On This Day

raveydavey · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 6:00 pm Post subject:

June 26th:

1483 Richard, Duke of Gloucester, began to rule England as Richard III, having deposed his nephew, Edward V. Edward and his brother, Richard, Duke of York, were soon afterwards murdered in the Tower of London.

1830 George IV died. His brother, William VI ascended the throne.

1857 The first investiture ceremony for Victoria Cross awards took place in Hyde Park, London. Queen Victoria presented 62 servicemen with Britain's highest military honour.

1862 Joseph Wells (father of sci-fi writer H.G. Wells) was a Kent cricketer and became the first man to take four first class wickets with four consecutive balls, playing against Sussex.

1898: Birth of Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer who built the first jet fighter to go into combat, his ME-262, in 1944. A former glider and sailplane designer, he developed a major aircraft business.

1906: The first Grand Prix took place at Le Mans. The Hungarian Ferenc Szisz was the winner, driving a Renault at an average speed of 63 mph.

1909 London's Victoria & Albert Museum opened to the public

1917: The first contingent of the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France under General Pershing.

1937 Britain's Duke of Windsor married American divorcee Wallis Simpson in France following his abdication from the throne as Edward VIII.

1939 Britain's first National Serviceman, Private Rupert Alexander, signed up for the Middlesex Regiment. His service number was 10000001.

1945 Delegates from nations around the world signed the United Nations Charter, designed to help ensure future world peace. The first meeting of the U.N. General Assembly occurred in London early the following year.

1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and President Eisenhower.

1963: Kennedy: 'Ich bin ein Berliner' (literally, "I am a donut"). President Kennedy inspires the people of West Germany with a morale-boosting speech of defiance to the Soviet Union.

1974 British actor Richard Burton divorced his wife, American actress Elizabeth Taylor.

1986 Entrepreneur Richard Branson set off on his second attempt to claim the transatlantic powerboat record for Britain.

1991 After campaigning to prove their innocence for 15 years, the 'Maguire Seven' were cleared by the Court of Appeal of running an IRA bomb factory in England.

1997 Dresses belonging to Diana, Princess of Wales were auctioned for more than £2million in New York.

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raveydavey · Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 1:01 pm Post subject:

June 27th:

1450 Irish born Jack Cade led a 40,000 strong demonstration march from Kent to London to protest against laws introduced by King Henry VI of England. Cade was later beheaded for treason.

1693 The first women's magazine, The Ladies' Mercury, was published by John Dunton in London. It contained a question-and-answer column which became known as a 'problem page'.

1746 In Scotland, Flora MacDonald helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to the Isle of Skye dressed as an Irish maid, following his defeat by the English at the Battle of Culloden.

1743: George II becomes the last British monarch to lead his army in battle, defeating the French (who else?) at Dettingen.

1846 The birth of Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish nationalist leader who was Member of Parliament for Meath; later leader of the Nationalist Party supporting a policy of violence which led to imprisonment in 1881. His career ended when he was cited as the co-respondent in a divorce case and was dumped by his party.

1880: Birth of Helen Adams Keller, US blind, deaf and mute scholar and teacher who was taught by Anne Sullivan. She was the first person with these handicaps to not merely overcome her afflictions, but achieve such academic and international status with books and articles.

1905: A mutiny erupted on board the Russian battleship Potemkin in the Black Sea when sailors were shot for complaining about bad food. The mutineers eventually overpowered the officers and raised the Red Flag with the ship anchored off Odessa.

1939 The first scheduled airline service of Boeing 314 flying boats was operated by Pan Am between Newfoundland and Southampton.

1944 After 21 days of bloody fighting through the Normandy countryside, Allied forces took Cherbourg in France.

1957 A report by the Medical Research Council found the link between smoking and lung cancer was one of 'direct cause and effect'.

1967 Barclays Bank (Enfield branch) opened Britain's first cash dispenser. Actor Reg Varney became the first person to withdraw ten pounds from an electronic “hole in the wall”.

1968 Maggie Wright, playing Helen of Troy in the Royal Shakespeare Company production in London, became the first actress in Britain to appear nude on the ‘legitimate’ stage.

1971 England's first national Scrabble Championship was held in London. The winner was teacher Stephen Haskell.

1988 Dave Hurst and Alan Matthews, both from England, became the first blind climbers to reach the summit of Europe’s highest mountain, Mont Blanc - 15,781 feet high.

1999 Veteran British politician Tony Benn announced he would retire at the next General Election.

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raveydavey · Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 2:21 pm Post subject:

28th June:

1491 The birth of Henry VIII, King of England and second son of Henry VII. He married six times, beheaded two wives, broke away from the Catholic church to form the Church of England, executed Catholics who failed to recognize the church and executed Protestants who complained that he should execute more Catholics! Yet he still managed to remain a popular king.

1645 In the English Civil War, the Royalists lost Carlisle.

1703 John Wesley, English evangelical preacher and founder of Methodism, was born. (He was born on 17th June in the 'old style' calendar - or ..... 28th June in the 'new style' calendar, after 1752!)

1838 Queen Victoria was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London. She was just 19 years old.

1914: A 19-year-old student assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his morganatic wife, the Duchess of Hohenburg, who were out in their carriage in the streets of Sarajevo on the 14th anniversary of their marriage. Gavrilo Princep’s shots killed them both, and was the spark needed to ignite the First World War when Austria declared war on Serbia.

