This Day in History

[boatbuilder]

Latest post of the previous page:

That coin is part of this years proof set I posted last month in the coins topic Dave, and they're certainly not kept under the mattress - I like a comfortable nights sleep.

[Dave]

February 7th

1812 Charles Dickens, English journalist and novelist was born. He is considered the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. He created characters such as Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and David Copperfield and amongst his other works were The Old Curiosity Shop, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Bleak House and many, many more.

1882 The last bare-knuckle world heavyweight boxing championship saw John L. Sullivan knock out Paddy Ryan in the 9th round.

1886 While building a cottage for a prospector in the Transvaal, South Africa, an Englishman, George Walker, found a clear streak of gold. It became the richest gold reef in the world.

1873 The birth, in County Down, of Thomas Andrews. Andrews was the naval architect in charge of the plans for the ocean liner RMS Titanic. He was travelling on board the Titanic during its maiden voyage when it hit an iceberg on 14th April 1912 and was one of the 1,517 people who perished in the disaster.

1974 Following the announcement of the miners strike The Prime Minister Edward Heath calls an early general election hoping to get the countries voters to stand behind him and provide support for his battle against the unions. The voters did not provide the support he badly needed to stand up against the unions and a Minority Labour Government headed by Harold Wilson's Labour won the election.

1976 Joan Bazeley became the first woman to referee a men's football match and Diana Thorne became the first woman jockey to win under National Hunt Rules (on ‘Ben Ruler’ at Stratford).

1984 The Bubble Boy, known publicly only as 12 year old David, left his bubble and was able to kiss his mother for the first time. He had spent most of his life inside the protective bubble due to a severe immune deficiency. He died several weeks later.

1984 NASA astronauts take the first untethered spacewalk. The photographs of Bruce McCandless and Robert L. Stewart hovering freely in space became some of the most iconic images of the 1980s.

1991 Prime Minister John Major and senior Cabinet Ministers escaped unhurt during an apparent assassination attempt, when the IRA fired three mortar shells at 10 Downing Street from a van parked several streets away in the centre of London.

2005 Britain's Ellen MacArthur (born 8th July 1976) became the fastest person to sail solo around the world. Two months after her amazing feat she also became the youngest person to receive a damehood.

And Finally.

1964 The Beatles arrived for their first trip to the U.S. and were greeted by screaming mobs at the airport. When asked about the Detroit movement to stamp out the Beatles, they responded, "We're starting a movement to stamp out Detroit."

[youtube]B84GJOsioSA[/youtube]

[Dave]

February 8th

1836 The first London railway train ran from Spa Road to Deptford. There were fears that the 'great speed' of 16 miles an hour would break passengers' necks.

1886 A peaceful demonstration by unemployed people started in Trafalgar Square and turned into a riot with looting in Oxford Street and Pall Mall.

1952 Princess Elizabeth proclaims herself Queen at a ceremony in St James's Palace, London.

1960 The first 8 stars are added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. More than 2400 five-pointed stars have since been embedded in the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street to honor stars of the entertainment industry.

1965 Health Minister Kenneth Robinson announced that cigarette advertisements were to be banned from British television.

1971 At the Nuremberg International Toy Fair, a British plastics firm making educational toys was shown a board game which had been rejected by established companies. Invented by an Israeli telecommunications expert, Mordecai Meirowitz, the game, renamed ‘Mastermind’ by Invicta Plastics, sold over 55 million sets in some 80 countries, making it the most successful new game of the 70s.

1983 Shergar, the Aga Khan's Derby winner, was kidnapped from a stable in County Kildare, Ireland. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of £2 million, which was never paid. The horse was never seen again.

1983 Ariel Sharon is removed from office in the Israeli government following a tribunal into the 1982 killings of hundreds of people in two refugee camps.

1994 Forensic scientists investigate the "suspicious circumstances" of the death of Conservative MP for Eastleigh Stephen Milligan.

