Rather a sexy look for a woman.

I totally agree. 

Well Major, as my ex Mum-In-Law would say: Pity that. BTW, I agree with you about William Manchester. 

21 October 1819 - Milan II, Prince of Serbia 1839, born.

In 1830 the Ottoman province of Serbia was granted autonomy with Miloš Obrenović as Hereditary Prince. However his aim to create a powerful independent state fell foul of Russian ambitions which were for a Serbian state under Russian influence. So on 25 June 1839 Prince Miloš abdicated in favour of his eldest son Milan. 

Unfortunately the 19 year old Milan never knew that he was ruler of Serbia. He was unconscious, dying of tuberculosis in the palace in Belgrade. He lingered in a coma for a further 13 days until he died on 8 July. The Crown then passed to his younger brother Mihail, aged 15.    

21 October 1819 - Milan II, Prince of Serbia 1839, born.

In 1830 the Ottoman province of Serbia was granted autonomy with Miloš Obrenović as Hereditary Prince. However his aim to create a powerful independent state fell foul of Russian ambitions which were for a Serbian state under Russian influence. So on 25 June 1839 Prince Miloš abdicated in favour of his eldest son Milan. 

Unfortunately the 19 year old Milan never knew that he was ruler of Serbia. He was unconscious, dying of tuberculosis in the palace in Belgrade. He lingered in a coma for a further 13 days until he died on 8 July. The Crown then passed to his younger brother Mihail, aged 15.    

It was a short reign but he did look spiffy in his costume. I know several Serbs & they seem to be a disagreeable lot. 

Always looking for trouble it seems to me.

21 October 1819 - Milan II, Prince of Serbia 1839, born.

In 1830 the Ottoman province of Serbia was granted autonomy with Miloš Obrenović as Hereditary Prince. However his aim to create a powerful independent state fell foul of Russian ambitions which were for a Serbian state under Russian influence. So on 25 June 1839 Prince Miloš abdicated in favour of his eldest son Milan. 

Unfortunately the 19 year old Milan never knew that he was ruler of Serbia. He was unconscious, dying of tuberculosis in the palace in Belgrade. He lingered in a coma for a further 13 days until he died on 8 July. The Crown then passed to his younger brother Mihail, aged 15.    

It was a short reign but he did look spiffy in his costume. I know several Serbs & they seem to be a disagreeable lot. 

He's almost wearing as much bling as an American cop.

22 October 1946 - The Corfu Channel Incident.

The Corfu Channel is the narrow stretch of water between the Greek island of Corfu and the mainland, the most northerly part of the waterway, and the narrowest at just 2 miles wide, lies opposite southern Albania. 

Early in 1946 a Communist regime took power in Albania and closed the northern end of the Channel to unauthorised traffic, this was in breach of international law as the waterway was designated international waters and furthermore vital to Greek shipping from Corfu heading north.

Also the waters still contained unexploded mines from the war which the British wished to remove. In May Royal Navy warships were fired on by Albanian guns ashore, there were no hits and the British did not return fire. However in October a far more serious incident took place.

A flotilla of four Royal Navy vessels were passing close to the Albanian coast when the destroyer HMS Saumarez struck a mine and was badly damaged. She was taken in tow by another destroyer HMS Volage to be towed to Corfu harbour, but the Volage too struck a mine sustaining serious damage. Both ship made it to harbour, but the death toll was 44 killed (36 on the Saumarez and eight on the Volage).

Subsequent operations in the Channel revealed dozens of German mines none of which appeared to have been in the water for long, it was assumed that the Albanians had sown unused and abandoned German mines just days before the incident. The Volage was repaired, but the Saumarez was too badly damaged and was scrapped.

An international court awarded GB £844,000 payable by Albania, but the money was not handed over until after the fall of the Communists in 1992.    

23 October 1739 - GB declares war on Spain. The War of Jenkin's Ear.

In 1713 Spain signed a treaty with GB in which a limited number of British ships were allowed annually to trade in Spanish South American ports. The agreement was widely abused by both sides culminating in a parliamentary enquiry in 1738 during which the case of Captain Robert Jenkins of the brig Rebecca was brought up. 

It was alleged that in 1731 Jenkins' ship was stopped by the Spanish off Cuba and found to be carrying an illegal cargo of sugar. Jenkins said that the Spanish cut off part of his ear as punishment.

Such was the outcry at his treatment that over the following year calls for war with Spain grew. The Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole had largely avoided war during his long tenure, but by autumn 1739 was compelled to give in to public opinion and war was declared.  

The war was still being fought when it was absorbed into a much larger conflict The War of Austrian Succession.

It may not have happened at all, some said that Jenkins lost his ear in a tavern brawl. It was a convenient excuse to go to war with Spain after years of the 1713 agreement being violated.  

24 October 1537 - Jane Seymour died.

Queen Consort of England 1536-37 and third wife of Henry VIII.

Born into the influential Seymour family Jane first attracted the attention of King Henry as a Maid-of-Honour to his second wife Anne Boleyn. She was described as sweet and gentle in contrast to the turbulent Jane who, by early 1536, had fallen out of favour with the King. 

Queen Anne was executed on 19 May, the next day the King and Jane were betrothed and married ten days later on 30 May. She was not crowned however, it is thought that Henry wanted to wait until she had proven herself capable of bearing children. There is evidence to suggest that she became pregnant almost immediately but suffered a miscarriage at Christmas 1536. Early the following year she was with child again, this time she produced a healthy boy on 12 October 1537. However the birth had been a difficult one and Jane fell mortally ill. She died 12 days later aged about 28, the only one of Henry's wives that he genuinely mourned and the only one buried alongside him.

