1199 King Richard I, Lion Heart, King of England, was wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on 6th April. Richard spent very little time in England and lived in his Duchy of Aquitaine in the southwest of France, preferring to use his kingdom as a source of revenue to support his armies. He produced no legitimate heirs and acknowledged only one illegitimate son, Philip of Cognac. As a result, he was succeeded by his brother John as King of England.
1306 Robert the Bruce crowned Robert I, King of Scots, having killed his rival John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch.
1807 British Parliament abolishes slave trade throughout the British Empire penalty of £120 per slave introduced for ship captains. The Slave Trade Act received the royal assent eventually bringing an end to the slave trade. British merchants transported nearly three million black Africans across the Atlantic between 1700 and the early 19th century. The 1833 Slavery Abolition Act outlawed slavery itself throughout the British Empire but slaves did not gain their final freedom until 1838.
1807 First fare-paying, passenger railway service in the world established on the Oystermouth Railway in Swansea, Wales.
1876 The first football international between Wales and Scotland took place in Glasgow. Scotland won 4 0.
1949 The film Hamlet starring Laurence Olivier won five Oscars. It was the first British film to win an academy award.
1957 Six European nations signed the Treaty of Rome thus establishing the Common Market. They were Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Holland and Luxembourg.
1969 John Lennon and new wife Yoko Ono staged their ‘Beds in Peace’ at the Amsterdam Hilton. It lasted until 31st March and each day they invited the world's press into their hotel room, between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. It was Yoko’s idea to get over their peace message while on honeymoon. Although the press were expecting them to be having sex the couple were sitting in bed in John's words 'like angels', talking about peace, with signs over their bed reading 'Hair Peace' and 'Bed Peace'.
1975 The National Front marched through London protesting against integration with Europe.
1979 Space Shuttle Columbia arrives at Kennedy Space Centre to prepare for its first launch, which would eventually happen in 1981.
1980 Ian Botham was best known as a cricketer but on this day in 1980 he made his debut as a footballer for Scunthorpe United, coming on as a sub in the Division 4 match at Bournemouth.
1989 For the first time both the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race crews entered the event with women coxes. The race was won by Oxford.
1995 Boxer Mike Tyson released from jail after serving 3 years.
2002 The death of Kenneth Wolstenholme football commentator for BBC television in the 1950s and 1960s. He is perhaps most noted for his commentary during the 1966 FIFA World Cup which included the famous phrase 'Some people are on the pitch...they think it's all over....it is now!', as Geoff Hurst scored England's fourth goal.
2018 First scheduled non-stop flight between Australia and the UK, leaves Perth for Heathrow airport in London, arrives after 17 hours.
2020 United Kingdom's Prince Charles tests positive for COVID-19.
The Tichborne Dole is an ancient English tradition still very much alive today. It takes place in the village of Tichborne near Alresford in Hampshire every year on March 25th the Feast of the Annunciation (Lady’s Day) and dates back to the 13th century.
Suffering from a wasting disease which had left her crippled, on her deathbed Lady Mabella Tichborne asked her miserly husband, Sir Roger, to donate food to the needy regularly every year. Her husband was reluctant but made a bizarre agreement as to how much he would give.
Sir Roger agreed to give the corn from all the land which his dying wife could crawl around whilst holding a blazing torch in her hand, before the torch went out. Lady Mabella succeeded in crawling around a twenty-three acre field which is still called ‘The Crawls’ to this day and which is situated just north of Tichborne Park and beside the road to Alresford.
Lady Tichborne charged her husband and his heirs to give the produce value of that land to the poor in perpetuity. But aware of her husband’s miserly character, Mabella added a curse – that should the dole ever be stopped then seven sons would be born to the house, followed immediately by a generation of seven daughters, after which the Tichborne name would die out and the ancient house fall into ruin.
The custom of giving the dole, in the form of bread, on 25th March, Lady Day continued for over 600 years, until 1796, when owing to abuse by vagabonds and vagrants, it was temporarily suspended by order of the Magistrates.
Local folk however, remembered the final part of the Tichborne legend and Lady Tachborne’s curse. The penalty for not giving the dole would be a generation of seven daughters, the family name would die out and the ancient house fall down. In 1803 part of the house did indeed subside and the curse seemed to have been fulfilled when Sir Henry Tichborne who succeeded to the baronetcy in 1821(one of seven brothers), produced seven daughters.
The tradition was hastily re-established and has continued to this day.
The Dole is held every Lady Day, March 25th. The parish priest carries out the traditional Blessing of the Tichborne Dole before the flour is distributed to the local people – only those families in Tichborne, Cheriton and Lane End are entitled to the dole. They receive one gallon of flour per adult and half a gallon per child.
1839 The Henley Regatta was born at a public meeting held in Henley Town Hall. The regatta lasts for 5 days (Wednesday to Sunday) over the first weekend in July.
1845 Patent awarded for adhesive medicated plaster, precursor of band-aid.
1885 ‘A lady well-known in literary and scientific circles’ was the only clue The Times gave to the identity of the woman who was cremated by the Cremation Society in Woking, Surrey. She was the first person to be officially cremated in Britain and was a Mrs. Pickersgill, the first of three cremations that year.
1920 The British special constables known as the Black and Tans arrived in Ireland. Their nickname came from the colours of their uniform.
1923 BBC Radio started regular weather forecasts.
1958 30th Academy Awards "The Bridge on the River Kwai" wins Best Picture.
In an effort to damage morale Japanese officers forbade POWs from singing. The British whistled.
1976 Queen Elizabeth II sent the first royal e-mail, from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in Worcestershire.
1980 Bombay gets its 1st rock concert in 10 years (The Police).
1981 Four Labour defectors known as the Gang of Four launched the Social Democrats party. The four were Roy Jenkins, (former Labour cabinet minister), David Owen, William Rodgers and Shirley Williams. Their aim was to 'reconcile the nation' and 'heal divisions between classes'.
1992 Mike Tyson sentenced to 10 years in rape of Desiree Washington.
2005 "Doctor Who" returns to BBC TV after 16 years with the debut of Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose.
2006 From 6 a.m. the prohibition of smoking in all substantially enclosed public places came into force in Scotland.
2015 Richard III, the only English monarch without a marked grave was reinterred at Leicester Cathedral after much wrangling including High Court action over his final resting place. Richard III's body was buried in the now demolished Franciscan Friary in Leicester and was discovered in September 2012 under what had become a car park.
2018 US, European Union and Ukraine expel more than 100 Russian diplomats in response to Russian use of nerve gas in UK.
1306 Robert the Bruce (eighth Earl of Carrick) was crowned King of Scotland at Scone Palace, near Perth. Bruce secured Scottish independence from England, militarily if not diplomatically at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
1625 King James I of England (he was also James VI of Scotland), died. King Charles I ascended to the throne as King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France. He later lost the English Civil War and was executed by parliament.
1713 Spain loses Menorca and Gibraltar to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht.
1790 The modern shoelace with an aglet patented in England by Harvey Kennedy.
1854 Crimean War:- Britain declared war on Russia.
1860 M L Byrn patents "covered gimlet screw with a 'T' handle" (corkscrew).
1866 Andrew Rankin patents the urinal.
1871 Scotland beat England in the first international rugby union match in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place. Scotland scored two tries and a goal to England's single try.
1880 The Salvation Army uniform was authorized but the distinctive bonnets for women did not appear until June.
1881 Rioting took place in Basingstoke in protest against the daily promotion of rigid alcohol abstinence by the Salvation Army.
1915 Typhoid Mary [Mary Mallon] is arrested and returned to quarantine on North Brother Island, New York after spending five years evading health authorities and causing several further outbreaks of typhoid.
1925 84th Grand National: Major John Wilson wins aboard 100/9 shot Double Chance; first year a tape known then as a 'gate' used at the start line.
1952 "Singin' in the Rain", musical comedy directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in NYC.
1958 CBS Labs announce new stereophonic records.
1963 The Beeching Report on Britain's railways was published. The report concluded that only half the network's routes carried enough traffic to cover the cost of operating them. Many lines and stations were subsequently closed.
1964 1st true Pirate Radio station, Radio Caroline (England).
1964 Six months after the ‘Great Train Robbery’ in Buckinghamshire, 20 of the gang were still at large but the ten who were arrested were found guilty of stealing more than £2.6m from mailbags. They included Ronnie Biggs. Sentences totalled 307 years in jail.
1966 The stolen football world cup was found in south London by a dog called Pickles, whilst it was out for a walk with its owner.
1973 45th Academy Awards: "The Godfather" wins. Marlon Brando then turns down the Oscar for best actor to protest Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans in film.
1977 583 die in aviation's worst ever disaster when two Boeing 747s collide at Tenerife airport in Spain.
1980 The oilrig platform Alexander Keiland, located 235 miles east of Dundee, overturned in the North Sea killing 123.
1980 Mount St Helens erupts after 123 years.
1991 David Icke former footballer BBC sports presenter and member of the Green Party announced that he had been "chosen" to save the world.
1994 The future warplane Eurofighter made its inaugural flight two years later than expected at Manching in Germany. Eurofighter is the most expensive combat aircraft built in Europe.
1995 67th Academy Awards: "Forrest Gump" & Tom Hanks win.
2004 HMS Scylla a decommissioned Leander class frigate was sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall about 40 minutes by boat from Plymouth. It was the first of its kind in Europe and the ship soon became a very popular dive site and a source of study for marine life.
2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson tested positive for coronavirus also the Health Secretary Matt Hancock and England's Chief Medical Officer Prof. Chris Whitty has shown symptoms.
1800 The Irish Parliament passed the Act of Union with England. The Act included joining Ireland to Great Britain to form a single kingdom, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1819 The birth of Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, English civil engineer. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works he created a sewer network for central London which was instrumental in relieving the city from cholera epidemics whilst also beginning the cleansing of the River Thames.
1866 The birth of Jimmy Ross, Scottish footballer nicknamed 'The Little Demon'. When the Football League implemented a maximum wage of £4 per week for professional football players and full-time players like Ross could earn up to £10 a week, the prospect of a reduced wage was a serious threat to their livelihood. In order to curb this threat Ross and other top players of the time formed the Association Footballers' Union.
1913 The first Morris Oxford car left the converted Military Academy at Cowley, Oxfordshire. It was William Morris's first factory.
1919 78th Grand National: Ernie Piggott wins aboard Poethlyn. His grandson is the 11-times British flat racing Champion Jockey, Lester Piggott.
1930 Turkish cities Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara.
1941 English novelist Virginia Woolf, suffering from depression filled her overcoat pocket with stones and walked into the River Ouse near her home in Sussex and drowned herself. Her body was not found until 18th April.
