Force test pilot Charles E. ("Chuck") Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier as he flew the experimental Bell X-One rocket plane over Edwards Air Force Base in California.
7. In 1988, Ronald Reagan welcomed the crew of the space shuttle Discovery to the White House. He wondered aloud how long it would be before "the children of America turn to their parents and say, Gee Mom and Dad, can I borrow the spaceship tonight?"
8. In 1969, the seven-sided 50p coin was first issued in Britain, replacing the 10 shilling note.
9. On this date in 1987, a smuggler planned to meet his contact at Kathmandu Airport to hand over 52 Gold bars worth £100,000 from Nepal. When the contact failed to turn up the smuggler hopped on a plane to Hong Kong and flushed the loot down the Toilet. The bars were later found by the cleaning crew at Hong Kong airport and returned to Nepal.
10. In 1994 Ffyona Campbell, 27, became the first woman to walk around the world when she arrived in John O'Groat's Scotland after 11 years walking.

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