Today is...

Tonga's National Day. Tonga was nicknamed the Friendly Isles by Captain Cook, who was unaware the natives had simply failed to come up with a mutually agreeable plan to kill him.

the National Flag Day of Finnish Defence Forces. The strategy of the Finnish defence forces if attacked is to hide in forests. I'm not kidding.

the day in 1913 that suffragette Emily Davison ran out in front of the King's horse, Anmer at the Epsom Derby. She was trampled and died a few days later. Although finishing first, Craganour was disqualified for interference, and the prize was awarded to Aboyeur. Being impeded for a run, many spectators thought Anmer did well under the conditions, and marked him down as one to watch.

the anniversary of the 1922 death of psychiatrist, William Halse Rivers Rivers. He became famous during WWI for his work on patients suffering shellshock, and for his name which is thought to have come about because of a clerical error. Ironically, he suffered from a stammer.

the anniversary of the 1926 death of great cricketer, Fred Spofforth. Dubbed "The Demon" by John "Foghorn" Jackson, he was the bowler whom English batsmen feared most, and is also regarded as the first bowler to intimidate batsmen with eye contact. In their second innings, England required only 85 runs to clinch the Ashes series in 1882, but Spofforth refused to give up. "Boys," he said famously, "this thing can be done". The Australians won by seven runs, Spofforth taking match figures of 14 for 90, and precipitating the end of the British Empire.