On this day...

...in 1279 BC Rameses II became pharaoh and ruled Egypt for 66 years. Spookily, this is nearly almost exactly as long as prominent Egyptologist, Philip Adams has been writing columns for The Australian. Coincidence? Perhaps... A recent microscopic inspection of the Ramster's mummy revealed he may have been a fanta pants. His mummified remains bare a striking resemblance to Molly Meldrum.

Martin Frobisher sailed from England to Canada on this day in 1578 to mine what he thought was gold, instead bringing tons of pretty worthless iron pyrites back to England.

Roman Bishop Alois Hudal was born on this day in 1885. Hudal helped to establish a way for nazis to escape trial at the end of WWII. He is remembered as the “brown bishop”, presumably on account of being a shit.

Samuel Pepys made the last entry in his racy diary today in 1669. Pepys recorded that he had a stone the size of a tennis ball removed from his bladder. The stone was removed without anaesthetic from an incision between the scrotum and the anus and assisted by a tool that had been inserted into the bladder through the penis. He held a celebration of the anniversary of the operation every year.

The world's first hippie, Sir Francis Younghusband was born on this day in 1863. After invading Tibet, Younghusband wrote a number of new age books in which he extolled the virtues of nature, free love and cosmic rays. Tragically, he died in 1942, well before the invention of tin-foil hats.