1919 The Allies and a reluctant Germany signed the Peace Treaty of Versailles - officially ending the First World War. The financial demands made by the Allies on the defeated Germans of 20 billion gold marks dragged the nation down and allowed the Nazis to appear as saviours.

1930 English engineer (Sir) Frank Whittle patented the jet engine.

1930 Mick the Miller becomes the first dog to win the Greyhound Derby for a second time.

1935 The first 'Rupert Bear' cartoon appeared in the Daily Express newspaper.

1950 A novice U.S. team beat the highly fancied England players 1-0 in the first round of the World Cup in Brazil. The English team included Billy Wright and Tom Finney.

1956 Sydney Silverman's bill for the abolition of the death penalty was passed by the House of Commons. It was defeated in the Lords on 10th July.

1960 45 men were killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in Monmouthshire, Wales.

1991 Margaret Thatcher announced that she was to retire from the House of Commons at the next general election. The former prime minister, who held her Finchley seat for more than thirty years, said she intended to remain in politics and wanted to go to the House of Lords.

2004 The US handed sovereignty back to Iraq in a low-key ceremony in Baghdad.

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raveydavey · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 6:45 pm Post subject:

June 29th: The Feast Day of St Peter, patron saint of fishermen.

48 BC: Julius Caesar defeated Pompey at Pharsalus to become the absolute ruler of Rome

1613 The original Globe Theatre in London burned down after a cannon was fired during a performance of a Shakespearean play and set fire to the straw roof. The theatre was totally destroyed, but rose again in June 1614, this time with a tiled roof.

1620 After denouncing smoking as a health hazard, King James I of England banned the growing of tobacco in Britain.

1801 Britain held its first population census - producing a population figure of 8,800,000.

1829 The first policeman to be murdered in Britain was Constable William Grantham in Somers Town. He went to the aid of a woman involved in a fight between drunken men and when he fell, all three proceeded to kick him to death.

1838: To mark Queen Victoria’s coronation the previous day, the Sun published its entire issue in gold ink.

1855 Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper was first published, a result of the publisher's anger over the Crimean War and a desire to express it.

1871 The Trade Union Act was passed, giving trade unions legal status for the first time.

1887: A lady called Miss Cass was wrongfully charged by PC Endacott at Marlborough Police Station. The magistrate said she had done nothing wrong, and warned her not to do it again.

1905 The Automobile Association was set up by motorists angered by police harassment and to warn drivers of speed traps. Nowt changes, does it?

1927 For the first time in 200 years, a total eclipse of the sun was seen in Britain. Those at Giggleswick in Yorkshire were able to see a perfect, full eclipse which lasted for less than 1/2 minute.

1942: US Army Air Force personnel joined the RAF in action against the Germans for the first time in the Second World War, when Captain Kegelman and three crewmen of the 15th Bombardment Squadron manned an RAF Boston bomber during an attack by 226 Squadron on the marshalling yards at Hazebrouck. The twelve Bostons, escorted for the first time by the new Typhoon fighter, bombed from 13,000 feet (4km), scoring hits on the yard itself, some sidings and a railway embankment. All the aircraft returned without loss Kegelman subsequently led with distinction the first formal US bombing mission on 4 July 1942, when six US crews joined six crews from 226 Squadron in attacks on German airfields in the Netherlands.

1956: Arthur Miller, US playwright, married Marilyn Monroe in London.

1960: BBC unveils TV 'factory'. The BBC's new Television Centre will be the "Hollywood" of the small screen, the corporation's director of TV announces.

1966 In Britain, Barclays Bank introduced the Barclaycard - the UK's first credit card.

1967: Mick Jagger and Keith Richard were sentenced to three months and one year respectively for drug offences, but after an appeal court hearing, their sentences were quashed.

1974: First female president for Argentina. Isabel Peron is sworn in as interim leader of the Argentine Republic after her husband falls ill.

1980: Vigdis Finnbogsdottir became Iceland’s first woman president.

1986 Millionaire Richard Branson smashed the world record for the fastest powerboat crossing of the Atlantic.

1995 Lisa Clayton, from Birmingham, became the first British woman to sail solo around the world from the northern hemisphere. Her voyage, in a 39 ft sloop, Spirit of Birmingham, took 285 days.

2001 The government announced that a memorial fountain in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales, was to be built in London's Hyde Park. Hmmm!

Busy day today, isn't it?

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30 Mill · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:15 pm Post subject:

wewantourdarbyback · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:26 pm Post subject:

raveydavey · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:54 pm Post subject:

June 30th:

1315: The Anglo-Irish defenders of Dundalk sortied from the town to attack Edward Bruce's Scots and Irish forces encamped outside. The men of Dundalk were driven back into the town and Bruce's men, following on their heels, were able to force their way in. Indiscriminate slaughter then ensued, fuelled by the Scots' consumption of large stocks of looted wine.

1596 An English expedition under Lord Howard of Effingham and the Earl of Essex attacked Cadiz, ravaged the Spanish coast, and captured much booty. Philip II was thus prevented from sending an Armada against England.

1643: Some 10,000 Royalist troops under the Earl of Newcastle advanced on Lord Fairfax's 4,000 Parliamentarians holding Bradford. Despite the odds, Fairfax led his troops out against Newcastle's men on Adwalton Moor, east of the town, and initially had the best of the fight. However, the Royalists broke his left wing, and a general rout ensued.

