On This Day - 22nd December
>1550 The death of Richard Plantagenet (Richard of Eastwell). Shorty before the Battle of Bosworth (Richard - then aged 16) was taken to see King Richard III at his encampment. The King informed the boy that he was his son, and told him to watch the battle from a safe vantage point, telling him that, if he won, he would acknowledge him as his son. If he lost, the boy was told that he had to forever conceal his identity. King Richard was killed in the battle, the boy fled to London and was apprenticed to a bricklayer, but kept up the Latin he had learned by reading during his work.
>1696 The birth of James Oglethorpe, English general and founder of the state of Georgia.
>1715 James Edward Stuart, son of James II, the deposed Catholic King of England, landed at Petershead in north-east Scotland, after his exile in France, to lead a Jacobite rebellion against England. The rebellion failed.
>1716 Lincoln's Inn Theatre in London put on England's first pantomime which included the characters Harlequin, Columbine and Pantaloon.
>1919 The Government of Ireland Act of Power (Home Rule for Ireland) came into being. It was signed by King George V. Ireland was divided into two parts, each with its own parliament.
>1942 World War II: Adolf Hitler signed the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon. It was the world's first, long-range weapon and was developed specifically to target London and later Antwerp. Over 3,000 V-2s were launched as military rockets against Allied targets during the war.
>1943 The children's writer, Beatrix Potter, died. Her house at Hill Top, Sawrey is open to the public.
>1965 The government introduced an 'experimental' speed limit of 70mph on motorways in England. The limit is still in force.
>1965 Richard Dimbleby, British broadcaster, died.
>1974 The Provisional IRA threw a bomb onto the 1st floor balcony of the home of the Conservative leader and former Prime Minister Edward Heath. He arrived home 10 minutes after the bomb exploded.
>2014 A grey seal was spotted in a farmer's field in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, 20 miles inland. The disorientated animal was captured and transferred to a wildlife centre in Nantwich, Cheshire.
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