2012 Prince Harry has qualified as an Apache helicopter pilot after training for eighteen months in both the United Kingdom and United States. The Prince also received an award for best co-pilot gunner at his training base and enjoys a limited combat-ready status with twenty other graduates of the program.

And Finally.

1855 The 'Devil's Footprints' mysteriously appeared in southern Devon when trails of hoof-like marks appeared overnight in the snow. Estimates of the total distance covered by the prints ranged from 40 to 100 miles. Houses, rivers, haystacks and other obstacles were allegedly travelled straight over, and the footprints appeared on the tops of snow-covered roofs and high walls, as well as leading up to and exiting various drain pipes with a diameter as small as 4 inches.

[youtube]U_3o_9-CWKw[/youtube]

[Dave]

February 9th

1539 The first recorded horse racing meeting in Britain; held at the Roodeye Field, Chester. Chester Racecourse is, according to official records the oldest racecourse still in use in England and it is also thought to be the smallest racecourse of significance in England at 1 mile 1 furlong long.

1950 United States Senator Joe McCarthy launched his anti-red crusade, accusing more than 200 staff in the State Department of being Communists.

1966 The government announced that a £30M Prototype Fast Nuclear Reactor would be built at the Dounreay power station in a remote part of Scotland. Minister for Technology Frank Cousins said the new reactors were 'the future'. Nuclear power generation at the site ended in 1994.

1979 Football club Nottingham Forest clinched Britain's first £1m transfer deal when England forward Trevor Francis signed for Brian Clough's League and Cup winning side after eight seasons with Birmingham City.

1996 The IRA detonated an enormous bomb in London's Docklands, effectively bringing an end to the cease-fire and signalling the start of a new bombing campaign on mainland Britain.

2002 The Queen's sister, Princess Margaret, aged 71, died in her sleep after suffering a stroke and a heart attack. Her body was laid to rest at Kensington Palace in order for the Royal Family to pay their respects.

2006 The death of Freddie Laker, British airline entrepreneur. Laker was one of the first airline owners to adopt the 'no-frills' airline business model that is now used worldwide with companies such as Ryanair and EasyJet.

2015 A tipper truck crash in Bath killed four people including Mitzi Rosanna Steady (aged 4). Her grandmother suffered life-changing injuries and three people in a car that was hit by the vehicle were killed. The truck driver, Philip Potter (19) had only qualified for his HGV licence five days before the tragedy. Mitzi's funeral was held at Bath Abbey on 23rd February.

2015 Seven straw houses went on sale at Shirehampton - Bristol, clad in brick to fit in with the surroundings. Declared to be safe from 'huffing and puffing' the prefabricated timber walls, filled with straw bales were said to be 90% cheaper in terms of heating costs than traditional brick houses.

And Finally.

2001 Lance Corporal Roberta Winterton became the first serving soldier to pose topless on Page Three of The Sun newspaper.

[youtube]wsMLI6zklWk[/youtube]

[Dave]

February 10th

1355 The St. Scholastica's Day Riots began in Oxford when University students clashed with townspeople in a three-day street battle, following a dispute about beer in The Swindlestock Tavern. 64 students were killed and 30 locals. The dispute was settled in favour of the university with a special charter. Annually thereafter, on 10th February, the town mayor and councillors had to march bareheaded through the streets and pay to the university a fine of one penny for every scholar killed. The penance ended in 1825 when the mayor refused to take part.

1824 The birth of Samuel Plimsoll, British politician and social reformer. He devised the Plimsoll Line, to thwart unscrupulous ship owners who regularly overloaded their 'coffin ships'. His safe loading line painted on the ships acted as a regulation for the weight that ships could safely carry. Rope sandals for sailors were also named after him.

1840 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, both aged 20, were married in St James' Palace, London.

1983 Police launch a mass murder investigation in London after discovering human remains in drains.

1992 Mike Tyson, a former World Boxing Champion, was found guilty of raping Desiree Washington, a Miss Black America contestant. He was given a 10 year prison term with four years suspended.