1837 Punishment by pillory was finally abolished in Britain.

1859: The great tightrope walker, Blondin, crossed Niagara Falls from the US to Canada in just eight minutes. The rope was stretched 1,100 feet (335.28 m) and suspended 160 feet (48.76 m) above the Falls. Over 25,000 people watched him make the return with a tripod camera, stop midway and photograph the crowds. Many fainted.

1893 Birth of Harold (Joseph) Laski, English politician and economist who campaigned for social reforms. He became chairman of the Labour Party in 1945.

1893: In South Africa’s Orange Free State, the finder of a 971.75 carat diamond was awarded £500 plus a horse with bridle and saddle.

1894 London's Tower Bridge was officially opened to traffic by the Prince of Wales. After the ceremony the bascules were raised to allow a flotilla of ships and boats to sail down the Thames.

1926: During this month, the first pop-up toasters went on sale, marketed by McGraw Electric Company of Minneapolis.

1934: This was the Night of the Long Knives in Germany as Hitler eliminated all political critics, including the leader of the Brown Shirts and former close friend, Ernst Roehm.

1948: Doctors John Barden and Walter Brittain demonstrated the transistor at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey.

1954 A total eclipse of the sun spread from America, through Europe and on to Asia.

1956 ‘I’m Walking Backwards For Christmas’, written and performed by arch-Goon Spike Milligan, entered the British singles chart ..... six months after Christmas.

1957 The British Egg Marketing Board stamped a crowned lion on British eggs as a sign of freshness. In the first week 80% of all eggs sold carried the stamp.

1960 The London production of the stage musical Oliver! opened in the West End.

1960: The blood ran in the shower for the first time to a paying audience with the première of Hitchcock’s Psycho in New York.

1973 Observers aboard the Concord jet observed a 72 minute solar eclipse.

1974: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Soviet-born ballet dancer, defected while on tour in Canada with the Kirov Ballet.

1981 A youth fired a blank pistol at the Queen during the Trooping of the Colour ceremony.

1992 Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took her place in the House of Lords as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven.

1997 Britain handed Hong Kong back to China at midnight, when the 99 year lease expired.

1998 Violence erupted at the inquiry into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence when the five suspects left the courtroom.

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raveydavey · Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:40 pm Post subject:

July 1st: National Day of Canada. In 1867 the Dominion of Canada was established.

1690: William III of Great Britain, supported by the French, won the battle of the Boyne in Ireland against the Roman Catholic forces of James II. The victory opened the way to a reconquest of the Irish.

1837 Compulsory registration of births, marriages and deaths came into effect in England and Wales.

1838 Charles Darwin presented a paper to the Linnaean Society in London, setting out his theory of the evolution of species.

1903: Birth of Amy Johnson in Yorkshire, English aviator. Johnson made a solo flight from England to Australia, and later, with her husband Jim Mollison, flew across the North Atlantic in 1933. The couple made more pioneering flights before their marriage ended in 1938.

1911 The introduction of the British Copyright Act - protecting an author's works for 50 years after their death.

1914: The Naval Wing was separated from the Royal Flying Corps, adopting the title Royal Naval Air Service.

1916: The Somme offensive was launched. Originally planned as a joint British-French attack, the continuing slaughter at Verdun in the south significantly reduced the French forces available to participate. Rawlinson's Fourth Army led the assault, supported by Allenby's Third Army in the north. Despite a huge preliminary bombardment, much of the German barbed wire and defences remained intact to meet the attackers with murderous fire. Some 60,000 casualties were suffered on the first day, 19,000 of them fatal: the bloodiest day in the British Army's history, and the worst losses suffered by any one side in a single day during the First World War. Kitchener's New Army of volunteer battalions bore the brunt of the losses. Probably the worst hit, in percentage terms, was the 10th Battalion of the Prince of Wales' Own West Yorkshire Regiment, which lost 710 men killed and wounded. Newfoundland's small contingent suffered horrendously disproportionate losses: the Newfoundland Regiment suffered 91% casualties in less than 45 minutes.

Nine Victoria Crosses were won that day:

Major Loudon-Shand, The Yorkshire Regiment, mortally wounded whilst in the open helping his men climb over a German trench parapet to relative safety.
Captain Bell, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, was killed after mounting four successful lone attacks to eliminate German strong-points.
Captain Green, Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed attempting to bring in from No Man's Land a casualty, whose wounds he had previously dressed while under heavy fire in the open.
Sergeant Turnbull, Highland Light Infantry, was killed leading a grenade attack, having previously distinguished himself defending a captured position against repeated German counter-attacks.
Corporal Sanders, the Prince of Wales' Own West Yorkshire Regiment, who, cut off with a group of thirty men under his command, took an enemy position and organised a brilliant defence against heavy attack for thirty-six hours.
Private McFadzean, Royal Irish Rifles, who flung himself on two grenades which lost their safety pins whilst being handed out in a crowded trench. He was blown to pieces, but his body absorbed sufficient blast to ensure only one other man was wounded.
Private Quigg, Royal Irish Rifles, who over a seven hour period in No Man's Land rescued in turn seven wounded men despite the enemy barrage.
Drummer Ritchie, Seaforth Highlanders, who stood exposed on an enemy trench parapet, playing the Charge to rally men in the appalling confusion of No Man's Land.
In the air, Major Rees, 32 Squadron Royal Flying Corps, was attacked by ten German aircraft whilst flying a DH2 fighter. He drove off three opponents damaged, then attacked another pair until he ran out of ammunition, despite being badly wounded in the process and temporarily losing control of his aircraft. He returned safely.

