1521: Magellan killed in the Philippines

After traveling three-quarters of the way around the globe, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan is killed during a tribal skirmish on Mactan Island. Magellan was helping a local chief conquer a rival tribe when he was injured and left behind by his retreating comrades. In 1520, his expedition had set out from Spain to find a western passage to Indonesia. After sailing through the dangerous straits below South America that now bear his name, he became the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic. Encountering waters so strangely calm that Magellan named the ocean Pacific, his fleet spent 99 days making their westward crossing. After his death in the Philippines, his ships continued the journey and one of the five original ships returned to Spain in September 1522, thus completing the first circumnavigation of the world.
1993In a referendum, Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia.
1981Former Beatle Ringo Starr marries American actress Barbara Bach.
1974A Soviet airliner crashes shortly after take-off from Leningrad Airport killing all 108 passengers and crew on board.
1972US Apollo 16 spacecraft safely crash lands in the Pacific Ocean after taking three astronauts to the Moon.
1968The Abortion Act legalises abortion in Britain.
1967Opening of the Expo 67 Exhibition in Montreal.
1961Sierra Leone gains independence.
1950Britain officially recognises the State of Israel.
1950The Communist Party is outlawed in Australia.
1943Britain's first professional women's jockey makes her racing debut.
1941World War II: Athens falls to the German invaders after 180 days of Greek resistance.
1938Greece and Turkey sign a treaty of friendship.
1937The world's longest suspension bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, is officially opened. Its length: 4,200 feet.
1910Louis Botha and James Hertzob officially found the South African Party.
1908Start of the Fourth Modern Olympic Games in London (April 27-October 31). Britain heads the medal table winning 56 gold.
1830Simon Bolivar abdicates from his position of President of Colombia.
1828Opening of the London Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, London.
1810Beethoven publishes his latest composition for the piano, Fur Elise.
1964British singer Sheena Easton.
1939British actress Judy Carne.
1927English air pioneer Sheila Scott.
1904Irish poet and writer Cecil Day-Lewis - pseudonym of Nicholas Blake.
1822USA President and Army General Ulysses S.Grant.
1791USA inventor Samuel Morse is born in Massachusetts. Inventor of the Morse Code - a system of sending messages via an electric wire.
1737English historian Edward Gibbon. Author of The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire.
1521Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippine Islands.

The American Civil War The Road to war

The American Civil War marked a turning point in the history of conflict. Between 1861 and 1865 the world would witness devastating new weapons and tactics that finally brought an end to Napoleonic warfare and ushered in a brutal and bloody new era which would culminate in the horrendous casualties of the Western Front. The war that divided a nation would have implications that affected the entire world – introducing new concepts from mass production and ironclads to machineguns – it would usher in the age of modern warfare and would leave a nationBackground The war was essentially a battle between two sides that were, on the face of it, almost totally alike. Comrades who had fought side-by-side defending a young nation now found themselves at loggerheads, families were divided and bitterness and destruction littered the land of the free. However, the roots of the conflict are not as simple as is often believed. Far from being the great crusade to free the slaves the conflict had its roots in the very independence won from Britain a century before. The revolutionary state that had established its autonomy in 1783 was not as unified as is often believed; indeed the seeds that would eventually lead to civil war were sown almost 100 years before the first shot was fired. It was in the days of the and the adoption of the Constitution that fundamental differences between north and south were created. At the time these divides were dwarfed by their common interest in establishing a new nation but, once established, the political divide that split the country gradually asserted itself. mourning hundreds of thousands of its children. Keeping the peace The of 1820, which aimed to uphold the balance between slave and free-states within the Union, was intended as a permanent solution to the issue of the extension or prohibition of slavery in the Western federal territories. It saw the admission of Maine to the Union as a free-state, while Missouri joined as a slave state. It also contained a clause forbidding slavery in the remainder of the .However, despite the attempt to ensure a status quo within the system, tensions continued to mount as the expansion of the United States continued and the carefully maintained balance of the Union came under increasing pressure. Since slavery could not be implemented in the vast amount of territory constituting free states, the south became more anxious about maintaining its position as an equal in the Union. Southerners thus strongly supported the annexation of Texas (certain to be a slave state), the and even agitated for the annexation of Cuba. The which saw the admission of California to the Union, ushered in a series of measures which many people, North and South, hailed as a final solution to the question of slavery in the territories. However, as with the Missouri Compromise, it was not long before the two sides were posturing once again. Less than four years after the deal that was intended to heal the divisions of the nation, the first blood was shed as the two sides resorted to violence over the struggle for Kansas. The which became law on May 30, 1854, saw the establishment of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The bill contained a provision stating that the question of slavery should be left to territorial settlers themselves. This was the famous principle that became known as popular sovereignty. In its final form the bill provided for the creation of two new territories instead of one. The obvious inference was that the first would be slave, the second free. The new measure flatly contradicted the provisions of the Missouri Compromise (under which slavery would have been barred from both territories); indeed, an amendment was added specifically repealing that agreement. This aspect of the bill in particular enraged the antislavery forces, but after three months of bitter debate in Congress, it was finally adopted.Undeclared war The effect of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was anything but reassuring to those who had hoped for a peaceful solution. The popular sovereignty provision caused both proslavery and antislavery forces to marshal strength and exert pressure to determine the popular decision in Kansas. Before long an undeclared war was taking place in the region. The result was the tragedy of ‘bleeding Kansas’ as violence across the region rose. Northerners and Southerners were aroused to such passions that sectional division reached a point that precluded reconciliation. The political map now began to change to reflect this growing divide and a new political organization, the , was founded. By 1855 the new party was gaining momentum in the North. Anti-slavery figures such as William Seward and Thurlow Weed were dominant in the new grouping. The party opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the extension of slavery, and favoured the admission of Kansas as a free state. Generally belligerent toward the South, the Republicans were regarded by Southerners with mingled hatred and fear as sectional tension increased. famous 1858 speech, declaring the Republican belief that slavery was a “moral, social and political wrong” upset southern slaveholders and poorer whites who enjoyed their superior social status over slaves. Passions were further inflamed by arguments over the fugitive slave laws and the, which saw a Southern-dominated supreme court declare that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. The activities of extremists now entered the fray, particularly the Northern abolitionist , whose short-lived capture of the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry sparked wild fears in the South. (Brown and his party were quickly overpowered by a company of U.S. marines, commanded by one Colonel ). Political upheaval and civil war The widening gulf now split large Protestant sects into northern and southern branches and resulted in the dissolution of the . Most southern Whigs joined the Democratic Party, one of the few remaining nationwide institutions. The new Republican Party remained a strictly Northern phenomenon. Events came to a head with the presidential election of 1860, in which the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, defeated his opponents. Lincoln's victory was the signal for the of South Carolina on December 20th, 1860. It was followed out of the Union by six other states: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. This new coalition formed the Confederate States of America and, under President Jefferson Davis, declared their intention to remove Federal forces from their land.

