Edward Oxford (1822–1900) was an English man who made an assassination
attempt on Queen Victoria in 1840. After losing a series of jobs in pubs
due to erratic and violent behaviour, he bought two pistols and fired
twice at the queen and her husband, Prince Albert; neither shot hit
anyone. Charged with high treason, he was found by a jury to be not
guilty by reason of insanity, and was detained at Bethlem Royal Hospital
and Broadmoor Hospital. Offered exile in 1867, he settled in Melbourne,
Australia, under a new name. He worked as a decorator, married and
became a respected figure at his local church. He began writing stories
for The Argus on the seedier aspects of Melbourne, and later published a
book, Lights and Shadows of Melbourne Life. Oxford's trial and the 1843
trial of Daniel M'Naghten, who killed civil servant Edward Drummond,
prompted the judiciary to frame the M'Naghten rules on instructions to
be given to a jury for a defence of insanity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Oxford>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1924:
Ramsay MacDonald took office as the first prime minister of the
United Kingdom from the Labour Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsay_MacDonald>
1943:
World War II: The Battle of Buna–Gona on New Guinea ended
with an Allied victory after two months of difficult fighting against
well-prepared Japanese defence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buna%E2%80%93Gona>
1968:
Apollo 5, the first flight of NASA's Lunar Module, lifted off
from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_5>
1979:
Uganda–Tanzania War: After surrounding Mutukula the previous
day, Tanzanian forces attacked the town in the Battle of Mutukula and
caused Ugandan forces to flee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mutukula>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
poetic justice:
1. (narratology) Synonym of poetical justice (“the idea that in a
literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice
punished”)
2. (by extension, generally) The fact of someone experiencing what they
deserve for their actions, especially when this happens in an ironic
manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/poetic_justice>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. And certainly
there is a great difference, between a cunning man, and a wise man; not
only in point of honesty, but in point of ability. There be, that can
pack the cards, and yet cannot play well; so there are some that are
good in canvasses and factions, that are otherwise weak men.
--Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Essays_%28Francis_Bacon%29>