The remains of English explorer Robert Scott and his companions were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.Scott's party had reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912, only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen's Norwegian expedition. Scott and his four comrades all perished on the return journey from a combination of exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold.
Scott is presumed to have died on 29 March 1912, or possibly one day later. The positions of the bodies in the tent when it was discovered eight months later suggested that Scott was the last of the three to die.
The bodies of Scott and his companions were discovered by a search party on 12 November 1912 and their records retrieved. Tryggve Gran, who was part of the search party, described the scene as, "snowcovered til up above the door, with Scott in the middle, half out of his bag... the frost had made the skin yellow & transparent & I’ve never seen anything worse in my life." Their final camp became their tomb; the tent roof was lowered over the bodies and a high cairn of snow was erected over it, topped by a roughly fashioned cross, erected using Gran's skis. Next to their bodies lay 35 pounds (16 kg) of Glossopteris tree fossils which they had dragged on hand sledges. These were the first ever discovered Antarctic fossils and proved that Antarctica had once been warm and connected to other continents.
In January 1913, before Terra Nova left for home, a large wooden cross was made by the ship's carpenters, inscribed with the names of the lost party and Tennyson's line from his poem Ulysses: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield", and was erected as a permanent memorial on Observation Hill, overlooking Hut Point.
The first photograph of the ‘Loch Ness monster’ was taken by Mr Hugh Gray. He managed to take five pictures altogether but after processing, four of them were blank and the fifth was not confirmed as being Nessie.
It was this picture, snapped by Hugh Grey on 12 November 1933, that is credited as being the first photographic evidence of the Loch Ness monster. It appeared on the front cover of the Scottish Daily Record on 8 December that year, under the headline "Monster photograph of the mysterious Loch Ness object".
It is the first picture and bears that distinction, but it is also the least easy to interpret.
It has been suggested that it is a double negative, perhaps of a Labrador dog with a stick in its mouth, but it could be anything.
Hugh Gray's photograph taken near Foyers on 12 November 1933 was the first photograph alleged to depict the monster. It was slightly blurred, and it has been noted that if one looks closely the head of a dog can be seen. Gray had taken his Labrador for a walk that day and it is suspected that the photograph depicts his dog fetching a stick from the loch. Others have suggested that the photograph depicts an otter or a swan. The original negative was lost. However, in 1963, Maurice Burton came into "possession of two lantern slides, contact positives from the original negative" and when projected onto a screen they revealed an "otter rolling at the surface in characteristic fashion."
1035 The death of Cnut the Great (King Canute of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden).
1555 Parliament re-established Catholicism.
1595 The death of Admiral Sir John Hawkins chief architect of the Elizabethan navy. Among his many other roles, he rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588.
1660 English author John Bunyan was arrested for preaching without a licence. He refused to give up preaching and remained in jail for 12 years.
1847 The first public demonstration of the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic was given by James Simpson, at Edinburgh University.
1894 Lawrence Hargrave, Australian aeronautical pioneer and inventor of the box kite, linked four huge box kites together and flew - but remained attached to the ground by piano wire.
1911 Birth of Reverend Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans, the voluntary group who counsel those in distress. Originally established at St Stephen’s Church, London, it provides a service day and night, every day of the year. (Reverend Chad Varah died on 8th November 2007, aged 95.)
1912 The remains of English explorer Robert Scott and his companions were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Scott's party had reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912, only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen's Norwegian expedition. Scott and his four comrades all perished on the return journey from a combination of exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold.
1919 The first flight from England to Australia started at Hounslow, with Ross and Smith in a Vickers Vimy. They landed safely on 13th December 1919.
1928 The birth, in South Africa of Bob Holness, English radio and television presenter. He is best known for presenting the British version of the quiz show Blockbusters, but also presented the quiz shows Take a Letter, Raise the Roof and Call My Bluff.
1933 The first photograph of the ‘Loch Ness monster’ was taken by Mr Hugh Gray. He managed to take five pictures altogether but after processing, four of them were blank and the fifth was not confirmed as being Nessie.
1936 1st ever TV Gardening show "In Your Garden" shown on BBC television.
1944 The RAF launched 29 Avro Lancaster bombers in one of the most successful precision bombing attacks of war and sank the German battleship Tirpitz, the last of the major German battleships.
1956 Largest observed iceberg, 208 by 60 miles, 1st sighted.
1966 Buzz Aldrin takes the first 'space selfie', a photo of himself performing extravehicular activity in space during the Gemini program.
1974 A salmon was caught in the Thames, the first since around 1840. It was an 8lb 4 1/2oz female and she was discovered entangled in the protective nets around West Thurrock power station It was regarded by Thames Water authority as a vindication of the £100m they had spent on effluent control.
1981 1st balloon crossing of Pacific is completed (Double Eagle V).
1984 It was announced, by Chancellor Nigel Lawson, that the pound note, after being in circulation for more than 150 years, would be phased out and replaced with the pound coin.
1997 Train robber Ronnie Biggs, was celebrating after Brazil's Supreme Court rejected a British request to extradite him, for the 2nd time. The court in Rio de Janeiro ruled that because Biggs' crime was committed more than 20 years previously he could not be extradited.
2001 Greece held 12 plane-spotting British 'spies' to carry out further inquiries. All were arrested for allegedly taking photographs at an air show at a military base.
2014 Police killer Harry Roberts was released from prison. Roberts, now aged 78, was jailed for life for murdering three unarmed officers in Shepherd's Bush, west London, in 1966.
2015 Storm Abigail, the first storm to be officially named by the Met Office, was upgraded to amber, with winds forecast of up to 90mph in the Western Isles, parts of Argyll and the north west Highlands and Orkney from 9:00pm on the 12th to midday on Friday 13th.
The bridge at Stamford from which bulls were heaved into the river.
November 13, 1839 — If you are lucky enough to own a castle you want to enjoy the fine views on offer from the ramparts. That, according to legend, is just what William Plantagenet de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey (1166-1240), was doing one day at the turn of the 12th century.
Looking over the meadow stretched before him outside the town of Stamford he saw two bulls fighting over a cow. Local butchers then came with their dogs to part the animals, enraging them further and causing one to run off and stampede through the town.
It is said that men, women and children were being tossed about by the angry bull, a spectacle much enjoyed by the earl who had followed on horseback to see what was going on.
It brought him so much pleasure, in fact, that he hit on the idea of giving to the town’s butchers the meadow where it had all started, provided they agreed to have another bull-run every year.
The story is almost certainly mythical, but it is a fact that a bull-run, which began in Stamford all those years ago, continued every November for 700 years.
A description of the event was published in 1646 by Richard Butcher in his Survey And Antiquity Of The Town Of Stamford:
Their bull running is a sport of no pleasure, except to such as take a pleasure in beastlyness and misschief. The butchers of the town provide the wildest bull they can get [and] proclamation is made by the common 'bell-man' of the town that each one shut their shop-doors and gates.
Which proclamation made and all the gates are shut up, the bull is turned loose and then, hivie, skivy, tag and rag, men, women and children of all sorts and sizes, with all the dogs in the town promiscuously running after him with their bull-clubs spattering dirt in eachothers faces that one would think them to be so many Furies started out of ****.
Another report, published in Chambers, recorded: “One great object [was to] 'bridge the bull.' The animal was, if possible, compelled to run upon the town’s river bridge. The crowd then closing in, with audacious courage surrounded and seized the animal; and, in spite of its size and strength, by main force tumbled it over the parapet into the river.
“The bull then swimming ashore, would land in the meadows, where the run was continued; the miry, marshy state of the fields at that season of the year, and the falls and other disasters consequent thereon, adding greatly to the amusement of the mob.”
Another account listed some of the more barbaric techniques of the “bullards” for goading a docile or tired bull. They had “sawn off his horns, cut off his tail, fired a train of gunpowder along his back, and poured aqua fortis on the same.” Firecrackers were also mentioned.
At the end of the day the bull would be killed and roasted, providing a bull-beef supper for people in the crowd.
Even in the days when barbarity was widely considered acceptable, troubled voices were raised and in 1788 the Mayor and Town Corporation gave notice of intent to put down “a custom of such unparalleled cruelty to an innocent animal, and in all respects a Disgrace to Religion, Law, and Nature.”
It would be another 51 years, though, before the townspeople could be persuaded to give up their “sport”, the last bull-run coming in 1839. Even then, it took detachments of the 14th Light Dragoons and 200 special police constables to control the situation.
Today, the cruel spectacle has been replaced with the Stamford Georgian Festival, featuring bull floats, performances and fireworks displays.
On 13 November 1907, French engineer and bicycle-maker Paul Cornu made history by becoming the first man to fly in a rotary wing aircraft. Like the Wright Brothers, Cornu was a bicycle maker who dreamed of flight.
Ensuring his place in the history books, his primitive twin-rotor helicopter was powered by a 24HP Antoinette engine and lifted Cornu about five feet off the ground, and held him there for 20 seconds at Coquainvilliers near Lisieux, France.
Paul Cornu was born in 1881 in the French town of Lisieux, where the local high school is named after him. His talent for engineering became clear when he joined his father in the family business an Automobile, Bicycle and Motorcycles shop where. At the age of 24, he designed and built a working, two-rotor model helicopter weighing 26 pounds. The success of his invention, which he demonstrated at the annual agricultural fair in Lisieux on 4 October 1906, encouraged him to build a large-scale version capable of carrying a passenger.
Cornu died in 1944, when his home was destroyed during a World War Two Allied bombardment.
Aviation History Paul Cornu’s Flying Bicycle anniversary of the first helicopter flight.