25 October 1806 - The French entered Berlin.

Apart from a brief war at the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars Prussia stayed out of the conflict leaving GB, Austria and Russia to fight France. However by the end of 1805 only GB and Russia remained at war and the Prussians were growing increasingly wary of Napoleonic France which was encircling Prussia with allied/client states. 

By the autumn of 1806 GB and Russia had persuaded Prussia to join them against France, but the once great Prussian army was a shadow of its former self and in October Napoleon from his headquarters in Bavaria launched a surprise attack on Prussia. The French won a series of rapid victories most notably the double victories of Jena and Auerstädt on 14 October in which the two Prussian commanders were killed. 

With nothing standing in their way the French under Marshal Davout entered Berlin on 25 October, Napoleon himself arrived a few days later. The French remained in occupation of the city for a further seven years.       

26 October 899 - Alfred, King of Wessex 871-99, died.

The greatest of England's Anglo-Saxon Kings.

He fought alongside is brother King Ethelred I against the Viking invaders from 870 winning a great victory at Ashdown in January 871. However in April King Ethelred died leaving two infant sons, so the Crown passed to Alfred. 

Despite their defeat at Ashdown the Vikings continued to hold large parts of the south and it was another seven years before Alfred could restore his authority over England.  

Wary of their return he spent the next 15 years building up England's defences so that when the Vikings next descended in numbers in 892 he was ready. By the end of 896 they had been expelled. King Alfred died three years later leaving a safe and secure England.

Reminds me of the joke - why don't Methodists approve of pre-marital sex? It might lead to dancing. 

King Alfred's daughter Ethelfleda is a big name round here. She married the Ealdorman of Mercia and is credited with the foundation of the town of Stafford in 913. 

27 October 1914 - The Sinking of HMS Audacious.

The only Royal Navy dreadnought battleship lost in World War I.

Launched in 1912 and commissioned the following year Audacious was barely a year into service when she struck a German mine off the north coast of Ireland. The auxiliary minelayer SS Berlin had sown around 200 mines in the waters between Tory Island and Co Donegal on 23 October. On the 26th the cargo vessel Manchester Commerce struck one of the mines and sank, although half the crew were rescued news of the minefield was not forwarded to the Admiralty.

The Audacious was conducting gunnery practice when she struck a mine at 0845 the following morning and slowly began to sink. Initially it was hoped that she could make her own way to the safety of Lough Swilly, but after sailing for 15 miles the ingress of water flooded the engine room and all power was lost. Attempts were then made to take her in tow with the White Star liner RMS Olympic coming in from New York attaching a line, but it repeatedly snapped, as did lines attached by other Royal Navy vessels. With no hope of reaching safety the ship was abandoned at 1815 with no loss of life.  

With the light cruiser standing by the Audacious capsized at 2045 and exploded 15 minutes later. Tragically the only fatality in the sinking was a sailor on board the Liverpool was was struck by flying debris and killed. 

28 October 1216 - The Coronation of Henry III.

In 1216 after King John repudiated the Magna Carta disaffected English nobles invited Louis, the son of the King of France to invade England and overthrow the King. A civil war followed at the height of which King John suddenly died leaving the Crown to his nine year old son Henry.

At the time of his father's death Henry and his mother were secure in Devizes Castle in Wiltshire, however he could only be hailed as King with a coronation which was traditionally performed in Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Canterbury. With London in the hands of the rebels and the French Henry and his mother travelled to Gloucester where the King's Council was meeting. 

On 28 October the young King was crowned by the Bishop of Winchester with his mother's circlet. This was the only occasion in which an English Monarch was crowned away from Westminster Abbey. 

Only after the French were paid to leave in 1217 did Henry take up residence in London and in 1220 he was crowned for a second time to confirm his rightful position.  

29 October 1618 - Sir Walter Raleigh executed.

Explorer, adventurer and soldier, favourite of Elizabeth I.

After service as a soldier in Ireland and France Raleigh came to the attention of Queen Elizabeth around 1581, such was his appeal that he was knighted in 1584 and showered with honours and lands. 

In the mid 1580s he began his adventures in the Americas setting up an English colony on Roanoke Island which unfortunately failed leading to an eclipse in his fortunes at Court. After further adventures with the Spanish in the 1590s he attempted to settle to a calmer life when Elizabeth died in 1603.

Always an advocate for war with Spain Raleigh fell out of favour with the new King James I and was arrested on charges of conspiracy and treason. Convicted at Winchester he was sentenced to death, but King James refused to sign the death warrant instead imprisoning him in the Tower. There he remained until 1616 until he persuaded the King that he knew of the location of a vast gold mine in South America which had not been discovered by the Spanish. Lured by this get-rich-quick scheme James released Raleigh allowing him to sail for South America under a promise not to interfere with the Spanish.

Raleigh sailed the following year and once in South America became involved in a skirmish with the Spanish. Having found no gold he returned to England whereupon he was arrested at the insistence of Spain.

No trial was necessary, he was executed under the dormant 1603 death sentence. 

30 October 1923 - Andrew Bonar Law, Prime Minister 1922-23, died. 100 years ago today.

Born in Canada his family emigrated to Scotland when he was 12.

He became a Conservative MP in 1900 and party leader in 1911. In 1915 he was appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies in the Liberal-Conservative wartime coalition, then Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1916 until 1919. Following the resignation of the Prime Minister David Lloyd George in October 1922 Bonar Law was appointed as his successor. He called an immediate General Election and won with a 36 seat majority.

However his health was failing, a fact he kept from almost everyone. Tragically a few weeks after his Election victory he was diagnosed with terminal throat cancer. By the spring of 1923 he could barely speak and resigned in May after just seven months in office.

He died five months later aged 65 and is buried in Westminster Abbey.