1916: Coca-Cola adopted its distinctive contoured bottle to stay one step ahead of their rivals.

1921 The formation of the British Legion.

1937 The telephone emergency service, 999, became operational in Britain.

1940: An RAF Hampden piloted by Flying Officer Guy Gibson (later Wing Commander Guy Gibson of the Dambusters) dropped Bomber Command's heaviest bomb of the war to date - a 2,000lb (907kg) weapon - in a night dive-bombing attack on the Scharnhorst at Kiel. The bomb overshot and fell on the town.

1941 World War II: In North Africa, the German advance under the command of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was halted at El Alemein.

1945: A major amphibious operation put the Australian 7th Division ashore at Balikpapan in Borneo.

1961 Diana, the Princess of Wales, was born.

1963: Philby confirmed as 'third man'. Former Foreign Office official Harold Philby is confirmed as the "third man" in the Burgess and Maclean case.

1967 Colour television came to Europe with a seven hour transmission on BBC 2 in Britain from the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships.

1969 Prince Charles was invested Prince of Wales by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at Caernarfon Castle in north Wales.

1977 British tennis player Virginia Wade won the Women's Singles Championship at Wimbledon in its Centenary Year and during Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee year.

1984: Naples signed up the Argentinean football star and well known cheat Diego Maradona for £1 million.

1996 In addition to a practical exam, learner drivers in Britain had to pass a written exam for the first time.

1998 The first meeting of the historic Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast, following the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement.

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raveydavey · Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 5:52 pm Post subject:

July 2nd:

1489: Birth of Thomas Cranmer, Henry VIII’s first reformed Archbishop of Canterbury, responsible for the Book of Common Prayer.

1644 English Civil War: The Battle of Marston Moor. The first victory of the war for the Parliamentary forces, with Cromwell's Roundhead Army defeating the Royalist Cavaliers, commanded by Prince Rupert.

1819 The first Factory Act was passed in Britain. This banned the employment of children younger than 9 from working in textile factories, whilst those under 16 were allowed to work for 'only' 12 hours a day!

1865 At a revivalist meeting at Whitechapel, London, William Booth formed the Salvation Army.

1937: The US aviators Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan took off from New Guinea to Howland Island in the central Pacific during their attempt to fly around the world. They disappeared, never to be seen again.

1938: Birth of Dr David Owen, who went on to become a Foreign Minister in the Labour government, then the British leader of the Social Democrat Party.

1940 Kenneth Clarke, British politician was born.

1940 World War II: Adolf Hitler ordered German military commanders to draw up plans for the invasion of England.

1944: After six days of painstaking and extremely dangerous work, a bomb disposal team led by Major Hudson, Royal Engineers, and two civilian scientists from the Ministry of Supply, Dr Dawson and Mr Hurst, succeeded in defusing a V-1 "doodlebug" that had crashed intact on a farm in Sussex. Three separate fuses in turn had to be made safe, one of them of a previously unknown design. Dawson and Hurst were awarded the George Medal, while Hudson received a Bar to the George Medal which he had been awarded for previous bomb disposal work.

1948 Champion English golfer Henry Cotton won the British Open Golf Championship for the third time.

1954: Jaroslav Drobny and Ken Rosewall played the longest ever final at Wimbledon. Drobny finally won 13-11, 4-6, 6-2, 9-7, despite a bad knee.

1956: Elvis Presley recorded ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ in RCA’s studio in New York. Buddy Holly’s first record ‘Love Me’ was also released today. Presley’s songs reached Number One, but Holly and the Crickets had to wait until the following year with ‘That’ll Be the Day’.

1964: President Johnson signs Civil Rights Bill. The Civil Rights Bill - one of the most important piece of legislation in American history - becomes law.

1985 The ordination of women as deacons was approved by the General Synod

1987 Moors murderer Ian Brady offered to assist police searches of Saddleworth Moor for the first time since his conviction.

1996 Weather experts predicted that global warming would have the effect of moving Britain 100 miles south in the next 25 years, bringing summer droughts and winter rainstorms.

1997 Six IRA terrorists who plotted to blow up electricity supply stations in the Home Counties were each jailed for 35 years.

2001 Barry George was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of television presenter Jill Dando.

2005 The world's biggest music stars united in Live8 concerts around the globe to press political leaders to tackle poverty in Africa.

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raveydavey · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 3:43 pm Post subject:

July 3rd:

1920 The first RAF air display took place at Hendon, near London.

1928 A policeman's helmet and a bunch of roses were among the pictures shown on John Logie Baird's first colour television test transmission at Baird Studios, in London.

1938 LNER locomotive No.4468 'Mallard' achieved the world speed record for steam traction. A maximum speed 126 mph was reached between Grantham and Peterborough. That is faster than trains travel at now on the same line...

