Today in History

[Oma]

Daisy my fathers brother Died in Normandy aged 21 and doesn’t have a grave either , there is a headstone with his name on but he’s not in that grave ,

[Daisy]

Plant, your Dad must have had so many sad memories, but I hope he had some good ones of brave comrades.

Oma, I don't know why I find it so sad that people like your uncle and mine, and so many others, but I do. It's heartbreaking.

[Gemini]

It is Daisy xxx

[Gemini]

1917

The first postmark slogan was stamped on envelopes in Britain: ‘Buy British War Bonds Now’.

[Daisy]

It doesn't sound very festive, but Christmas must just have brought a lot more anxiety than usual for families of soldiers out in the front line of a brutal war. Perhaps they saw it as a way they could help.

[Gemini]

2012

Yorkshire, beat off the challenge of bids from Florence and Edinburgh with Leeds set to host the prestigious start of the Tour de France cycle race in 2014.

Yorkshire took the Grand Depart to its heart. Day 1 started in Leeds on 5th July 2014 and took in the town of Skipton, race leaders as they passed through
The day's stage continued through the Yorkshire Dales National Park and Ripon, before ending the day in Harrogate.

[Gemini]

1991

Britain named Stella Rimington as the first woman to head its security service, MI5.

[Gemini]

1606

English entrepreneurs set sail in the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery to establish a colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.

[Daisy]

It's difficult to imagine 400+ years on how brave these pioneers were. They really were going into the unknown without any of the aid and comforts we take for granted today.

[Gemini]

1880

An act passed by the House of Keys on the Isle of Man granted women the vote, provided they were widows or spinsters with a property rated annually at £4 or over.
The first opportunity to vote was in April, the following year. In 1901, Norwegian women were allowed to vote, but in local elections only.

[Daisy]

It's so easy to forget that the voting rights we take for granted these days weren't gained easily.

[Gemini]

1987

The first ‘Scrooge’ award by the Low Pay Unit was made to a Wiltshire stable-owner who paid a qualified groom only £28 a week. The runner-up was a doctor employing a telephonist for 30p an hour. The prize was a copy of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

[Daisy]

Even allowing for the 36 years time lag in those amounts, they thoroughly deserved their 'awards'. You wonder how desperate people are to work for such miserly sums of money.

[Gemini]

1922

The BBC broadcast 'The Truth About Father Christmas' by Phillis M Twigg, the first play written for radio in Britain.

[Gemini]

1874

Boxing Day was officially recognized in Britain as a Bank Holiday. The name originates from the custom of Christmas boxes being given to a lord's serfs and dates back to the middle ages.