Long considered a harbinger of bad luck, Friday the 13th has inspired a late 19th-century secret society, an early 20th-century novel, a horror film franchise and not one but two unwieldy terms—paraskavedekatriaphobia and friggatriskaidekaphobia—that describe fear of this supposedly unlucky day.
The Fear of 13.
Just like walking under a ladder, crossing paths with a black cat or breaking a mirror, many people hold fast to the belief that Friday the 13th brings bad luck. Though it’s uncertain exactly when this particular tradition began, negative superstitions have swirled around the number 13 for centuries.
While Western cultures have historically associated the number 12 with completeness (there are 12 days of Christmas, 12 months and zodiac signs, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 gods of Olympus and 12 tribes of Israel, just to name a few examples), its successor 13 has a long history as a sign of bad luck.
The ancient Code of Hammurabi, for example, reportedly omitted a 13th law from its list of legal rules. Though this was probably a clerical error, superstitious people sometimes point to this as proof of 13’s longstanding negative associations.
Fear of the number 13 has even earned a psychological term: triskaidekaphobia.
Why is Friday the 13th Unlucky?
According to biblical tradition, 13 guests attended the Last Supper, held on Maundy Thursday, including Jesus and his 12 apostles (one of whom, Judas, betrayed him). The next day, of course, was Good Friday, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion.
The seating arrangement at the Last Supper is believed to have given rise to a longstanding Christian superstition that having 13 guests at a table was a bad omen—specifically, that it was courting death.
Though Friday’s negative associations are weaker, some have suggested they also have roots in Christian tradition: Just as Jesus was crucified on a Friday, Friday was also said to be the day Eve gave Adam the fateful apple from the Tree of Knowledge, as well as the day Cain killed his brother, Abel.
The Thirteen Club.
In the late-19th century, a New Yorker named Captain William Fowler (1827-1897) sought to remove the enduring stigma surrounding the number 13—and particularly the unwritten rule about not having 13 guests at a dinner table—by founding an exclusive society called the Thirteen Club.
The group dined regularly on the 13th day of the month in room 13 of the Knickerbocker Cottage, a popular watering hole Fowler owned from 1863 to 1883. Before sitting down for a 13-course dinner, members would pass beneath a ladder and a banner reading “Morituri te Salutamus,” Latin for “Those of us who are about to die salute you.”
Four former U.S. presidents (Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison and Theodore Roosevelt) would join the Thirteen Club’s ranks at one time or another.
Friday the 13th in Pop Culture.
An important milestone in the history of the Friday the 13th legend in particular (not just the number 13) occurred in 1907, with the publication of the novel Friday, the Thirteenth written by Thomas William Lawson.
The book told the story of a New York City stockbroker who plays on superstitions about the date to create chaos on Wall Street, and make a killing on the market.
The horror movie Friday the 13th, released in 1980, introduced the world to a hockey mask-wearing killer named Jason, and is perhaps the best-known example of the famous superstition in pop culture history. The movie spawned multiple sequels, as well as comic books, novellas, video games, related merchandise and countless terrifying Halloween costumes.
What bad things happened on Friday 13th?
On Friday, October 13, 1307, officers of King Philip IV of France arrested hundreds of the Knights Templar, a powerful religious and military order formed in the 12th century for the defense of the Holy Land.
Imprisoned on charges of various illegal behaviors (but really because the king wanted access to their financial resources), many Templars were later executed. Some cite the link with the Templars as the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition, but like many legends involving the Templars and their history, the truth remains murky.
In more recent times, a number of traumatic events have occurred on Friday the 13th, including the German bombing of Buckingham Palace (September 1940); the murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens, New York (March 1964); a cyclone that killed more than 300,000 people in Bangladesh (November 1970); the disappearance of a Chilean Air Force plane in the Andes (October 1972); the death of rapper Tupac Shakur (September 1996) and the crash of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the coast of Italy, which killed 30 people (January 2012).
Things that have happened (allegedly) on Friday 13th.
For the first time in history a new Prime Minister has been declared on Friday the 13th – and the irony has not been lost on some unhappy voters. People on twitter have been quick to joke that the unlucky day is fitting for a Boris Johnson victory.
A British 13-year-old was struck by lightning on Friday the 13th, at 13:13. On Friday 13 in August 2010, the Daily Mail reported a teenage boy was struck by lightning at lowestoft Seafront Air Festival at exactly 13.13. The unnamed boy suffered a minor burn and was taken to James Paget Hospital where he was expected to make a full recovery.
Two planes crashed on the same day – resulting in deaths and cannibalism. A flight from Uruguay to Chile crash-landed in the Andes on October 13, 1972. In the following days, survivors were forced to choose between eating the bodies of dead passengers or perishing themselves.
Another flight vanished and was never discovered. A Swedish flight disappeared while flying over the Baltic Sea on June 13, 1952. The government said the plane was performing a training exercise, but 40 years later a story in the National Geographic said it was spying on the Soviet military. A Russian pilot told a Swedish diplomat that he had shot the plane down – but its body was never found.
Buckingham Palace was bombed during WW II German forces bombed Buckingham Palace while the King and Queen where home on September 13,1940. Even though the event was traumatic, Queen Elizabeth reportedly stated she was ‘glad’ it happened because it meant she could look ‘the East End in the face.’
Man who stayed in bed to escape Friday 13th dies in freak accident. New York resident Daz Baxter decided to stay home on Friday August 13, 1976, because he was scared of any bad events happening to him. Sadly, his plan came to a tragic end when the floor beneath his bed collapsed and he plunged six floors to his death.
From Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, some great people were born on Friday 13. But sadly, some absolutely terrible people share their birth date, such as Nathan Bedford Forrest, Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan. Nathan Bedford Forrest founded the Klu Klux Klan.
The Stock Market Crashed.Most people know ‘Black Friday’ as the last Friday in November, when retailers compete for Christmas shoppers’ attention with flash sales. But originally it was reserved for Friday 13 October 1989, when the stock market experienced a ‘mini crash’ after the buyout of United Airlines fell through.
Another day in history dubbed ‘Black Friday’ was on January 13, 1939, when bush fires swept through Victoria, Australia, killing 71 people.
500,000 people die in Bhola cyclone – triggering a civil war. Lots of natural disasters have occurred on Friday 13th, but the worst was the Bhola cyclone that hit Bangledesh in November 13, 1970 – the deadliest cyclone in history. It claimed the lives of an estimated 500,000 people and wiped out 45% of one specific region.
Rap icon Tupac died on Friday, September 13, 1996, after he was shot four times while in his car in Las Vegas six days earlier.
Friday 13th part III was released Friday 13th Part III was the only film in the Steve Milner trilogy to get released on its name date.
Cruise ship sank off Italian cost.The Costa Concordia sank into the ocean on January 13, 2012, killing 32 people. Reports at the time said it was the largest passenger ship ever wrecked, with almost double the amount of people on board than on the Titanic.
1002 English king Ethelred II ( the unready) ordered the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice's Day massacre.
1093 Malcolm III of Scotland, son of King Duncan, died at Alnwick, Northumberland, during his fifth attempt to invade England.
1312 Birth of Edward III, King of England from 1327.
1642 First English Civil War: At the Battle of Turnham Green (Middlesex), the Royalist forces withdrew in the face of the Parliamentarian army and failed to take London. Charles and his army retreated to Oxford for secure winter quarters.
1715 Battle of Sheriffmuir during Jacobite rebellion. Battle inconclusive but Government forces halt advance of Jacobite army lead by Scottish Earl of Mar.
1779 Thomas Chippendale, English cabinet-maker died.
1789 Benjamin Franklin writes "Nothing . . . certain but death & taxes"
1839 Last bull run in Britain as the Stamford bull run ends after 700 years.
1850 Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, was born.
1887 'Blood y Sunday' in London when violence erupted in Trafalgar Square at a Socialist rally attended by Irish agitators.
1901 The Caister (Norfolk) Lifeboat Disaster. Lifeboat Beauchamp and its crew were lost while attempting a rescue during heavy seas. The following morning, eight bodies were recovered at the scene with another, that of Charles Bonney George being washed away, only to be recovered months later in April of the following year.
1907 French cyclist Paul Cornu flies 1st helicopter (twin rotor).
1910 The birth of Pat Reid British Army officer and author. He was a prisoner of war at Colditz Castle and was one of the few to escape. He wrote about his experiences in two best-selling books, which became the basis of a film, TV series and even a board game.
1916 World War One : The final Battle of the Somme, on the River Ancre. By the end of the battle, (which started on 1st July 2016) the British Army had suffered 420,000 casualties including 19,240 fatalities on the first day alone. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000. The Battle of the Somme epitomised the futility of trench warfare and the indiscriminate slaughter of so many men.
1936 King Edward VIII told the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, that he intended to marry twice divorced Mrs. Simpson.
1947 Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Dalton, resigned after admitting he had disclosed tax proposals to a reporter several minutes before presenting his Budget speech.
1954 Great Britain defeated France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup, held in Paris, in front of around 30,000 spectators.
1965 Director Kenneth Tynan says the word "F*ck" on BBC.
1969 Britain's first live quintuplets this century were born, at Queen Charlotte's maternity hospital in London.
1979 The Times newspaper was published for the first time in nearly a year. The paper's disappearance from news stands followed a dispute between management and unions over manning levels and the introduction of new technology.
1982 WBA lightweight champion Ray Mancini beats South Korean challenger Duk Koo Kim by TKO in 14th round in Las Vegas; Kim collapses, falls into a coma and dies 4 days later; as a result, WBC shortens title bouts to 12 rounds; WBA & WBO follow in 1988, and IBF in 1989.
1987 With a view to encouraging 'safe sex', or AIDS prevention, the BBC screened its first condom 'commercial' (without a brand name).
