Doodle this day in History

History teacher doodling events that correspond with today's date. Also on Facebook and Instagram under Doodle this day in History.

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June 7 - #OnThisDay Lampião is born. This word translates into Portuguese as “lantern” or “oil lamp”. He was a bandit leader in the Northeast of Brazil. He led a band of up to 100 bandits throughout the 1920s and 1930s. They were able to take over small towns.

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June 6 - #OnThisDay Flat Creek Floyd is euthanised. He was a 12-foot alligator in Peachtree City, Georgia. He was a local celebrity who was known for sunning himself near local golf courses and golf cart paths. He became an unofficial town mascot.

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June 5 - #OnThisDay Dennis Gabor is born in Budapest, Hungary. He fled from Nazi Germany as he was considered Jewish due to his ancestry rather than his own religious practices. He arrived in Britain and became a British citizen. He invented holography which can create holograms.

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June 4 - #OnThisDay Marvin Heemeyer goes on his killdozer rampage. Heemeyer was a war veteran, welder and automobile repair shop owner. He spent eighteen months armouring a huge bulldozer with layers of steel and concrete to make it like a tank.

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June 3 - #OnThisDay Andy Warhol is shot. The person who shot him was a radical feminist writer called Valerie Solanas. Warhol was seriously wounded by the attack and remained in hospital for two months. Solanas was sentenced to three years in prison.

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June 2 - #OnThisDay Giueseppe Garibaldi dies. In his early life he was a navy commander who helped lead the navy of Uruguay to victory. He was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican who contributed in the Unification of Italy.

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June 1 - #OnThisDay the exchequer rolls of Scotland in 1494 contain the first record of distillation for Scotch whisky. The record suggests 1,500 bottles worth of whisky was produced. All Scotch whisky has to be aged for at least three years in oak barrels.

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May 31 - #OnThisDay Roman Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob as he rides out of Rome. Maximus fled as the Vandals arrived to attack Rome. His body was mutilated and then thrown into the River Tiber. Maximus had reigned for 75 days.

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May 30 - #OnThisDay Tom Morello is born. He is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and political activist. He is formerly a member of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and supergroup Prophets of Rage. Morello is known for his unique guitar style incorporating feedback.

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May 29 - #OnThisDay British geographer Percy Fawcett disappears in South America. His eldest son Jack and one of Jack’s friends Raleigh Rimmel also disappeared. The trio had gone to Brazil for an exploratory expedition to find an ancient lost city rumoured to be in the Amazon.

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May 28 - #OnThisDay the eclipse of Thales takes place. During the time the Lydian people and Mede people were fighting in Anatolia (modern day Turkey). The eclipse interrupted a battle in a long-standing war between both sides as they were shocked at day turning into night.

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May 27 - #OnThisDay Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, dies. She was the only surviving daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (brother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III). She was one of the few members of the House of Plantagenet to survive the Wars of the Roses.

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May 26 - #OnThisDay Shimson Kleuger passes away. He was a Polish Holocaust survivor and the last openly Jewish person to live in Oświęcim, Poland. The German name for this place is Auschwitz. Before 1939 the Jewish community had made up over half of Oświęcim’s population.

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May 25 - #OnThisDay Ibn ‘Abbād, also known as Benavert, drowns at sea in 1091. He was the last Emir of Sicily. He led the Arab resistance against the Normans as they were conquering Sicily. Grand Count Roger I was besieging Syracuse on this day in history.

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May 24 - #OnThisDay the first Eurovision Song Contest takes place. Each country who participates submits an original song that represents their country. It has been held annually except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 1956 Switzerland was the host country and they won.

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May 23 - #OnThisDay Scottish privateer Captain William Kidd is hanged. He was hanged twice (as the first time the hangman’s rope had broken) and his body was gibbeted over the River Thames at Tilbury Point. It served as a warning to future would-be pirates.

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May 22 - #OnThisDay Blanche of England dies whilst pregnant with her third child. The child did not survive. She was the daughter of King Henry IV of England. She married Louis III, Elector Palatine. This was so that England could make a strong alliance with Germany.

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May 21 - #OnThisDay four convicts attempt to escape Alcatraz Island. The federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay operated from 1934 until 1963. In total there 14 escape attempts made by 34 prisoners.

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May 20 - #OnThisDay King Æthelberht II of East Anglia is decapitated by Offa, King of Mercia. The circumstances are unclear on why these one Anglo-Saxon king ordered the other to be beheaded. Medieval sources tell us that Æthelberht II was betrothed to Offa’s daughter.

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May 19 - #OnThisDay German postmaster and alleged witch Katharina Henot is burned at the stake for sorcery in Cologne. She may have been the first female postmaster in Germany, which is somebody who is in charge of a post office.