1940: The Royal Navy reluctantly mounted Operation Catapult on the orders of Winston Churchill, to destroy the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir and Oran on the Algerian coast to prevent it falling into German hands. The French Navy had refused four alternatives offered to them: to join the British outright; be interned in British ports; sail to French ports in the West Indies; or scuttle their own ships. The bombardment sank three battleships and cost some 1,300 French lives. The French ships and shore batteries returned fire, but failed to hit any British ships.
Along the Channel coasts, RAF Bomber Command Blenheims made their first attacks on barge concentrations, as the Germans began to muster shipping for a possible invasion of Britain.

1954 The end of food rationing in Britain - almost 9 years after the end of World War II. Smithfield Meat Market in London opened at midnight instead of 6am to cope with the demand for beef.

1966 Demonstrators in London were arrested after their protest against the Vietnam War turned violent.

1969 Brian Jones, a founding member of the British rock group Rolling Stones, drowned in his swimming pool from a drug overdose.

1970 112 people died when a flight from Scumchester went missing over Spain.

1971: Doors' singer Jim Morrison found dead. The lead singer of American rock group The Doors dies of heart failure in Paris, aged 27.

1974 Don Revie was appointed manager of the England football team.

1976: 103 hostages were rescued by Israeli commandos in a night raid on Entebbe Airport, Uganda. An Air France airliner had been diverted there by Palestinian hijackers who had counted on help from Idi Amin. The Israeli commandos flew 2,500 miles and landed in three large transport planes in the dark. It took only 35 minutes for them to kill all the hijackers and 20 Ugandan troops who were guarding the hostages. Three hostages and one commando were killed in the crossfire. As a parting gesture, the commandos destroyed 11 Russian Mig aircraft on the ground before taking off for Nairobi, where they refuelled before the flight back to Tel Aviv.

1984 Derek Underwood (Kent's left arm spin bowler) scored his first cricket century, after 22 years of playing in first-class cricket.

1986 The government abandoned its water privatisation plans

1996 It was announced that the Stone of Scone, the symbol of Scottish nationalism, stolen by Edward I of England in 1296, was to be returned to Scotland from Westminster Abbey where it has been used in the coronation of 30 British monarchs.

2000 In his first speech as Mayor of London Ken Livingstone announced that he would stand up to the Government if they were not acting in the capital's best interests.

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raveydavey · Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 12:31 pm Post subject:

July 4th:

1753: Birth of Jean Pierre Blanchard, French balloonist. Blanchard had originally tried to build a flying machine, but gave up and resorted to ballooning instead. He made the first flight across the Channel in January 1785. During another flight, he tested the parachute by dropping one harnessed to a dog. He later made several successful parachute jumps and demonstrated his balloons in Europe and North America.

1776 The American Congress voted for independence from Britain.

1840 The Cunard Shipping Line began its first Atlantic crossing when the paddle steamer Britannia sailed from Liverpool en route to Halifax. The voyage took 14 days.

1829 Britain's first regular scheduled bus service began running, between Marylebone Road and the Bank of England, in London.

1845: Birth in Dublin of Thomas John Barnardo, philanthropist and founder of the famous Dr Barnardo’s homes for some of London’s many destitute children. (In fact, he was not a medical doctor.)

1862 Lewis Carroll created Alice in Wonderland.

1892 The General Election saw the appointment of Britain's first socialist MP - James Keir Hardie, elected for Holytown, Lanarkshire.

1968 Round-the-world yachtsman Alec Rose received a hero's welcome as he sailed into Portsmouth in his boat Lively Lady, after his 354-day trip.

1969 British tennis player Ann Jones won the Wimbledon women's singles title, beating American Billie Jean King in the final.

1977 Scumchester United manager Tommy Docherty was sacked by the club's directors.

1985 Ruth Lawrence achieved the best first-class mathematics degree at the University of Oxford, at the age of 13.

1990 Footballer Paul Gascoigne's booking, (that would have excluded him from the World Cup Final, had England got there), resulted in the famous on pitch crying scenes from Gascoigne.

1995 John Major emerged as the winner in an unprecedented parliamentary election for leadership of the ruling Conservative Party.

1996 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales delivered his terms for a divorce from Diana, Princess of Wales - an offer of £15m reportedly backed by the Queen.

2000 The campaigning organization 'Tidy Britain Group' condemned local councils for failing to enforce litter laws.

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raveydavey · Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 3:11 pm Post subject:

July 5th:

1791: George Hammond was appointed the first British ambassador to the US.

1817 The first gold coin sovereigns were issued in Britain.

1853 The birth of Cecil John Rhodes, English colonialist and financier. Rhodes was noted for his commercial exploitation of southern Africa, where he gained control of the world’s major diamond and gold mines. He took part in the notorious Jameson Raid, an attempt to overthrown the Boers in the gold-rich Transvaal, and the incident led to his resignation as Prime Minister. He expanded further north and formed the country of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), which was named after him.

1865 The Locomotives and Highways Act in Britain introduced a speed limit for road vehicles of 4 mph in rural areas and 2 mph in urban areas.

1832 Charles Darwin ('Theory of Evolution') departed Rio de Janeiro in HMS Beagle.

1841 Thomas Cook, a Baptist cabinet maker, founded the first travel agency. The first official 'Cook's Tour' involved almost 600 teatotallers taking the train from Leicester to Loughborough to attend a temperance meeting.

1888 Three match girls were fired at the Bryant and May match factory in London for giving information about working conditions. The other 672 employees went on strike, a landmark for women workers in Britain that led to the formation of a Matchgirls' Union.