1988 Brazilian McLaren driver Ayrton Senna finishes 2nd in the season ending Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide to win his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship; wins title by 3 points from Alain Prost.
1992 Riddick Bowe wins the undisputed world heavyweight boxing crown with a unanimous points decision over Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas; first of their 3 meetings.
1994 Title contenders Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill famously collide on lap 35 of the season ending Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide; Schumacher wins his first F1 World Drivers Championship by 1 point from Hill.
When Dane Allan Simonsen was transferred to his only English club you just had to check to see if it was April 1st because it was unreal. The former European Footballer of the Year was on the move from Barcelona and turned down Real Madrid in preference to joining ... Second Division Charlton Athletic! His debut on this day in 1982 for Charlton against Middlesbrough saw their crowd double from their previous League match at the Valley - but that was only from 5,278 to 10,807. Sadly Charlton could only afford his wages for four months before he was on the move again but he had scored 9 goals in 16 League outings and the memories were real!
He most prominently played as a forward for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barcelona from Spain, winning the 1982 Cup Winners' Cup. Simonsen is the only footballer to have scored in the European Cup, UEFA Cup, and Cup Winners' Cup finals. Simonsen was named 1977 European Footballer of the Year.
He made a shock move to English Second Division side Charlton Athletic for £300,000 in October 1982. He rejected offers from Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur, in order to play for a club with less stress and attention. Despite scoring nine times in 16 appearances, the club had trouble funding his transfer and wages, and he was put up for sale. Simonsen then chose to return to his childhood club VB in 1983.
Desert Orchid (11 April 1979 – 13 November 2006, known as Dessie, was an English racehorse. The grey achieved a revered and esteemed status within National Hunt racing, where he was much loved by supporters for his front-running attacking style, iron will and extreme versatility. He was rated the fifth best National Hunt horse of all time by Timeform. During his racing career he was partnered by five different jump jockeys: Colin Brown, Richard Linley, Simon Sherwood, Graham Bradley and Richard Dunwoody.
Early career.
Desert Orchid's first race occurred in 1983 and during his early career his regular rider was Colin Brown, who partnered him 42 times in all, winning 17. He fell heavily at the last in a Kempton novice hurdle and took such a long time to get to his feet that it seemed his first race might be his last. Desert Orchid had a successful novice hurdle career in the 1983/84 season winning several races in a row including the Kingwell Pattern Hurdle, a long established Champion Hurdle trial, at Wincanton. Desert Orchid started favourite for the 1984 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, the race was won by Dawn Run.
One of Desert Orchid's greatest efforts took place in the 1989 Victor Chandler Handicap Chase, where he took on four rivals, including the top-class Panto Prince and Vodkatini, who fell badly on the back straight. He gave the former 22 pounds and the latter 23 pounds. Desert Orchid just got back up after being headed to beat Panto Prince by a head.
Desert Orchid was then stepped up to 3 miles and 2 furlongs for the Cheltenham Gold Cup—he had previously been considered a two-miler. The rain and snow which had fallen relentlessly at Cheltenham made the racecourse going heavy. These were conditions hardly suited to Desert Orchid, especially at this left-handed course which he never particularly favoured.
A crowd of over 58,000 witnessed Desert Orchid's effort to overhaul the mud-loving Yahoo in the final stages of the race. After his one and a half length victory, Desert Orchid's rider, Simon Sherwood said: "I've never known a horse so brave. He hated every step of the way in the ground and dug as deep as he could possibly go". Three cheers were called as Desert Orchid was unsaddled, surrounded by thousands of fans. The race was voted best horse race ever by readers of the Racing Post.
Retirement.
Desert Orchid retired in December 1991 and survived a life-threatening operation for colic a year later. He took his summer holidays with the Burridge family at Ab Kettleby, and spent the winter with David Elsworth leading out the 2 year olds and getting ready for his many public appearances. He returned every year to Kempton to lead out the parade of runners for the King George VI Chase.
During his retirement, he raised thousands of pounds for charity, and his presence at charity events attracted large crowds. His fan club was run by part owner Midge Burridge and family friend John Hippesley. In the 17 years that the fan club ran, they raised over £40,000 for charity through sales of Desert Orchid merchandise, especially his racing calendar.
When David Elsworth left Whitsbury after 25 years, Desert Orchid packed up and went with him to Egerton House Stables in Newmarket, Suffolk. But the home of champions and stallions welcomed the old gelding and his trainer with open arms and Newmarket racecourses held their annual press day in 2006 on Desert Orchid's 27th birthday at his stable. He also paraded at the course to the delight of his fans.
Desert Orchid was no longer ridden due to his age, and David announced that his appearances would be fewer, and nearer to home, as he was now such a senior citizen. Desert Orchid's last public appearance was on 1 October at his fan club open day, which was held at the National Stud in conjunction with stallion parades.
It was clear that Desert Orchid was now frail. In the week of 6 November, he began to have trouble with coordination and those close to him were summoned to say goodbye. A vet was on standby should his assistance be needed. Last seen by those who loved him best at Egerton, he was lying down but nibbling his hay. One hour later at 6:05 am, Monday 13 November, Desert Orchid died.
Desert Orchid's ashes were buried in a private ceremony at Kempton Park Racecourse near his statue the week prior to the King George. The inaugural running of the Desert Orchid Chase on the 27th was preceded by the unveiling of the headstone for his grave, videos of his finest hours at the track, and a moment's silence in his honour. The race was won by Voy Por Ustedes, trained by Alan King and owned by Sir Robert Ogden.
The speed limit for horseless carriages in Britain was raised from 4 mph (2 mph in towns) to 14 mph. It was marked by the first London to Brighton Car Run, which only became a regular and official event from 1927, when it was sponsored by the Daily Sketch.
On This Day In Automotive History: November 14th 1896 – Lawson and the Motor Car Club organised the first London to Brighton run.
Lawson and the Motor Car Club organised the first London to Brighton run, the “Emancipation Run”, which was held on 14 November 1896 to celebrate the relaxation of the Red Flag Act, which eased the way for the start of the development of the British motor industry.
The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is the longest-running motoring event in the world. The first run was in 1896, and it has taken place most years since its initial revival in 1927. To qualify, the cars must have been built before 1905. It is also the world’s largest gathering of veteran cars – 443 started in 2005, 484 in 2009, compared to 37 starters in 1927, 51 starters in 1930 and 131 in 1938.
The first run took place on 14 November 1896, a wet Saturday. Organised by Harry J. Lawson, and named “The Emancipation Run”, it was a celebration of the recently passed Locomotives on Highways Act 1896, which had replaced the restrictive Locomotive Acts of 1861, 1865 and 1878 and increased the speed limit to 14 mph. Since 1878 the speed limit had been 4 mph in the country and 2 mph in the town and an escort had been required to walk 20 yards ahead of the vehicle. The 1865 act had required the escort to carry a red flag at a distance of 60 yards.
The event started with a breakfast at the Charing Cross Hotel, which included the symbolic tearing in two by Lord Winchelsea of a red flag. The competitors gathered outside the Metropole Hotel, with the cars accompanied by a “flying escort” – estimated by one witness as “probably 10,000” – of pedal cyclists, recreational cycling having become popular with the English in the final decades of the 19th century.
A total of 33 motorists set off from London for the coast and 17 arrived in Brighton. The first of the cars set off from London at 10:30 am and the first arrival in Brighton, by a Duryea Motor Wagon, beating the next closest Brighton arrivals by more than an hour. Two Duryea cars participated in the run, marking the first appearance of American motor vehicles in Europe.
The run was not staged again until 1927, and then annually run from 1927 until the onset of the Second World War. Owing to petrol rationing, the event was cancelled until 1947. With all this considered, it is the world’s longest running motoring event. Since 1930, the event has been controlled by the Royal Automobile Club.
1973 Bobby Moore made his 108th and final appearance for England.
Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore OBE (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders in the history of football, and was cited by Pelé as the greatest defender that he had ever played against.
Moore was made captain of England in 1964, at age 23, going on to lift the World Cup trophy in 1966. He won a total of 108 caps for his country, which at the time of his international retirement in 1973 was a national record. This record was later broken by Peter Shilton. Moore's total of 108 caps continued as a record for an outfield player until 28 March 2009, when David Beckham gained his 109th cap. Moore is a member of the World Team of the 20th Century. A national team icon, a bronze statue of Moore is positioned at the entrance to Wembley Stadium.
Moore won his 108th and final cap in a 1–0 friendly defeat to Italy on 14 November 1973.
1687 The death of Eleanor 'Nell' Gwyn, long-time mistress of King Charles II of England and mother of two of his illegitimate children.
1851 "Moby-Di ck" by Herman Melville first published by Harper and Brothers in the US.
1864 Franz Müller, a German tailor, who had murdered Thomas Briggs in the first murder committed on a British train (on 9th July) was publicly hanged at Newgate prison.
1883 "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson is first published as a book by Cassell & Co.
1896 The speed limit for horseless carriages in Britain was raised from 4 mph (2 mph in towns) to 14 mph. It was marked by the first London to Brighton Car Run, which only became a regular and official event from 1927, when it was sponsored by the Daily Sketch.
1922 BBC radio was first broadcast from Alexandra Palace. The first programme was broadcast at 6 pm from 2LO London (later the BBC). A news bulletin, repeated again at 9 pm, and a weather report were the entire programme.
1940 449 German Luftwaffe bombers dropped 503 tons of bombs and 881 incendiaries onto the City of Coventry, killing over 500 civilians and destroying the medieval cathedral. A new cathedral was built adjacent to the old, and the bombed cathedral was left as a memorial.