1942 British commandos destroyed the U-boat base at St Nazaire. The destroyer Campbeltown rammed the dock gates at 20 knots with five tons of explosives on board. A German ship trying to cut off the British commandos as they made their getaway in fast launches was sunk in error by German guns.
1964 Pirate radio station Radio Caroline began transmitting from a ship in the North Sea. Simon Dee, who later became the first ‘pirate DJ’ to join the BBC was the first voice to be heard on Radio Caroline.
1977 49th Academy Awards: "Rocky" wins.
1979 Prime Minister James Callaghan lost a parliamentary vote of confidence by a minority of one forcing him to call an early election.
1994 BBC Radio Five Live broadcasts for first time in United Kingdom.
2001 Seven Manchester United players were in the England team that faced Albania in Tirana in a World Cup qualifier. Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, David Beckham Paul Scholes and Andy Cole were in the starting line-up with second half subs Wes Brown and Teddy Sheringham taking the number to seven.
2014 Beryl Walker, 88, was named as the oldest paper girl in the world by Guinness World Records. "Beryl has been doing the round for 35 years, gets up at 6am every morning and hops on her bike 'Hercules' to deliver papers to homes in Gloucester. She works six days a week and cycles over eight miles a day.
2017 A 12-sided £1 coin went into circulation. The new coins feature a string of security features including a hologram that changes from a '£' symbol to the number '1' when the coin is seen from different angles.
1461 Over 28,000 people were killed in the battle of Towton, North Yorkshire, during the War of the Roses (Lancaster against York). It is described as 'probably the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil'. The Lancastrians, under Henry VI, were crushed and the throne was claimed by Edward IV.
1848 Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam.
1871 Queen Victoria opened the Royal Albert Hall in London. The hall was originally supposed to have been called The Central Hall of Arts and Sciences but the name was changed by Queen Victoria to Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences when laying the foundation stone as a dedication to her deceased husband and consort Prince Albert.
1912 The last entry in British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott's diary, storm-bound in a tent near South Pole the last entry in his diary "the end cannot be far". He died in Antarctica along with the rest of his party whilst returning from the South Pole.
1927 Sir Henry Segrave beat Malcolm Campbell’s land speed record in his 'Mystery' car (a 1,000 hp Sunbeam with a World War I aircraft engine) on the Daytona Beach clocking 203.79 mph. He became the first driver to exceed 200 mph.
1940 The Bank of England introduced thin metal strips into banknotes as an anti-forgery device.
1959 "Some Like It Hot", directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon, is released in NYC.
1966 Muhammad Ali beats George Chuvalo in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1967 The Torrey Canyon oil tanker 'refused' to sink despite more than a day of heavy bombing. Tens of thousands of tons of oil formed a slick 35 miles long and up to 20 miles wide around the area.
1974 Chinese farmers discover the Terracotta Army near Xi'an, 8,000 clay warrior statues buried to guard the tomb of China's 1st emperor, Qin Shi Huang.
1976 48th Academy Awards: "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" wins.
1980 134th Grand National: American amateur rider Charlie Fenwick wins aboard 40/1 outsider Ben Nevis; only 4 from 30 starters finish race.
1981 The first London marathon took place with around 7,000 entrants.
1982 54th Academy Awards: "Chariots of Fire" wins.
1986 Beatle records officially go on sale in Russia.
1988 Lloyd Honeyghan became the first British boxer to regain a world title since Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis, 71 years previously. Honeyghan knocked out Jorgé Vaca of Mexico in the third round at the Wembley Arena, London.
2004 The Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
2015 A memorial to the murdered soldier Lee Rigby was opened at Middleton Memorial Gardens in Greater Manchester. The 25 year old fusilier was killed outside Woolwich Barracks in London on 22nd May 2013 by Islamist extremists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.
2017 Having the airport near where you were born and brought up named after you is a genuine honour. That happened to Cristiano Ronaldo on March 29th 2017 when the international airport on his native Madeira became the Aeroporto Cristiano Ronaldo. Probably less memorable though was the bust of Ronaldo that was unveiled at the airport during the proceedings.
2017 Theresa May triggered 'Article 50' to start the negotiation process for Britain to leave the European Union
2019 The day written into law for the UK to leave the European Union, two years after the triggering of Article 50. The process has been delayed after much political debate and wrangling with the earliest Brexit is likely to happen now being 12th April 2019. By the time that you read this the leaving date might have changed to 22nd May or ..... who knows?
1296 Edward I captured Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England. As many as 10,000 men, women and children were killed. Even a woman giving birth was hacked to pieces during her labour. When the garrison commander Lord of Douglas surrendered his life and those of his garrison were spared.
1858 Pencil with attached eraser patented (Hyman L Lipman of Philadelphia).
1867 Alaska Purchase: US buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 roughly 2 cents an acre.
1945 The birth of Eric Patrick Clapton, English guitarist and singer-songwriter.
1964 The seaside holiday resort of Clacton was the scene of pitched battles by rival gangs of 'mods' and 'rockers'.
1967 Cover picture of Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album is photographed by Michael Cooper.
1974 Red Rum won the Grand National at Aintree for the second year running.
1979 Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave was killed by a car bomb as he left the House of Commons car park. The Irish National Liberation Army claimed responsibility.
1981 US President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, three others are also wounded.
1981 "Chariots of Fire" directed by Hugh Hudson and starring Ben Cross and Ian Charleson premieres at a Royal Command Film Performance.
1984 World's most valuable tip - New York police detective Robert Cunningham offers waitress Phyllis Penzo half of $1 lottery ticket, next day they win $6 million.
1987 The picture 'Sunflowers', painted by Vincent van Gogh was sold at auction by Christie's for £24,750,000.
1992 64th Academy Awards: "The Silence of the Lambs", Anthony Hopkins & Jodie Foster win.
1994 The West Indies cricket team dismissed England for 46, the lowest total reached by an English side since 1887.
1997 Pop group The Spice Girls helped launch Britain's newest terrestrial TV channel - Channel 5.
2002 Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, (born August 4th 1900), died peacefully in her sleep, aged 101.
1657 English Parliament makes the Humble Petition to Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell offering him the crown: he declines.
1837 The death of John Constable English painter best known for his paintings of the English countryside such as Dedham Vale and The Hay Wain. Although his paintings are now among the most popular and valuable in British art, he was never financially successful and did not become a member of the establishment until he was elected to the Royal Academy at the age of 52.
The Hay Wain.
1855 Charlotte Bronte Yorkshire novelist and author of Jane Eyre died during her pregnancy aged 38.
1889 Eiffel Tower officially opens in Paris. Built for the Exposition Universelle, at 300m high it retains the record for the tallest man made structure for 41 years.
1912 Both the Oxford and the Cambridge boats sank in the annual university boat race.
1921 British champion jockey Sir Gordon Richards rode the first of his career total of 4,870 winners.
1924 The first British national airline Imperial Airways was founded at Croydon Airport.
1930 Scottish engineer John Logie Baird installed a TV set at 10 Downing Street.
1932 Ford publicly unveils its V-8 engine.
1939 Britain and France agreed to support Poland if Germany threatened to invade.
1939 "The Hound of Baskervilles" first of 14 films starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson is released.
1967 1st time Jimi Hendrix burns his guitar (The Astoria, London).
1972 The Beatles' Official Fan Club closed down.
1973 Racehorse Red Rum won the Grand National Steeplechase in a record time of 9 min. 1.9 sec. a record that remained unbroken for 16 years.Brian Fletcher wins aboard the 9/1 co-favourite he recovers from 15 lengths behind at final fence first of Red Rum's record 3 GN victories.
1973 Muhammad Ali suffers a broken jaw in a shock split-points decision loss to Ken Norton over 12 rounds in San Diego; Ali wins rematch in another controversial split decision.
1979 133rd Grand National: Maurice Barnes victorious aboard Rubstic; first Scottish-trained horse to win the event.
1980 Almost concurrent heavyweight boxing championship fights: Larry Holmes TKOs Leroy Jones in 8 for WBC title in Las Vegas, whilst Mike Weaver KOs John Tate in 15 for WBA belt in Knoxville.
1984 138th Grand National: Neale Doughty wins aboard 13/1 Hallo Dandy; 23 complete the course, breaking record for most finishers.
1985 WrestleMania I, Madison Square Garden, NYC: Hulk Hogan & Mr T beat Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorf.
1986 Hampton Court Palace was severely damaged by fire.
1990 An anti-poll tax rally in London erupted into the worst riots in the city for a 100 years when 200,000 protestors took to the streets.
2001 German brothers Michael and Ralf Schumacher become first siblings to share front row of the grid in a Formula 1 World Championship event; qualify 1st and 2nd respectively for Brazilian GP in São Paulo.
2011 Edward Stobart who built up the Eddie Stobart lorry empire and ran it for more than 30 years died at the age of 56.The company has grown to the extent that its iconic green trucks are now a regular sight all over the country with a fan club of 25,000.
2013 Easter Sunday was confirmed as the coldest Easter day on record with the lowest temperature recorded as -12.5C in Braemar, in the Scottish Highlands.
2020 British pensioner Robert Weighton becomes the world's oldest man at 112 years.
1973 127th Grand National: Brian Fletcher wins aboard 9/1 co-favourite Red Rum; recovers from 15 lengths behind at final fence; first of Red Rum's record 3 GN victories.
My first Grand National memory as a 6 year old boy, I had picked Red Rum in our family sweepstake,after this he was 'my horse' each following Grand National and he didn't serve me too bad over the next few years.
All Fools' Day, also known as April Fools' Day is a day for practical jokes and hoaxes, but only until 12 noon. The earliest recorded association between 1st April and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392).
1780 On This Spot On This Day, nothing happened.
1841 The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew were opened to the public.
1889 1st dishwashing machine marketed (Chicago).
1891 The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
1905 "SOS" first adopted as a morse distress signal (· · · – – – · · ·) by German government.
1908 The foundation of the Territorial Force, (renamed the Territorial Army in 1920.) It was formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.
1918 The Royal Air Force was formed. It incorporated the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
1935 Green Belt legislation was introduced to stop indiscriminate building on many areas of the countryside.
1938 Nescafé introduces their flagship brand in Switzerland.
1949 The 26 counties of the Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland.
1969 The Hawker Siddeley Harrier entered service with the Royal Air Force.
1970 John Lennon and Yoko Ono release hoax they are having dual sex change operations.
1973 John Lennon and Yoko Ono form a new country with no laws or boundaries, called Nutopia, its national anthem is silence.
1973 Britain introduced VAT (Value Added Tax). It replaced Purchase Tax and Selective Employment Tax.
1976 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs' parents house in Cupertino, California.
1980 Britain's first nudist beach opened at Brighton.
1983 Tens of thousands of peace demonstrators formed a human chain stretching for 14 miles lining a route along what the protesters called 'Nuclear Valley' in Berkshire.
