ON THIS DAY... 10th November 1683 The birth of George II, King of England from 1727 to 1760. 1697 William Hogarth, painter, best known for his series, The Rakes Progress, was born. 1810 The birth of George Jennings, an English sanitary engineer and plumber who invented the first public flush toilets. He specialised in designing toilets that were as perfect a sanitary closet as can be made. 1847 The passenger ship Stephen Whitney was wrecked in thick fog off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 92 of the 110 on board. The disaster resulted in the construction of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse. 1871 Henry Morton Stanley, sent out to Africa by his newspaper to find Scottish missionary David Livingstone, finally made contact with him at Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika with the immortal words, ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume? 1913 Battersea elected the first coloured mayor in London, John Archer, born in Liverpool of Jamaican parents. The honour of Britains first black mayor goes to Allen Glaser Minns who was elected Mayor of Thetford, Norfolk in 1904. 1925 Richard Burton, legendary Welsh actor, was born. 1942 Buoyant after the desert victory at El Alamein, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said: This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. 1944 The birth of Tim Rice, best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, and additional songs for the 2011 West End revival of The Wizard of Oz. 1958 British speed enthusiast Donald Campbell broke the water speed record of 248mph on Coniston Water. He died in 1967 and is buried in the new parish churchyard at Coniston. 1960 Bookshops all over England sold out of Penguins first run of 200,000 copies of the controversial novel Lady Chatterleys Lover. 1968 England and Yorkshire fast bowler Fred Trueman announced his retirement. 1980 Outspoken left wing MP Michael Foot defeated Denis Healey in a shock result to become the new leader of the Labour party. 1986 The legendary jockey, Sir Gordon Richards, died aged 82. 1997 Louise Woodward, British child-minder, was freed from jail in the United States after her conviction for murdering a baby was reduced to manslaughter. Her sentence was cut to 279 days, the exact length of time she had already spent in jail. 2010 Tens of thousands of people protested against plans to treble tuition fees and cut university funding in England. The Conservative Party headquarters were stormed and outside, placards and banners were set on fire and missiles were thrown. 2012 The BBCs director general, George Entwistle, resigned in the wake of a Newsnight child abuse broadcast which wrongly implicated ex-senior Tory Lord McAlpine.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 08:40:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015