1941 The British aircraft carrier Ark Royal sank off Gibraltar after being hit by a torpedo from German U-boat, the U-81.
1948 Birth of Prince Charles (Charles Philip Arthur George), Prince of Wales and an enthusiastic and concerned environmentalist.
1952 Britain’s first music chart was published, in the New Musical Express, with Al Martino’s ‘Here in my Heart’ at No. 1.
1969 The BBC began colour television programmes.
1973 Bobby Moore made his 108th and final appearance for England.
1973 Princess Anne married Captain Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey.
1977 Firefighters held their first national strike, over a 30% pay demand. More than 10,000 troops were called in to cover emergencies.
1983 The first Cruise missiles arrived at Greenham Common, a US airbase.
1994 1st Eurostar trains for public run in Channel Tunnel under English Channel.
2006 "Casino Royale", 21st James Bond film premieres in London, starring Daniel Craig for the 1st time and Eva Green, premieres in London.
2010 German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit to claim his first F1 World Drivers Championship by 4 points from Fernando Alonso; Red Bull's first Constructors title.
2013 A standards of living report by price comparison website Uswitch.com, which examined every aspect of life in different parts of Britain, named Solihull, as the best place to live in the UK.
2014 The 3,000th edition of the BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, which was first broadcast on 29th January 1942. The guest for the 3,000th show was 95 year old Eric 'Winkle' Brown, the Navy Fleet Air Arm’s most decorated pilot and the record holder for the most flight deck landings.
2014 Parliamentary authorities defended their decision to ask a gardener to remove each leaf manually from trees outside the House of Commons. A Commons spokesman said: “If we waited for the leaves to fall off it would waste a lot of time raking them up. It is more time efficient.”
2018 UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet approves draft plan for country's exit from the European Union (Brexit).
On this date in 1980, BAD MANNERS released the single LORRAINE (November 14th 1980). A tale of love between tempestuous types where lies, deceit, betrayal and domestic disharmony is ultimately resolved by jumping in the sack.
1577 English explorer and navigator Sir Francis Drake began his voyage to sail around the world.
1899 The SS St. Paul became the first ship to receive radio messages, transmitted from the Needles wireless station off the Isle of Wight.
1899 Winston Churchill was captured by the Boers while covering the war as a reporter for the Morning Post. He escaped a few weeks later.
1904 King C. Gillette patents the Gillette razor blade.
1922 Children's Hour was first broadcast on the radio. It established a tradition of drama and story-telling and built up a devoted audience of over three million at its peak.
1928 The RNLI Lifeboat Mary Stanford capsized in Rye Harbour with the loss of the entire 17 man crew, practically the whole male fishing population of the small town of Rye.
1968 The liner Queen Elizabeth completed her final passenger voyage when she landed at Southampton. She was sold to a US group who planned to moor her in Florida as a tourist attraction. She was replaced by the new liner the QE2.
1969 ATV (Midland) screened the first colour TV commercial in Britain; for Birds Eye Peas. It cost £23 for the off peak 30 second slot.
1985 Britain and the Republic of Ireland signed a deal giving Dublin a role in Northern Ireland for the first time in more than 60 years. Unionists accused Mrs. Thatcher of treachery.
1987 Brazilian Williams driver Nelson Piquet retires from Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide with break trouble but wins his 3rd Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by 12 points from Nigel Mansell.
1991 In the wake of increased sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, Britain called up 1,400 reserve troops for full-time active duty.
1994 The launch of Britain's first Internet newspaper, The Electronic Telegraph.
1998 Britain and America called back their fighter planes after Iraq agreed to allow UN weapons inspectors back into the country.
2002 Moors murderer Myra Hindley, the woman who came to personify evil , died in prison, aged 60.
2013 Sony launches the Playstation Four, selling one million units on the first day.
2014 Pensioner Kelvin Sibthorpe got his hopes up when he discovered he'd been the victim of pension mis-selling, which meant he could be entitled to a 'windfall'. The windfall entitled him to only an extra 18p a month in pension payments. It would consist of seven years of back payments, coming to a grand total of £10.08.
1272 Whilst travelling during the Ninth Crusade, Prince Edward became King of England upon the death of Henry III, but he would not return to England for almost two years to assume the throne.
1724 Jack Sheppard, Stepney born highwayman, was hanged at Tyburn in front of 200,000 spectators.
1938 Willie Hall of Tottenham Hotspurs scored five goals for England against Ireland with his three goals in 3 minutes, setting a record for the fastest ever in an international match.
1940 World War II: In response to the heavy bombing of Coventry two days previously, the Royal Air Force bombed Hamburg.
1942 The jockey Willie Carson was born, in Stirling. He was British Champion Jockey five times (in 1972, 1973, 1978, 1980 and 1983) and had a total of 3,828 wins, making him the fourth most successful jockey in Great Britain.
1957 BBC’s 1st pop music show, the "Six-Five Special", is broadcast from the tiny 2i’s Coffee Bar in London.
1976 Seven men who took part in an £8m bank robbery raid at the Bank of America in Mayfair, London, received jail terms totalling nearly 100 years. Only £1/2m was recovered. The judge said the sentence ensured that the thieves would not enjoy the fruits of their haul.
1983 More than 20 English football supporters were arrested in Luxembourg after a night of violence with the latest trouble by English fans who went through the city fighting and stealing after England was knocked out of the European Championship.
2002 The first case of SARS is recorded in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, China, though is not identified until much later. First patient is thought to be a farmer in the city.
2003 Lionel Messi makes his official debut for FC Barcelona in a friendly against Porto.At 16 years, four months, and 23 days old, Messi made his first team debut when he came on in the 75th minute during a friendly against José Mourinho's Porto on 16 November 2003.
This was a must see programme for us kids back in the day.
This date in 1979 saw the broadcast of the debut episode of the TV series MONKEY in the UK, (November 16th 1979).
The video here is MONKEY MAGIC, the theme for the late 70s TV show Saiyūki ("Account of the Journey to the West"), better known by its English title MONKEY.
Based on the Chinese novel, Journey to the West, by Wu Cheng'en, and filmed in Northwest China and Inner Mongolia, the Japanese television adaptation of the ancient Chinese legend featured the off-the-wall antics of four anthropomorphic animals: a shape-shifting, cloud-surfing monkey-God ‘Monkey’, his friends Pigsy (a pig monster consumed with lu st and gluttony, who was expelled from Heaven after harassing a Princess), Sandy (the water monster and ex-cannibal, also expelled from Heaven) and a transformed dragon (now a white horse), Yu Lung, as they accompany the “boy priest” Tripitaka on a pilgrimage from China to India to find the ancient Buddhist scrolls that will establish peace throughout the world.
The immensely fun by badly dubbed version of the programme featured the voices of Fawlty Towers’ ANDREW SACHS (Yu-Lung, horse-dragon) and MIRIAM MARGOLYES (a princes and many other female characters) and was essential watching for kids in Britain . Following the big TV hit of the Japanese show THE WATER MARGIN, one of the official "Four Great Classical Novels" of Chinese literature that recounted the heroic exploits of outlaws in rebellion against a corrupt government, a programme that was dubbed and shown on British TV in 1978 (narrated by Burt Kwouk), the BBC was keen on a second Japanese production.
This came in the form of Monkey - but whereas The Water Margin was a serious grown-up drama Monkey was frenetic, colourful, and full of spectacular martial arts sequences and slapstick fun.
1278 680 Jews arrested (293 hanged) in England for counterfeiting coins.
1292 John Balliol became King of Scotland. He was stripped of all his powers by Edward I, thus earning himself the Scottish nickname 'Toom Tabard'. Toom means empty, so it was likening Balliol to an empty suit.
1558 The Elizabethan era began when Mary I, England's first queen (also known as '**** Mary'), died at St James's Palace London. She was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I.
1603 The trial of Sir Walter Raleigh began. Falsely accused of treason, he had been offered a large sum of money by Lord Cobham, a critic of England’s King James I, to make peace with the Spanish and put Arabella Stuart, James’s cousin, on the throne. Raleigh claimed he turned down the offer, but Lord Cobham told his accusers that Raleigh was involved in the plot.
1810 Sweden declared war on its ally Britain during the Napoleonic Wars to begin the Anglo-Swedish War, although no fighting ever took place! The declaration of war was the result of an ultimatum by France to the Swedish government that France and its allies would declare war against Sweden if Sweden did not meet the French demands to declare war on Britain, confiscate all British ships and seize all British products. The war existed only on paper, and Britain was still officially allowed to station ships in the Swedish port of Hanö and trade with the Baltic nations.
1869 England’s James Moore won the first cycle road race, an 83 miles race from Paris to Rouen.
1882 The Royal Astronomer witnessed an unidentified flying object from the Greenwich Observatory. He described it as a circular object, glowing bright green.
1955 Anglesey became the first authority in Britain to introduce fluoride into the water supply.
1959 Two Scottish airports, Prestwick and Renfrew, became the first to offer duty free goods in Britain. Heathrow followed soon after.
1970 Stephanie Rahn became the Sun newspaper's first 'Page Three Girl'.
1970 The Soviet Union's moonrover rolled over the moon's surface today, becoming the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on the moon.
1973 In a televised appearance President Richard Nixon told the nation today, "I am not a crook." referring to allegations concerning his involvement in the Watergate scandal.
2003 Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is sworn in as the governor of California .
A new low for England. In their final qualifying match for the 1994 World Cup finals England needed to thump mighty San Marino in Bologna to have have any chance of qualifying. Instead after just 8 seconds Davide Gualtieri scored for San Marino! OK England won 7-1 watched by a 2,378 crowd but they failed to qualify for the finals - finishing third in the group behind Norway and the Netherlands - and within a week Graham Taylor had resigned as manager.