1989 Despite threats of non-payment, the Community Charge or Poll Tax was introduced in Scotland.
1990 Up to 1,000 prisoners staged a riot at Strangeways Prison in Manchester in a violent protest against overcrowding. It was the longest prison riot in British history and lasted until 25th April. One remand prisoner died.
1995 Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton scores fastest goal in English Premier League history when he nets after 12.94 seconds in 2-1 win at Everton.
1998 A world record price for a musical instrument was set when a 1727 Stradivarius violin was sold at Christie's for £947,500.
2000 The Enigma machine used by the Germans to encrypt messages in the Second World War, was stolen from Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire and a ransom was demanded for its return. The ransom was not paid but in October 2000 the machine was sent anonymously and with three of its rotors missing to BBC journalist Jeremy Paxman.
2004 Google introduces Gmail: the launch is met with skepticism on account of the launch date.
2014 The RAF's 617 'Dambuster' squadron formed at Scampton on 21st March 1943 and last based at Lossiemouth in Moray, was disbanded as its Tornado aircraft were withdrawn from service.
1801 In the Battle of Copenhagen, British hero Horatio Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye and ignored Admiral Parker's signal to stop fighting. "I have only one eye. I have a right to be blind sometimes. I really do not see the signal." He continued until the Danish fleet was defeated.
Nelson’s line anchored and in action against the Danish line, which lies between him and Copenhagen.
1805 Hans Christian Andersen was born at Odense in Demark. In his lifetime he wrote more than one hundred and fifty fairy tales and his stories have been translated into over 100 languages. His stories include 'The Ugly Duckling', 'The Snow Queen', 'The Little Matchgirl', and 'The Little Mermaid'.
1873 Almost 14 years after the United States, British trains were fitted with toilets but only for sleeping cars. Day carriages were fitted in 1881. Third class passengers weren’t able to 'spend a penny' until 1886.
1877 The first Human Cannonball Act was performed at London's Amphitheatre when 14-year-old Rossa Matilda Richter known as Lady Zazel attached by elastic springs was fired into a safety net.
"Zazel" makes her spectacular entrance over an astonished crowd.
1921 The IRA took delivery of their first consignment of ‘Tommy’ guns. It's said that the nickname comes from their potential targets, British ‘Tommies’, but Tommy Gun is more likely derived from its American creator General John T. Thompson. The guns were developed for him with the assistance of Oscar Payne and Theodore Eickhoff of Hartford, Connecticut.
1946 Britain's Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst was founded.
1954 Plans to build Disneyland 1st announced.
1960 The birth of sprinter Linford Christie. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games.
1962 A new style of pedestrian crossing (the Panda crossing) was launched in London by the Minister of Transport, Ernest Marples. It caused confusion among both drivers and pedestrians.
1963 USSR launches Luna 4; missed Moon by 8,500 km.
1977 Charlotte Brew becomes the first woman jockey to ride in the Grand National. Her horse, Barony Fort, fell at the 27th fence. Red Rum won the Grand National for a record third time.
1978 TV soap show "Dallas" premieres on CBS.
1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic a British possession for 149 years. The British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force. The resulting conflict lasted 74 days and ended with the Argentine surrender on 14th June 1982 which returned the islands to British control.
1992 Mafia boss John Gotti is found guilty of 5 murders (Paul Castellano, Thomas Bilotti, Robert DiBernardo, Liborio Milito and Louis Dibono), plus conspiracy to murder, loansharking, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice, bribery and tax evasion.
2007 A smoking ban came into force in Wales, making it illegal for anyone to smoke in an enclosed public place and within the workplace.
A Premier League first - Jermaine Pennant became the first player to turn out in the Premier League wearing an electronic ankle-tag. He was required to wear one after being released from prison after 31 days of a three-month sentence for drink driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.
Football On This Day - 2nd April 2011.
José Mourinho certainly seemed to keep the home fans happy but on this day in 2011 his 150 game unbeaten home league record as a manager ended when his Real Madrid side were beaten 1-0 by Sporting Gijón in the Primera Liga at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. His last home defeat - which was his only other home league defeat as a manager - had taken place on 23rd February 2002 when his 9-man Porto side were beaten 3-2 by Beira-Mar in the Portuguese League. Over the next 9 years his sides were unbeaten in 150 home League matches on the trot - those matches comprised his last 38 matches at Porto (36 wins, 2 draws), all 60 in his first spell at Chelsea (46 wins, 14 draws), all 38 matches at Inter Milan (29 wins, 9 draws) and his first 14 home matches at Real Madrid (all 14 were wins). When he returned to Chelsea in 2013 for his second spell as boss the Special One saw the Chelsea part of the unbeaten home Premier League record increase from 60 matches to 77 (61 won, 16 drawn) until lowly Sunderland recorded a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge on 19th April 2014.
1043 Edward the Confessor was crowned King of England in Winchester Cathedral. He was regarded as one of the national saints of England until King Edward III adopted Saint George as patron saint in about 1350.
1367 The birth of Henry IV, (son of John of Gaunt). He became the first Lancastrian king of England in 1399 and his reign was marked by many uprisings both at home and abroad.
1693 The birth on the Nostell estate (Wakefield) of John Harrison, self-educated carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer. Harrison's solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel. His 300 year old fully working almost entirely wooden mechanism clock is at Nostell Priory.
1721 Sir Robert Walpole was appointed first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer effectively making him Britain's first prime minister.
1888 The first of 11 brutal murders of women occurred in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London. The crimes remain unsolved to this day. At various points some or all of the killings were ascribed to the notorious unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.
1895 The trial of the libel case instigated by Oscar Wilde began eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.
1913 English suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst was sentenced to 3 years in prison for inciting supporters to place explosives at the London home of British politician David Lloyd George. The Home Secretary banned all future public meetings of suffragettes.
1933 Everest was conquered for the first time by plane when 2 specially built British planes made aviation history by flying over the summit. The pilots were the Marquis of Douglas and Clydesdale and Flight Lieutenant David McIntyre.
1954 Oxford won the 100th Boat Race in rough conditions on the River Thames.
1968 "Planet of the Apes", starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell premiers nationally in United States.
1973 1st mobile phone call is made in downtown Manhattan, NYC by Motorola employee Martin Cooper to the Bell Labs headquarters in New Jersey.
1976 21st Eurovision Song Contest: Brotherhood of Man for United Kingdom wins singing "Save Your Kisses for Me" in The Hague.
1981 Mobs of youths went on the rampage in Brixton, South London, throwing petrol bombs and looting shops. Police harassment over a long period was given as the cause.
1987 The jewels of the late Duchess of Windsor, (the former Mrs Wallis Simpson who married Edward VIII of England after his abdication in 1936), fetched more than £31 million at auction six times more than the expected figure.
1993 The Grand National was declared void after a series of events at the start reduced the world-famous horse race to a shambles. 30 of the 39 riders failed to realise a false start had been called and set off around the racetrack, completing both laps of the course and passing the finish line before they realised their mistake.
2000 A controversial plan to give asylum seekers vouchers instead of cash came into force.
2014 A 25 year old student was fined and given penalty points after he was caught driving a car with all 4 doors removed along with the headlights front and rear indicators bonnet grille and rear brake lights which he had removed to sell on-line. He had been attempting to take the car to a recycling centre five miles from his home in Nottinghamshire, to sell for scrap.
When Robbie Fowler scored from the penalty spot for Liverpool after a quarter of an hour of their Premier League match against Everton at Anfield a goal celebration was inevitable. Sadly though Fowler got it very wrong – he celebrated by getting down on all fours and sniffing the goal line in front of the Everton fans. And he did it twice. The Liverpool striker had long been the target for unfounded allegations of drug-taking but his simulation of snorting a line of cocaine brought immediate and widespread criticism. His manager at Liverpool, Gerard Houllier, tried to explain Fowler’s actions as him eating grass but a ‘substantial’ club fine was followed by the FA punishing him with a four-match ban and a £32,000 fine which was a record at the time. In the match itself Fowler scored twice in Liverpool’s 3-2 victory over Everton.
1581 Queen Elizabeth I knighted Francis Drake aboard his ship the Golden Hind at Deptford after his circumnavigation of the world.
1660 The 'Declaration of Breda' was proclaimed by King Charles II in which he promised a general pardon for crimes committed during the English Civil War.
1811 The opening of the Standedge Tunnel It is located on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and is the longest,deepest and highest canal tunnel ever built in Britain, being over 3 miles long, 638 feet (194m) underground and 645 feet (196m) above sea level. The last recorded cargo boat passed through Standedge Tunnel in November 1921. The canal was fully restored and re-opened for navigation in May 2001.
1873 The Kennel Club was founded. It is the oldest recognized kennel club in the world and was the first official registry of purebred dogs in the world. Its role is to act as governing body for various canine activities including dog shows, dog agility and working trials.
1934 Yorkshireman Percy Shaw laid the first "cats' eyes" along the centre of the road at an accident black spot near Bradford.
1949 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established by 12 Western states including Great Britain. The military alliance provided for a collective self-defence against Soviet aggression and greatly increased American influence in Europe.
1958 The first Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) protest march left Hyde Park in London towards Aldermaston in Berkshire.
1964 British pop group The Beatles occupied the first five places in the US singles pop charts with:- 'Can't Buy Me Love', 'Twist and Shout', 'She Loves You', 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' and 'Please Please Me'. It was the first and only time anyone ever monopolized the entire top five. The Beatles are the best-selling pop band in history, have had the most number-one albums in the UK charts and have held the top spot longer than any other musical act.
1968 US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots break out in over 100 cities in the United States.
1973 World Trade Center then the world's tallest building opens in New York (110 stories). Later destroyed in 9/11 terrorist attacks.
1975 Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800.
1975 The first episode of The Good Life aired.The sitcom was about a middle class couple who abandoned the rat race in order to become self-sufficient, while remaining in Surbiton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_ysdEPflIc
1981 26th Eurovision Song Contest: Bucks Fizz for United Kingdom wins singing "Making Your Mind Up" in Dublin.
1981 An emotional Aintree saw Bob Champion win the Grand National on Aldaniti. Champion, suffering from cancer, had been given eight months to live while Aldaniti, who had led all the way had been plagued with tendon problems and a broken back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5BokFFeNE0
1984 The women from the main peace camp at Greenham Common in Berkshire were evicted, but said it would not end their protest against nuclear weapons being sited at the RAF base.
1985 Royal Assent was given for the Bill to hand Hong Kong to China in 1997.
1988 The British TV soap opera 'Crossroads' came to an end after 24 years with the transmission of the last of its 4,510 episodes.
1991 Children at the centre of 'satanic abuse allegations' in the Orkney Islands were reunited with their families after the case was thrown out of court.