1996 The legendary Russian Chess Grandmaster Kasparov loses his first chess game ever to IBM's chess computer Deep Blue. He did go on to gain three wins and two draws and easily wins the match.

2005 The Prince of Wales and long-term partner Camilla Parker Bowles are engaged, Clarence House announces.

2006 An ancient Egyptian tomb was discovered in the Valley of the Kings. This was the first since King Tutankhamun's was found in 1922.

2014 Shirley Temple Black, who as a child in the 1930s became one of Hollywood’s most successful stars, died at her Woodside, California, home at age 85.

And Finally.

1960 In America Jack Paar, the host of The Tonight Show walked off the set in protest of censorship. NBC had started taping the show, and had begun editing out any segment that it determined was inappropriate for "live" television. NBC had cut out a joke about a "water closet" (bathroom), and afterwards Paar was so upset that he left the set and did not return to work for a month.

[youtube]0yiJ_eVj9LI[/youtube]

[Dave]

February 11th

1800 The birth of William Henry Fox Talbot, English pioneer of photography. Talbot's technique involved the use of a photographic negative, from which multiple prints could be made. His photograph of the Oriel window at Lacock Abbey, is the earliest camera negative in existence.

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1934 The birth of the racing driver John Surtees. He remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels.

1938 The BBC aired a 35-minute adaptation of the play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots). R.U.R. is a 1920 science fiction play, famous for introducing the word "robot" into the science fiction lexicon.

1975 Margaret Thatcher won the Conservative Party Leadership and became the first woman leader of a British political party.

1976 John Curry became the first Briton to win a gold medal for men’s figure skating.

1979 Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor who performed medical experiments at the Auschwitz death camps, dies of a stroke while swimming in Brazil—although his death was not verified until 1985.

1987 Party planner Cynthia Payne was acquitted of nine charges of controlling prostitutes at her home in south west London.

1993 Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales both volunteered to pay income tax and capital gains tax on their private income. The Queen also took over civil list payments to junior members of the royal family.

2012 Mega-star and singer Whitney Houston died at the age of 48 in a Los Angeles hotel the night before the Grammy Awards. Plagued by substance abuse in her later life, Houston had become one of the most popular and celebrated singers in her early career.

And Finally.

2006 U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots his hunting partner while on a quail hunting trip in Texas. The victim, Harry Whittington, later apologized stating, "My family and I are deeply sorry for everything Vice President Cheney and his family have had to deal with." Cheney has yet to apologize to his victim, stating he didn't need to apologize.

[youtube]o26Bb8bh3EM[/youtube]

[Dave]

February 12th

1554 Lady Jane Grey, remembered in British history as the monarch with the shortest reign, just nine days, and her husband were taken from the Tower of London and beheaded.

1808 A mortar-fired lifeline was used for the first time to save a person from a shipwreck, at Gorleston. It was invented by George William Manby who lived in the Norfolk village of Hilgay. He also invented the first modern form of fire extinguisher and built an 'unsinkable' ship but the boatmen rocked his boat back and forth, so that it eventually turned over. It's said that the men thought Manby's mortar a threat to their livelihood as they depended on the cargo left over from shipwrecks.

1938 The first Jewish refugee children from Nazi Germany arrive in Britain on the 'Kindertransport'.

1946 While travelling home after being honourably discharged from the U.S. Army, African-American Isaac Woodard, still in uniform, is attacked and beaten by several South Carolina police officers over a dispute with a bus driver over the use of the restroom. He was then arrested and further beaten by the chief of police. The attack left Woodard completely and permanently blind. When South Carolina wouldn't pursue the case, U.S. President Harry Truman ordered a federal investigation. The sheriff was acquitted by an all-white jury in federal court in South Carolina. This incident was the subject of Woody Guthrie's song, "The Blinding of Isaac Woodard."