COLD CASE FILES: Episode 58

Sometimes police co-operation is a necessary tool in the fight against crime. In this show we see how it takes three police departments in upstate New York to finally home in on a serial murderer and rapist.

It is not until they put their extensive forensic evidence together that the killer can be put to justice.

Forensic evidence can often help solve cases many years after a crime is committed. We see this in the case of a man who is convicted by forensic evidence 22 years after killing a young mother.

Win a copy of 'A Knight's Tale' on DVD

The History Channel is offering you the chance to win a copy of ‘A Knight’s Tale Extended Cut’ on DVD, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Academy Award winning writer/director Brian Helgeland directs an all-star cast in this comedy adventure based on The Canterbury Tales.

Opportunistic young squire William, played by Heath Ledger, falsely takes on his late master’s title. Aided by his loyal cohorts Roland (Mark Addy), Wat (Alan Tudyk) and the unknown writer Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany), he sets out to win the heart of the beautiful Lady Jocelyn.

A blend of romance and medieval action set to a rocking soundtrack. A Knight’s Tale Extended Cut's special features includes an 'HBO Making Of Special', a Robbie Williams music video, and over 10 minutes of new footage.

PRIVATE LIVES: The Tsars

This episodes examines, among other things, Peter the Great's penchant for collecting the preserved remains of deformed babies as well as practicing unlicensed dentistry on his servants.

Also, Empress Anna's ritual of humiliation punishment for those who displeased her, she once made three nobles live and cluck like hens for a week. And Catherine the Great's sexual fetishes including having several-ladies "test drive" potential lovers.

SHOOTOUT: Battlecry Iraq - Ramadi

They’re cold-blooded killers and they’re not particularly selective about their victims, coalition troops, international journalists, innocent Iraqi civilians, just about anyone in Iraq will do, as long as the death causes despair and disruption.

These slaughterers want political power and in their minds, the more havoc they wreak, the better their chances of seizing it.

In the south, militant cleric Muqtada al-Sadr unleashes his militia on U.S. Marines policing Najaf. The two forces battle hand-to-hand in a 1,000-year-old cemetery.

In central Iraq, a skilled insurgent mortar team tries to disrupt national elections by targeting polling places in and around Fallujah.

Marine reconnaissance squads quietly hunt the mortarmen and kill them one-by-one.

In the northern city of Mosul, Uday and Qusay Hussein, the sons of Saddam, help plan and fund insurgent training and operations.

Win a Copy of ‘That Sweet Enemy’

The History Channel is offering you the chance to win a copy of ‘That Sweet Enemy’ By Robert and Isabelle Tombs.

From Blenheim and Waterloo to ‘Up Yours, Delors' and 'Hop Off You Frogs', the cross-Channel relationship has been one of rivalry, misapprehension and even of loathing. But it has also been a relationship of envy, admiration and even affection.

While open warfare between the two was a constant occurrence, anglophilia and francophilia have long histories. And in the last two centuries, while France and Britain have spent much of that time as allies, that alliance has been almost as uneasy, as competitive and as ambivalent as the generations of warfare. Their rivalry, for good and ill, has shaped the modern world, and it is still shaping Europe today.

Robert and Isabelle Tombs' book tells the rich and complex story of the relationship over three centuries, from the reign of Louis XIV to the second Iraq War and the latest expansion of the EU. A story of wars and alliances, but also of food, fashion, sport, literature, sex and music.

That Sweet Enemy brings both British humour and Gallic panache to the story of the two countries, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, in triumph and in defeat, in dominance and in decline.

