On This Day – Movers, Shakers and Leaping Royals

The Year Has Leaped

29th February occurs every 4 years. These are known as leap years. Years that are evenly divisible by 4, such as 2008, are leap years. However, there are some exceptions in century years. A century year, which ends in two zeros, is not a leap year unless it is also evenly divisible by 400.

The additional day was first added to the other 365 days with the introduction of the Julian calendar. This extra day every four years brings the solar year of 365¼ days into line with the calendar year of 365 days.

29th February is the one day of the year on which, traditionally, women can propose to men. It was considered that as the day also had no legal status, it was reasonable to assume that tradition had no status, so women took advantage of this and proposed to the man they wanted to marry. A law once existed in Scotland forbidding a man to refuse a proposal made to him. Punishment for such an offence was a large fine.

A person who is born on 29th February may be called a ‘leapling’. In non-leap years they may celebrate their birthday on 28th February or 1st March, but for legal purposes, in Britain, their birthday is 28th February. Statistically, about one in 1,461 births is a leapling and there are an estimated 4.1 million worldwide.

Movers and Shakers

1736 The birth of Ann Lee, also known as Mother Ann. She was a Manchester-born blacksmith’s daughter who emigrated with a handful of followers to the USA in 1774 and founded the religious group the American Society of Shakers, a development of the English religious group ‘The Quakers’.

The Leaping Royal

1964 The Queen’s cousin, Princess Alexandra, gave birth to a son at her home in Surrey. The baby, James Robert Bruce, who was more than a week overdue, is believed to be the first-ever royal baby to be born on 29th February.

 

 

 

 

On This Day – Rags, Bones, Rolling Stones and Bicycles

On Your Bike

1888 In a Belfast street, a small boy named Johnny Dunlop was riding his tricycle under the supervision of his father. The two rear wheels of the tricycle were the world’s first pneumatic tyres and he was testing them. The test was so successful that his father was granted patent number 10607 on 23rd July.

Rag and Bones

1925 The birth of the actor Harry H. Corbett. In the early 1950s, he added the initial “H” to avoid confusion with the television entertainer Harry Corbett, who was known for his act with the glove-puppet Sooty. A chance meeting with writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who had been successful with Hancock’s Half Hour, changed Corbett’s life. He is best known for his starring role in the popular and long-running BBC Television sitcom Steptoe and Son. Early in his career he was dubbed ‘the English Marlon Brando’ by some sections of the British press.

Mosley’s Workshop

1931 Having left the Labour Party, Sir Oswald Mosley formed the “New Party” which he said was dedicated to turning parliament “from a talk-shop into a workshop”. The party later evolved into the British Union of Fascists.

The Rolling Stones

1942 The birth of Brian Jones, English musician and a founding member of The Rolling Stones. He died at the age of 27 by drowning in the swimming pool at his home in East Sussex thus becoming a member of the so called ’27 Club’. Members are all former musicians who died at the age of 27 and the list includes Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse,

Into the Brick Wall

1975 At 8.37 am in the London rush hour, a Northern Line underground train crashed through the buffers at Moorgate station and hit a solid dead-end wall, killing 41 people and seriously injuring 50. The rescue operation took three days to complete.

Coventry Cathedral

2001 A fire damaged Coventry Cathedral, including Graham Sutherland’s famous tapestry ‘Christ the King’.

 

On This Day – A Grandson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This day a year ago saw the birth of my beautiful grandson..

Happy Birthday, James.

 

On This Day – I Told You I Was Ill

Whatever’s Become of John Bull

1735 The death of John Arbuthnot, English satirist and creator of ‘John Bull’, the character that symbolized Britain.

Leave Them to It

1782 The British Parliament voted to abandon the American War of Independence.

My Lord Luddite

1812 Poet Lord Byron gave his first address as a member of the House of Lords. He argued in defence of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.

Dark Satanic Mills

1848 The birth of Hubert Parry, English composer. As a composer he is best known for the choral song ‘Jerusalem’, based on Blake’s poem that begins with the lines – ‘And did those feet in ancient time. Walk upon England’s mountains green.’ The term ‘dark Satanic Mills’, referenced in the poem, is interpreted as referring to the early Industrial Revolution that destroyed nature and human relationships.

