The Battle of Babylon Hill was a skirmish between Royalist and
Parliamentarian forces in South West England, on 7 September 1642,
during the early stages of the First English Civil War. After a failed
Parliamentarian siege of Sherborne, about 350 Royalists were sent to
reconnoitre near Yeovil. Under the command of Sir Ralph Hopton
(pictured), the detachment established itself on Babylon Hill, on the
outskirts of the town. When they were withdrawing late in the day a
force of Parliamentarians approached. A chaotic battle ensued, mostly
due to the inexperience of the soldiers involved. The Parliamentarian
force made a cavalry attack, which the Royalists were able to repel,
though sections of both forces were routed. In the confusion, the
Royalists were eventually able to pull back under the cover of darkness.
Both sides claimed they had killed sixty or more; a modern estimate
suggests that the Royalists lost around twenty, and the Parliamentarians
five.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Babylon_Hill>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1778:
Anglo-French War: France invaded the Caribbean island of
Dominica and captured its British fort before Britain had even learned
of the Franco-American alliance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Dominica_%281778%29>
1927:
American inventor Philo Farnsworth transmitted the first images
using his all-electronic television system.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth>
1965:
Indo-Pakistani War: The Pakistan Navy began a raid on the
Indian coastal town of Dwarka in its first engagement against India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dwarka>
2011:
Yak-Service Flight 9633, carrying the players and coaching
staff of the ice hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, crashed on take-off
near Yaroslavl, Russia, resulting in the deaths of 44 of the 45 people
on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokomotiv_Yaroslavl_plane_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
spit:
1. A thin metal or wooden rod on which meat is skewered for cooking,
often over a fire.
2. A generally low, narrow, pointed, usually sandy peninsula. […]
3. (uncountable) Saliva, especially when expectorated.
4. (countable) An instance of spitting; specifically, a light fall of
rain or snow. […]
5. The depth to which the blade of a spade goes into the soil when it is
used for digging; a layer of soil of the depth of a spade's blade.
6. The amount of soil that a spade holds; a spadeful.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spit>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Learning … should be a joy and full of excitement. It is life's
greatest adventure; it is an illustrated excursion into the minds of
noble and learned men, not a conducted tour through a jail. So its
surroundings should be as gracious as possible, to complement it.
--Taylor Caldwell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Taylor_Caldwell>