Robert and Isabelle Tombs (he is English, she French) live in Cambridge. Isabelle teaches French at the Foreign Office and Robert is Reader in French History at Cambridge.

ESCAPE TO THE LEGION: Escape To The Legion - Part 2

No other military force retains the chilling, enigmatic mystery of the French Foreign Legion. It's been painted as the definitive military machine; the harsh last resort for men on the run; and the ultimate boys own adventure. In Escape To The Legion we will aim to marry the historical appeal of Lad's army with the genuine living-history experience of Frontier House.

Led by explorer and former SAS trainer Bear Grylls, a group of mainly British men will be placed in a Saharan Foreign Legion Fort where for 4 weeks they will experience a compressed Foreign Legion training programme led by 3 full uniformed former Legionnaires. The filming will follow the daily ups and downs of these recruits as they attempt to turn themselves into viable Legionnaires.

Traditionally the Legion has been a place for men to escape a past they'd rather forget. You get a new name, a new identity and the chance to start again. Bear will round up a diverse band of 11 men (this is the FOREIGN legion after all) who've realised they desperately need to change: ex-philanderers, ex-cons, bored wage slaves, bankrupts and sad divorcees, all looking for redemption and personal transformation in the harsh life of the Legion. Their backstory will be filmed and intercut throughout the series.

Escape To The Legion will also identify and film a number of former Legionnaires who are mostly British who will talk about their time in the Legion. Their experiences will underpin the veracity of the contemporary experience. Bear's role is of chief motivator. He'll inspire his comrades through the tough times. The challenge is for the whole company to make it through and be presented with the iconic 'kepi blanc' after a series of punishing trials. But by the end of it all, can our disorderly rabble really emerge with the resolve and self discipline to change their lives back home?

Our constructed, all-purpose Legion experience will draw on the most punishing and iconic aspects of Legion life over the past 40 years. And most importantly it'll be helmed by real, war worn, grizzled ex-Legionnaires. Escape To The Legion combines the dramatic tension of the greatest Legion literature with a real contemporary experience of potentially life changing proportions. At last we'll really find out what it to means to run away to join the Foreign Legion.

DECODING THE PAST: The Templar Code Part 1, The Crusade for Secrecy

For nearly two centuries, the Knights Templar were the most powerful order in the Medieval world, a fearsome and unstoppable Crusader militia. Then came accusations of unspeakable crimes.

Who were the Templars, really? How did they become so powerful, so fast, and why did they fall just as quickly?

Evidence hints that the Templars excavated under Jerusalem's Temple of Solomon. What did they find there? Was it, as The Da Vinci Code suggests, the true identity of the holy grail, the bloodline of Christ? Or an unimaginable treasure, documented in the Dead Sea Scrolls, buried a thousand years before the birth of Christ?

This hour explores where the Templars came from, how they lived, trained, fought and became a Medieval world power, and the suspicious circumstances behind their sudden downfall.

BATTLEFIELD DETECTIVES: Masada

Masada was a mountain fortress built by King Herod. Masada was a seemingly impregnable ancient stronghold located in an incredibly dramatic location, rising from the Judean desert of Israel, close to the Dead Sea.

Two thousands years ago, a band of Jewish freedom fighters defied the might of the Roman legions at Masada for three years, choosing death over slavery.

Nine hundred and sixty men, women and children eventually committed suicide rather than submit to their Roman conquerors. Or did they?

DEEP SEA DETECTIVES: U-Boats In The Gulf

In Summer 1942, with the U.S. at war in Europe and the Pacific, few Americans knew that the war raged in their own backyard.

Dozens of HITLERS U-boats had penetrated the Gulf of Mexico, sinking merchant vessels and oil tankers.

Of all the U-boats that attacked the Gulf, only one rests at the bottom of the sea, the U-166.

Experience the excitement of the first thorough investigation into the wreckage since its discovery in 2001 and learn of the technological advances that made its identification possible.
Teams of deep-water detectives use today's cutting-edge technology to make a shipwreck "tell its story."

Each hour-long episode investigates one underwater mystery, told through fascinating underwater footage, CGI graphics, expert interviews, archival materials and dramatic re-enactments.

THE MASTER

The Masters are all long dead, and yet they remain the supreme exponents of their craft - the standard by which all others are judged. For centuries their reputations have endured, through the work they created and in the teachings and wisdom they left behind. Even in this machine age, their skill cannot be surpassed. Technology is no match for the divinely-inspired craftsmanship of master samurai swordsmith Masamune, or the innovative designs of James of St George, the French master castle-builder. In an original series on The History Channel, we profile the lives of six master craftsmen and the attempts of modern-day craftsmen to replicate their techniques. Here we look at the lives and work of those craftsmen, from the master shipwright, Sir Thomas Slade to the expert armourer, Konrad Seusenhofer.

Beyond The Da Vinci Code

'The Da Vinci Code' is a bestselling novel that has sparked a debate that could change the way the world views Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Christianity forever…

What if Jesus and Mary Magdalene had been a married couple and co-leaders of their movement? What if Mary Magdalene, herself, was the Holy Grail; the vessel that was said to hold Jesus’ blood, and the mother of His descendants?

What if the early Church knew about this ‘truth’ but deliberately misled its followers for the next 2000 years? What if there was a secret organization called the Priory of Sion who protected this bloodline throughout the Dark Ages and up into the present day?

