Royal Charter
1194 King Richard I gave Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. The date that such a charter was granted is considered to be when a city was ‘founded’.
The Road to the Scaffold
1536 Anne Boleyn, second wife of England’s King Henry VIII, was sent to the Tower of London, accused of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft. She was executed 17 days later.
Scottish Reformation
1559 Scottish clergyman John Knox returned from exile to become the leader of the ‘Scottish Reformation’. The movement led to the ousting of Mary of Guise, who governed the country in the name of her young daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots.
The Authorised Version
1611 The Authorized Version of the Bible (King James Version) was first published and became the standard English language Bible.
The Spithead Mutiny
The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutitnies by sailors of the Royal Navy in 1797. There were also discontent and minor incidents on ships in other locations in the same year. They were not violent insurrections, being more in the nature of strikes, demanding better pay and conditions. The mutinies were potentially dangerous for Britain because at the time the country was at war with revolutionary France. . There were also concerns among some members of the British ruling class that the mutinies might be the trigger to a wider uprising similar to the French Revolution.
Nessy
1933 The modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster was born when a sighting made local news. Several London newspapers sent correspondents to Scotland, and a circus offered a £20,000 reward for capture of the beast.
Jet Plane
1952 The world’s first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1, set off from London to Johannesburg on its maiden flight.
Stanley Final
1953 Football legend Sir Stanley Matthews, at the age of 38, won an FA Cup winners’ medal as Blackpool came back from trailing 3-1 to beat Bolton 4-3. In recognition of the impact he had on the match, it become known as the ‘Matthews Final’.
Nancy Astor
1964 Nancy Astor, first British woman MP died.
The Early Bird
1965 Britain’s Early Bird satellite began transmitting TV programmes to more than 300 million viewers. The first programme was:- ‘Out Of This World’.
General Belgrano
1982 The Argentinean battleship General Belgrano was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Conqueror during the Falklands War. The crew of 368 seamen perished and there was considerable criticism in Britain as the ship was sailing outside the 200-mile exclusion zone at the time.
Lynn Redgrave
2010 The death of actress Lynn Redgrave, OBE, daughter of actor Sir Michael Redgrave and sister to actress Vanessa Redgrave.