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Scott of the Antarctic (1868 - 1912).
The remains of English explorer Robert Scott and his companions were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.Scott's party had reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912, only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen's Norwegian expedition. Scott and his four comrades all perished on the return journey from a combination of exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold.
Scott is presumed to have died on 29 March 1912, or possibly one day later. The positions of the bodies in the tent when it was discovered eight months later suggested that Scott was the last of the three to die.
The bodies of Scott and his companions were discovered by a search party on 12 November 1912 and their records retrieved. Tryggve Gran, who was part of the search party, described the scene as, "snowcovered til up above the door, with Scott in the middle, half out of his bag... the frost had made the skin yellow & transparent & I’ve never seen anything worse in my life." Their final camp became their tomb; the tent roof was lowered over the bodies and a high cairn of snow was erected over it, topped by a roughly fashioned cross, erected using Gran's skis. Next to their bodies lay 35 pounds (16 kg) of Glossopteris tree fossils which they had dragged on hand sledges. These were the first ever discovered Antarctic fossils and proved that Antarctica had once been warm and connected to other continents.
In January 1913, before Terra Nova left for home, a large wooden cross was made by the ship's carpenters, inscribed with the names of the lost party and Tennyson's line from his poem Ulysses: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield", and was erected as a permanent memorial on Observation Hill, overlooking Hut Point.
The first photograph of the ‘Loch Ness monster’ was taken by Mr Hugh Gray. He managed to take five pictures altogether but after processing, four of them were blank and the fifth was not confirmed as being Nessie.
It was this picture, snapped by Hugh Grey on 12 November 1933, that is credited as being the first photographic evidence of the Loch Ness monster. It appeared on the front cover of the Scottish Daily Record on 8 December that year, under the headline "Monster photograph of the mysterious Loch Ness object".
It is the first picture and bears that distinction, but it is also the least easy to interpret.
It has been suggested that it is a double negative, perhaps of a Labrador dog with a stick in its mouth, but it could be anything.
Hugh Gray's photograph taken near Foyers on 12 November 1933 was the first photograph alleged to depict the monster. It was slightly blurred, and it has been noted that if one looks closely the head of a dog can be seen. Gray had taken his Labrador for a walk that day and it is suspected that the photograph depicts his dog fetching a stick from the loch. Others have suggested that the photograph depicts an otter or a swan. The original negative was lost. However, in 1963, Maurice Burton came into "possession of two lantern slides, contact positives from the original negative" and when projected onto a screen they revealed an "otter rolling at the surface in characteristic fashion."
1035 The death of Cnut the Great (King Canute of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden).
1555 Parliament re-established Catholicism.
1595 The death of Admiral Sir John Hawkins chief architect of the Elizabethan navy. Among his many other roles, he rebuilt older ships and helped design the faster ships that withstood the Spanish Armada in 1588.
1660 English author John Bunyan was arrested for preaching without a licence. He refused to give up preaching and remained in jail for 12 years.
1847 The first public demonstration of the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic was given by James Simpson, at Edinburgh University.
1894 Lawrence Hargrave, Australian aeronautical pioneer and inventor of the box kite, linked four huge box kites together and flew - but remained attached to the ground by piano wire.
1911 Birth of Reverend Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans, the voluntary group who counsel those in distress. Originally established at St Stephen’s Church, London, it provides a service day and night, every day of the year. (Reverend Chad Varah died on 8th November 2007, aged 95.)
1912 The remains of English explorer Robert Scott and his companions were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Scott's party had reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912, only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen's Norwegian expedition. Scott and his four comrades all perished on the return journey from a combination of exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold.
1919 The first flight from England to Australia started at Hounslow, with Ross and Smith in a Vickers Vimy. They landed safely on 13th December 1919.
1928 The birth, in South Africa of Bob Holness, English radio and television presenter. He is best known for presenting the British version of the quiz show Blockbusters, but also presented the quiz shows Take a Letter, Raise the Roof and Call My Bluff.
1933 The first photograph of the ‘Loch Ness monster’ was taken by Mr Hugh Gray. He managed to take five pictures altogether but after processing, four of them were blank and the fifth was not confirmed as being Nessie.
1936 1st ever TV Gardening show "In Your Garden" shown on BBC television.
1944 The RAF launched 29 Avro Lancaster bombers in one of the most successful precision bombing attacks of war and sank the German battleship Tirpitz, the last of the major German battleships.
1956 Largest observed iceberg, 208 by 60 miles, 1st sighted.
1966 Buzz Aldrin takes the first 'space selfie', a photo of himself performing extravehicular activity in space during the Gemini program.
1974 A salmon was caught in the Thames, the first since around 1840. It was an 8lb 4 1/2oz female and she was discovered entangled in the protective nets around West Thurrock power station It was regarded by Thames Water authority as a vindication of the £100m they had spent on effluent control.
1981 1st balloon crossing of Pacific is completed (Double Eagle V).
1984 It was announced, by Chancellor Nigel Lawson, that the pound note, after being in circulation for more than 150 years, would be phased out and replaced with the pound coin.
1997 Train robber Ronnie Biggs, was celebrating after Brazil's Supreme Court rejected a British request to extradite him, for the 2nd time. The court in Rio de Janeiro ruled that because Biggs' crime was committed more than 20 years previously he could not be extradited.
2001 Greece held 12 plane-spotting British 'spies' to carry out further inquiries. All were arrested for allegedly taking photographs at an air show at a military base.
2014 Police killer Harry Roberts was released from prison. Roberts, now aged 78, was jailed for life for murdering three unarmed officers in Shepherd's Bush, west London, in 1966.
2015 Storm Abigail, the first storm to be officially named by the Met Office, was upgraded to amber, with winds forecast of up to 90mph in the Western Isles, parts of Argyll and the north west Highlands and Orkney from 9:00pm on the 12th to midday on Friday 13th.
Bulls Finally Spared 700 Years of Cruelty.
The bridge at Stamford from which bulls were heaved into the river.
November 13, 1839 — If you are lucky enough to own a castle you want to enjoy the fine views on offer from the ramparts. That, according to legend, is just what William Plantagenet de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey (1166-1240), was doing one day at the turn of the 12th century.
Looking over the meadow stretched before him outside the town of Stamford he saw two bulls fighting over a cow. Local butchers then came with their dogs to part the animals, enraging them further and causing one to run off and stampede through the town.
It is said that men, women and children were being tossed about by the angry bull, a spectacle much enjoyed by the earl who had followed on horseback to see what was going on.
It brought him so much pleasure, in fact, that he hit on the idea of giving to the town’s butchers the meadow where it had all started, provided they agreed to have another bull-run every year.
The story is almost certainly mythical, but it is a fact that a bull-run, which began in Stamford all those years ago, continued every November for 700 years.
A description of the event was published in 1646 by Richard Butcher in his Survey And Antiquity Of The Town Of Stamford:
Their bull running is a sport of no pleasure, except to such as take a pleasure in beastlyness and misschief. The butchers of the town provide the wildest bull they can get [and] proclamation is made by the common 'bell-man' of the town that each one shut their shop-doors and gates.
Which proclamation made and all the gates are shut up, the bull is turned loose and then, hivie, skivy, tag and rag, men, women and children of all sorts and sizes, with all the dogs in the town promiscuously running after him with their bull-clubs spattering dirt in eachothers faces that one would think them to be so many Furies started out of ****.
Another report, published in Chambers, recorded: “One great object [was to] 'bridge the bull.' The animal was, if possible, compelled to run upon the town’s river bridge. The crowd then closing in, with audacious courage surrounded and seized the animal; and, in spite of its size and strength, by main force tumbled it over the parapet into the river.
“The bull then swimming ashore, would land in the meadows, where the run was continued; the miry, marshy state of the fields at that season of the year, and the falls and other disasters consequent thereon, adding greatly to the amusement of the mob.”
Another account listed some of the more barbaric techniques of the “bullards” for goading a docile or tired bull. They had “sawn off his horns, cut off his tail, fired a train of gunpowder along his back, and poured aqua fortis on the same.” Firecrackers were also mentioned.
At the end of the day the bull would be killed and roasted, providing a bull-beef supper for people in the crowd.
Even in the days when barbarity was widely considered acceptable, troubled voices were raised and in 1788 the Mayor and Town Corporation gave notice of intent to put down “a custom of such unparalleled cruelty to an innocent animal, and in all respects a Disgrace to Religion, Law, and Nature.”
It would be another 51 years, though, before the townspeople could be persuaded to give up their “sport”, the last bull-run coming in 1839. Even then, it took detachments of the 14th Light Dragoons and 200 special police constables to control the situation.
Today, the cruel spectacle has been replaced with the Stamford Georgian Festival, featuring bull floats, performances and fireworks displays.
Ensuring his place in the history books, his primitive twin-rotor helicopter was powered by a 24HP Antoinette engine and lifted Cornu about five feet off the ground, and held him there for 20 seconds at Coquainvilliers near Lisieux, France.
Paul Cornu was born in 1881 in the French town of Lisieux, where the local high school is named after him. His talent for engineering became clear when he joined his father in the family business an Automobile, Bicycle and Motorcycles shop where. At the age of 24, he designed and built a working, two-rotor model helicopter weighing 26 pounds. The success of his invention, which he demonstrated at the annual agricultural fair in Lisieux on 4 October 1906, encouraged him to build a large-scale version capable of carrying a passenger.
Cornu died in 1944, when his home was destroyed during a World War Two Allied bombardment.
Aviation History Paul Cornu’s Flying Bicycle anniversary of the first helicopter flight.