Fruit of Our Labour

1900 The British Labour Party was founded. Ramsay MacDonald became secretary.

The Old Bailey

1907 London’s main criminal court, the Old Bailey was built, on the site of Newgate Prison.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

1932 The birth, in London, of the film actress Elizabeth Taylor. Her first success was in the 1944 film National Velvet. She played the title role in Cleopatra (1963), and married her co-star Richard Burton (twice). They appeared together in 11 films, including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), for which Taylor won a second Academy Award.

A Lot of Hot Air

1999 While trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon, British pilots Colin Prescott and Andy Elson set a new endurance record after being in a hot air balloon for 233 hours and 55 minutes.

Duirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite

2002 Spike Milligan, Irish comedian and writer died, aged 83. After the death of his friend Harry Secombe from cancer on 11th April 2001, Milligan said, “I’m glad he died before me, because I didn’t want him to sing at my funeral.” On his headstone is inscribed “I’Duirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite”, which is Irish for “I told you I was ill.” He was the favourite comic of Prince Charles who wrote a letter congratulating Milligan on winning a Lifetime Achievement Award, whereupon the comic, on live TV, jokingly labelled the Prince a “grovelling little bastard”.

 

 

On This Day – The Lottery Winner, the Forger, and a Mushroom for Australia

Dr. Faustus

1564 The birth of Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist and poet of the Elizabethan era. He was the foremost Elizabethan writer next to William Shakespeare.

The Very First £1 Note

1797 The Bank of England issued the first ever one pound note. Printed on watermark paper with a vignette of Britannia on the top left hand corner, the hand-signed white £1 notes were withdrawn in the 1820s

The Lucky Number.

1839 The first Grand National Steeplechase was run at Aintree near Liverpool. The winner was ‘Lottery’ ridden by Jem Mason.

Under the Radar

1935 Robert Watson-Watt first demonstrated RADAR (radio detection and ranging) at Daventry, Northamptonshire.

Magic Mushroom for Australia

1952 Churchill told the House of Commons that Britain now had an atomic bomb which it intended to test in Australia.

James Bond Said No

1962 The start of filming of Dr. No, the first film involving English agent 007 – James Bond.

Celebrity Street

1979 Accused of forging old masters, painter Tom Keating’s trial at the Old Bailey was halted due to Keating’s ill health. Keating, a brilliant technician, went on to present a television series on painters and became a celebrity in his remaining years.

Women Priests

1987 The Church of England’s General Synod voted by a huge majority in favour of the ordination of women priests.

Who’s the Clever Boy, Then?

1995 Barings, the country’s oldest merchant bank, declared bankruptcy after discovering that Nicholas Leeson, the firm’s chief trader in Singapore, had lost approximately £625 million of the bank’s assets on unauthorized futures and options transactions.

Our’s Not to Wonder Why

1997 Armed Forces Minister, Nicholas Soames, fought off Labour demands for his resignation over the Ministry of Defence’s suppression of information about the still unexplained ‘Gulf War syndrome’.

Streets Paved With Gold

2002 London Mayor Ken Livingstone confirmed that motorists would be charged £5 per day to drive into London on weekdays.

 

On This Day – Peter Pan’s Uniform and the End of the Birch

The Usurper

1570 Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V. He declared her a usurper for her severe persecution of Roman Catholics in England. It was the last such judgment made against a reigning monarch by any pope.

Death of the Wren

1723 The death of Sir Christopher Wren, one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history and architect of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Peter Pan

1897 The birth of Peter Llewelyn Davies, the namesake of Peter Pan. The author, J. M. Barrie publicly identified him as the source of the name for the title character in his famous play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up. This identification as ‘the original Peter Pan’ plagued Davies throughout his life.

Emmeline, The Terrorist

1913 English suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst went on trial for a bomb attack on the home of David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Lesson Unlearned

1953 At an inquest, crew members admitted that the Princess Victoria, a ferry which sank off Belfast, had sailed with her giant bow doors open, drowning 128 people. The same tragedy was repeated on 6th March 1987 outside Zeebrugge harbour when the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized.

The Island Princess 

1978 Princess Margaret and her friend, Roddy Llewellyn, left for a holiday on the romantic island of Mustique. On 10th May an announcement was made that the Princess intended to divorce Lord Snowdon after two years’ separation. A few days later, Roddy said that he had no plans to marry the Princess.

The End of the Birch

1982 The European Court of Human Rights ruled that corporal punishment in schools (if it was against the parents’ wishes) was a violation of the Human Rights Convention.