1997 The residents of Eigg, a small island off the west coast of Scotland, bought their island with help from an anonymous English millionairess, after an eight-month ownership battle.
1998 151st Grand National: Carl Llewellyn wins aboard Earth Summit; first GN winner who was also successful in both Scottish and Welsh Grand Nationals.
1999 Jack Ma founds Chinese internet company Alibaba.
2009 162nd Grand National: French-bred 100/1 outsider Mon Mome, ridden by Liam Treadwell, wins by 12 lengths from defending champion Comply or Die.
2014 Levi Bellfield the triple murderer and killer of 13 year old Milly Dowler’s in 2011 was awarded £4,500 compensation after a prison attack in 2009 in which he suffered minor cuts. Bellfield had launched his legal action after claiming that the prison staff should have protected him.
2017 Alibaba becomes the world's largest retailer according to US Securities and Exchange Commission.
1843 Queen Victoria proclaimed Hong Kong a British crown colony.
1902 25 football fans were killed at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, when a stand collapsed during a Scotland / England international match. At least another 200 were injured.
1904 The first international rugby league match is played between England and an Other Nationalities team (Welsh & Scottish players) in Central Park, Wigan, England.
1922 The birth in Preston Lancashire of former footballer Sir Tom Finney. He was famous for his loyalty to his league club, Preston North End and for his performances in the English national side. He played his entire career for his local club, appearing 433 times and scoring 187 goals.
1923 Firestone Tire and Rubber Company starts producing inflatable tyres.
1930 England cricketers dismissed for then record 849 v West Indies in 4th Test in Kingston, Jamaica; Andy Sandham out for 325.
1943 Chinese steward Poon Lim is found off the coast of Brazil by a Brazilian fisherman family after being adrift 133 days, after British ship SS Benlomond torpedoed by german U-boat. Poon Lim and his raft.
1955 Sir Winston Churchill, the British leader who guided Great Britain through the crisis of World War II, retired as Prime Minister, aged 81, handing over to Anthony Eden.
1964 Automatic driverless trains began operating on the London Underground.
1975 129th Grand National: Irish combination of jockey Tommy Carberry aboard L'Escargot wins by 15 lengths from 7/2 favourite and 1973-74 winner Red Rum.
1976 Harold Wilson resigned as Prime Minister and was succeeded by James Callaghan.
1982 A British Task Force set sail from Southampton to recapture the Falkland Islands after the invasion by Argentina.
1986 140th Grand National: Richard Dunwoody aboard 9-year-old 15/2 second favourite West Tip wins by 2 lengths from Young Driver.
1997 The 150th running of the Grand National at Aintree, Liverpool was cancelled because of an IRA bomb scare.
1999 Richard Dunwoody became the most successful jump jockey of all time, when he clocked up his 1,679th win at Wincanton. (The record is now held by Tony McCoy with over 2,000 winners.)
2002 People queued for miles beside the Thames to pay their last respects to the Queen Mother, whose body was lying in state in Westminster Hall, London.
2003 156th Grand National: 10-year-old 16/1 shot Monty's Pass, ridden by Barry Geraghty wins by 12 lengths from 2001 Welsh National winner Supreme Glory.
2008 161st Grand National: 7/1 joint favourite Comply or Die wins in Irish jockey Timmy Murphy's 11th attempt, 4 lengths ahead of King John's Castle.
2014 167th Grand National: Leighton Aspell wins aboard Pineau de Re; sixth French-bred horse to win the GN.
2020 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted to hospital suffering from COVID-19.
1199 King Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) died from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder after being wounded by a crossbow bolt during a siege in France.
1320 The Scots reaffirmed their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath. The Declaration was in the form of a letter submitted to Pope John XXII. It confirmed Scotland's status as a sovereign state and defended Scotland's right to use military action when unjustly attacked.
1580 An earth tremor damaged several London churches including the old St. Paul's Cathedral.
1722 Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, ends tax on men with beards.
1889 George Eastman begins selling his Kodak flexible rolled film for the first time.
1893 Andy Bowen & Jack Burke box 7 hrs 19 mins to no decision (111 rounds).
1896 1st modern Summer Olympic Games open in Athens, Greece; American athlete James Connolly Olympic becomes first modern Olympic champion when he wins the triple jump (then 2 hops and a jump); later 3rd in the long jump, 2nd in the high jump.
1906 World's 1st animated cartoon is released, "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces" by J. Stuart Blackton.
1913 Suffragettes increased their militant activities by cutting telephone lines and damaging post boxes.
1917 US declares war on Germany, enters World War I.
1925 1st film shown on an airplane (British Air).
1944 Pay As You Earn (PAYE) income tax was introduced into Britain. It was devised by Cornelius Gregg.
1963 Britain and the USA signed the Polaris missile agreement. Polaris was a submarine launched, nuclear tipped weapon designed as a nuclear deterrent.
1974 Swedish pop group ABBA won the 19th annual Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, Sussex, with 'Waterloo'.
1975 During 'Operation Babylift' a plane carrying 99 Vietnamese orphans victims of the war in Vietnam landed at Heathrow airport.
1980 Post It Notes introduced.
1984 The 17-year-old South African barefooted long and middle distance runner Zola Budd, was granted British citizenship by Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, after only a matter of weeks enabling her to compete as a British citizen in the Olympic games. The decision provoked considerable controversy.
1987 Middleweight World Boxing Championship bout: Sugar Ray Leonard upsets Marvelous Marvin Hagler at Caesars Palace in Paradise, Nevada.
1989 The government announced it was to abolish legislation which guaranteed 'jobs for life' for more than 9,000 dockers.
1990 Married women in Britain became independent entities for income tax purposes for the first time, making them responsible for their own tax declarations. Their income was no longer assessed with that of their husbands.
1991 Argentine soocer star Diego Maradona suspended for 15 month by Italian League for testing positive for cocaine use.
1991 145th Grand National: In Canadian distillery Seagram's final year of race sponsorship, New Zealand-bred chestnut gelding Seagram wins, ridden by Nigel Hawke.
1993 Following public disquiet, Queen Elizabeth II began paying income tax.
2014 Polish MP Artur Debski arrived in London to live as a migrant on £100 a week in an attempt to see why so many Poles prefer Britain to their homeland. Poland has one of the EU’s most successful economies; nevertheless, 72% of Poles living in the UK intend to stay and 40% are thinking of applying for British citizenship.
2020 Nadia, a tiger at the Bronx Zoo (New York City), tests positive for COVID-19, 1st known case of human-to-cat transmission.
1739 English highwayman **** Turpin was hanged in York for murdering an inn-keeper. Before becoming a highwayman, he had been a butcher's apprentice.
1795 France adopts the metre as the basic measure of length.
1827 Chemist John Walker of Stockton on Tees sold the world's first box of 'friction matches' that he had invented the previous year. He charged one shilling for a box of 50 matches. Each box was supplied with a piece of sandpaper, folded double, through which the match had to be drawn to ignite it. He named the matches 'Congreves' in honour of the inventor and rocket pioneer, Sir William Congreve.
1832 Joseph Thompson, a farmer went to Carlisle to sell his wife both having agreed to part. A large crowd gathered as he offered her for 50 shillings. After an hour the price was knocked down to 20 shillings together with a Newfoundland dog as an incentive.
1853 Queen Victoria became the first monarch to receive chloroform. It was administered to ease the birth of her eighth child, Prince Leopold.
1890 The opening of the Lynton and Lynmouth funicular Cliff Railway. It is the the UK's only fully water powered railway and is also the highest and the steepest totally water powered railway in the world. The cliff railway connects the twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth in north Devon.
1902 Texas Oil Company (Texaco) forms.
1930 The birth of German-born, British actor Andrew Sachs. He made his name for his portrayal of Manuel in Fawlty Towers.
1948 World Health Organization formed by the United Nations.
1958 An Easter march to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston attracted 3,000 anti atomic bomb marchers and a further 12,000 members of the new CND movement (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament).
1963 27th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: 23 year old Jack Nicklaus wins the first of his record 6 Green Jackets with a 3-foot par putt on the final hole to finish 1 stroke ahead of Tony Lema.
1968 British world motor-racing champion Jim Clark died in a crash at the Hockenheim circuit in Germany. He won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965 and at the time of his death, aged 32, he had won more Grand Prix races (25) and achieved more Grand Prix pole positions (33) than any other driver. In 2009, The Times placed Clark at the top of a list of the greatest-ever Formula One drivers.
1976 MP John Stonehouse resigned from the Labour Party, leaving James Callaghan's government in a minority of one. Stonehouse is best remembered for faking his own suicide (20th November 1974), by leaving a pile of clothes on a Miami beach. He was presumed dead, and obituaries were published, despite the fact that no body had been found. In reality, he was en route to Australia, hoping to set up a new life with his mistress and secretary, Sheila Buckley. He also faced 18 charges of theft, forgery, attempted insurance frauds and conspiracy.
1986 Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair sold the rights to his machines to Amstrad.
1990 144th Grand National: Marcus Armytage aboard 16/1 bet Mr Frisk wins in race record 8m 47.8s; 2 equine fatalities during the race.
1997 The 150th Grand National (cancelled on the 5th) due to bomb threats by the IRA, was held for the first time ever on a Monday, with the organisers offering free admission. Some 20,000 people had been left stranded over the weekend, as their cars and coaches were locked in the course. There was limited accommodation space in the city and surrounding areas, and those local residents not affected by the incident opened their doors and took in many of those stranded.
1999 The World Trade Organisation rules in favor of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas.
2001 154th Grand National: Richard Guest wins aboard Red Marauder; trainer Martin Pipe saddles 10 of 40-strong field, Blowing Wind best at 3rd place.
2020 China ends its lockdown of Wuhan, the city at the center of the COVID-19 pandemic after 76 days as the country reports no new deaths for the 1st time.
1827 Chemist John Walker of Stockton on Tees sold the world's first box of 'friction matches' that he had invented the previous year. He charged one shilling for a box of 50 matches. Each box was supplied with a piece of sandpaper, folded double, through which the match had to be drawn to ignite it. He named the matches 'Congreves' in honour of the inventor and rocket pioneer, Sir William Congreve.
1832 Joseph Thompson, a farmer went to Carlisle to sell his wife both having agreed to part. A large crowd gathered as he offered her for 50 shillings. After an hour the price was knocked down to 20 shillings together with a Newfoundland dog as an incentive.
So in the 1800's you could buy a wife and a dog or 20 boxes of matches for 20 Shillings...seems a bargain if you were a smoker .