Long considered a harbinger of bad luck, Friday the 13th has inspired a late 19th-century secret society, an early 20th-century novel, a horror film franchise and not one but two unwieldy terms—paraskavedekatriaphobia and friggatriskaidekaphobia—that describe fear of this supposedly unlucky day.
The Fear of 13.
Just like walking under a ladder, crossing paths with a black cat or breaking a mirror, many people hold fast to the belief that Friday the 13th brings bad luck. Though it’s uncertain exactly when this particular tradition began, negative superstitions have swirled around the number 13 for centuries.
While Western cultures have historically associated the number 12 with completeness (there are 12 days of Christmas, 12 months and zodiac signs, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 gods of Olympus and 12 tribes of Israel, just to name a few examples), its successor 13 has a long history as a sign of bad luck.
The ancient Code of Hammurabi, for example, reportedly omitted a 13th law from its list of legal rules. Though this was probably a clerical error, superstitious people sometimes point to this as proof of 13’s longstanding negative associations.
Fear of the number 13 has even earned a psychological term: triskaidekaphobia.
Why is Friday the 13th Unlucky?
According to biblical tradition, 13 guests attended the Last Supper, held on Maundy Thursday, including Jesus and his 12 apostles (one of whom, Judas, betrayed him). The next day, of course, was Good Friday, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion.
The seating arrangement at the Last Supper is believed to have given rise to a longstanding Christian superstition that having 13 guests at a table was a bad omen—specifically, that it was courting death.
Though Friday’s negative associations are weaker, some have suggested they also have roots in Christian tradition: Just as Jesus was crucified on a Friday, Friday was also said to be the day Eve gave Adam the fateful apple from the Tree of Knowledge, as well as the day Cain killed his brother, Abel.
The Thirteen Club.
In the late-19th century, a New Yorker named Captain William Fowler (1827-1897) sought to remove the enduring stigma surrounding the number 13—and particularly the unwritten rule about not having 13 guests at a dinner table—by founding an exclusive society called the Thirteen Club.
The group dined regularly on the 13th day of the month in room 13 of the Knickerbocker Cottage, a popular watering hole Fowler owned from 1863 to 1883. Before sitting down for a 13-course dinner, members would pass beneath a ladder and a banner reading “Morituri te Salutamus,” Latin for “Those of us who are about to die salute you.”
Four former U.S. presidents (Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison and Theodore Roosevelt) would join the Thirteen Club’s ranks at one time or another.
Friday the 13th in Pop Culture.
An important milestone in the history of the Friday the 13th legend in particular (not just the number 13) occurred in 1907, with the publication of the novel Friday, the Thirteenth written by Thomas William Lawson.
The book told the story of a New York City stockbroker who plays on superstitions about the date to create chaos on Wall Street, and make a killing on the market.
The horror movie Friday the 13th, released in 1980, introduced the world to a hockey mask-wearing killer named Jason, and is perhaps the best-known example of the famous superstition in pop culture history. The movie spawned multiple sequels, as well as comic books, novellas, video games, related merchandise and countless terrifying Halloween costumes.
What bad things happened on Friday 13th?
On Friday, October 13, 1307, officers of King Philip IV of France arrested hundreds of the Knights Templar, a powerful religious and military order formed in the 12th century for the defense of the Holy Land.
Imprisoned on charges of various illegal behaviors (but really because the king wanted access to their financial resources), many Templars were later executed. Some cite the link with the Templars as the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition, but like many legends involving the Templars and their history, the truth remains murky.
In more recent times, a number of traumatic events have occurred on Friday the 13th, including the German bombing of Buckingham Palace (September 1940); the murder of Kitty Genovese in Queens, New York (March 1964); a cyclone that killed more than 300,000 people in Bangladesh (November 1970); the disappearance of a Chilean Air Force plane in the Andes (October 1972); the death of rapper Tupac Shakur (September 1996) and the crash of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the coast of Italy, which killed 30 people (January 2012).
For the first time in history a new Prime Minister has been declared on Friday the 13th – and the irony has not been lost on some unhappy voters. People on twitter have been quick to joke that the unlucky day is fitting for a Boris Johnson victory.
A British 13-year-old was struck by lightning on Friday the 13th, at 13:13. On Friday 13 in August 2010, the Daily Mail reported a teenage boy was struck by lightning at lowestoft Seafront Air Festival at exactly 13.13. The unnamed boy suffered a minor burn and was taken to James Paget Hospital where he was expected to make a full recovery.
Two planes crashed on the same day – resulting in deaths and cannibalism. A flight from Uruguay to Chile crash-landed in the Andes on October 13, 1972. In the following days, survivors were forced to choose between eating the bodies of dead passengers or perishing themselves.
Another flight vanished and was never discovered. A Swedish flight disappeared while flying over the Baltic Sea on June 13, 1952. The government said the plane was performing a training exercise, but 40 years later a story in the National Geographic said it was spying on the Soviet military. A Russian pilot told a Swedish diplomat that he had shot the plane down – but its body was never found.
Buckingham Palace was bombed during WW II German forces bombed Buckingham Palace while the King and Queen where home on September 13,1940. Even though the event was traumatic, Queen Elizabeth reportedly stated she was ‘glad’ it happened because it meant she could look ‘the East End in the face.’
Man who stayed in bed to escape Friday 13th dies in freak accident. New York resident Daz Baxter decided to stay home on Friday August 13, 1976, because he was scared of any bad events happening to him. Sadly, his plan came to a tragic end when the floor beneath his bed collapsed and he plunged six floors to his death.
From Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, some great people were born on Friday 13. But sadly, some absolutely terrible people share their birth date, such as Nathan Bedford Forrest, Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan. Nathan Bedford Forrest founded the Klu Klux Klan.
The Stock Market Crashed.Most people know ‘Black Friday’ as the last Friday in November, when retailers compete for Christmas shoppers’ attention with flash sales. But originally it was reserved for Friday 13 October 1989, when the stock market experienced a ‘mini crash’ after the buyout of United Airlines fell through.
Another day in history dubbed ‘Black Friday’ was on January 13, 1939, when bush fires swept through Victoria, Australia, killing 71 people.
500,000 people die in Bhola cyclone – triggering a civil war. Lots of natural disasters have occurred on Friday 13th, but the worst was the Bhola cyclone that hit Bangledesh in November 13, 1970 – the deadliest cyclone in history. It claimed the lives of an estimated 500,000 people and wiped out 45% of one specific region.
Rap icon Tupac died on Friday, September 13, 1996, after he was shot four times while in his car in Las Vegas six days earlier.
Friday 13th part III was released Friday 13th Part III was the only film in the Steve Milner trilogy to get released on its name date.
Cruise ship sank off Italian cost.The Costa Concordia sank into the ocean on January 13, 2012, killing 32 people. Reports at the time said it was the largest passenger ship ever wrecked, with almost double the amount of people on board than on the Titanic.
1002 English king Ethelred II ( the unready) ordered the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice's Day massacre.
1093 Malcolm III of Scotland, son of King Duncan, died at Alnwick, Northumberland, during his fifth attempt to invade England.
1312 Birth of Edward III, King of England from 1327.
1642 First English Civil War: At the Battle of Turnham Green (Middlesex), the Royalist forces withdrew in the face of the Parliamentarian army and failed to take London. Charles and his army retreated to Oxford for secure winter quarters.
1715 Battle of Sheriffmuir during Jacobite rebellion. Battle inconclusive but Government forces halt advance of Jacobite army lead by Scottish Earl of Mar.
1779 Thomas Chippendale, English cabinet-maker died.
1789 Benjamin Franklin writes "Nothing . . . certain but death & taxes"
1839 Last bull run in Britain as the Stamford bull run ends after 700 years.
1850 Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, was born.
1887 'Blood y Sunday' in London when violence erupted in Trafalgar Square at a Socialist rally attended by Irish agitators.
1901 The Caister (Norfolk) Lifeboat Disaster. Lifeboat Beauchamp and its crew were lost while attempting a rescue during heavy seas. The following morning, eight bodies were recovered at the scene with another, that of Charles Bonney George being washed away, only to be recovered months later in April of the following year.
1907 French cyclist Paul Cornu flies 1st helicopter (twin rotor).
1910 The birth of Pat Reid British Army officer and author. He was a prisoner of war at Colditz Castle and was one of the few to escape. He wrote about his experiences in two best-selling books, which became the basis of a film, TV series and even a board game.
1916 World War One : The final Battle of the Somme, on the River Ancre. By the end of the battle, (which started on 1st July 2016) the British Army had suffered 420,000 casualties including 19,240 fatalities on the first day alone. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000. The Battle of the Somme epitomised the futility of trench warfare and the indiscriminate slaughter of so many men.
1936 King Edward VIII told the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, that he intended to marry twice divorced Mrs. Simpson.
1947 Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hugh Dalton, resigned after admitting he had disclosed tax proposals to a reporter several minutes before presenting his Budget speech.
1954 Great Britain defeated France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup, held in Paris, in front of around 30,000 spectators.
1965 Director Kenneth Tynan says the word "F*ck" on BBC.
1969 Britain's first live quintuplets this century were born, at Queen Charlotte's maternity hospital in London.
1979 The Times newspaper was published for the first time in nearly a year. The paper's disappearance from news stands followed a dispute between management and unions over manning levels and the introduction of new technology.
1982 WBA lightweight champion Ray Mancini beats South Korean challenger Duk Koo Kim by TKO in 14th round in Las Vegas; Kim collapses, falls into a coma and dies 4 days later; as a result, WBC shortens title bouts to 12 rounds; WBA & WBO follow in 1988, and IBF in 1989.
1987 With a view to encouraging 'safe sex', or AIDS prevention, the BBC screened its first condom 'commercial' (without a brand name).