What if some of the most illustrious names in art and science had been members of this Priory, charged with passing on this knowledge from generation to generation? And finally, how would the world react if this secret or ‘alternate history’ were revealed to the public?

These are some of the questions that Dan Brown’s 'The Da Vinci Code' raises and seeks to answer. This two-hour documentary will examine both sides of the story: the conventional view of Christianity and the ‘alternate history’ proposed by Brown’s novel.

It is a 2000 year journey through time, examining the histories and mysteries of the Holy Grail - both from the perspective of the believers and from skeptics, letting the viewers reach their own conclusions.

Is it the greatest story ever told or just the greatest story ever sold?

Win a copy of 'The Patriot' on DVD

The History Channel is offering you the chance to win a copy of ‘The Patriot Extended Cut’ on DVD, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Widower and legendary veteran Benjamin Martin (Gibson) wants no part in the conflict with Britain, having renounced his violent past to raise his family in peace.

But when his beloved son Gabriel (Ledger) signs up and is captured by the infamous Colonel Tavington (Isaacs) and his savage British redcoats, Martin finds himself thrust into the midst of the American Revolution.

The only way to defend his family is to face the bloody reality of war and fight for a young nation’s freedom.

Academy Award winner Mel Gibson leads a stellar cast of heavyweight acting talent, including Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs and Tom Wilkinson.

Director Roland Emmerich’s Oscar-nominated action drama returns to DVD in this unmissable new version. Packed with essential special features and including over 10 minutes of never-before-seen footage,

Secret Russian Aircraft of WWII

In spite of the constant danger of being arrested for expressions of radical ideas and false accusations of treason, Soviet aircraft designers mastered technical hurdles astonishing even by today's standards.

The innovative aircraft include a cutting edge swept-wing Delta aircraft design from 1933; a rocket-powered fighter from 1939; a long distance fixed wing aircraft with features incorporated two decades later in the U-2 spyplane; a flying tank prototype; a submarine-bomber combination designed to attack unsuspecting enemy ships in port; and a canard wing, mid-40s aircraft that resembles a modern day Burt Rutan-designed plane.

Also examined is a 1936 Soviet rocket-power fighter, an innovation that bested the Germans by several years.

Indeed, as far back as 1937 the Russians achieved an aviation milestone that shocked the world: the first non-stop, trans-polar flight from Moscow to Washington State, a distance of over 7,000 miles.

A three man crew flying the ANT-25, brainchild of Andrei Tupolov, surprised Americans with its boldness and served as a wake-up call to the United States which was on the brink of canceling its own long distance bomber programme.

Tupolov, whose achievements include the world's first flying wing designed in 1936, followed this achievement with a totally new, high performance fighter aircraft.

Then the first wave of Stalin's paranoia struck. Driven by an irrational, unfounded fear that designers like Tupolov were collaborating with the Germans, Stalin ordered a secret police round-up of his top aviation designers. Tupolov was jailed for an indeterminate time, while other less lucky designers faced the firing squad.
However, the turning point for the Soviet Air Force was a preemptive strike by the German Luftwaffe.

On a single day, June 22, 1941, the Soviet Air Force suffered its own "Pearl Harbour" in the form of a Luftwaffe sneak attack that destroyed almost the entire Soviet Air Force. The race was now on for Russian designers to build a fighter capable of knocking out the Luftwaffe's bombers.

Win a copy of 'Washington's Crossing' By David Hackett Fischer

The History Channel is offering you the chance to win a copy of 'Washington's Crossing' By David Hackett Fischer.

Six months after the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution was all but lost. A powerful British force had routed the Americans at New York, occupied three colonies, and advanced within sight of Philadelphia.

George Washington lost ninety percent of his army and was driven across the Delaware River. Panic and despair spread through the states. Yet, as David Hackett Fischer recounts, Washington and many other Americans refused to let the Revolution die.

Even as the British and Germans spread their troops across New Jersey, the people of the colony began to rise against them. George Washington saw his opportunity and seized it. On Christmas night, he led his men across the river and attacked the exhausted Hessian garrison at Trenton, killing or capturing nearly a thousand men. A second battle of Trenton followed within days.

The Americans held off a counterattack by Lord Cornwallis's best troops, then were almost trapped by the British force. Under cover of night, Washington's men stole behind the enemy and struck them again, defeating a brigade at Princeton.

The British were badly shaken. In twelve weeks of winter fighting, their army suffered severe damage, their hold on New Jersey was broken, and their strategy was ruined.

Fischer reveals the crucial role of contingency in these events. We see how the campaign unfolded in a sequence of difficult choices by many, from generals to civilians, on both sides.

While the British and German forces remained rigid and hierarchical, the Americans evolved an open and flexible system that was fundamental to their success. At the same time, they developed an American ethic of warfare that John Adams called "the policy of humanity," and showed that moral victories could have powerful material effects.

The startling success of Washington and his compatriots not only saved the faltering American Revolution, but helped to give it new meaning, in a pivotal moment for American history.

David Hackett Fischer is one of America's most renowned historians. He is University Professor at Brandeis University.

DECODING THE PAST: Unravelling the Shroud

For centuries the Shroud of Turin has been a touchstone of faith for millions. Many believe it is the primary evidence of the way Jesus Christ died on the cross. But is it real or a clever forgery? Did genius play a trick on the Roman Catholic Church?

