Today in History

[Gemini]

2019

The collapse of the travel firm Thomas Cook triggered the biggest ever peacetime repatriation, codenamed Operation Matterhorn. 600,000 Thomas Cook customers were on holiday at the time, of which 150,000 were British. The company was the first travel agency and was founded by Thomas Cook, a Baptist cabinet maker, on 5th July 1841. The first official 'Cook's Tour' involved almost 600 teetotallers taking the train from Leicester to Loughborough to attend a temperance meeting.


I remember this so well as it affected me personally. Our original Florida flights for 2020 were with Thomas Cook. A very stressful time getting new flights.


..... then covid came and we didn't go until 2022 anyway

[Gemini]

1776

The oldest of the British classic horse races, the St Leger, was run for the first time at Doncaster Racecourse.

[Gemini]

1885

It snowed in London - the earliest recorded winter fall despite reports that on 12th June 1791 snow was sighted over the capital.

[Daisy]

That was early! I wonder if it went on to be a very cold winter.

[Gemini]

1997

Queen Elizabeth II and the British Government announced that the Royal Yacht Britannia would neither be refitted nor replaced because of the high cost. She is now a floating tourist attraction in Edinburgh

[Daisy]

I felt very sad which the Royal Yacht was decommissioned. It was always nice to see it in Portsmouth Harbour and it was reported that the Queen was very fond of it.

[Gemini]

1871

The inauguration of Rochdale Town Hall, a Grade I listed building, described by art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as possessing a 'rare picturesque beauty'. It's said that Adolf Hitler admired it so much that he wished to ship the building, brick-by-brick, to Nazi Germany had the United Kingdom been defeated in the Second World War.

[Gemini]

1884

Michael Marks, a Polish immigrant, and Yorkshireman Tom Spencer opened their Penny Bazaar in Leeds, setting the foundations for the Marks and Spencer chain.

[Daisy]

I wonder if they realised what an iconic store they were creating.

[Gemini]

1946

BBC launched the 'Third Programme', later to become Radio 3.

[Gemini]

2014

In the first official study of money spent on 'illegal' activities it was found that Britons spend more on drugs and prostitutes than on beer and wine. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) said that spending on illegal drugs and prostitution was worth an estimated £12.3bn to the UK economy in 2013.

[Daisy]

I wonder how the ONS worked that one out - it's not likely either income streams will be reported for tax purposes!

[Gemini]

2014

Samuel Tree (68) who claimed that plastic devices he made in his garden shed could detect bombs and drugs and find the missing schoolgirl Madeleine McCann was jailed for three and a half years. His plastic 'Alpha 6' cost just a few pounds but sold for thousands.

[Daisy]

Gem, I never heard that story. What a strange thing to claim.

[Gemini]

1829

John Thompson of London designed the first greeting card.