The Birmingham Six

1991 After serving 17 years in prison, it was announced that ‘the Birmingham Six’ would soon be released when it was decided that their convictions were unsafe. All were jailed in 1975 for an IRA attack on two pubs in Birmingham in November 1974 in which 21 people died.

 

On This Day – Parliament Lost, Parliament Regained and Curlers for Hilda Ogden

Third Time Unlucky

1809 The third Theatre Royal Drury Lane was destroyed by fire. It was uninsured and still not paid for, so it was a financial disaster for the owners, who included Sheridan.

Parliament Lost

1909 Suffragettes attempted to break into the Houses of Parliament. The police made 29 arrests.

Parliament Regained

1920 Lady Nancy Astor, (the first woman to ever hold a seat in the House of Commons), became the first woman to speak in Parliament.

The Flying Scotsman

1923 The Flying Scotsman began hauling scheduled services between London & Scotland. She has undergone a major restoration at York’s National Railway Museum and is due to return to mainline working in 2012.

The Star is Born

1926 The birth of Jean Alexander, BAFTA Nominated English television actress. She is best known for her role as Hilda Ogden in the soap opera Coronation Street, a role she played for 23 years and also as Auntie Wainwright on the longest running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine from 1988 to 2010.

See Birkenhead and Die

1962 The Beatles played a concert at the Birkenhead YMCA for a fee of £30. The audience didn’t enjoy the show and the Beatles were booed off stage. They left early for a second gig at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, and the rest, as they say, is history.

A Wedding is Announced

1981 The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer ended months of speculation by announcing that they would marry in the summer.

Frozen to Life

1988 The first baby born from an embryo frozen after the fertilization of a donated egg was delivered at Dulwich Hospital, south London, to Mrs. Ann Forrester, 37, by Caesarean section.

No More Bobby Moore

1993 The famed English footballer Bobby Moore, died. He captained West Ham United for more than ten years and was captain of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the all-time greats of world football.

Murder Most Foul

1999 Home Secretary Jack Straw published the McPherson Report into the police handling of the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. The Metropolitan Police were criticised for what the report called ‘institutionalised racism’.

 

On This Day – Emma-Two-Toc and Another Fine Mess or Two

Half a Pint of Larger and an Oratorio

1732 Handel’s Oratorio was performed for the first time at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, London on the composer’s 47th birthday. It was the first oratorio ever performed in Britain.

The Cato Street Conspiracy

1820 British police uncovered ‘The Cato Street Conspiracy’, planned by Arthur Thistlewood, to assassinate Cabinet ministers. Five of the eighteen conspirators were publicly hanged outside Newgate prison on 1st May 1820, six were transported to Australia for life, and the rest were either rewarded or released due to their status as spies, agent provocateurs, or men who had turned King’s Evidence.

Death of Keats

1821 John Keats, English poet, died in Rome, aged 25.

Birth of the Nile

1863 Lake Victoria, in Africa, was declared to be the source of the River Nile by British explorers John Speke and J.A. Grant.

Anyone for Tennis?

1874 Major Walter Clopton Wingfield patented an outdoor game he called ‘Sphairistike’, later known as lawn tennis. Eventually it was adopted by the All England Croquet Club which sponsored the first Wimbledon championships in 1877.

Two – Emma – Toc

1920 The first regular broadcasting service in Britain started from Marconi’s studio in Writtle, near Chelmsford. The 30-minute programme was transmitted twice daily. Peter Eckersley opened with ‘Hello! Hello! This is Two-Emma-Toc, Writtle testing.’ Two-Emma-Toc stood for 2MT, the licence granted to Marconi by the General Post Office.

Death of the Valley

1945 World War II: The German town of Pforzheim was almost completely destroyed in a raid by 379 British bombers. About one quarter of the town’s population (over 17,000 people) were killed in the air raid. The town was thought by the Allies to be producing precision instruments for use in the German war effort and to be a transport centre for the movement of German troops. After the war, the rubble from the destruction was heaped into a large pile on the outskirts of the town, resulting in a volcano-ish look of the mountain and the disappearance of the valley. Similar efforts were undertaken in other destroyed cities such as Stuttgart and Munich.

Amnesty

1953 In Britain, an amnesty offered to World War II deserters brought in applications from more than 3000 servicemen.

The Traffic Warden Wars

1963 Peter Hicks, a farmer who electrified his car to ward off traffic wardens in London’s Covent Garden had to wait nine months before police returned his electric device and told him they would not be prosecuting.