1988 Brazilian McLaren driver Ayrton Senna finishes 2nd in the season ending Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide to win his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship; wins title by 3 points from Alain Prost.
1992 Riddick Bowe wins the undisputed world heavyweight boxing crown with a unanimous points decision over Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas; first of their 3 meetings.
1994 Title contenders Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill famously collide on lap 35 of the season ending Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide; Schumacher wins his first F1 World Drivers Championship by 1 point from Hill.
When Dane Allan Simonsen was transferred to his only English club you just had to check to see if it was April 1st because it was unreal. The former European Footballer of the Year was on the move from Barcelona and turned down Real Madrid in preference to joining ... Second Division Charlton Athletic! His debut on this day in 1982 for Charlton against Middlesbrough saw their crowd double from their previous League match at the Valley - but that was only from 5,278 to 10,807. Sadly Charlton could only afford his wages for four months before he was on the move again but he had scored 9 goals in 16 League outings and the memories were real!
He most prominently played as a forward for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barcelona from Spain, winning the 1982 Cup Winners' Cup. Simonsen is the only footballer to have scored in the European Cup, UEFA Cup, and Cup Winners' Cup finals. Simonsen was named 1977 European Footballer of the Year.
He made a shock move to English Second Division side Charlton Athletic for £300,000 in October 1982. He rejected offers from Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur, in order to play for a club with less stress and attention. Despite scoring nine times in 16 appearances, the club had trouble funding his transfer and wages, and he was put up for sale. Simonsen then chose to return to his childhood club VB in 1983.
Desert Orchid (11 April 1979 – 13 November 2006, known as Dessie, was an English racehorse. The grey achieved a revered and esteemed status within National Hunt racing, where he was much loved by supporters for his front-running attacking style, iron will and extreme versatility. He was rated the fifth best National Hunt horse of all time by Timeform. During his racing career he was partnered by five different jump jockeys: Colin Brown, Richard Linley, Simon Sherwood, Graham Bradley and Richard Dunwoody.
Early career.
Desert Orchid's first race occurred in 1983 and during his early career his regular rider was Colin Brown, who partnered him 42 times in all, winning 17. He fell heavily at the last in a Kempton novice hurdle and took such a long time to get to his feet that it seemed his first race might be his last. Desert Orchid had a successful novice hurdle career in the 1983/84 season winning several races in a row including the Kingwell Pattern Hurdle, a long established Champion Hurdle trial, at Wincanton. Desert Orchid started favourite for the 1984 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, the race was won by Dawn Run.
One of Desert Orchid's greatest efforts took place in the 1989 Victor Chandler Handicap Chase, where he took on four rivals, including the top-class Panto Prince and Vodkatini, who fell badly on the back straight. He gave the former 22 pounds and the latter 23 pounds. Desert Orchid just got back up after being headed to beat Panto Prince by a head.
Desert Orchid was then stepped up to 3 miles and 2 furlongs for the Cheltenham Gold Cup—he had previously been considered a two-miler. The rain and snow which had fallen relentlessly at Cheltenham made the racecourse going heavy. These were conditions hardly suited to Desert Orchid, especially at this left-handed course which he never particularly favoured.
A crowd of over 58,000 witnessed Desert Orchid's effort to overhaul the mud-loving Yahoo in the final stages of the race. After his one and a half length victory, Desert Orchid's rider, Simon Sherwood said: "I've never known a horse so brave. He hated every step of the way in the ground and dug as deep as he could possibly go". Three cheers were called as Desert Orchid was unsaddled, surrounded by thousands of fans. The race was voted best horse race ever by readers of the Racing Post.
Retirement.
Desert Orchid retired in December 1991 and survived a life-threatening operation for colic a year later. He took his summer holidays with the Burridge family at Ab Kettleby, and spent the winter with David Elsworth leading out the 2 year olds and getting ready for his many public appearances. He returned every year to Kempton to lead out the parade of runners for the King George VI Chase.
During his retirement, he raised thousands of pounds for charity, and his presence at charity events attracted large crowds. His fan club was run by part owner Midge Burridge and family friend John Hippesley. In the 17 years that the fan club ran, they raised over £40,000 for charity through sales of Desert Orchid merchandise, especially his racing calendar.
When David Elsworth left Whitsbury after 25 years, Desert Orchid packed up and went with him to Egerton House Stables in Newmarket, Suffolk. But the home of champions and stallions welcomed the old gelding and his trainer with open arms and Newmarket racecourses held their annual press day in 2006 on Desert Orchid's 27th birthday at his stable. He also paraded at the course to the delight of his fans.
Desert Orchid was no longer ridden due to his age, and David announced that his appearances would be fewer, and nearer to home, as he was now such a senior citizen. Desert Orchid's last public appearance was on 1 October at his fan club open day, which was held at the National Stud in conjunction with stallion parades.
It was clear that Desert Orchid was now frail. In the week of 6 November, he began to have trouble with coordination and those close to him were summoned to say goodbye. A vet was on standby should his assistance be needed. Last seen by those who loved him best at Egerton, he was lying down but nibbling his hay. One hour later at 6:05 am, Monday 13 November, Desert Orchid died.
Desert Orchid's ashes were buried in a private ceremony at Kempton Park Racecourse near his statue the week prior to the King George. The inaugural running of the Desert Orchid Chase on the 27th was preceded by the unveiling of the headstone for his grave, videos of his finest hours at the track, and a moment's silence in his honour. The race was won by Voy Por Ustedes, trained by Alan King and owned by Sir Robert Ogden.
The speed limit for horseless carriages in Britain was raised from 4 mph (2 mph in towns) to 14 mph. It was marked by the first London to Brighton Car Run, which only became a regular and official event from 1927, when it was sponsored by the Daily Sketch.
On This Day In Automotive History: November 14th 1896 – Lawson and the Motor Car Club organised the first London to Brighton run.
Lawson and the Motor Car Club organised the first London to Brighton run, the “Emancipation Run”, which was held on 14 November 1896 to celebrate the relaxation of the Red Flag Act, which eased the way for the start of the development of the British motor industry.
The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is the longest-running motoring event in the world. The first run was in 1896, and it has taken place most years since its initial revival in 1927. To qualify, the cars must have been built before 1905. It is also the world’s largest gathering of veteran cars – 443 started in 2005, 484 in 2009, compared to 37 starters in 1927, 51 starters in 1930 and 131 in 1938.
The first run took place on 14 November 1896, a wet Saturday. Organised by Harry J. Lawson, and named “The Emancipation Run”, it was a celebration of the recently passed Locomotives on Highways Act 1896, which had replaced the restrictive Locomotive Acts of 1861, 1865 and 1878 and increased the speed limit to 14 mph. Since 1878 the speed limit had been 4 mph in the country and 2 mph in the town and an escort had been required to walk 20 yards ahead of the vehicle. The 1865 act had required the escort to carry a red flag at a distance of 60 yards.
The event started with a breakfast at the Charing Cross Hotel, which included the symbolic tearing in two by Lord Winchelsea of a red flag. The competitors gathered outside the Metropole Hotel, with the cars accompanied by a “flying escort” – estimated by one witness as “probably 10,000” – of pedal cyclists, recreational cycling having become popular with the English in the final decades of the 19th century.
A total of 33 motorists set off from London for the coast and 17 arrived in Brighton. The first of the cars set off from London at 10:30 am and the first arrival in Brighton, by a Duryea Motor Wagon, beating the next closest Brighton arrivals by more than an hour. Two Duryea cars participated in the run, marking the first appearance of American motor vehicles in Europe.
The run was not staged again until 1927, and then annually run from 1927 until the onset of the Second World War. Owing to petrol rationing, the event was cancelled until 1947. With all this considered, it is the world’s longest running motoring event. Since 1930, the event has been controlled by the Royal Automobile Club.
Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore OBE (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders in the history of football, and was cited by Pelé as the greatest defender that he had ever played against.
Moore was made captain of England in 1964, at age 23, going on to lift the World Cup trophy in 1966. He won a total of 108 caps for his country, which at the time of his international retirement in 1973 was a national record. This record was later broken by Peter Shilton. Moore's total of 108 caps continued as a record for an outfield player until 28 March 2009, when David Beckham gained his 109th cap. Moore is a member of the World Team of the 20th Century. A national team icon, a bronze statue of Moore is positioned at the entrance to Wembley Stadium.
Moore won his 108th and final cap in a 1–0 friendly defeat to Italy on 14 November 1973.
1687 The death of Eleanor 'Nell' Gwyn, long-time mistress of King Charles II of England and mother of two of his illegitimate children.
1851 "Moby-Di ck" by Herman Melville first published by Harper and Brothers in the US.
1864 Franz Müller, a German tailor, who had murdered Thomas Briggs in the first murder committed on a British train (on 9th July) was publicly hanged at Newgate prison.
1883 "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson is first published as a book by Cassell & Co.
1896 The speed limit for horseless carriages in Britain was raised from 4 mph (2 mph in towns) to 14 mph. It was marked by the first London to Brighton Car Run, which only became a regular and official event from 1927, when it was sponsored by the Daily Sketch.
1922 BBC radio was first broadcast from Alexandra Palace. The first programme was broadcast at 6 pm from 2LO London (later the BBC). A news bulletin, repeated again at 9 pm, and a weather report were the entire programme.
1940 449 German Luftwaffe bombers dropped 503 tons of bombs and 881 incendiaries onto the City of Coventry, killing over 500 civilians and destroying the medieval cathedral. A new cathedral was built adjacent to the old, and the bombed cathedral was left as a memorial.
1941 The British aircraft carrier Ark Royal sank off Gibraltar after being hit by a torpedo from German U-boat, the U-81.