1916: On the Somme, advancing troops from the Yorkshire Regiment came under heavy fire from a German machine-gun at close range. Second Lieutenant Bell stalked the gun and knocked it out with revolver, then led an attack which secured fifty prisoners. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, but died in action five days later. He is the only professional footballer ever to receive the VC, having played for Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Bradford before enlisting in 1914.

1942: A Coastal Command Wellington scored the first sinking of a U-boat with the Leigh Light. Although the development of airborne radar allowed Coastal Command aircraft to detect U-boats recharging their batteries on the surface at night, the minimum range of the early radars often exceeded the maximum visual range at which the submarine could be identified and attacked. Squadron Leader Leigh successfully developed a powerful airborne searchlight that could be fitted beneath a Wellington, and, cued by the radar operator, switched on to illuminate the target on the attack run.

1945 Churchill lost the General Election after leading Britain throughout World War II. Attlee’s Labour Party won 393 seats to the Tories’ 213.

1948 Britain's National Health Service came into operation with the birth of Jean Murray, the first baby to be born on the National Health, on the stroke of midnight in Ashton-in-Makerfield near Wigan.

1954 The BBC broadcast its first daily television news programme.

1969 The Rolling Stones gave a free concert in Hyde Park, London, two days after the death of guitarist Brian Jones. It was attended by 250,000 people.

1975: Ashe's Wimbledon win makes history. American tennis player Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win the Wimbledon singles' championship.

1979 The Queen presided over the 1000th annual open-air sitting of the Isle of Man's Parliament, Tynwald.

1980: Bjorn Borg of Sweden became the only player this century to win the Wimbledon men’s singles championship five times in a row.

1981: Police attacked in Liverpool riots. Up to 30 police officers are injured by bricks and other missiles as rioting and looting breaks out in Toxteth, Liverpool.

1987: Martina Navratilova won the Wimbledon title for a record sixth time, against Steffi Graf.

1991 The Bank of England closed down UK branches of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International over allegations of fraud.

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raveydavey · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 5:42 pm Post subject:

July 6th:

1189: Richard I (‘the Lionheart’) became king on the death of his father, Henry II.

1483 England's King Richard III was crowned. A ryhming slang legend was also born.

1535 Sir Thomas More was beheaded on London's Tower Hill for refusing to accept Henry VIII as head of the church. He lifted his beard from the axe, on the basis that it had committed no offences against the king!

1553 Mary I acceded to the throne, becoming the first queen to rule England in her own right.

1685 James II defeated the Duke of Monmouth, claimant to the throne, at the Battle of Sedgemoor, the last major battle to be fought on English soil.

1832: Birth of Maximilian, Archduke of Austria and Emperor of Mexico. He acceded to the throne in the naïve belief that the people supported him; in fact deals had been struck behind the scenes to ensure his position.

1892 Britain's first non-white MP was elected when Dadabhai Naoraji won the Central Finsbury seat.

1907 The opening of Brooklands - the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit.

1919 The first airship to cross the Atlantic, the British-built R34, arrived in New York.

1924 The first photo was sent experimentally across Atlantic by radio, from the US to England.

1952 After nearly a century of service, trams made their final appearance in London.

1957: The 17-year-old John Lennon was appearing at a church fete with his Quarrymen, when a friend introduced him to the 15-year-old Paul McCartney.

1965 The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night was premiered in London, with royal attendance.

1978 Eleven people died and seventeen were injured in a blaze on the Penzance to Paddington sleeper train.

1978 Three bags of horse manure were hurled from the public gallery in the House of Commons during a debate on Scottish Home Rule. Yana Mintoff, daughter of the Prime Minister of Malta, was later arrested and fined.

1988 An explosion aboard the North Sea oil rig Piper Alpha resulted in the loss of 166 lives.

2000: Prime Minister's son arrested for drunkenness. The Prime Minister Tony Blair's eldest son, Euan, is arrested for being drunk and incapable. Unlike his father, who history seems set to prove was just incapable.

2005 The International Olympic Committee announced that the 2012 Olympic Games would be held in London.

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raveydavey · Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:55 pm Post subject:

July 7th:

1307 England's King Edward I, conqueror of Wales and 'Hammer of the Scots' died on the way to Scotland to fight Robert the Bruce. He was succeeded by Edward II.

1853: US naval officer Matthew Perry sailed into the Japanese harbour of Uraga with two frigates and two other vessels, insisting that the government meet his delegation. The Japanese had no defence and agreed to the meeting, which ended Japan’s isolation by opening the way to trade.

1927 Christopher Stone became the first 'disc jockey' on British radio when he presented his 'Record Round-up' from Savoy Hill.

1940 Ringo Starr, English drummer with the Beatles, was born.

1941 During a raid on Munster, Sergeant Ward, Royal New Zealand Air Force, of 75 (NZ) Squadron RAF, crawled out on the wing of a Wellington bomber over Germany to extinguish a fire in the starboard engine. He had to punch holes in the wing's fabric to hold onto in a 150mph slipstream. The aircraft returned safely to the UK and he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Ward was killed on operations in September 1941.

1944 Tony Jacklin, English golfer was born.

1950: The Farnborough Airshow was held. It was the first real airshow ever to take place.

1955 Dixon Of Dock Green began on BBC TV with Jack Warner as George Dixon. The programme ran for 367 episodes for the next 21 years.

