ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY 17th July 1453 In the last battle of the Hundred Years War ( the Battle of Castillon) the French, under Jean Bureau, defeated the English, under the Earl of Shrewsbury, who was killed in the battle. 1674 The birth of Isaac Watts, English hymn writer. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 650 hymns. Many of his hymns remain in use today including Joy to the World, O God, Our Help in Ages Past and When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. 1717 King George I sailed down the River Thames for a concert, in a barge with 50 musicians. It was the premiere of Frideric Handels Water Music which George I was said to have enjoyed so much that he made the exhausted musicians play the three suites three times over the course of the outing. 1761 The official opening of the Bridgewater canal, built to transport the Duke of Bridgewaters coal from his mine at Worsley, near Manchester. 1841 The first issue of the humorous magazine Punch was published in London. It ceased publication in 1992 but was re-launched in 1996. 1917 World War 1: The British Royal Family, in a proclamation issued by George V, adopted the name of the House of Windsor in place of their German family name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha due to the anti-German sentiment at the time. 1918 The RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued the 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic, was sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55, with the loss of 5 lives. 1923 The birth of John Cooper. He developed the British Motor Corporation Mini Cooper, adored by rally racers and ordinary drivers. 1960 The Beatles began a three-month engagement at The Indra Club in Hamburg, Germany, their first appearance outside Britain. 1964 British speed pioneer Sir Donald Campbell set a new land speed world record of 403.10 mph in his car, Bluebird. In July 2014, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the achievement, unseen family video footage of Donald Campbell breaking both the land and water speed records in 1964 was restored. You can see the video link here, on the BBC website. 1974 An explosion in the Tower of London left one person dead and 41 injured. The incident happened without the coded warning typical of the IRA. 1981 The Humber Estuary Bridge (see picture) was officially opened by the Queen. For 16 years after its construction it was the worlds longest single-span structure. 1987 Former Guinness director Thomas Ward was ordered to repay £5.2m to the brewing giants after being found guilty of illegal practices during the takeover of drinks company Distillers Group the previous year. 1995 Robbie Williams left Take That, leaving them as a fab four. The group had scored six UK No.1 singles with Robbie in the group. 2000 Tesco decided to revive imperial measures in its stores after shoppers pressure. 2001 Michael Portillo was dropped from the Tory leadership contest after coming third in a final ballot of MPs. Source: Beautiful Britain
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 05:09:38 +0000
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