Historical Events
Siege of Damascus Ends
1148 Crusaders abandon their siege of Damascus after only four days leading to the disintegration of the Second Crusade
1586 English astronomer and mathematician Thomas Harriot introduces potatoes to Europe on his return to England from Roanoke Island in modern-day North Carolina
Poet Laureate Henry James Pye
1790 Henry James Pye appointed as British Poet Laureate by King George III
1800 Thames River Police is established by an act of British Parliament, replacing the earlier Marine Police (1798-1800) as the world's oldest continuously serving police force
Frankenstein on the Stage
1828 First theatrical performance of Mary Shelley 's novel "Frankenstein" as "Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein" by Richard Brinsley Peake, starr