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1199 King Richard I, Lion Heart, King of England, was wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on 6th April. Richard spent very little time in England and lived in his Duchy of Aquitaine in the southwest of France, preferring to use his kingdom as a source of revenue to support his armies. He produced no legitimate heirs and acknowledged only one illegitimate son, Philip of Cognac. As a result, he was succeeded by his brother John as King of England.
1306 Robert the Bruce crowned Robert I, King of Scots, having killed his rival John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch.
1807 British Parliament abolishes slave trade throughout the British Empire penalty of £120 per slave introduced for ship captains. The Slave Trade Act received the royal assent eventually bringing an end to the slave trade. British merchants transported nearly three million black Africans across the Atlantic between 1700 and the early 19th century. The 1833 Slavery Abolition Act outlawed slavery itself throughout the British Empire but slaves did not gain their final freedom until 1838.
1807 First fare-paying, passenger railway service in the world established on the Oystermouth Railway in Swansea, Wales.
1876 The first football international between Wales and Scotland took place in Glasgow. Scotland won 4 0.
1949 The film Hamlet starring Laurence Olivier won five Oscars. It was the first British film to win an academy award.
1957 Six European nations signed the Treaty of Rome thus establishing the Common Market. They were Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Holland and Luxembourg.
1969 John Lennon and new wife Yoko Ono staged their ‘Beds in Peace’ at the Amsterdam Hilton. It lasted until 31st March and each day they invited the world's press into their hotel room, between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. It was Yoko’s idea to get over their peace message while on honeymoon. Although the press were expecting them to be having sex the couple were sitting in bed in John's words 'like angels', talking about peace, with signs over their bed reading 'Hair Peace' and 'Bed Peace'.
1975 The National Front marched through London protesting against integration with Europe.
1979 Space Shuttle Columbia arrives at Kennedy Space Centre to prepare for its first launch, which would eventually happen in 1981.
1980 Ian Botham was best known as a cricketer but on this day in 1980 he made his debut as a footballer for Scunthorpe United, coming on as a sub in the Division 4 match at Bournemouth.
1989 For the first time both the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race crews entered the event with women coxes. The race was won by Oxford.
1995 Boxer Mike Tyson released from jail after serving 3 years.
2002 The death of Kenneth Wolstenholme football commentator for BBC television in the 1950s and 1960s. He is perhaps most noted for his commentary during the 1966 FIFA World Cup which included the famous phrase 'Some people are on the pitch...they think it's all over....it is now!', as Geoff Hurst scored England's fourth goal.
2018 First scheduled non-stop flight between Australia and the UK, leaves Perth for Heathrow airport in London, arrives after 17 hours.
2020 United Kingdom's Prince Charles tests positive for COVID-19.
The Tichborne Dole is an ancient English tradition still very much alive today. It takes place in the village of Tichborne near Alresford in Hampshire every year on March 25th the Feast of the Annunciation (Lady’s Day) and dates back to the 13th century.
Suffering from a wasting disease which had left her crippled, on her deathbed Lady Mabella Tichborne asked her miserly husband, Sir Roger, to donate food to the needy regularly every year. Her husband was reluctant but made a bizarre agreement as to how much he would give.
Sir Roger agreed to give the corn from all the land which his dying wife could crawl around whilst holding a blazing torch in her hand, before the torch went out. Lady Mabella succeeded in crawling around a twenty-three acre field which is still called ‘The Crawls’ to this day and which is situated just north of Tichborne Park and beside the road to Alresford.
Lady Tichborne charged her husband and his heirs to give the produce value of that land to the poor in perpetuity. But aware of her husband’s miserly character, Mabella added a curse – that should the dole ever be stopped then seven sons would be born to the house, followed immediately by a generation of seven daughters, after which the Tichborne name would die out and the ancient house fall into ruin.
The custom of giving the dole, in the form of bread, on 25th March, Lady Day continued for over 600 years, until 1796, when owing to abuse by vagabonds and vagrants, it was temporarily suspended by order of the Magistrates.
Local folk however, remembered the final part of the Tichborne legend and Lady Tachborne’s curse. The penalty for not giving the dole would be a generation of seven daughters, the family name would die out and the ancient house fall down. In 1803 part of the house did indeed subside and the curse seemed to have been fulfilled when Sir Henry Tichborne who succeeded to the baronetcy in 1821(one of seven brothers), produced seven daughters.
The tradition was hastily re-established and has continued to this day.
The Dole is held every Lady Day, March 25th. The parish priest carries out the traditional Blessing of the Tichborne Dole before the flour is distributed to the local people – only those families in Tichborne, Cheriton and Lane End are entitled to the dole. They receive one gallon of flour per adult and half a gallon per child.
1780 1st British Sunday newspaper appears (British Gazette & Sunday Monitor).
1839 The Henley Regatta was born at a public meeting held in Henley Town Hall. The regatta lasts for 5 days (Wednesday to Sunday) over the first weekend in July.
1845 Patent awarded for adhesive medicated plaster, precursor of band-aid.
1885 ‘A lady well-known in literary and scientific circles’ was the only clue The Times gave to the identity of the woman who was cremated by the Cremation Society in Woking, Surrey. She was the first person to be officially cremated in Britain and was a Mrs. Pickersgill, the first of three cremations that year.
1920 The British special constables known as the Black and Tans arrived in Ireland. Their nickname came from the colours of their uniform.
1923 BBC Radio started regular weather forecasts.
1958 30th Academy Awards "The Bridge on the River Kwai" wins Best Picture.
In an effort to damage morale Japanese officers forbade POWs from singing. The British whistled.
Hitler has only got one ball,
Göring has two but very small,
Himmler is somewhat sim'lar,
But poor Goebbels has no balls at all.
1973 Women stockbroker were allowed on the floor of the London Stock Exchange for the first time in its 200 year history.
1973 Noël Coward, English playwright and entertainer died.
1974 George Foreman TKOs Ken Norton in 2 for heavyweight boxing title in Caracas, Venezuela.
1975 "Tommy" premieres in London.
1976 Queen Elizabeth II sent the first royal e-mail, from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in Worcestershire.
1980 Bombay gets its 1st rock concert in 10 years (The Police).
1981 Four Labour defectors known as the Gang of Four launched the Social Democrats party. The four were Roy Jenkins, (former Labour cabinet minister), David Owen, William Rodgers and Shirley Williams. Their aim was to 'reconcile the nation' and 'heal divisions between classes'.
1992 Mike Tyson sentenced to 10 years in rape of Desiree Washington.
2005 "Doctor Who" returns to BBC TV after 16 years with the debut of Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose.
2006 From 6 a.m. the prohibition of smoking in all substantially enclosed public places came into force in Scotland.
2015 Richard III, the only English monarch without a marked grave was reinterred at Leicester Cathedral after much wrangling including High Court action over his final resting place. Richard III's body was buried in the now demolished Franciscan Friary in Leicester and was discovered in September 2012 under what had become a car park.
2018 US, European Union and Ukraine expel more than 100 Russian diplomats in response to Russian use of nerve gas in UK.
1306 Robert the Bruce (eighth Earl of Carrick) was crowned King of Scotland at Scone Palace, near Perth. Bruce secured Scottish independence from England, militarily if not diplomatically at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
1625 King James I of England (he was also James VI of Scotland), died. King Charles I ascended to the throne as King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France. He later lost the English Civil War and was executed by parliament.
1713 Spain loses Menorca and Gibraltar to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht.
1790 The modern shoelace with an aglet patented in England by Harvey Kennedy.
1854 Crimean War:- Britain declared war on Russia.
1860 M L Byrn patents "covered gimlet screw with a 'T' handle" (corkscrew).
1866 Andrew Rankin patents the urinal.
1871 Scotland beat England in the first international rugby union match in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place. Scotland scored two tries and a goal to England's single try.
1880 The Salvation Army uniform was authorized but the distinctive bonnets for women did not appear until June.
1881 Rioting took place in Basingstoke in protest against the daily promotion of rigid alcohol abstinence by the Salvation Army.
1915 Typhoid Mary [Mary Mallon] is arrested and returned to quarantine on North Brother Island, New York after spending five years evading health authorities and causing several further outbreaks of typhoid.
1925 84th Grand National: Major John Wilson wins aboard 100/9 shot Double Chance; first year a tape known then as a 'gate' used at the start line.
1952 "Singin' in the Rain", musical comedy directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in NYC.
1958 CBS Labs announce new stereophonic records.
1963 The Beeching Report on Britain's railways was published. The report concluded that only half the network's routes carried enough traffic to cover the cost of operating them. Many lines and stations were subsequently closed.
1964 1st true Pirate Radio station, Radio Caroline (England).
1964 Six months after the ‘Great Train Robbery’ in Buckinghamshire, 20 of the gang were still at large but the ten who were arrested were found guilty of stealing more than £2.6m from mailbags. They included Ronnie Biggs. Sentences totalled 307 years in jail.
1966 The stolen football world cup was found in south London by a dog called Pickles, whilst it was out for a walk with its owner.
1973 45th Academy Awards: "The Godfather" wins. Marlon Brando then turns down the Oscar for best actor to protest Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans in film.
1977 583 die in aviation's worst ever disaster when two Boeing 747s collide at Tenerife airport in Spain.
1980 The oilrig platform Alexander Keiland, located 235 miles east of Dundee, overturned in the North Sea killing 123.
1980 Mount St Helens erupts after 123 years.
1991 David Icke former footballer BBC sports presenter and member of the Green Party announced that he had been "chosen" to save the world.
1994 The future warplane Eurofighter made its inaugural flight two years later than expected at Manching in Germany. Eurofighter is the most expensive combat aircraft built in Europe.
1995 67th Academy Awards: "Forrest Gump" & Tom Hanks win.
2004 HMS Scylla a decommissioned Leander class frigate was sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall about 40 minutes by boat from Plymouth. It was the first of its kind in Europe and the ship soon became a very popular dive site and a source of study for marine life.
2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson tested positive for coronavirus also the Health Secretary Matt Hancock and England's Chief Medical Officer Prof. Chris Whitty has shown symptoms.
1800 The Irish Parliament passed the Act of Union with England. The Act included joining Ireland to Great Britain to form a single kingdom, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1819 The birth of Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, English civil engineer. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works he created a sewer network for central London which was instrumental in relieving the city from cholera epidemics whilst also beginning the cleansing of the River Thames.
1866 The birth of Jimmy Ross, Scottish footballer nicknamed 'The Little Demon'. When the Football League implemented a maximum wage of £4 per week for professional football players and full-time players like Ross could earn up to £10 a week, the prospect of a reduced wage was a serious threat to their livelihood. In order to curb this threat Ross and other top players of the time formed the Association Footballers' Union.
1913 The first Morris Oxford car left the converted Military Academy at Cowley, Oxfordshire. It was William Morris's first factory.
1919 78th Grand National: Ernie Piggott wins aboard Poethlyn. His grandson is the 11-times British flat racing Champion Jockey, Lester Piggott.
