Today in History

[Gemini]

1904

Musicians who left the Henry Wood Orchestra after a disagreement, formed the London Symphony Orchestra.

[Gemini]

1990

A British Airways pilot survived after being partly sucked out of the cockpit at 23,000 feet above London.

[Daisy]

I remember that incident - he was incredibly lucky to survive.

[Gemini]

2012

Downing Street admitted that David Cameron had left his eight year old daughter in the pub after a Sunday lunch two months previously, because of a mix-up with his wife Samantha. The story proved embarrassing for the Prime Minister, as it came on the same day that the government relaunched its £450m 'Troubled Families Programme'.

[Gemini]

1995

Two business colleagues from Sussex shared a record (at the time) National Lottery jackpot of more than £22m.

[Gemini]

1970

'The Long and Winding Road' became the Beatles' last Number 1 single in the United States. McCartney originally wrote the song at his farm in Scotland saying 'I have always found inspiration in the calm beauty of Scotland and again it proved the place where I found inspiration.' The released version of the song was very successful, but the post-production modifications to the song by producer Phil Spector angered McCartney to the point that when he made his case in court for breaking up The Beatles as a legal entity, McCartney cited the treatment of 'The Long and Winding Road' as one of six reasons for doing so.

I love that song.

[Gemini]

2017

A fire in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block at North Kensington, West London caused 72 deaths. The fire started accidentally in a fridge-freezer on the fourth floor and the building burned for about 60 hours. The rapid spread of the fire destroyed the building and was thought to have been accelerated by the building's exterior cladding, which at the time was of a common type in widespread use. A full inquiry into the fire was opened on 21st May 2018.

[Daisy]

1970

'The Long and Winding Road' became the Beatles' last Number 1 single in the United States. McCartney originally wrote the song at his farm in Scotland saying 'I have always found inspiration in the calm beauty of Scotland and again it proved the place where I found inspiration.' The released version of the song was very successful, but the post-production modifications to the song by producer Phil Spector angered McCartney to the point that when he made his case in court for breaking up The Beatles as a legal entity, McCartney cited the treatment of 'The Long and Winding Road' as one of six reasons for doing so.

I love that song.

Gem - my late cousin was a huge Beatles fan, and we had Long and Winding Road at the end of his funeral service. It seemed very fitting somehow.

[Daisy]

It's incredible that 5 years on from Grenfell there are still buildings with this type of cladding.

[Gemini]

1958

Yellow ‘No Waiting’ lines were introduced to British streets.

[Daisy]

And now, there's hardly a road without them!

[Gemini]

1823

Charles Macintosh patented the waterproof cloth he used to make raincoats, after experimenting with waste rubber products from Glasgow's new gas works.

[Gemini]

1986

Entrepreneur Richard Branson set off on his second attempt to claim the transatlantic powerboat record for Britain. He smashed the previous record by two hours but was denied the Blue Riband by the trustees of the award because he had broken two rules of the competition; he had stopped to refuel and his vessel did not have a commercial maritime purpose.

[Gemini]

1967

Barclays Bank (Enfield branch) opened Britain's first cash dispenser.

[Daisy]

... and eventually they will become an ancient curiosity of days gone my when people used that strange thing called "cash".