'Common era', the non-religious way of saying AD ('anno Domini', or 'the year of our lord').
CE
Fact of the Day
Philip II of France decided on his wedding day that he didn't like his wife. So he sent her to a nunnery and ordered her to stay there.
Quote of the Day
"I remain just one thing, and one thing only - and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.
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~ Charlie Chaplin
On This Day
1536 The trial of four of Anne Boleyn's 'lovers'. Only one confessed (under torture), which he maintained up to the point of his death.
1689 William III went to war with France. It was the start of more than a century of titanic clashes for global hegemony.
1789 William Wilberforce made his first speech to the Commons on the abolition of slavery.
1926 Limited power of unions shown as TUC calls off General Strike without consulting miners, who went back to work in November on reduced pay.
1937 In a ceremony that had originally been scheduled for his brother, Edward VIII (who had abdicated in December 1936), George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1969 The minimum voting age in Britain was reduced from 21 to 18.
1994 The popular Labour leader John Smith died of a heart attack. He was replaced as leader by Tony Blair.