1955 Duncan Edwards of Manchester United and England was regarded as the superstar of his generation – but forget the wealth of the modern star player. After playing in a local derby against Manchester City at Old Trafford on 12th February 1955 (which City won 5-0) he was caught by the police riding home on his bike without lights. He was fined five bob (25p) by the courts and two weeks wages by Manchester United for bringing their name into disrepute. Tragically he was killed at Munich in 1958.

1993 A 2 year old boy, James Bulger, was abducted from the Strand Shopping Centre, Bootle, and later killed by two 10 year old boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. They were the youngest people to be charged with murder in England and Wales during the 20th century. A mere eight years later, in June 2001, the parole board ruled that the boys were no longer a threat to public safety and could be released. They were given new identities and moved to secret residence locations but on 2nd March 2010 Jon Venables was returned to prison, short term, for a violation of the terms of his licence of release.

1994 One hundred people made history by walking from France to England for the first time in millions of years. Each represented charities and voluntary organisations and walked the 31 mile Channel Tunnel which took, on average, 13 hours to complete.

1994 Edvard Munch's famous painting, 'The Scream', is stolen from Oslo's National Art Museum. Thieves stole the painting by using a ladder to enter a window where the painting was stored. Two men were arrested while trying to collect a $414,000 ransom for the painting and the painting was returned.

1999 A group of international scientists reinforces warnings that genetically modified food may be damaging to health.

And Finally.

2004 Mattel officially announced the split of Barbie and Ken. The couple’s “business manager,” Russell Arons, vice president of marketing at Mattel, said that Barbie and Ken “feel it’s time to spend some quality time — apart.”

[youtube]XqP0uVSj3bQ[/youtube]

[boatbuilder]

1808 A mortar-fired lifeline was used for the first time to save a person from a shipwreck, at Gorleston. It was invented by George William Manby who lived in the Norfolk village of Hilgay. He also invented the first modern form of fire extinguisher and built an 'unsinkable' ship but the boatmen rocked his boat back and forth, so that it eventually turned over. It's said that the men thought Manby's mortar a threat to their livelihood as they depended on the cargo left over from shipwrecks.

Although I've never been there, I guess this has something to do with that, Dave.

Captain Manbys

PS. I'm not receiving anything for advertising.

[Dave]

I looked to see if they had any info' on the name but there wasn't any. I'm sure you're right, though, it must be connected.

[boatbuilder]

I knew of the existence of the place, Dave - it's close to the local James Paget Hospital - but I didn't know of any connection until I did a search after reading your post. We learn something new every day.

[Dave]

February 13th

1917 Mata Hari is captured in France. She was sentenced to death as a German spy. During her execution she refused a blind fold and blew a kiss to her firing squad.

1935 Bruno Hauptmann is found guilty of the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's 20-month-old son, for which he was later executed.

1938 The birth of Oliver Reed, English actor. His films included Oliver, Women in Love and The Three Musketeers. His final role was as the elderly slave dealer Proximo in Gladiator, in which he played alongside Richard Harris, an actor whom Reed admired greatly.

1945 1400 RAF and 450 US Airforce planes bombed Dresden in three waves over a 14-hour period, devastating one of the world’s most beautiful cities. Over a three-day period, 3,900 tons of explosives and incendiaries reduced much of the city to smouldering rubble and killed between 35,000 and 135,000 civilians.

1978 Former BBC presenter Anna Ford became the first female newsreader to join Independent Television News.

1988 The Winter Olympics opened in Calgary, Canada. English ski-jumper and plasterer Eddie Edwards, became the surprise sensation of the Games. The fearless contestant came last, but won all the headlines and the nickname The Eagle. His life story was made into a film, Eddie the Eagle, in 2016.

2000 On the day after Charles M. Schultz died the comic strip "Peanuts" appeared in newspapers for the last time. The characters of "Peanuts" included Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy, Woodstock, and others.

2001 Stephen Kelly, aged 33, went on trial in Glasgow for knowingly infecting a woman with the HIV virus in a case believed to be the first of its kind in Scotland. He was found guilty of 'culpable and reckless conduct' and was sentenced to five years in prison.