We travel to Turin, Italy to meet those who care for and display the Shroud. We investigate the security measures and preservation methods associated with the Shroud.

We also learn the story of the Shroud's journey from country to country, from the Holy Land all the way to Italy, and of the public displays of the Shroud along the way that drew pilgrims by the thousands.

We'll examine the latest scientific tests on the Shroud. How did the image of the man on the Shroud appear on the cloth? Was it art? Or was it a miracle? Scientists, theologians, historians and authors offer an astonishing array of theories.

MAN MOMENT MACHINE: Dam Buster WWII's Bouncing Bomb

In 1943 the Second World War was not going well for the Allies. With the Nazis in firm control of Europe and the coastline, the enemy was only approachable by air.

Engineer Barnes Wallis thought he could turn the war around. His idea was to wipe out the heart of the industrial machine by destroying the great dams of Germany.

The machine he built to do this was a bouncing bomb, an innovative blend of simple physics and precision flying.

It was an idea so simple, yet so far-fetched that only a man supremely confident in his own talents could have persuaded the Royal Air Force to use it.

MODERN MARVELS: Extreme Aircraft

Modern Marvels looks at some of the most cutting-edge aircraft ever developed, from the X-1 that first broke the sound barrier to the X-43 Scramjet that recently flew at Mach 7.

These extreme aircraft have made their mark on aeronautical history, and sometimes on political history as well.

The U-2 and SR-71 spy planes played a crucial role in the Cold War, and now Lockheed Martin's top-secret "Skunkworks" division is touting the new "air dominance" fighter plane, the F/A-22 Raptor.

DEEP SEA DETECTIVES

Titanic's Final Moments: Missing Pieces A top-secret expedition by The History Channel to the Titanic wreck site, conducted in August 2005, produced never-before-seen footage that could completely rewrite the final moments of the world’s most famous sunken vessel. Using high-definition photographic equipment, an internationally acknowledged team of experts has located brand-new information that maritime historian Simon Mills has termed "...possibly the most significant pieces of evidence since the wreck was located in 1985." In August 2005, John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, hosts of , led an expedition to the wreck of . Diving two and a half miles down in Russian submersibles, they searched outside the known debris field for new evidence. On their final dive they made an extraordinary find: two large intact sections of the bottom hull of the Titanic in pristine condition with the red bottom paint still on them. For four months, a team of historians, marine architects, and engineers has been conducting a forensic analysis of this find. All agree that it's the most significant new discovery since the wreck was located in 1985. Analysis is ongoing, but preliminary indications are that these bottom sections will change our understanding of how the ship broke apart, and rewrite the story of the .

When is Easter?

According to the New Testament, Christ was crucified on the eve of and shortly afterward rose from the dead. In consequence, the Easter festival commemorated Christ’s resurrection. In time, a serious difference over the date of the Easter festival arose among Christians. Those of Jewish origin celebrated the resurrection immediately following the Passover festival, which, according to their Babylonian lunar calendar, fell on the evening of the full moon (the 14th day in the month of Nisan, the first month of the year); by their reckoning, Easter, from year to year, fell on different days of the week.
Christians of Gentile origin, however, wished to commemorate the resurrection on the first day of the week, Sunday; by their method, Easter occurred on the same day of the week, but from year to year it fell on different dates. An important historical result of the difference in reckoning the date of Easter was that the Christian churches in the East, which were closer to the birthplace of the new religion and in which old traditions were strong, observed Easter according to the date of the Passover festival. The churches of the West, descendants of Greco-Roman civilization, celebrated Easter on a Sunday.
Rulings of the Council of Nicaea on the Date of EasterConstantine I, Roman emperor, convoked the Council of Nicaea in 325. The council unanimously ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Christian world on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox; and that if the full moon should occur on a Sunday and thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should be commemorated on the Sunday following. Coincidence of the feasts of Easter and Passover was thus avoided.
The Council of Nicaea also decided that the calendar date of Easter was to be calculated at Alexandria, then the principal astronomical center of the world. The accurate determination of the date, however, proved an impossible task in view of the limited knowledge of the 4th-century world. The principal astronomical problem involved was the discrepancy, called the epact, between the solar year and the lunar year. The chief calendric problem was a gradually increasing discrepancy between the true astronomical year and the Julian calendar then in use.
Later Dating MethodsWays of fixing the date of the feast tried by the church proved unsatisfactory, and Easter was celebrated on different dates in different parts of the world. In 387, for example, the dates of Easter in France and Egypt were 35 days apart. About 465, the church adopted a system of calculation proposed by the astronomer Victorinus (fl. 5th cent.), who had been commissioned by Pope Hilarius (r. 461–68) to reform the calendar and fix the date of Easter. Elements of his method are still in use. Refusal of the British and Celtic Christian churches to adopt the proposed changes led to a bitter dispute between them and Rome in the 7th century.
Reform of the Julian calendar in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, through adoption of the Gregorian calendar, eliminated much of the difficulty in fixing the date of Easter and in arranging the ecclesiastical year; since 1752, when the Gregorian calendar was also adopted in Great Britain and Ireland, Easter has been celebrated on the same day in the Western part of the Christian world. The Eastern churches, however, which did not adopt the Gregorian calendar, commemorate Easter on a Sunday either preceding or following the date observed in the West. Occasionally the dates coincide; the most recent times were in 1865 and 1963.
Because the Easter holiday affects a varied number of secular affairs in many countries, it has long been urged as a matter of convenience that the movable dates of the festival be either narrowed in range or replaced by a fixed date in the manner of Christmas. In 1923 the problem was referred to the Holy See, which has found no canonical objection to the proposed reform. In 1928 the British Parliament enacted a measure allowing the Church of England to commemorate Easter on the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. Despite these steps toward reform, Easter continues to be a movable feast.

