Moral compass?

Branch of the Seine near Giverny, Claude Monet, 1897.


On this day in 1263, Aleksandr Nevsky died.

In 1840, Claude Monet was born.

In 1900, Aaron Copland was born.

In 1919, according to the Fortean Times, an inquest in Shoreditch, London, established that a needle had been found in the heart of Rosina Newton, aged 13 months. 'There was no skin wound to show where it had entered the body.' The parents had no recollection of any injury to her.

c'est la vie

On this day in 1381, The Order of Fools was established by Adolphus, Count of Cleves. For centuries the members, mostly from the Flemish upper classes, held a week-long grand court every year and planned acts of charity. They wore the figure of a fool or jester embroidered on their mantles. The last reference to the Order is in some verses appended to Sebastian Brand's celebrated Navis Stultifera (Ship of Fools), published in Strasbourg in 1520.

In 1833, Aleksander Borodin was born.

In 1859, Jules Leotard performed the first Flying Trapeze act.