2008 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to Indigenous Australians for the “stolen generations”. Between 10 and 30 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Islander children were removed from their families until the 1960s.

2015 PC Robert Brown, who joined the Metropolitan Police in the era of 'Dixon of Dock Green', retired after 47-years service. He was the country's longest serving policeman. In recognition of his service, he was awarded the Queen's Police Medal at Buckingham Palace, one of the highest honours bestowed on police officers.

And Finally.

1987 London’s property boom resulted in a 5ft 6in x 11ft broom cupboard opposite Harrods being offered for sale at £36,500 - over £600 per square foot.

[youtube]Ry9Imm47Xus[/youtube]

[Dave]

February 14th

1843 The circus event that inspired the Beatles song, 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!', is held. John Lennon got the idea for the song from an antique poster advertising the circus. Many of the lyrics, such as "the Henderson's will all be there" and "through a hogshead of real fire," also came from the poster.

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1852 London’s famous children’s hospital in Great Ormond Street accepted its first patient, three year-old Eliza Armstrong. It was the first hospital in the English speaking world providing in-patient beds specifically for children.

1929 Members of Al Capone's gang - dressed as policeman - gun down seven members of Bugs Moran's gang in Chicago and the 'St. Valentine's Day Massacre' entered the history books.

1974 Soviet authorities formally charge Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn with treason a day after forcing him to leave the USSR.

1984 British ice skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won the ice dance gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, gaining maximum points for artistic expression.

1989 The spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, condemned Salman Rushdie’s award-winning novel, The Satanic Verses, as an insult to Islam and issued a fatwa (edict) calling on Muslims to kill the author for committing blasphemy. Rushdie and his family went into hiding.

1989 Union Carbide is ordered, by the Indian Supreme Court, to pay $470,000,000 in restitution for the 1984 Bhopal gas leak that killed 3,329 people.

2006 Member's of Parliament voted to ban smoking from all pubs and private members' clubs in England. The House of Commons decided by a margin of two hundred votes to impose a ban on smoking in all enclosed public spaces.

2013 Oscar Pistorius, who had recently competed in both the Olympics and Paralympics as a runner, was arrested over shooting and killing his model/actress girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The double amputee was known as a hero in South Africa.

2014 The death (aged 91) of former Preston and England footballer Sir Tom Finney. Finney scored 210 goals in 473 league appearances for Preston North End between 1946 and 1960 and won 76 caps for England. He twice won the footballer of the year title, in 1953-54 and 1956-57. The Preston stadium is located on Sir Tom Finney Way and inside a stand was renamed in his honour in 1995.

And Finally.

1999 Elton John appeared as himself in a special episode of the animated series The Simpsons shown on US TV.

[youtube]t2zbbN4OL98[/youtube]

[Dave]

February 15th

1564 Galileo Galilei was born, he was an Italian astronomer, physicist. He built the first complete astronomical telescope, which he used to prove that the Earth revolved around the Sun. He was imprisoned by the Catholic Church for this belief.

1929 Graham Hill, British motor racing world champion, was born. He won the Formula One World Championship twice and was the only driver to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport — the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Indianapolis 500 and the Formula One World Championship. Graham Hill and his son Damon are the only father and son pair to have both won the Formula One World Championship. Hill and five of his team members died in 1975 when the aeroplane he was piloting crashed in foggy conditions near Arkley golf course in London.

1942 World War II: The Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the British General Arthur Percival surrendered. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australian soldiers become prisoners of war. It was the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history.

1961 The entire 18-member U.S. figure skating team is killed in a plane crash in Berg-Kampenhout, Belgium. The team was on its way to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

1971 The British Government launched a new, decimal currency across the country. The familiar pound (£), shilling (s) and pence (d) coins that had been in existence for more than 1000 years were to be phased out in the space of 18 months in favour of a system with 100 pennies to the pound rather than 240.