PRIVATE LIVES: The Pharaohs

This episode of Private Lives looks at the lives of the Pharaohs, Hatshepsut - the female Pharaoh, Cheops, Tomb Robbers, Nefertiti, Amenhotep and Akhenaten.

From the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt to the Emperors of mighty Rome, they were extraordinary people living extraordinary lives, some were thought to be Gods. But look a little closer and you'll see that the lifestyles of many were not at all God-like. Far from it, in fact.

For the worst traits of ordinary men were very much in evidence in the palaces of the mighty. The great and the good were able to resist anything, except temptation. If news of some of their excesses broke tomorrow, there would be scandals the like of which has rarely been seen before.

There were no television crews or salacious newspaper headlines to muck things up. Everybody had a vested interest in keeping any delicate or unsavoury matters very much under wraps. No one wanted a scandal, but everyone liked to gossip, and gossip they did. Some record of the darker side of the ancient rulers still exists. And much of it is juicy. Very juicy indeed.

'Private Lives' boldly goes where no camera has gone before. The series shines an unforgiving light into some of the darker recesses of the ancient world to reveal that the antics of modern day rock stars, footballers, television celebrities and film stars are hardly new.

Sex scandals? Plots and intrigues? Power struggles? Blackmail? Incest? Rape? There were enough to fill the red-top tabloids a hundred times over.

'Private Lives' gets down to the nitty-gritty, allowing the modern media to have its day and provide a glimpse behind the ancient palaces and mighty castles to show a world all us will recognise - a world of human frailty.

VANISHINGS: The Abandoned Airship

For a dozen turbulent years between the two World Wars, the United States Navy poured millions of Depression-era dollars into an audacious dream: to rule the skies with a fleet of massive airships. Armed with their own squadrons of scout planes, these "Battleships of the Skies" could travel far over the horizon to detect the enemy's approach. Journey into a lost chapter of military history to discover how the airships USS Shenandoah, USS Akron and USS Macon were lost in a series of terrible aviation disasters that shocked the nation and altered the evolution of aerial warfare.

PRIVATE LIVES: Roman Emperors

This episode of Private Lives looks at the lives Roman Emperors, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Nero.

From the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt to the Emperors of mighty Rome, they were extraordinary people living extraordinary lives, some were thought to be Gods. But look a little closer and you'll see that the lifestyles of many were not at all God-like. Far from it, in fact.

For the worst traits of ordinary men were very much in evidence in the palaces of the mighty. The great and the good were able to resist anything, except temptation. If news of some of their excesses broke tomorrow, there would be scandals the like of which has rarely been seen before.

There were no television crews or salacious newspaper headlines to muck things up. Everybody had a vested interest in keeping any delicate or unsavoury matters very much under wraps. No one wanted a scandal, but everyone liked to gossip, and gossip they did. Some record of the darker side of the ancient rulers still exists. And much of it is juicy. Very juicy indeed.

'Private Lives' boldly goes where no camera has gone before. The series shines an unforgiving light into some of the darker recesses of the ancient world to reveal that the antics of modern day rock stars, footballers, television celebrities and film stars are hardly new.

Sex scandals? Plots and intrigues? Power struggles? Blackmail? Incest? Rape? There were enough to fill the red-top tabloids a hundred times over.

'Private Lives' gets down to the nitty-gritty, allowing the modern media to have its day and provide a glimpse behind the ancient palaces and mighty castles to show a world all us will recognise - a world of human frailty

Win a copy of 'Boudica' By Vanessa CollingridgeCollingridge

The History Channel is offering you the chance to win a copy of ‘Boudica’ by Vanessa Collingridge, courtesy of Ebury Press.

The Queen of the Iceni has been immortalised as the woman who dared to take on the Romans to avenge her daughters, her tribe and her enslaved country. Her infamy rests not only on the fact that she almost drove the Romans out of Britain; her legend became a point of reference for any woman in power – from Elizabeth I to the suffragettes to Margaret Thatcher. Yet along the way, the real story behind this historical icon was lost. Until now.

Vanessa Collingridge has had a passion for Boudica for over 20 years, drawn to this rebel leader with the same flame-coloured hair. Her search for the truth behind the legends took her on a fascinating journey from Britain to Rome, from libraries and archives to muddy fields, ancient ruins and to the homes of metal detectorists, all in an effort to present an honest full-bodied history of an Iron Age queen.

Combining the very latest research with recent archaeological discoveries, Vanessa Collingridge uncovers a story more astounding and gripping than previously known.

Collingridge expertly exposes a fight to the death between cultures, between sexes, and between the old world of myth and magic and the new world of ruthless imperial strategy – all set against a backdrop of international political and economic powerplay in one of the most tumultuous periods of history.

