Today in History

[Daisy]

I remember watching this live on tv and the horror and disbelief when it exploded. Later I saw a programme about the investigation and they found that because it was so cold two rubber O-rings had broken on the fuel pods. Such small components, but their failure had tragic consequences.

[Gemini]

1965
Prescriptions on the NHS became free of charge and remained so until June 1968.

[Gemini]

1812 Charles Dickens, English journalist and novelist was born. He is considered the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. He created characters such as Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and David Copperfield and amongst his other works were The Old Curiosity Shop, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Bleak House and many, many more.

[Daisy]

1988

The House of Commons voted to allow experimental televising of selected debates.

I've always felt this changed the way we view our politicians - and not necessarily for the better.

[Gemini]

1542
Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, was executed for adultery.

[Gemini]

The Feast Day of St. Valentine, patron saint of lovers. In fact there were fourteen Saint Valentines of ancient Rome. Of the Saint Valentine whose feast is on 14th February nothing is known, except his name and that he was buried at the Via Flaminia north of Rome 'on this day'. The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished

[Gemini]

1971
The British Government launched a new, decimal currency across the country. The familiar pound (£), shilling (s) and pence (d) coins that had been in existence for more than 1000 years were to be phased out in the space of 18 months in favour of a system with 100 pennies to the pound rather than 240.

I remember this well. I was 15 and found it easy to adapt to the new currency. I remember my grandmother found it very hard.

[Daisy]

I remember being really pleased when we switched to decimal currency - it's so must easier than our old system - I remember seeing price tags for silly amounts like 49/11 1/2d, or 20 guineas!

My OH worked in a bank at that time, and all the banks closed for about 4 days to bring in the changes. Imagine the uproar if that happened now!

[Gemini]

2005
Hunting with dogs became illegal in Britain at midnight.

[Daisy]

1965 - A musical Anniversary - The Kinks topped the UK singles chart with 'Tired of Waiting for you'.

[Gemini]

1982
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that corporal punishment in schools (if it was against the parents' wishes) was a violation of the Human Rights Convention.

[Gemini]

1975

At 8.37 am in the London rush hour, a Northern Line underground train crashed through the buffers at Moorgate station and hit a solid dead-end wall, killing 41 people and seriously injuring 50. The rescue operation took three days to complete.

I remember this well. I lived in London then. Although I never caught the tube to college my mum was terrified that I had that day.

[Daisy]

I remember it too. We lived within travel-to-work distance of London and quite a few people in our village worked in the City. Fortunately, none of them were on that underground train.

[Gemini]

29th February occurs every 4 years. These are known as leap years. Years that are evenly divisible by 4, such as 2008, are leap years. However, there are some exceptions in century years. A century year, which ends in two zeros, is not a leap year unless it is also evenly divisible by 400.

The additional day was first added to the other 365 days with the introduction of the Julian calendar. This extra day every four years brings the solar year of 365¼ days into line with the calendar year of 365 days.

29th February is the one day of the year on which, traditionally, women can propose to men. It was considered that as the day also had no legal status, it was reasonable to assume that tradition had no status, so women took advantage of this and proposed to the man they wanted to marry. A law once existed in Scotland forbidding a man to refuse a proposal made to him, punishable by a large fine.

A person who is born on 29th February may be called a 'leapling'. In non-leap years they may celebrate their birthday on 28th February or 1st March, but for legal purposes, in Britain, their birthday is 28th February. Statistically, about one in 1,461 births is a leapling and there are an estimated 4.1 million worldwide

[Gemini]

1978
Charlie Chaplin's coffin was stolen from a Swiss cemetery.