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Events

Special days marked on this website, for May 21, 2025

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May 21 ns

May 8 os

We mark certain days of the year with ‘On This Day’ posts, recalling events associated with them.

Our events are grouped under two calendars. The Gregorian ‘New Style’ (NS) is the worldwide calendar first issued at Rome in 1582. On that calendar, today is May 21. The Julian ‘Old Style’ (OS), also issued at Rome but in 46 BC, was used in Roman Britain and then in England from Anglo-Saxon times until 1752. It is still used today by roughly 100 million Orthodox Christians worldwide. On that calendar, today is May 8.

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Today

The Peninsular War

Napoleon’s six-year-long campaign (1808-1814) to bring Spain and Portugal into his united Europe was frustrated by Arthur Wellesley.

Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself Emperor of the French in 1804, with the aim of bringing order to the chaos of a disunited Europe through his ‘Napoleonic Code.’ Spain initially welcomed Napoleon’s vision, but when his true ambitions became clear the Spanish appealed for help from Napoleon’s most powerful enemy: the United Kingdom.

On This DayDecember 22 ns1 post

The Battle of Vitoria (1813)

Today

A Personal Favour

Over a hundred young Greeks were slated to be shot after resistance fighters and British forces sabotaged an airfield.

The German occupation of Greece began in 1941, and continued for three years of forced labour, summary executions, and famines. By the summer of 1944, Berlin was struggling to keep hold of the Mediterranean, but airbases popping up on the Greek islands might have been a grave setback for the Allied cause.

On This DayDecember 9 os2 posts

The Feast of Blessed Philotheos Zervakos

Today

The Miracle of St John of the Caves

The story of an unexpected escape through the heart of a hill.

This tale is not as far-fetched as it may sound. The hills about and the ground beneath the chapel of St John are riddled with spectacular caves and passages leading away from the church.

On This DayDecember 9 os1 post

The Feast of St John the Evangelist

The Calendar below shows the year on the Roman (Gregorian or ‘New Style’) Calendar for 2025. Click on any date to see the events we have marked for it.

Roman Easter 2025: Sunday April 20

Old English Easter 2025: Sunday April 20

Christmas 2025: Thursday December 25

Old English Christmas 2025: Wednesday January 7, 2026