1930 Turkish cities Constantinople and Angora change their names to Istanbul and Ankara.
1941 English novelist Virginia Woolf, suffering from depression filled her overcoat pocket with stones and walked into the River Ouse near her home in Sussex and drowned herself. Her body was not found until 18th April.
1942 British commandos destroyed the U-boat base at St Nazaire. The destroyer Campbeltown rammed the dock gates at 20 knots with five tons of explosives on board. A German ship trying to cut off the British commandos as they made their getaway in fast launches was sunk in error by German guns.
1964 Pirate radio station Radio Caroline began transmitting from a ship in the North Sea. Simon Dee, who later became the first ‘pirate DJ’ to join the BBC was the first voice to be heard on Radio Caroline.
1977 49th Academy Awards: "Rocky" wins.
1979 Prime Minister James Callaghan lost a parliamentary vote of confidence by a minority of one forcing him to call an early election.
1994 BBC Radio Five Live broadcasts for first time in United Kingdom.
2001 Seven Manchester United players were in the England team that faced Albania in Tirana in a World Cup qualifier. Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, David Beckham Paul Scholes and Andy Cole were in the starting line-up with second half subs Wes Brown and Teddy Sheringham taking the number to seven.
2014 Beryl Walker, 88, was named as the oldest paper girl in the world by Guinness World Records. "Beryl has been doing the round for 35 years, gets up at 6am every morning and hops on her bike 'Hercules' to deliver papers to homes in Gloucester. She works six days a week and cycles over eight miles a day.
2017 A 12-sided £1 coin went into circulation. The new coins feature a string of security features including a hologram that changes from a '£' symbol to the number '1' when the coin is seen from different angles.
1461 Over 28,000 people were killed in the battle of Towton, North Yorkshire, during the War of the Roses (Lancaster against York). It is described as 'probably the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil'. The Lancastrians, under Henry VI, were crushed and the throne was claimed by Edward IV.
1848 Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam.
1871 Queen Victoria opened the Royal Albert Hall in London. The hall was originally supposed to have been called The Central Hall of Arts and Sciences but the name was changed by Queen Victoria to Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences when laying the foundation stone as a dedication to her deceased husband and consort Prince Albert.
1912 The last entry in British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott's diary, storm-bound in a tent near South Pole the last entry in his diary "the end cannot be far". He died in Antarctica along with the rest of his party whilst returning from the South Pole.
1927 Sir Henry Segrave beat Malcolm Campbell’s land speed record in his 'Mystery' car (a 1,000 hp Sunbeam with a World War I aircraft engine) on the Daytona Beach clocking 203.79 mph. He became the first driver to exceed 200 mph.
1940 The Bank of England introduced thin metal strips into banknotes as an anti-forgery device.
1959 "Some Like It Hot", directed by Billy Wilder and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon, is released in NYC.
1966 Muhammad Ali beats George Chuvalo in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1967 The Torrey Canyon oil tanker 'refused' to sink despite more than a day of heavy bombing. Tens of thousands of tons of oil formed a slick 35 miles long and up to 20 miles wide around the area.
1974 Chinese farmers discover the Terracotta Army near Xi'an, 8,000 clay warrior statues buried to guard the tomb of China's 1st emperor, Qin Shi Huang.
1976 48th Academy Awards: "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" wins.
1980 134th Grand National: American amateur rider Charlie Fenwick wins aboard 40/1 outsider Ben Nevis; only 4 from 30 starters finish race.
1981 The first London marathon took place with around 7,000 entrants.
1982 54th Academy Awards: "Chariots of Fire" wins.
1986 Beatle records officially go on sale in Russia.
1988 Lloyd Honeyghan became the first British boxer to regain a world title since Ted ‘Kid’ Lewis, 71 years previously. Honeyghan knocked out Jorgé Vaca of Mexico in the third round at the Wembley Arena, London.
2004 The Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
2015 A memorial to the murdered soldier Lee Rigby was opened at Middleton Memorial Gardens in Greater Manchester. The 25 year old fusilier was killed outside Woolwich Barracks in London on 22nd May 2013 by Islamist extremists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.
2017 Having the airport near where you were born and brought up named after you is a genuine honour. That happened to Cristiano Ronaldo on March 29th 2017 when the international airport on his native Madeira became the Aeroporto Cristiano Ronaldo. Probably less memorable though was the bust of Ronaldo that was unveiled at the airport during the proceedings.
2017 Theresa May triggered 'Article 50' to start the negotiation process for Britain to leave the European Union
2019 The day written into law for the UK to leave the European Union, two years after the triggering of Article 50. The process has been delayed after much political debate and wrangling with the earliest Brexit is likely to happen now being 12th April 2019. By the time that you read this the leaving date might have changed to 22nd May or ..... who knows?
1296 Edward I captured Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England. As many as 10,000 men, women and children were killed. Even a woman giving birth was hacked to pieces during her labour. When the garrison commander Lord of Douglas surrendered his life and those of his garrison were spared.
1858 Pencil with attached eraser patented (Hyman L Lipman of Philadelphia).
1867 Alaska Purchase: US buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 roughly 2 cents an acre.
1945 The birth of Eric Patrick Clapton, English guitarist and singer-songwriter.
1964 The seaside holiday resort of Clacton was the scene of pitched battles by rival gangs of 'mods' and 'rockers'.
1967 Cover picture of Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album is photographed by Michael Cooper.
1974 Red Rum won the Grand National at Aintree for the second year running.
1979 Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave was killed by a car bomb as he left the House of Commons car park. The Irish National Liberation Army claimed responsibility.
1981 US President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, three others are also wounded.
1981 "Chariots of Fire" directed by Hugh Hudson and starring Ben Cross and Ian Charleson premieres at a Royal Command Film Performance.
1984 World's most valuable tip - New York police detective Robert Cunningham offers waitress Phyllis Penzo half of $1 lottery ticket, next day they win $6 million.
1987 The picture 'Sunflowers', painted by Vincent van Gogh was sold at auction by Christie's for £24,750,000.
1992 64th Academy Awards: "The Silence of the Lambs", Anthony Hopkins & Jodie Foster win.
1994 The West Indies cricket team dismissed England for 46, the lowest total reached by an English side since 1887.
1997 Pop group The Spice Girls helped launch Britain's newest terrestrial TV channel - Channel 5.
2002 Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, (born August 4th 1900), died peacefully in her sleep, aged 101.
1657 English Parliament makes the Humble Petition to Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell offering him the crown: he declines.
1837 The death of John Constable English painter best known for his paintings of the English countryside such as Dedham Vale and The Hay Wain. Although his paintings are now among the most popular and valuable in British art, he was never financially successful and did not become a member of the establishment until he was elected to the Royal Academy at the age of 52.
The Hay Wain.
1855 Charlotte Bronte Yorkshire novelist and author of Jane Eyre died during her pregnancy aged 38.
1889 Eiffel Tower officially opens in Paris. Built for the Exposition Universelle, at 300m high it retains the record for the tallest man made structure for 41 years.
1912 Both the Oxford and the Cambridge boats sank in the annual university boat race.
1921 British champion jockey Sir Gordon Richards rode the first of his career total of 4,870 winners.
1924 The first British national airline Imperial Airways was founded at Croydon Airport.
1930 Scottish engineer John Logie Baird installed a TV set at 10 Downing Street.
1932 Ford publicly unveils its V-8 engine.
1939 Britain and France agreed to support Poland if Germany threatened to invade.
1939 "The Hound of Baskervilles" first of 14 films starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson is released.
1967 1st time Jimi Hendrix burns his guitar (The Astoria, London).
1972 The Beatles' Official Fan Club closed down.
1973 Racehorse Red Rum won the Grand National Steeplechase in a record time of 9 min. 1.9 sec. a record that remained unbroken for 16 years.Brian Fletcher wins aboard the 9/1 co-favourite he recovers from 15 lengths behind at final fence first of Red Rum's record 3 GN victories.
1973 Muhammad Ali suffers a broken jaw in a shock split-points decision loss to Ken Norton over 12 rounds in San Diego; Ali wins rematch in another controversial split decision.
1979 133rd Grand National: Maurice Barnes victorious aboard Rubstic; first Scottish-trained horse to win the event.
1980 Almost concurrent heavyweight boxing championship fights: Larry Holmes TKOs Leroy Jones in 8 for WBC title in Las Vegas, whilst Mike Weaver KOs John Tate in 15 for WBA belt in Knoxville.
1984 138th Grand National: Neale Doughty wins aboard 13/1 Hallo Dandy; 23 complete the course, breaking record for most finishers.
1985 WrestleMania I, Madison Square Garden, NYC: Hulk Hogan & Mr T beat Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorf.
1986 Hampton Court Palace was severely damaged by fire.
1990 An anti-poll tax rally in London erupted into the worst riots in the city for a 100 years when 200,000 protestors took to the streets.
2001 German brothers Michael and Ralf Schumacher become first siblings to share front row of the grid in a Formula 1 World Championship event; qualify 1st and 2nd respectively for Brazilian GP in São Paulo.
2011 Edward Stobart who built up the Eddie Stobart lorry empire and ran it for more than 30 years died at the age of 56.The company has grown to the extent that its iconic green trucks are now a regular sight all over the country with a fan club of 25,000.
2013 Easter Sunday was confirmed as the coldest Easter day on record with the lowest temperature recorded as -12.5C in Braemar, in the Scottish Highlands.
2020 British pensioner Robert Weighton becomes the world's oldest man at 112 years.
My first Grand National memory as a 6 year old boy, I had picked Red Rum in our family sweepstake,after this he was 'my horse' each following Grand National and he didn't serve me too bad over the next few years.
All Fools' Day, also known as April Fools' Day is a day for practical jokes and hoaxes, but only until 12 noon. The earliest recorded association between 1st April and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392).
1780 On This Spot On This Day, nothing happened.
1841 The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew were opened to the public.
1889 1st dishwashing machine marketed (Chicago).
1891 The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
1905 "SOS" first adopted as a morse distress signal (· · · – – – · · ·) by German government.
1908 The foundation of the Territorial Force, (renamed the Territorial Army in 1920.) It was formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.
1918 The Royal Air Force was formed. It incorporated the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
1935 Green Belt legislation was introduced to stop indiscriminate building on many areas of the countryside.
1938 Nescafé introduces their flagship brand in Switzerland.
1949 The 26 counties of the Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland.
1969 The Hawker Siddeley Harrier entered service with the Royal Air Force.
1970 John Lennon and Yoko Ono release hoax they are having dual sex change operations.
1973 John Lennon and Yoko Ono form a new country with no laws or boundaries, called Nutopia, its national anthem is silence.
