Today in History

[Daisy]

TIM was so useful in its day! Although I remember when the children were young asking OH to ring TIM, and a little voice piped up "No, Mum, he's gone out with his Mum and Dad"!!

[Gemini]

My TIM story is the time when DDs1 and 2 phoned him to check the time one Christmas morning! They had been told not to wake us until a reasonable time in the morning. To give us even more time we put the clock back an hour or so. After a couple of years of this they became suspicious and phoned the speaking clock and came rushing in to say our clock was wrong.
'I wonder how that happened??' we parents exclaimed

[Gemini]

1909

Frenchman Louis Blériot won the Daily Mail prize for the first successful flight across the English Channel. He made the trip in 37 minutes, landing close to Dover Castle.
His success delighted the French but worried the British, who felt that they had suddenly become vulnerable to air attack.

[Gemini]

1663

The English Parliament passed the Second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies had to be sent in English ships from English ports.

[Gemini]

1991

Italian tenor Pavarotti celebrated 30 years in opera with a huge, free concert in Hyde Park.

[Gemini]

1969

The pre-decimal half penny ceased being legal tender. It had been a regular feature of British coinage since the 13th century.

[Daisy]

Gem, this has reminded me of how language changes. We always called it a ha'p'nny, didn't we, and in the mid-60s I worked with someone whose surname of Halfpenny (pronounced as it's written) but always got called Ha'p'nny.

[Gemini]

1984

Commercial peat-cutters discovered the preserved body of a man they called Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss in Cheshire.
It is thought that he was deposited some time between 2 BC and 119 AD.

[Gemini]

1923

The BBC began using the 'pips' as a time signal in its broadcasts.

[Gemini]

1975

Forestry Commission officials announced that Dutch elm disease, which had attacked more than three million trees in Britain, was spreading.

[Daisy]

That was so sad. We lived in Bedfordshire at the time and there was a magnificent elm tree on the field across the road and it died almost before our eyes. 😢

[Gemini]

1976

The government passed the Drought Act to combat the continued UK drought.


I wonder what the Drought Act is?

[Gemini]

1993

The public got its first glimpse inside Buckingham Palace as people were given the opportunity to tour the London home of Queen Elizabeth II. Proceeds from ticket sales were earmarked to help repair fire damage at Windsor Castle.

[Daisy]

I wonder if King Charles is opening Buckingham Palace up for visitors as well.

[Gemini]

1897

Endowed by the sugar merchant Henry Tate, the Tate Gallery, in London, was opened.