DECODING THE PAST: Unravelling the Shroud

For centuries the Shroud of Turin has been a touchstone of faith for millions. Many believe it is the primary evidence of the way Jesus Christ died on the cross. But is it real or a clever forgery? Did Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci play a trick on the Roman Catholic Church?

We travel to Turin, Italy to meet those who care for and display the Shroud. We investigate the security measures and preservation methods associated with the Shroud.

We also learn the story of the Shroud's journey from country to country, from the Holy Land all the way to Italy, and of the public displays of the Shroud along the way that drew pilgrims by the thousands.

We'll examine the latest scientific tests on the Shroud. How did the image of the man on the Shroud appear on the cloth? Was it art? Or was it a miracle? Scientists, theologians, historians and authors offer an astonishing array of theories.

MAN MOMENT MACHINE: Dam Buster WWII's Bouncing Bomb

In 1943 the Second World War was not going well for the Allies. With the Nazis in firm control of Europe and the coastline, the enemy was only approachable by air.

Engineer Barnes Wallis thought he could turn the war around. His idea was to wipe out the heart of the Nazi industrial machine by destroying the great dams of Germany.

The machine he built to do this was a bouncing bomb, an innovative blend of simple physics and precision flying.

It was an idea so simple, yet so far-fetched that only a man supremely confident in his own talents could have persuaded the Royal Air Force to use it.

Murder Hotel

HH Holmes began his career of murder in 1888, while Jack The Ripper was infamously at work in London.

Though not as well known today as the Ripper, the Chicago-based Holmes was far more prolific.

He finally confessed to 28 horrific killings, and was implicated in 200 more, after a private detective made a series of gruesome discoveries in Holmes' mansion-cum-boarding house, a place purpose-built for perversion, murder and the disposal of bodies.

Hanged in May 1896, his final words were "I built a castle for the pleasure of killing my fellow beings".

Murder Hotel is the chilling story of America's first serial killer, featuring a CGI recreation of the elaborate 60-room

Who Burnt Rome?

The Great Fire of Rome was the single most destructive force ever encountered by the Roman Empire, lasting nine days and leaving 10 of Rome's 14 districts burnt beyond recognition.

The emperor Nero was widely believed to have started the fire as a means of destroying his aristocratic adversaries and clearing space for his Golden Palace. Nero in turn blamed the Christians for starting the fire and a large wave of prosecution started.

However, mud sticks and by 68AD Nero had alienated the Senate, the Army and the people and was declared a public enemy so he fled to the country and committed suicide.

Two thousand years later, vital questions surrounding the fire remain unanswered. Was the fire an act of arson or an accident, and who really started it?

4 Little Girls

On September 15, 1963, a bomb destroyed a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls who were there for Sunday school.

It was a crime that shocked the nation and a defining moment in the history of America's civil-rights movement.

Now, nearly 35 years later, acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee tells the full story of the bombing, through heart-wrenching testimonials from surviving members of the victims' families, insights from Bill Cosby, Walter Cronkite, Andrew Young, Coretta Scott King and many others, and a rare and revealing interview with former Alabama Governor George Wallace.

FIRST ASTRONAUTS INTRODUCED:April 9, 1959

On April 9, 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) introduces America's first astronauts to the press: Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr., and Donald Slayton. The seven men, all military test pilots, were carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury, America's first manned space program. NASA planned to begin manned orbital flights in 1961.
On October 4, 1957, the USSR scored the first victory of the "space race" when it successfully launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into Earth's orbit. In response, the United States consolidated its various military and civilian space efforts into NASA, which dedicated itself to beating the Soviets to manned space flight. In January 1959, NASA began the astronaut selection procedure, screening the records of 508 military test pilots and choosing 110 candidates. This number was arbitrarily divided into three groups, and the first two groups reported to Washington. Because of the high rate of volunteering, the third group was eliminated. Of the 62 pilots who volunteered, six were found to have grown too tall since their last medical examination. An initial battery of written tests, interviews, and medical history reviews further reduced the number of candidates to 36. After learning of the extreme physical and mental tests planned for them, four of these men dropped out.
The final 32 candidates traveled to the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they underwent exhaustive medical and psychological examinations. The men proved so healthy, however, that only one candidate was eliminated. The remaining 31 candidates then traveled to the Wright Aeromedical Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, where they underwent the most grueling part of the selection process. For six days and three nights, the men were subjected to various tortures that tested their tolerance of physical and psychological stress. Among other tests, the candidates were forced to spend an hour in a pressure chamber that simulated an altitude of 65,000 feet, and two hours in a chamber that was heated to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. At the end of one week, 18 candidates remained. From among these men, the selection committee was to choose six based on interviews, but seven candidates were so strong they ended up settling on that number.
After they were announced, the "Mercury Seven" became overnight celebrities. The Mercury Project suffered some early setbacks, however, and on April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth in the world's first manned space flight. Less than one month later, on May 5, astronaut Alan Shepard was successfully launched into space on a suborbital flight. On February 20, 1962, in a major step for the U.S. space program, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. NASA continued to trail the Soviets in space achievements until the late 1960s, when NASA's Apollo program put the first men on the moon and safely returned them to Earth.
In 1998, 36 years after his first space flight, John Glenn traveled into space again. Glenn, then 77 years old, was part of the Space Shuttle Discovery crew, whose 9-day research mission launched on October 29, 1998. Among the crew's investigations was a study of space flight and the aging process.

