On This Day – Two Very Different Wedding Anniversaries

The Maiden of Orleans

1429 Joan of Arc arrived at the besieged city of Orleans to eventually lead her French forces to victory (on May 6th) over the English.

Many Lives of William III

1696 There were many attempts on the life of William III, King of England, who attracted opposition, in part because he was a foreigner. This day, three would-be assassins, Rookwood, Lowick and Cranbourne, were executed for an attempt that failed.

London Philharmonic

1879 Thomas Beecham, conductor and founder of the London Philharmonic was born. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras and was a major influence on the musical life of Britain.

Women at the Gate

1884 Oxford University agreed to admit female students to examinations. However, woman were not to be awarded degrees.

Supertax

1909 In a revolutionary budget called ‘The People’s Budget’, Chancellor David Lloyd George introduced a new ‘supertax’ of sixpence in the pound for anyone earning more than £5,000 a year (£387.000 in today’s money). The new high level of supertax was to pay for old age pensions and re-armament of the forces.

Cat’s Eyes

1935 Just one year after their invention by Percy Shaw of Yorkshire, ‘cats’ eyes’ were being inserted into British roads.

Fred The Steeplejack

1938 The birth, in Bolton, Lancashire of Fred Dibnah MBE, English steeplejack. He had a fascination for steam vehicles and mechanical engineering and became a cult television personality.

Il Duce

1945 The German army in Italy surrendered to the Allies under the British General Alexander. The Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, ‘Il Duce’, who, after a series of military misadventures, became unpopular even among his fellow Fascists, was captured while trying to flee Italy and was executed.

An Unhappy Couple

1945 Adolf Hitler married his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designated Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Both Hitler and Braun committed suicide the next day.

Never Too Slim or Too Rich

1986 The Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, was laid to rest alongside her husband, the abdicated King Edward VIII, at Frogmore in Windsor.

Snookered

1990 Snooker player Stephen Hendry beat Jimmy White, to become the youngest ever world champion, aged 21 years and 106 days.

A Happy Couple

2011 The marriage of Prince William, 2nd in line to the throne, and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey. The day was declared a bank holiday in celebration.

 

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.