Today in History

[Gemini]

1964

The country's first drink-driving advertisement was shown on television, with the message "Drinking and driving are dangerous."

[Daisy]

Gem - it seems hard to believe now, but before then nobody worried about having a night out and jumping in their car to drive home. No seatbelts either.

[Gemini]

True Daisy.
Even when DD1 was born, in 1976, no requirement to have babies in seats or carry cots.
I remember my mum (who didn't get on with my MIL anyway) being most put out to be told by my MIL that she would have to sit in the back of their car as my FIL wouldn't drive with a baby on someone's knee in the front seat.

[Oma]

Seems unreal , you wouldn't dream of that now but then it was the norm wasn't it ,
The Mungo Gerry Song comes to mind , Have a drink have a drive

[Daisy]

True Daisy.
Even when DD1 was born, in 1976, no requirement to have babies in seats or carry cots.
I remember my mum (who didn't get on with my MIL anyway) being most put out to be told by my MIL that she would have to sit in the back of their car as my FIL wouldn't drive with a baby on someone's knee in the front seat.

When I left hospital with GS1, aged 10 days, OH went to put him in the carry cot in the car and the midwife seeing us off said not to do that, let Mum cuddle him on the way home - in the front seat, of course! That was 1972.

[Gemini]

1974

Covent Garden ceased to be the location of London’s famous flower and vegetable market as it moved across the Thames, leaving the old warehouses and Floral Hall.

[Daisy]

I didn't realise it was that long ago. The old Covent Garden is totally transformed now - I wonder if that was planned at the time of the move.

[Oma]

Its many many years since I visited

[Gemini]

1992

The opening of the Victoria Shopping Centre in Harrogate. Described by Bill Bryson, in his book Notes from a Small Island as “heartbreakingly awful, the worst kind of pastiche architecture – a sort of Bath Crescent meets Crystal Palace with a roof by B&Q. The figures perched along the top look as if two dozen citizens of various ages are about to commit mass suicide

[Gemini]

[Daisy]

Oh dear - it does look rather like Bath Crescent meets Kew Gardens, and I think the parents on the corner are totally irresponsible letting the little girl stand so close to the edge! What do local people think about it, Gem?

[Gemini]

I agree Daisy! OH and I had a good laugh at all of that.
I have no idea!what the local reaction was. I have been to it 2 or 3 times, but have never seen it from a distance and never noticed the 'people' on the roof!

[Gemini]

1968

England and Yorkshire fast bowler Fred Trueman announced his retirement. This bronze statue of him is in the canal basin at Skipton, North Yorkshire, the town where he lived for many years.


I saw this statue when we went to Skipton this summer

[Daisy]

He was quite a character, wasn't he!

[Gemini]

1918
At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ended; a war that had lasted for 4 years and 97 days. Germany, bereft of manpower, supplies and food, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies. The war left 9 million soldiers dead and more than 21 million wounded, with Germany, Russia, Austria, Hungary, France, and Great Britain each losing nearly a million or more lives. In addition, some 6 million civilians died from disease, starvation, or exposure.


1919
Britain introduced a two minute silence at 11:00 a.m. to remember those who died in World War I.


1921
The first British Legion Poppy Day