Today in History

[Gemini]

1958

A British team, led by explorer Vivian Fuchs, completed the first crossing of the Antarctic. His 12-man party endured severe hardships to travel the 2,500 from the Filchner Ice Shelf to McMurdo Sound in just 99 days.

[Daisy]

I think I'd rather be sent in a spaceship to the moon than cross the Antarctic!

[Gemini]

1955

A statement was made that London would become a smokeless zone at the beginning of October.

[Daisy]

That was after the awful smog which killed a lot of people, wasn't it?

[Gemini]

I think so Daisy. I didn't know much about that until I saw it on The Crown.

[Gemini]

1824

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI was formed) by Sir William Hillary. Initially known as the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, Hillary was inspired to form the charitable organization when he saw a fishing fleet destroyed by a storm off the Isle of Man.

[Gemini]

1992

Thousands of computers around the world were infected with a computer virus called Michelangelo. 6th March is the anniversary of Michelangelo's birth.

[Gemini]

1876

The Scottish-born inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, patented the telephone. Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf; factors that profoundly influenced Bell's life's work.
Ironically, Bell considered the telephone an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and he refused to have a telephone in his study.

[Daisy]

I wonder what Bell would have thought of today's mobile phones and people using them here, there and everywhere!

[Gemini]

1973

Northern Ireland voted in favour (90:1) of staying in the United Kingdom.

[Gemini]

1997

The Spice Girls made pop music history by becoming the first group to top the charts with every one of their first four singles.

[Daisy]

That still seems like yesterday when everyone was talking about 'Girl Power' and the Spice girls.

[Gemini]

1682

The Chelsea Hospital, a retirement home and nursing home for British soldiers who were unfit for further duty due to injury or old age, was founded by Charles II.

[Gemini]

1930

Mahatma Gandhi began his 300-mile march to the sea in protest against the British tax law securing a monopoly for salt. Joined by thousands of protesters, Gandhi and his followers eventually reached the Arabian Sea, where they made their own salt by evaporating sea water. The march, which resulted in the arrest of Gandhi and 60,000 others, earned new international respect and support for the leader and his movement.

[Gemini]

1961

Black and white Bank of England five pound notes ceased to be legal tender.