Sweet Sixteen
1558 Mary Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, married the French Dauphin at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris.
The Power Loom
1743 Edmund Cartwright, the inventor of the cotton spinning power loom, was born. In 1809 Cartwright obtained a grant of £10,000 from parliament for his invention and in May 1821 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Battle of Britain
1882 Lord Dowding, air force commander who directed the 1940 Battle of Britain, was born.
Daily Express
1900 The first issue of the newspaper the Daily Express. It was founded by Arthur Pearson.
Lord Haw-Haw
1906 William Joyce, British traitor and Nazi propagandist (‘Lord Haw-Haw’) was born.
The Eastern Rebellion
1916 In Dublin, Irish nationalists, led by Patrick Pearse, launched the Easter Rebellion against British rule.
The Ramblers’ Trespass
1932 A mass trespass by thousands of ramblers, led by Benny Rothman, took place on Kinder Scout in the Peak District. Their aim was to establish public right of access on the moors and mountains that were privately owned for grouse shooting.The mass trespass had a far-reaching impact that culminated in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 which gave people ‘the right to roam’ on mapped access land.
The Pennine Way
1965 The official opening of the Pennine Way, a 250 mile path along the Pennine Hills from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm on the Scottish border. The opening ceremony was held at Malham Moor, North Yorkshire.
The London Bombing
1993 A massive bomb ripped through the the City of London, killing one and injuring more than 40.
Cry, Billy No-Mate, Cry
2003 Britain’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest failed to score a single point, a fact later blamed on the UK’s stance during the Iraq conflict.
mirabooks 