Another Fine Mess

1965 The death of Stan Laurel, film comedian, born in Ulverston, Cumbria in 1890. In 1961 Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. Ulverston has a Laurel & Hardy Museum.

 

 

On This Day – Girl Guides, Boy Scouts and the Ladies of Fishguard

The Ladies of Fishguard

1797 Over 1,000 French troops attempted to invade Britain and landed at Fishguard, but were soon captured by the brave ladies of the town. No other foreign force has managed to invade mainland Britain since.

Birth of the Boy Scout

1857 The birth of Sir Robert (Stephenson Smyth) Baden-Powell, English hero of the siege of Mafeking during the Boer War. His innovative approach to the situation kept morale high and his experiences led to the founding of the Boy Scouts.

… and his Lady Wife

1889 The birth of Lady Olave Baden-Powell, wife of Robert Baden-Powell. She was Chief Guide for Britain in 1918 and World Chief Guide in 1930. As well as making a major contribution to the development of the Guide movement, she visited 111 countries during her lifetime, attending Jamborees and national Guide and Scout associations.

All at Sea

1903 The Cunard Liner Etruria arrived in New York with a copy of the first newspaper ever published in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It featured news reports transmitted from Britain by wireless while the ship was at sea. Marconi, the inventor of wireless telegraphy, was one of the ship’s passengers.

Not Such a Village Idiot, After All

1908 John Mills, English film and television actor, was born. He made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He often played traditionally British heroes and he was particularly associated with war dramas, such as The Colditz Story and Ice Cold in Alex . He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as the village idiot in Ryan’s Daughter.

Sounds Familiar?

1944 World War II: Allied American aircraft mistakenly bombed the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.

The Magnificent Four

1969 The last time all four Beatles were together for a recording session.

Pure Gold

1980 British ice skater Robin Cousins won a gold medal for figure skating in the Lake Placid Winter Olympics.

Hello Dolly

1997 A sheep named Dolly was cloned by scientists in Edinburgh. It was hailed as one of the most significant breakthroughs of the decade

That Was a Lot of Money Back Then

2006 At least six men staged Britain’s biggest ever robbery, stealing £53m from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.

 

On This Day – Warrior Queen on Platform 8 and the Bare-Kneed Harlot

The Maid of Orléans

1431 In a trial demanded by the English, French heroine Joan of Arc was accused of heresy before the judges in Rouen.

Ten Steel Miles

1804 British engineer Richard Trevithick demonstrated the world’s first steam railway locomotive at Samuel Homfray’s Penydaren Ironworks in South Wales. The engine won a wager for Homfray by hauling a load of 10 tons of iron and 70 men along 10 miles of tramway.

Legless and Dangerous

1910 The birth of Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader who lost both his legs while attempting aerobatics in 1931. As an RAF fighter ace during the Second World War he was credited with 20 aerial victories, many shared victories and 11 enemy aircraft damaged. As a POW he was a thorn in the side of the Germans and he made so many attempts at escape that the Germans threatened to take away his legs.

Set My People Free

1952 The government of Winston Churchill abolished Identity Cards – “to set the people free”.

Second Attempt

1958 The Peace symbol, commissioned by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was designed and completed by Gerald Holtom. The logo was not copyrighted and later became known in the wider world as a general-purpose peace symbol. The design incorporated the semaphore signals for ‘N’ and ‘D’ standing for ‘nuclear disarmament’.

The Cavern

1961 The Beatles appeared for the very first time at The Cavern Club, Liverpool. They went on to make a total of 292 other appearances there.

The Warrior Queen on Platform 8

1988 The grave of Boadicea, the warrior queen who fought the Romans in Britain nearly 2,000 years ago, was located by archaeologists under Platform 8 at King’s Cross railway station, London. British Rail said they had just refurbished the platform and anyone wanting to dig it up would have to come up with a strong case ….. and they did.

Banned

2001 The European Commission banned all British milk, meat and livestock exports following the UK’s first outbreak of foot and mouth disease for two decades.

The Bare-Kneed Harlot

2008 The death of Sunny Lowry, the first British woman to swim the English Channel (1933). She was berated as being a ‘harlot’ as her light two-piece suit, which was considered very daring at the time, bared her knees.