1973 Britain introduced VAT (Value Added Tax). It replaced Purchase Tax and Selective Employment Tax.
1976 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs' parents house in Cupertino, California.
1980 Britain's first nudist beach opened at Brighton.
1983 Tens of thousands of peace demonstrators formed a human chain stretching for 14 miles lining a route along what the protesters called 'Nuclear Valley' in Berkshire.
1989 Despite threats of non-payment, the Community Charge or Poll Tax was introduced in Scotland.
1990 Up to 1,000 prisoners staged a riot at Strangeways Prison in Manchester in a violent protest against overcrowding. It was the longest prison riot in British history and lasted until 25th April. One remand prisoner died.
1995 Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton scores fastest goal in English Premier League history when he nets after 12.94 seconds in 2-1 win at Everton.
1998 A world record price for a musical instrument was set when a 1727 Stradivarius violin was sold at Christie's for £947,500.
2000 The Enigma machine used by the Germans to encrypt messages in the Second World War, was stolen from Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire and a ransom was demanded for its return. The ransom was not paid but in October 2000 the machine was sent anonymously and with three of its rotors missing to BBC journalist Jeremy Paxman.
2004 Google introduces Gmail: the launch is met with skepticism on account of the launch date.
2014 The RAF's 617 'Dambuster' squadron formed at Scampton on 21st March 1943 and last based at Lossiemouth in Moray, was disbanded as its Tornado aircraft were withdrawn from service.
1801 In the Battle of Copenhagen, British hero Horatio Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye and ignored Admiral Parker's signal to stop fighting. "I have only one eye. I have a right to be blind sometimes. I really do not see the signal." He continued until the Danish fleet was defeated.
Nelson’s line anchored and in action against the Danish line, which lies between him and Copenhagen.
1805 Hans Christian Andersen was born at Odense in Demark. In his lifetime he wrote more than one hundred and fifty fairy tales and his stories have been translated into over 100 languages.
His stories include 'The Ugly Duckling', 'The Snow Queen', 'The Little Matchgirl', and 'The Little Mermaid'.
1873 Almost 14 years after the United States, British trains were fitted with toilets but only for sleeping cars. Day carriages were fitted in 1881. Third class passengers weren’t able to 'spend a penny' until 1886.
1877 The first Human Cannonball Act was performed at London's Amphitheatre when 14-year-old Rossa Matilda Richter known as Lady Zazel attached by elastic springs was fired into a safety net.
"Zazel" makes her spectacular entrance over an astonished crowd.
1921 The IRA took delivery of their first consignment of ‘Tommy’ guns. It's said that the nickname comes from their potential targets, British ‘Tommies’, but Tommy Gun is more likely derived from its American creator General John T. Thompson. The guns were developed for him with the assistance of Oscar Payne and Theodore Eickhoff of Hartford, Connecticut.
1946 Britain's Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst was founded.
1954 Plans to build Disneyland 1st announced.
1960 The birth of sprinter Linford Christie. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games.
1962 A new style of pedestrian crossing (the Panda crossing) was launched in London by the Minister of Transport, Ernest Marples. It caused confusion among both drivers and pedestrians.
1963 USSR launches Luna 4; missed Moon by 8,500 km.
1977 Charlotte Brew becomes the first woman jockey to ride in the Grand National. Her horse, Barony Fort, fell at the 27th fence. Red Rum won the Grand National for a record third time.
1978 TV soap show "Dallas" premieres on CBS.
1982 Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic a British possession for 149 years. The British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force. The resulting conflict lasted 74 days and ended with the Argentine surrender on 14th June 1982 which returned the islands to British control.
1992 Mafia boss John Gotti is found guilty of 5 murders (Paul Castellano, Thomas Bilotti, Robert DiBernardo, Liborio Milito and Louis Dibono), plus conspiracy to murder, loansharking, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice, bribery and tax evasion.
2007 A smoking ban came into force in Wales, making it illegal for anyone to smoke in an enclosed public place and within the workplace.
Ken Bates bought heavily-in-debt Chelsea…for £1.
Football On This Day - 2nd April 2005.
A Premier League first - Jermaine Pennant became the first player to turn out in the Premier League wearing an electronic ankle-tag. He was required to wear one after being released from prison after 31 days of a three-month sentence for drink driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.
Football On This Day - 2nd April 2011.
José Mourinho certainly seemed to keep the home fans happy but on this day in 2011 his 150 game unbeaten home league record as a manager ended when his Real Madrid side were beaten 1-0 by Sporting Gijón in the Primera Liga at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. His last home defeat - which was his only other home league defeat as a manager - had taken place on 23rd February 2002 when his 9-man Porto side were beaten 3-2 by Beira-Mar in the Portuguese League. Over the next 9 years his sides were unbeaten in 150 home League matches on the trot - those matches comprised his last 38 matches at Porto (36 wins, 2 draws), all 60 in his first spell at Chelsea (46 wins, 14 draws), all 38 matches at Inter Milan (29 wins, 9 draws) and his first 14 home matches at Real Madrid (all 14 were wins). When he returned to Chelsea in 2013 for his second spell as boss the Special One saw the Chelsea part of the unbeaten home Premier League record increase from 60 matches to 77 (61 won, 16 drawn) until lowly Sunderland recorded a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge on 19th April 2014.
1043 Edward the Confessor was crowned King of England in Winchester Cathedral. He was regarded as one of the national saints of England until King Edward III adopted Saint George as patron saint in about 1350.
1367 The birth of Henry IV, (son of John of Gaunt). He became the first Lancastrian king of England in 1399 and his reign was marked by many uprisings both at home and abroad.
1693 The birth on the Nostell estate (Wakefield) of John Harrison, self-educated carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer. Harrison's solution revolutionized navigation and greatly increased the safety of long-distance sea travel. His 300 year old fully working almost entirely wooden mechanism clock is at Nostell Priory.
1721 Sir Robert Walpole was appointed first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer effectively making him Britain's first prime minister.
1888 The first of 11 brutal murders of women occurred in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London. The crimes remain unsolved to this day. At various points some or all of the killings were ascribed to the notorious unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.
1895 The trial of the libel case instigated by Oscar Wilde began eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.
1913 English suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst was sentenced to 3 years in prison for inciting supporters to place explosives at the London home of British politician David Lloyd George. The Home Secretary banned all future public meetings of suffragettes.
1933 Everest was conquered for the first time by plane when 2 specially built British planes made aviation history by flying over the summit. The pilots were the Marquis of Douglas and Clydesdale and Flight Lieutenant David McIntyre.
1954 Oxford won the 100th Boat Race in rough conditions on the River Thames.
1968 "Planet of the Apes", starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell premiers nationally in United States.
1973 1st mobile phone call is made in downtown Manhattan, NYC by Motorola employee Martin Cooper to the Bell Labs headquarters in New Jersey.
1976 21st Eurovision Song Contest: Brotherhood of Man for United Kingdom wins singing "Save Your Kisses for Me" in The Hague.
1981 Mobs of youths went on the rampage in Brixton, South London, throwing petrol bombs and looting shops. Police harassment over a long period was given as the cause.
1987 The jewels of the late Duchess of Windsor, (the former Mrs Wallis Simpson who married Edward VIII of England after his abdication in 1936), fetched more than £31 million at auction six times more than the expected figure.
1993 The Grand National was declared void after a series of events at the start reduced the world-famous horse race to a shambles. 30 of the 39 riders failed to realise a false start had been called and set off around the racetrack, completing both laps of the course and passing the finish line before they realised their mistake.
2000 A controversial plan to give asylum seekers vouchers instead of cash came into force.
2014 A 25 year old student was fined and given penalty points after he was caught driving a car with all 4 doors removed along with the headlights front and rear indicators bonnet grille and rear brake lights which he had removed to sell on-line. He had been attempting to take the car to a recycling centre five miles from his home in Nottinghamshire, to sell for scrap.
When Robbie Fowler scored from the penalty spot for Liverpool after a quarter of an hour of their Premier League match against Everton at Anfield a goal celebration was inevitable. Sadly though Fowler got it very wrong – he celebrated by getting down on all fours and sniffing the goal line in front of the Everton fans. And he did it twice. The Liverpool striker had long been the target for unfounded allegations of drug-taking but his simulation of snorting a line of cocaine brought immediate and widespread criticism. His manager at Liverpool, Gerard Houllier, tried to explain Fowler’s actions as him eating grass but a ‘substantial’ club fine was followed by the FA punishing him with a four-match ban and a £32,000 fine which was a record at the time. In the match itself Fowler scored twice in Liverpool’s 3-2 victory over Everton.
Not much changed since 1918, RAF recruitment ad.
1581 Queen Elizabeth I knighted Francis Drake aboard his ship the Golden Hind at Deptford after his circumnavigation of the world.
1660 The 'Declaration of Breda' was proclaimed by King Charles II in which he promised a general pardon for crimes committed during the English Civil War.
1811 The opening of the Standedge Tunnel It is located on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and is the longest,deepest and highest canal tunnel ever built in Britain, being over 3 miles long, 638 feet (194m) underground and 645 feet (196m) above sea level.
The last recorded cargo boat passed through Standedge Tunnel in November 1921. The canal was fully restored and re-opened for navigation in May 2001.
1873 The Kennel Club was founded. It is the oldest recognized kennel club in the world and was the first official registry of purebred dogs in the world. Its role is to act as governing body for various canine activities including dog shows, dog agility and working trials.
1934 Yorkshireman Percy Shaw laid the first "cats' eyes" along the centre of the road at an accident black spot near Bradford.
1949 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established by 12 Western states including Great Britain. The military alliance provided for a collective self-defence against Soviet aggression and greatly increased American influence in Europe.
1958 The first Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) protest march left Hyde Park in London towards Aldermaston in Berkshire.
1964 British pop group The Beatles occupied the first five places in the US singles pop charts with:- 'Can't Buy Me Love', 'Twist and Shout', 'She Loves You', 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' and 'Please Please Me'. It was the first and only time anyone ever monopolized the entire top five. The Beatles are the best-selling pop band in history, have had the most number-one albums in the UK charts and have held the top spot longer than any other musical act.
1968 US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots break out in over 100 cities in the United States.
1973 World Trade Center then the world's tallest building opens in New York (110 stories). Later destroyed in 9/11 terrorist attacks.
1975 Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800.
1975 The first episode of The Good Life aired.The sitcom was about a middle class couple who abandoned the rat race in order to become self-sufficient, while remaining in Surbiton.
1981 26th Eurovision Song Contest: Bucks Fizz for United Kingdom wins singing "Making Your Mind Up" in Dublin.
1981 An emotional Aintree saw Bob Champion win the Grand National on Aldaniti. Champion, suffering from cancer, had been given eight months to live while Aldaniti, who had led all the way had been plagued with tendon problems and a broken back.
