On This Day – The House of Windsor and a Bosom Friend

West of Perth

1306 The Earl of Pembroke’s army defeated Robert the Bruce’s Scottish army at the Battle of Methven, west of Perth.

Happy Birthday, James I

1566 King James VI of Scotland and I of England was born.

Seats for Sale

1809 Curwen’s Act was passed in Britain, to prevent the sale of parliamentary seats, thus decreasing the number of seats which the British government could manipulate for its regular supporters.

The Bobbies and the Peelers

1829 Robert Peel’s Act was passed, to establish a new police force in London and its suburbs. They were known as Peelers and then Bobbies, derived from his surname and Christian name respectively.

An Unhappy Birthday

1861 Douglas Haig, British field-marshal was born. Haig became known as ‘Butcher of the Somme’, after he unnecessarily sent thousands of British troops to their deaths. After the war, he devoted himself to the care of ex-Servicemen.

The House of Windsor

1917 The British royal family renounced the German names and titles of Saxe-Coburg, (responding to anti-German sentiment) and became Windsor.

Bosom Friend

1925 The birth of Charlie Drake, slapstick English comedian. His catchphrase ‘Hello, my darlings’ came about because his short (5′ 1″)stature placed his eyes directly level with a lady’s bosom!

Independence Day

1961 Kuwait declared its independence from the United Kingdom after which the state’s oil industry saw unprecedented economic growth. In 1990, Kuwait was invaded and annexed by neighbouring Iraq.

Lord Lucan

1975 An inquest jury decided that the missing Lord Lucan murdered the 29-year-old nanny of his three young children.

Ian Botham

1978 Cricketing star Ian Botham became the first man in the history of the game to score a century and take eight wickets in one innings of a Test match.

Beef to the Slaughter

1996 Britain offered to slaughter up to 67,000 more cattle in an effort to end the ban on British beef.

Happy Wedding Anniversary

1999 The wedding of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex ( the fourth, and youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh) and Sophie Rhys-Jones. The wedding took place at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

 

On This Day – The Long And Winding Road

Royal Wedding

1625 King Charles I of England married Henrietta Maria of France.

The Great Plague

1665 The Great Plague began to take hold, as the official death toll reached 112.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Arnold

1795 Dr. Thomas Arnold, English educationalist and reformer of the Public School system whilst he was headmaster of Rugby School, was born.

Train Driver’s Assistant

1842 Queen Victoria travelled by train for the first time, from Slough (near Windsor Castle) to Paddington, accompanied by Prince Albert. A special coach had been built earlier, but the Queen had been reluctant to try this new form of travel. On her first journey, the engine driver was assisted by the great civil engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Clean Up Britain

1910 Birth of Mary Whitehouse, English co-founder of the ‘Clean up TV campaign’ and Honorary General Secretary of the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association.

Gotha G Bombers

1917 The deadliest German air raid on London during World War I was carried out by Gotha G bombers and resulted in 162 deaths, including 46 children, with a further 432 people injured.

Hanging Up The Boots

1931 Jesse Boot, (Boots – the chemist) English pharmacist, drug manufacturer, and philanthropist died.

Desert War

1942 British forces lost 230 tanks in desert fighting.

Doodlebugs Have Landed

1944 World War II: the first German V1 flying bomb, or ‘doodlebug’ landed in Britain – killing three people in a house in the coastal city of Southampton. Only four of the eleven bombs hit their targets.

Royal National Theatre

1951 Queen Elizabeth II (then Princess Elizabeth) laid the foundation stone for what was to become the Royal National Theatre

The Long and Winding Road

1970 ‘The Long and Winding Road’ became the Beatles’ last Number 1 single. The released version of the song was very successful, but the post-production modifications to the song by producer Phil Spector angered McCartney to the point that when he made his case in court for breaking up The Beatles as a legal entity, McCartney cited the treatment of ‘The Long and Winding Road’ as one of six reasons for doing so.

The Maiden Speech

1974 Prince Charles made his maiden speech in House of Lords. It was the first such royal speech in 90 years.

Don’t Give a Monkey’s

1996 French and British researchers injected material from cows suffering from BSE into the brains of macaque monkeys and found the same disease patterns as in patients suffering from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).

Princess Royal

1987 Princess Anne was given the title Princess Royal.