Today in History

[Daisy]

Smaller in size and decreasing in purchasing power.

[Gemini]

1963

Cilla Black made her first major concert appearance at The Odeon Cinema, Southport, on a bill with the Beatles.

[Gemini]

1930

The last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda (40 miles west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean) were voluntarily evacuated to other parts of Scotland. The entire archipelago is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and it became one of Scotland's five World Heritage Sites in 1986.

[Daisy]

A very isolated community of 36 people must have been a very difficult place to live and thrive. I wonder how they reacted to the move.

[Gemini]

1976

More than 100 police officers were taken to hospital after clashes at the Notting Hill Carnival in west London.

[Daisy]

The Notting Hill Carnival became a real worry at one time. A friend of ours whose husband was in the Met used to dread it and worry the whole time he was on duty there.

[Gemini]

I'm sure it must have been Daisy.

[Gemini]

2022

It was announced at 6:30pm that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had died at the age of 96. She was the longest serving monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen died peacefully while at Balmoral Castle after a period in which she had increasingly withdrawn from public life.
King Charles and The Queen Consort (Camilla) remained at Balmoral and returned to London the following day.


Three years, and I still think they mean her when they mention the Queen on the news .

[Oma]

I still think god save the queen when the national anthem is played.

[Daisy]

I'm the same when a news item mentions "the Queen" , but of course they're referring to Camilla.

[Gemini]

1895

The prestigious FA Cup trophy was stolen from football outfitters William Shillock of Birmingham. 68 years later an 83 year old man confessed he'd melted it down to make counterfeit halfcrown coins.

[Gemini]

1970

The supersonic Concorde passenger jet landed at Heathrow Airport for the first time to a barrage of complaints from nearby residents about noise.

[Oma]

It must have been like the houses were shaking Gem

I remember back in the 80s the aircraft museum down the road from us flew in a Vulcan bomber
It was so loud and so low it actually rattled a couple of pictures off my wall
People complained windows had cracked
Huge monster of a plane. It's still there now.

[Daisy]

Oma, I remember going to an air display over the Solent. Lots of seaplanes etc, then a flypast of a Vulcan bomber. I had my back towards it watching something else and the noise literally made me jump in the air, clutching the friend I was standing next to!

Concorde used to fly in and our of one of our local airports quite regularly, and we all used to run out to see it! Another time, we were on a plane waiting to take off from Florida airport and Concorde was on the next runway. Everyone on the far side of our plane rushed over to watch it taxi and take off. I would loved to have flown on it, but at least OH had a simulator session on it at Brooklands in Surrey. The instructor was a retired Concorde pilot, and was very complimentary when OH managed not to crash the plane!

We now sometimes have the Red Arrows flying over our village and everyone runs out to watch them as well.

There's something about iconic aircraft.

[Gemini]

1967

The liner Queen Mary began her 1000th and last Atlantic crossing. A New York docks strike meant that passengers had to carry their own luggage aboard.