Zapata assassinated in Mexico

Emiliano Zapata, a leader of peasants and indigenous people during the Mexican Revolution, is ambushed and shot to death in Morelos by government forces. Born a peasant, Zapata was forced into the Mexican army in 1908 following his attempt to recover village lands taken over by a rancher. After the revolution began in 1910, he raised an army of peasants in the southern state of Morelos under the slogan "Land and Liberty." Demanding simple agrarian reforms, Zapata and his guerrilla farmers opposed the central Mexican government under Madero, later under Victoriano Huerta, and finally under Venustiano Carranza. Zapata and his followers never gained control of the central Mexican government, but they redistributed land and aided poor farmers within the territory under their control. Zapata's influence has endured long after his death, and his agrarian reform movement, known as zapatismo, remains important to many Mexicans today.

LETTERS HOME FROM VIETNAM: Dear America

This programme presents actual letters home from the American men and women who served in South-East Asia tell the real story of the American experience in Vietnam.

Set to newsreel footage and veterans’ home movies, the letters are read off-camera by some of today’s finest actors, including Tom Berenger, Robert De Niro, Michael J Fox, Kathleen Turner and Robin Williams.

LIFE AND DEATH IN ROME: Doom

This week we uncover how it all went wrong for the world’s first superpower. We see how after centuries of domination, barbarian tribes overturned Imperial power and seized control of Western civilization.

After 600 years as rulers of the world, the Roman Empire faced annihilation. At the start of Fifth Century even the ultimate city of Rome was besieged.

In 410 the Goths stormed Rome. The city that had once been the glorious capital of the Empire, the symbol of Roman supremacy was now in enemy hands. How could this happen?

We look at how inexperience, infighting and sheer incompetence undermined the Empire and how the army, once the flagship Roman institution, became so fractured and feeble that when enemies breached the frontiers they could not push the Goths back.

As Rome fell the Roman Legions were pulled out of Britain by the Emperor anxious to protect himself even if that meant dismantling the frontiers. The people who had once lived under Roman rule now had to look to their own defences as the barbarian tribes moved into Western Europe.

Everything the Roman Empire had brought to Europe still endured – the buildings, institutions, language, law and the Christian church, it was just modified and adopted.

This is the extraordinary tale of why Rome itself fell but how the idea of Rome endured. We will show how Roman Europe survived and evolved on its own terms, without the great city-state at its heart and how Rome lived on in the people who still aspired to be Roman and live as the Romans had, including the ‘barbarians.’

Our story moves between the great waning city of Rome and northernmost province of Britain. Rome on the brink of Barbarian domination and Britain, deserted by its soldiers but struggling on. There the elite hired Saxon bodyguards keep their peace until the guards turn on their Romano-British masters and began to conquer Britain.

Finally, we reveal the extraordinary story of Rome’s ultimate legacy to the Twenty-First Century.

PRIVATE LIVES: European Monarchs

This episode of Private Lives looks at the lives of Kings and Queens, Queen Victoria, King Edward II and King George IV.

From the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt to the Emperors of mighty Rome, they were extraordinary people living extraordinary lives, some were thought to be Gods. But look a little closer and you'll see that the lifestyles of many were not at all God-like. Far from it, in fact.

For the worst traits of ordinary men were very much in evidence in the palaces of the mighty. The great and the good were able to resist anything, except temptation. If news of some of their excesses broke tomorrow, there would be scandals the like of which has rarely been seen before.

There were no television crews or salacious newspaper headlines to muck things up. Everybody had a vested interest in keeping any delicate or unsavoury matters very much under wraps. No one wanted a scandal, but everyone liked to gossip, and gossip they did. Some record of the darker side of the ancient rulers still exists. And much of it is juicy. Very juicy indeed.

'Private Lives' boldly goes where no camera has gone before. The series shines an unforgiving light into some of the darker recesses of the ancient world to reveal that the antics of modern day rock stars, footballers, television celebrities and film stars are hardly new.

Sex scandals? Plots and intrigues? Power struggles? Blackmail? Incest? Rape? There were enough to fill the red-top tabloids a hundred times over.

'Private Lives' gets down to the nitty-gritty, allowing the modern media to have its day and provide a glimpse behind the ancient palaces and mighty castles to show a world all us will recognise - a world of human frailty.

The Krays

Britain’s most notorious gangsters of all time were East-end duo, identical twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray. They went from rags to riches and became legends in their own time. But the two brothers’ lives were tragically intertwined.

Throughout the Swinging Sixties, the Kray twins unleashed a reign of psychotic terror across London’s crime-ridden East End, leaving a gruesome trail of violence and murder in their path. Ron and Reg ruled the city with 100 thugs on call 24/7. But inside, they were prisoners of their own madness, celebrity-lust, and denial.
More than money, the twins wanted fame. They were gay, but unwilling to sacrifice respect. At once, they were each other’s greatest companions and worst competition.

Finally, unable to control the schizophrenia brewing inside, the consequences were explosive. Though they spent most of their lives in jail, their legend continues to both haunt and enthral.

When they died, their funerals were like royalty. Tens of thousands turned out in London’s East End. On his deathbed, Reg