1986 Eight police officers are injured in the worst outbreak of violence yet outside the News International printing plant in Wapping, east London.

1995 England fans disgraced themselves in Dublin forcing the friendly match between the Republic of Ireland and England at Lansdowne Road to be abandoned. When Ireland took a 1-0 lead with a David Kelly goal in the 23rd minute a section of England ‘fans’ ripped up seats in the upper stand and threw them onto spectators below. No further play was possible and for only the third time an England match was abandoned.

2003 The largest peace demonstration in history takes place. Up to 30 million people in 600 cities around the world protested against the Iraq War.

2015 Investigators uncovered what is thought to be the biggest ever cybercrime, with more than £650 million going missing from banks around the world. British banks were thought to have lost tens of millions of pounds after a gang of Russian based hackers infiltrated the bank’s internal computer systems using malware, which lurked in the networks for months, gathering information and feeding it back to the gang. The illegal software was so sophisticated that it allowed the criminals to view video feeds from within supposedly secure offices, as they gathered the data they needed to steal.

And Finally.

2003 After Arsenal had beaten Manchester United 2-0 at Old Trafford in the Third Round of the FA Cup United manager Alex Ferguson had kicked a boot in the changing-room in frustration. Nothing newsworthy in that - he was well remembered for his moments of anger. But the boot hit 'Golden Balls' David Beckham in the face causing a cut over his left eye which needed stitches.

[youtube]go0B-2_7pDo[/youtube]

[Dave]

February 16th

1659 The first British cheque (for £10) was written by Nicholas Vanacker and is now in the archives of the National Westminster Bank.

1927 The birth of actress June Muriel Brown, MBE. She is best known for her role as the busy-body, chain-smoking gossip Dot Cotton in the long-running British soap opera EastEnders.

1940 World War II: In a daring night raid, known as the Altmark incident, a boarding party from HMS Cossack successfully rescued 299 British prisoners of war from the Altmark, a 12,000 ton German tanker, in Norwegian waters. The Altmark was returning to Germany with the merchant sailors who had been picked up from ships sunk by the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.

1957 Death of the politician Leslie Hore-Belisha, minister of Transport who introduced the driving test, the Highway Code and the Belisha beacon used at zebra crossings.

1959 Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro becomes the country's youngest ever premier.

1965 A 2nd report from British Railways' Board chairman Dr. Richard Beeching outlined transport needs for the following 25 years. The report followed his 1st controversial review of the state of the railways, published in 1963 in which he said the system was uneconomic and under-used, and recommended that a quarter of the railway system should be shut down.

1989 Investigators in Lockerbie, Scotland, said a Semtex bomb and an electronic timer hidden inside a Toshiba radio cassette player in a case in the cargo hold had brought down Pan Am Flight 103 the previous December, killing all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground.

1989 Dr. Raymond Crockett, a Harley Street nephrologist, resigned as the director of the National Kidney Centre after revelations that kidneys had been purchased from impoverished Turks to be used in transplants for wealthy patients.

2005 The Kyoto Protocol that aimed to slow down global warming took effect, but the US and Australia refused to support it.

And Finally.

1991 The Simpsons were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Do The Bartman'. The song was written by Michael Jackson and Bryan Lorenand, The Simpsons became the first cartoon characters to make No.1 since the Archies hit 'Sugar Sugar' in 1969. Jackson was a massive fan of The Simpsons and had called the producers one night offering to write Bart a number one single and do a guest spot on the show.

[youtube]iUCWv3PH9rw[/youtube]

[boatbuilder]

1989 Dr. Raymond Crockett, a Harley Street nephrologist, resigned as the director of the National Kidney Centre after revelations that kidneys .......

I think there are some missing words at the end Dave, although the content of the link does fill the gap.

[Dave]

I think there are some missing words at the end Dave, although the content of the link does fill the gap.

Well spotted, boatbuilder, I've corrected it now. I usually have the links at the bottom of each item until I link them into the post, then I delete them. I must have deleted a bit more than I meant to.