1967 England's round-the-world yachtsman Sir Francis Chichester was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. For the ceremony, the Queen used a sword that had originally belonged to Sir Francis Drake.

1981 The Church of England decided that divorcees would be allowed to re-marry in a church ceremony.

1982: A serious gap in Palace security came to light when Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace, and asked the Queen for a cigarette while sitting on the end of her bed.

1984 Georgina Clark became the first woman to umpire a Wimbledon final when she presided over the Martina Navratilova victory against Chris Evert.

1985: Live Aid, the pop concert organized by Bob Geldof, was broadcast to 160 countries and raised over £50 million for the famine victims of Ethiopia.

1985 German tennis player Boris Becker, an unseeded 17 year old, became the youngest player to win the men's singles championship at Wimbledon.

1990 England goalkeeper Peter Shilton played the last of his 125 games for his country in the World Cup third-place play-off against Italy in Bari.

2001 The Prince of Wales answered a question about whether he planned to marry Camilla Parker Bowles with: "You can't be certain about anything."

2001 Two people were stabbed and many more were injured in running battles in Bradford, Yorkshire. The following night saw some of the worst violence of the summer. Around 1,000 mainly Asian youths devastated the Manningham area with missiles and fire bombs.

2005 A series of bomb attacks on London's transport network killed 52 people and injured 700 others. It was the largest and deadliest terrorist attack in London's history.

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raveydavey · Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 5:34 pm Post subject:

July 8th:

1497: Vasco da Gama set sail from Lisbon with four ships, in search of a sea route to India.

1822 Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet died. He drowned in Italy while sailing his small schooner Ariel to his home on the Gulf of Spezia.

1884 The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) was founded in London.

1918 National Savings stamps were introduced in Britain.

1941: Bomber Command conducted the first ever operational sorties of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. A small number of the Mark C model had been delivered by the United States under Lend-Lease, equipping 90 Squadron. There were hopes that the aircraft, with its heavy defensive armament, would be suitable for unescorted daylight raids. Three aircraft were dispatched on 8 July to bomb Wilhelmshaven. Two achieved accurate bombing on the docks, and all three returned safely.

1943: Jean Moulin (‘Max’), the French Resistance leader, was executed after being tortured by the Gestapo.

1961 For the first time since 1941, Britain provided both women finalists for the Wimbledon Ladies' singles title - Christine Truman and Angela Mortimer

1963: Margaret Smith was the first Australian to win the Wimbledon women’s singles title.

1965 Ronald Biggs who was serving a 30-year prison sentence for his part in the Great Train Robbery escaped from Wandsworth prison.

1967 Vivien Leigh, English film actress (films included Gone With The Wind) died.

1985 Britain lifted its trade ban with Argentina after the Falklands crisis ended.

1986 British Steel made a profit for the first time in 17 years.

1988 A London double-decker bus parked in Battersea, was put on sale for £40,000. It had been converted into a luxury home to overcome rising property prices in the capital.

1996 Three young children and four adults were attacked by a man with a machete at an infant school in Wolverhampton. Teacher Lisa Potts, (later awarded for her bravery), was badly injured protecting the children.

1996 A patent was filed by two British scientists to use genetically engineered mosquitoes to immunize their victims against malaria by transferring a protein in their saliva.

2000 J. K. Rowling's fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire went on sale, breaking all publishing records.

2005 The G8 summit in Gleneagles ended with a deal to boost aid for developing countries by almost £28 billion.

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raveydavey · Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 6:01 pm Post subject:

July 9th:

1540 England's King Henry VIII had his six-month marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled. She was nicknamed The Flanders Mare.

1553 Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen of England in succession to Edward VI. Her reign lasted only nine days. Her successor was Mary I.

1877 The first Wimbledon Lawn Tennis championship was held at its original site at Worple Road. The men's singles title was won by Spencer Gore - beating fellow British player W.C. Marshall in three sets.

1887: Paper manufacturers John Dickenson introduced the first paper napkins at their annual dinner at the Castle Hotel, Hastings.

1900 Queen Victoria gave the Royal Assent to the Australian Federation Bill which set up of the Commonwealth of Australia in January 1901.

1901 Barbara Cartland, romantic novelist was born. She wrote more than 500 books.

1916 Edward Heath, British politician was born.

1917: The battleship HMS Vanguard blew up at Scapa Flow, with only three survivors from the 670 personnel on board. The cause of the blast was never ascertained and the ship is now subject to the Protection of Military Remains Act, passed in 1986.

1922: 18-year-old Johnny Weissmuller swam the 100 metres in 58.6 seconds. He went on to play Tarzan in Hollywood.

1938 In anticipation of World War II, 35 million gas masks were issued to Britain's civilian population.

1943: 2,590 Allied ships headed for Sicily to mount the first amphibious assault on Occupied Europe - Operation Husky - while transport aircraft and gliders from North African bases inserted troops from the British 1st Airborne and US 82nd Airborne Divisions, beginning half an hour before midnight. Montgomery's Eighth Army was to land the following morning in the east of the island, its principal objective being the key port of Syracuse, while Patton's Seventh Army was to land in the west to secure key airfields. The weather was not friendly, a gale starting to build, causing much discomfort to the troops embarked on the ships, and playing havoc with gliders, paratroopers and the smaller classes of landing craft. Of 147 British gliders, only 12 landed anywhere near their target, two were shot down, and 69 were lost with their occupants over the sea; 252 men drowned.