1984 The women from the main peace camp at Greenham Common in Berkshire were evicted, but said it would not end their protest against nuclear weapons being sited at the RAF base.
1985 Royal Assent was given for the Bill to hand Hong Kong to China in 1997.
1988 The British TV soap opera 'Crossroads' came to an end after 24 years with the transmission of the last of its 4,510 episodes.
1991 Children at the centre of 'satanic abuse allegations' in the Orkney Islands were reunited with their families after the case was thrown out of court.
1997 The residents of Eigg, a small island off the west coast of Scotland, bought their island with help from an anonymous English millionairess, after an eight-month ownership battle.
1998 151st Grand National: Carl Llewellyn wins aboard Earth Summit; first GN winner who was also successful in both Scottish and Welsh Grand Nationals.
1999 Jack Ma founds Chinese internet company Alibaba.
2009 162nd Grand National: French-bred 100/1 outsider Mon Mome, ridden by Liam Treadwell, wins by 12 lengths from defending champion Comply or Die.
2014 Levi Bellfield the triple murderer and killer of 13 year old Milly Dowler’s in 2011 was awarded £4,500 compensation after a prison attack in 2009 in which he suffered minor cuts. Bellfield had launched his legal action after claiming that the prison staff should have protected him.
2017 Alibaba becomes the world's largest retailer according to US Securities and Exchange Commission.
1843 Queen Victoria proclaimed Hong Kong a British crown colony.
1902 25 football fans were killed at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, when a stand collapsed during a Scotland / England international match. At least another 200 were injured.
1904 The first international rugby league match is played between England and an Other Nationalities team (Welsh & Scottish players) in Central Park, Wigan, England.
1922 The birth in Preston Lancashire of former footballer Sir Tom Finney. He was famous for his loyalty to his league club, Preston North End and for his performances in the English national side. He played his entire career for his local club, appearing 433 times and scoring 187 goals.
1923 Firestone Tire and Rubber Company starts producing inflatable tyres.
1930 England cricketers dismissed for then record 849 v West Indies in 4th Test in Kingston, Jamaica; Andy Sandham out for 325.
1943 Chinese steward Poon Lim is found off the coast of Brazil by a Brazilian fisherman family after being adrift 133 days, after British ship SS Benlomond torpedoed by german U-boat.
Poon Lim and his raft.
1955 Sir Winston Churchill, the British leader who guided Great Britain through the crisis of World War II, retired as Prime Minister, aged 81, handing over to Anthony Eden.
1964 Automatic driverless trains began operating on the London Underground.
1975 129th Grand National: Irish combination of jockey Tommy Carberry aboard L'Escargot wins by 15 lengths from 7/2 favourite and 1973-74 winner Red Rum.
1976 Harold Wilson resigned as Prime Minister and was succeeded by James Callaghan.
1982 A British Task Force set sail from Southampton to recapture the Falkland Islands after the invasion by Argentina.
1986 140th Grand National: Richard Dunwoody aboard 9-year-old 15/2 second favourite West Tip wins by 2 lengths from Young Driver.
1997 The 150th running of the Grand National at Aintree, Liverpool was cancelled because of an IRA bomb scare.
1999 Richard Dunwoody became the most successful jump jockey of all time, when he clocked up his 1,679th win at Wincanton. (The record is now held by Tony McCoy with over 2,000 winners.)
2002 People queued for miles beside the Thames to pay their last respects to the Queen Mother, whose body was lying in state in Westminster Hall, London.
2003 156th Grand National: 10-year-old 16/1 shot Monty's Pass, ridden by Barry Geraghty wins by 12 lengths from 2001 Welsh National winner Supreme Glory.
2008 161st Grand National: 7/1 joint favourite Comply or Die wins in Irish jockey Timmy Murphy's 11th attempt, 4 lengths ahead of King John's Castle.
2014 167th Grand National: Leighton Aspell wins aboard Pineau de Re; sixth French-bred horse to win the GN.
2020 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted to hospital suffering from COVID-19.
1199 King Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) died from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder after being wounded by a crossbow bolt during a siege in France.
1320 The Scots reaffirmed their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath. The Declaration was in the form of a letter submitted to Pope John XXII. It confirmed Scotland's status as a sovereign state and defended Scotland's right to use military action when unjustly attacked.
1580 An earth tremor damaged several London churches including the old St. Paul's Cathedral.
1722 Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, ends tax on men with beards.
1889 George Eastman begins selling his Kodak flexible rolled film for the first time.
1893 Andy Bowen & Jack Burke box 7 hrs 19 mins to no decision (111 rounds).
1896 1st modern Summer Olympic Games open in Athens, Greece; American athlete James Connolly Olympic becomes first modern Olympic champion when he wins the triple jump (then 2 hops and a jump); later 3rd in the long jump, 2nd in the high jump.
1906 World's 1st animated cartoon is released, "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces" by J. Stuart Blackton.
1913 Suffragettes increased their militant activities by cutting telephone lines and damaging post boxes.
1917 US declares war on Germany, enters World War I.
1925 1st film shown on an airplane (British Air).
1944 Pay As You Earn (PAYE) income tax was introduced into Britain. It was devised by Cornelius Gregg.
1963 Britain and the USA signed the Polaris missile agreement. Polaris was a submarine launched, nuclear tipped weapon designed as a nuclear deterrent.
1974 Swedish pop group ABBA won the 19th annual Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, Sussex, with 'Waterloo'.
1975 During 'Operation Babylift' a plane carrying 99 Vietnamese orphans victims of the war in Vietnam landed at Heathrow airport.
1980 Post It Notes introduced.
1984 The 17-year-old South African barefooted long and middle distance runner Zola Budd, was granted British citizenship by Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, after only a matter of weeks enabling her to compete as a British citizen in the Olympic games. The decision provoked considerable controversy.
1987 Middleweight World Boxing Championship bout: Sugar Ray Leonard upsets Marvelous Marvin Hagler at Caesars Palace in Paradise, Nevada.
1989 The government announced it was to abolish legislation which guaranteed 'jobs for life' for more than 9,000 dockers.
1990 Married women in Britain became independent entities for income tax purposes for the first time, making them responsible for their own tax declarations. Their income was no longer assessed with that of their husbands.
1991 Argentine soocer star Diego Maradona suspended for 15 month by Italian League for testing positive for cocaine use.
1991 145th Grand National: In Canadian distillery Seagram's final year of race sponsorship, New Zealand-bred chestnut gelding Seagram wins, ridden by Nigel Hawke.
1993 Following public disquiet, Queen Elizabeth II began paying income tax.
2014 Polish MP Artur Debski arrived in London to live as a migrant on £100 a week in an attempt to see why so many Poles prefer Britain to their homeland. Poland has one of the EU’s most successful economies; nevertheless, 72% of Poles living in the UK intend to stay and 40% are thinking of applying for British citizenship.
2020 Nadia, a tiger at the Bronx Zoo (New York City), tests positive for COVID-19, 1st known case of human-to-cat transmission.
1739 English highwayman **** Turpin was hanged in York for murdering an inn-keeper. Before becoming a highwayman, he had been a butcher's apprentice.
1795 France adopts the metre as the basic measure of length.
1827 Chemist John Walker of Stockton on Tees sold the world's first box of 'friction matches' that he had invented the previous year. He charged one shilling for a box of 50 matches. Each box was supplied with a piece of sandpaper, folded double, through which the match had to be drawn to ignite it. He named the matches 'Congreves' in honour of the inventor and rocket pioneer, Sir William Congreve.
1832 Joseph Thompson, a farmer went to Carlisle to sell his wife both having agreed to part. A large crowd gathered as he offered her for 50 shillings. After an hour the price was knocked down to 20 shillings together with a Newfoundland dog as an incentive.
1853 Queen Victoria became the first monarch to receive chloroform. It was administered to ease the birth of her eighth child, Prince Leopold.
1890 The opening of the Lynton and Lynmouth funicular Cliff Railway. It is the the UK's only fully water powered railway and is also the highest and the steepest totally water powered railway in the world. The cliff railway connects the twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth in north Devon.
1902 Texas Oil Company (Texaco) forms.
1930 The birth of German-born, British actor Andrew Sachs. He made his name for his portrayal of Manuel in Fawlty Towers.
1948 World Health Organization formed by the United Nations.
1958 An Easter march to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston attracted 3,000 anti atomic bomb marchers and a further 12,000 members of the new CND movement (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament).
1963 27th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: 23 year old Jack Nicklaus wins the first of his record 6 Green Jackets with a 3-foot par putt on the final hole to finish 1 stroke ahead of Tony Lema.
1968 British world motor-racing champion Jim Clark died in a crash at the Hockenheim circuit in Germany. He won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965 and at the time of his death, aged 32, he had won more Grand Prix races (25) and achieved more Grand Prix pole positions (33) than any other driver. In 2009, The Times placed Clark at the top of a list of the greatest-ever Formula One drivers.
1970 42nd Academy Awards: "Midnight Cowboy" wins.
1976 MP John Stonehouse resigned from the Labour Party, leaving James Callaghan's government in a minority of one. Stonehouse is best remembered for faking his own suicide (20th November 1974), by leaving a pile of clothes on a Miami beach. He was presumed dead, and obituaries were published, despite the fact that no body had been found. In reality, he was en route to Australia, hoping to set up a new life with his mistress and secretary, Sheila Buckley. He also faced 18 charges of theft, forgery, attempted insurance frauds and conspiracy.
1986 Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair sold the rights to his machines to Amstrad.
1990 144th Grand National: Marcus Armytage aboard 16/1 bet Mr Frisk wins in race record 8m 47.8s; 2 equine fatalities during the race.
1997 The 150th Grand National (cancelled on the 5th) due to bomb threats by the IRA, was held for the first time ever on a Monday, with the organisers offering free admission. Some 20,000 people had been left stranded over the weekend, as their cars and coaches were locked in the course. There was limited accommodation space in the city and surrounding areas, and those local residents not affected by the incident opened their doors and took in many of those stranded.
1999 The World Trade Organisation rules in favor of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas.
2001 154th Grand National: Richard Guest wins aboard Red Marauder; trainer Martin Pipe saddles 10 of 40-strong field, Blowing Wind best at 3rd place.
2020 China ends its lockdown of Wuhan, the city at the center of the COVID-19 pandemic after 76 days as the country reports no new deaths for the 1st time.
1832 Joseph Thompson, a farmer went to Carlisle to sell his wife both having agreed to part. A large crowd gathered as he offered her for 50 shillings. After an hour the price was knocked down to 20 shillings together with a Newfoundland dog as an incentive.
So in the 1800's you could buy a wife and a dog or 20 boxes of matches for 20 Shillings...seems a bargain if you were a smoker