1948 Birth of Prince Charles (Charles Philip Arthur George), Prince of Wales and an enthusiastic and concerned environmentalist.
1952 Britain’s first music chart was published, in the New Musical Express, with Al Martino’s ‘Here in my Heart’ at No. 1.
1969 The BBC began colour television programmes.
1973 Bobby Moore made his 108th and final appearance for England.
1973 Princess Anne married Captain Mark Phillips at Westminster Abbey.
1977 Firefighters held their first national strike, over a 30% pay demand. More than 10,000 troops were called in to cover emergencies.
1983 The first Cruise missiles arrived at Greenham Common, a US airbase.
1994 1st Eurostar trains for public run in Channel Tunnel under English Channel.
2006 "Casino Royale", 21st James Bond film premieres in London, starring Daniel Craig for the 1st time and Eva Green, premieres in London.
2010 German Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit to claim his first F1 World Drivers Championship by 4 points from Fernando Alonso; Red Bull's first Constructors title.
2013 A standards of living report by price comparison website Uswitch.com, which examined every aspect of life in different parts of Britain, named Solihull, as the best place to live in the UK.
2014 The 3,000th edition of the BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, which was first broadcast on 29th January 1942. The guest for the 3,000th show was 95 year old Eric 'Winkle' Brown, the Navy Fleet Air Arm’s most decorated pilot and the record holder for the most flight deck landings.
2014 Parliamentary authorities defended their decision to ask a gardener to remove each leaf manually from trees outside the House of Commons. A Commons spokesman said: “If we waited for the leaves to fall off it would waste a lot of time raking them up. It is more time efficient.”
2018 UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet approves draft plan for country's exit from the European Union (Brexit).
A tale of love between tempestuous types where lies, deceit, betrayal and domestic disharmony is ultimately resolved by jumping in the sack.
1577 English explorer and navigator Sir Francis Drake began his voyage to sail around the world.
1899 The SS St. Paul became the first ship to receive radio messages, transmitted from the Needles wireless station off the Isle of Wight.
1899 Winston Churchill was captured by the Boers while covering the war as a reporter for the Morning Post. He escaped a few weeks later.
1904 King C. Gillette patents the Gillette razor blade.
1922 Children's Hour was first broadcast on the radio. It established a tradition of drama and story-telling and built up a devoted audience of over three million at its peak.
1928 The RNLI Lifeboat Mary Stanford capsized in Rye Harbour with the loss of the entire 17 man crew, practically the whole male fishing population of the small town of Rye.
1968 The liner Queen Elizabeth completed her final passenger voyage when she landed at Southampton. She was sold to a US group who planned to moor her in Florida as a tourist attraction. She was replaced by the new liner the QE2.
1969 ATV (Midland) screened the first colour TV commercial in Britain; for Birds Eye Peas. It cost £23 for the off peak 30 second slot.
1985 Britain and the Republic of Ireland signed a deal giving Dublin a role in Northern Ireland for the first time in more than 60 years. Unionists accused Mrs. Thatcher of treachery.
1987 Brazilian Williams driver Nelson Piquet retires from Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide with break trouble but wins his 3rd Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by 12 points from Nigel Mansell.
1991 In the wake of increased sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, Britain called up 1,400 reserve troops for full-time active duty.
1994 The launch of Britain's first Internet newspaper, The Electronic Telegraph.
1998 Britain and America called back their fighter planes after Iraq agreed to allow UN weapons inspectors back into the country.
2002 Moors murderer Myra Hindley, the woman who came to personify evil , died in prison, aged 60.
2013 Sony launches the Playstation Four, selling one million units on the first day.
2014 Pensioner Kelvin Sibthorpe got his hopes up when he discovered he'd been the victim of pension mis-selling, which meant he could be entitled to a 'windfall'. The windfall entitled him to only an extra 18p a month in pension payments. It would consist of seven years of back payments, coming to a grand total of £10.08.
On this day in 1969 Liverpool's 2-0 victory over West Ham at Anfield was the first match to be transmitted in colour on Match of the Day.
1272 Whilst travelling during the Ninth Crusade, Prince Edward became King of England upon the death of Henry III, but he would not return to England for almost two years to assume the throne.
1724 Jack Sheppard, Stepney born highwayman, was hanged at Tyburn in front of 200,000 spectators.
1938 Willie Hall of Tottenham Hotspurs scored five goals for England against Ireland with his three goals in 3 minutes, setting a record for the fastest ever in an international match.
1940 World War II: In response to the heavy bombing of Coventry two days previously, the Royal Air Force bombed Hamburg.
1942 The jockey Willie Carson was born, in Stirling. He was British Champion Jockey five times (in 1972, 1973, 1978, 1980 and 1983) and had a total of 3,828 wins, making him the fourth most successful jockey in Great Britain.
1957 BBC’s 1st pop music show, the "Six-Five Special", is broadcast from the tiny 2i’s Coffee Bar in London.
1976 Seven men who took part in an £8m bank robbery raid at the Bank of America in Mayfair, London, received jail terms totalling nearly 100 years. Only £1/2m was recovered. The judge said the sentence ensured that the thieves would not enjoy the fruits of their haul.
1983 More than 20 English football supporters were arrested in Luxembourg after a night of violence with the latest trouble by English fans who went through the city fighting and stealing after England was knocked out of the European Championship.
2002 The first case of SARS is recorded in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, China, though is not identified until much later. First patient is thought to be a farmer in the city.
2003 Lionel Messi makes his official debut for FC Barcelona in a friendly against Porto.At 16 years, four months, and 23 days old, Messi made his first team debut when he came on in the 75th minute during a friendly against José Mourinho's Porto on 16 November 2003.
This date in 1979 saw the broadcast of the debut episode of the TV series MONKEY in the UK, (November 16th 1979).
The video here is MONKEY MAGIC, the theme for the late 70s TV show Saiyūki ("Account of the Journey to the West"), better known by its English title MONKEY.
Based on the Chinese novel, Journey to the West, by Wu Cheng'en, and filmed in Northwest China and Inner Mongolia, the Japanese television adaptation of the ancient Chinese legend featured the off-the-wall antics of four anthropomorphic animals: a shape-shifting, cloud-surfing monkey-God ‘Monkey’, his friends Pigsy (a pig monster consumed with lu st and gluttony, who was expelled from Heaven after harassing a Princess), Sandy (the water monster and ex-cannibal, also expelled from Heaven) and a transformed dragon (now a white horse), Yu Lung, as they accompany the “boy priest” Tripitaka on a pilgrimage from China to India to find the ancient Buddhist scrolls that will establish peace throughout the world.
The immensely fun by badly dubbed version of the programme featured the voices of Fawlty Towers’ ANDREW SACHS (Yu-Lung, horse-dragon) and MIRIAM MARGOLYES (a princes and many other female characters) and was essential watching for kids in Britain
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Following the big TV hit of the Japanese show THE WATER MARGIN, one of the official "Four Great Classical Novels" of Chinese literature that recounted the heroic exploits of outlaws in rebellion against a corrupt government, a programme that was dubbed and shown on British TV in 1978 (narrated by Burt Kwouk), the BBC was keen on a second Japanese production.
This came in the form of Monkey - but whereas The Water Margin was a serious grown-up drama Monkey was frenetic, colourful, and full of spectacular martial arts sequences and slapstick fun.
1278 680 Jews arrested (293 hanged) in England for counterfeiting coins.
1292 John Balliol became King of Scotland. He was stripped of all his powers by Edward I, thus earning himself the Scottish nickname 'Toom Tabard'. Toom means empty, so it was likening Balliol to an empty suit.
1558 The Elizabethan era began when Mary I, England's first queen (also known as '**** Mary'), died at St James's Palace London. She was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I.
1603 The trial of Sir Walter Raleigh began. Falsely accused of treason, he had been offered a large sum of money by Lord Cobham, a critic of England’s King James I, to make peace with the Spanish and put Arabella Stuart, James’s cousin, on the throne. Raleigh claimed he turned down the offer, but Lord Cobham told his accusers that Raleigh was involved in the plot.
1810 Sweden declared war on its ally Britain during the Napoleonic Wars to begin the Anglo-Swedish War, although no fighting ever took place! The declaration of war was the result of an ultimatum by France to the Swedish government that France and its allies would declare war against Sweden if Sweden did not meet the French demands to declare war on Britain, confiscate all British ships and seize all British products. The war existed only on paper, and Britain was still officially allowed to station ships in the Swedish port of Hanö and trade with the Baltic nations.
1869 England’s James Moore won the first cycle road race, an 83 miles race from Paris to Rouen.
1882 The Royal Astronomer witnessed an unidentified flying object from the Greenwich Observatory. He described it as a circular object, glowing bright green.
1955 Anglesey became the first authority in Britain to introduce fluoride into the water supply.
1959 Two Scottish airports, Prestwick and Renfrew, became the first to offer duty free goods in Britain. Heathrow followed soon after.
1970 Stephanie Rahn became the Sun newspaper's first 'Page Three Girl'.
1970 The Soviet Union's moonrover rolled over the moon's surface today, becoming the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on the moon.
1973 In a televised appearance President Richard Nixon told the nation today, "I am not a crook." referring to allegations concerning his involvement in the Watergate scandal.
2003 Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is sworn in as the governor of California .
A new low for England. In their final qualifying match for the 1994 World Cup finals England needed to thump mighty San Marino in Bologna to have have any chance of qualifying. Instead after just 8 seconds Davide Gualtieri scored for San Marino! OK England won 7-1 watched by a 2,378 crowd but they failed to qualify for the finals - finishing third in the group behind Norway and the Netherlands - and within a week Graham Taylor had resigned as manager.