1947 Princess Elizabeth (the Queen) and Philip Mountbatten announced their engagement.

1954: 24-year-old Peter Thompson of Australia was the youngest-ever winner of the British Open golf championship.

1973 Prince Charles enjoyed the Bahamas' last day as a British colony. He had hosted a formal reception at Government House, Nassau, the previous night for dignitaries from 52 countries overseeing the end of over 300 years of British sovereignty.

1982 Queen Elizabeth II woke to find an intruder (Michael Fagan) sitting at the end of her bed, raising further concerns about poor Palace security. Look up this thread and you'll see a different website reckons this happened a day or two earlier...

1984 A massive fire, caused by a lightning strike, devastated large parts of York Minster causing an estimated £1m damage.

1991 The closure of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International lost about 20 local councils up to £30m in investments.

1996 Nelson Mandela, on a state visit to Britain, was welcomed by crowds at Horse Guards Parade and the Mall.

2003 Gerard Houllier swooped to sign disloyal workshy Harry Kewell from Leeds United.

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raveydavey · Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:53 pm Post subject:

July 10th:

138 The death of the Roman Emperor Hadrian who ordered the building of a wall across northern England to keep out the 'barbarian Scottish tribes'.

1040 Lady Godiva rode naked on horseback through the streets of Coventry to force her husband, the Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes.

1460 In England's Wars of the Roses, the Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians and captured Henry VI at the Battle of Northampton.

1911: The Royal Australian Navy was formed, the first of the Dominion and Commonwealth navies. Australia had previously maintained an assortment of minor warships for local maritime defence since the 1850s.

1940 World War II: The first in a long series of German bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which lasted three and a half months, began.

1947 The Government announced that Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) would get extra clothing coupons for her wedding dress.

1954 Gordon Richards rode his last mount, at Sandown; the 21,834th of his almost 34-year racing career.

1958 Britain's first parking meters were installed, in Mayfair, London.

1972 William Whitelaw, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, broke the news that he had been involved in secret talks with the provisional IRA in London, as he announced that the two week ceasefire in Northern Ireland had come to an end.

1985: The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was badly damaged by an explosion in Auckland harbour. Nine people escaped, but a photographer died. French agents had tried to prevent the ship sailing into the Pacific to protest in a French nuclear testing area. The agents were arrested after the incident.

1996 The battered bodies of Lin Russell, 6 year-old daughter Megan and 9 year old daughter Josie, were found half a mile from their home in Kent. Michael Stone, 38, was later found guilty of two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder and given three life sentences.

1989: Footballer Maurice Johnson was transferred to Scotland’s Rangers FC for £1.5 million. He had to have a police guard, being the first Catholic to play for the club which had been exclusively Protestant.

1996 Nelson Mandela received eight honorary degrees at Buckingham Palace.

1997 More than 100,000 people packed Hyde Park in London for a countryside rally to protest against Government proposals to ban fox hunting.

2000 Figures released by the government showed that one in four British homes were using the Internet.

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raveydavey · Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 3:14 pm Post subject:

July 11th:

1274: Birth of Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, who seized the throne in 1306, won the Battle of Bannockburn against the English in 1314, and united the clans.

1656 Ann Austin and Mary Fisher became the first Quakers to arrive in America and were promptly arrested. Five weeks later they were deported, back to England.

1776 Yorkshire's Captain Cook sailed from Plymouth in the Resolution, accompanied by the Discovery, on his last expedition.

1804: US Vice President Aaron Burr kills former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

1848 London's Waterloo Station was officially opened.

1859 A Tale Of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, was published.

1884 Old Trafford (Scumchester) became England's 2nd official Test Match cricket ground (after the Kennington Oval in London). Never did rate cricket really...

1950 Puppets Andy Pandy, Teddy and Looby Loo first appeared on BBC TV. The episodes were repeated for more than 25 years, until the film wore out.

1974 The World Football League played its first games.

1975: Over 6,000 life-sized terracotta figures of warriors were unearthed near the ancient Chinese capital of Xian. The army had been made around 206 BC to guard the tomb of the first Ch-in emperor.

1977 In Britain, Gay News was fined £1,000 for publishing a poem that portrayed Jesus as homosexual.

1979: Skylab tumbles back to Earth. The space laboratory, Skylab I, plunges to Earth scattering debris across the southern Indian Ocean and the sparsely populated Australian desert.

1986 Inflation in Britain fell to 2.5%, the lowest since Dec 1967.

1987 War veterans returned to the scene of the bloodiest battle of World War I to commemorate its 70th anniversary. The fields of Passchendaele in Belgium claimed the lives of 250,000 troops of the British Commonwealth between July and November 1917.

1989 Sir Laurence Olivier, English actor and director died.

1991 Labour MP Terry Fields was sentenced to 60 days in prison for refusing to pay his poll tax.

1995: Serbs overrun UN 'safe haven'. The Bosnian Serb army seizes control of the United Nations "safe area" of Srebrenica after Dutch peacekeepers are forced to withdraw.

2000 The World Aids Conference in South Africa announced that trials for a new HIV vaccine would begin in Britain.

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halfaperson · David Batty Joined: 13 Jun 2007 Posts: 1157

raveydavey · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:09 am Post subject:

Oh, the irony of being given pointers on sophistication by someone from the Heavy Woolen district... Very Happy

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