On This Day in History - 4th December

4th December

Pope Hadrian IV
(Source: NNDB)

1154 - Pope Hadrian IV elected Pope. The only Englishman to become pontiff, Nicholas Breakspear was a member of the family which until recent years brewed beer in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. He attended at monastery school and his father became a monk there. Nicholas wanted to also become a monk, but the abbot told him to carry on his studies until he became a more suitable candidate.

Not happy with this answer, Nicholas ran away to Paris and became a monk there instead.He became a "Canon Regular" then a Priest, then was elected by his peers to be abbot. Some of the clergy weren't happy with the new abbot's reforms and made presentations to the Pope to get him removed, but this only brought Nicholas to the attention of the Pope, who rather than punish him, promoted him to Cardinal Bishop instead.

When the Pope at the time died, Nicholas was elected Pope and took office. His tenure only lasted until 1159, but it was one driven by the determination to remove anti-Rome factions from the Vatican

Pilgrims from the Berkeley Hundred Parish
(Source: Crystal Links)

1619 - 38 colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God. Considered by many as the first Thanksgiving in the Americas. According to their ships charter - known as the Charter Berkeley Hundred" it stated:-

"We ordain that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia, shall be yearly and perpetually kept as Holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God"

This first thanksgiving was a simple affair, nothing more than an outdoor gathering of kindred souls, thanking their God for a safe journey.Some believe that this was the very first official thanksgiving ever observed.

1688 - General John Churchill (later 1st Duke of Marlborough) changes allegiance from James II to William of Orange

William Pitt
(Source: Commons Wikimedia)

1798 - British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger announced the introduction of Income Tax to help finance the war against France.

Mary Celeste
(Source: Smithsonian)

1872 - Crew from the British brigantine Die Gratia boarded a deserted ship drifting in mid Atlantic. The captain's table was set for a meal but the Captain, crew and passengers were all missing. The name of the ship was Mary Celeste...

Ronnie Corbett
(Source: Daily Mail)

1930 - Ronnie Corbett, born in Edinburgh. This pint sized comedian saw National Service in 1950 and was officially the shortest serving (in height) officer in the RAF, standing at just 5'1". After his National Service where he obtained the rank of Pilot Officer, he went into acting.

He started in television from 1957 and got his really big break in 1966 on The Frost Report, where he met life long friend and colleague - Ronnie Barker. Ronnie Corbett can still be seen on TV with recent appearances in Red Nose Day specials, Have I Got News for You, filling in for Brucey on Strictly Come Dancing when Brucey was ill, and even with a new series called Ronnie Corbett's Supper Club which he did with comedian Rob Brydon.

1937 - The first issue of the Dandy comic. With a fan club of over 350,000, Desperate Dan proved a durable character. A copy of this first edition is worth between £850 and £1,000. The closure, on 4th December 2012, coincided with its 75th anniversary and the final print edition included a pull out reprint of the very first edition of the comic

1941 - Nazi ordinances places Jews of Poland outside protection of courts

1952 - Killer fogs begin in London England, "Smog" becomes a word. On the night of 4th December, a thick smog formed, which wasn't that unusual. However, an anti cyclone hanging over London the following morning meant that the fog couldn't lift and additional smog components from open fires and industrial smoke was absorbed into it. 

London Smog
(Source: The Guardian)

This carried on for a couple more days until the fog was so dense that pedestrians couldn't see their feet. Our historian recalls tales of his mother walking through London that year with a handkerchief fixed over her face and walking with one foot on the pavement, and one in the gutter so that she could tap the kerb and know where she was.

Over 4000 people died due to the smog with many more suffering breathing difficulties, traffic came to a standstill due to visibility, and reports from the press showed that cows as far across London as Smithfield were suffocated by the smog.

1980 - English rock group Led Zeppelin officially disbanded, following the death of drummer John Bonham on 25th September

On This Day in History - 3rd December

On This Day in History - 3rd December

King Charles VI of France
(Source: Wikimedia)

1368 - Charles VI, King of France born. Some history records recall him as Charles V1, The Beloved, some call him Charles VI the Mad! He inherited the throne of France at age 11, but as the Age of Majority (age at which you become responsible for your own actions according to the Roman Catholic church) was 14, the country was put into Trust and run equally between his 4 uncles, however, they decided to run the country up until Charles was 21. When Charles took over, the country and its outlook improved significantly, earning him the title of "The Beloved" by the people, however in 1392 he had a "fit of insanity" and slew 4 of his knights and nearly killed his brother. These bouts of insanity grew more frequent, earning him the title of "The Mad"

Thomas Herriot
(Source: St Andrews University)

1586 - Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England, from Colombia. Born in Oxford in 1560m Thomas Herriot was a gifted man, pioneering in Mathematics and Astronomy, but it was his gift with foreign languages that gained him passage to America with one of Sir Walter Raleigh's expeditions.

Thomas Herriot had learned the language of the native Americans, by befriending and study the language written and spoke of two Indians brought back to England on a previous trip,Mancheo and Wanchese were the names of the two Native Americans.

This made Thomas very important to the expedition, as he could communicate with the First Nation people and gain knowledge and skills that would help the settlers. It was through this knowledge and skill sharing that he was introduced to the potatoes by members of the Ranoke Tribe, and he subsequently brought a sample back to England

Galileo
(Source: National Geographic) 

1621 - Galileo invents telescope. The original telescope is alleged to have been invented in 1608 by Hans Lippershey, but the now common refracting telescope, with its concave and convex lenses was first brought into popular acclaim by Galileo for use in astronomy. For this purpose it is safe to credit him with the telescop, but technically, the telescope for observation use, was indeed invented by Hans Lippershey.

Samuel Crompton
(Source: Bolton Museum)

1753 - Samuel Crompton, English inventor born. Whilst a young boy, his father died, meaning he had to gain employment to help the family. He gained work in a mill, spinning yarn of the infamous spinning Jenny, however, he felt it needed more work to make it a truly effective machine. In his own time he perfected his spinning machine, called the Spinning Mule. He did not have enough funds to patent the design, but released it to chosen manufacturers on demand that they paid for the designs. He received a total of £60 for his designs, which allowed him to start his own spinning mill with indifferent success.

Beecham's Pills
(Source: Science Museum)

1820 - Thomas Beecham, English manufacturer and inventor of Beecham's pills, was born. At the age of 8, he started work as a shepherd and it was through this work in the countryside that he learned his way around the hedgerows to provide medicines. He worked for a while as a village postman too, but in 1847 he moved to Wigan, where he started making and selling herbal laxative pills - Beechams Pills - as they were known.

By 1859 he had received much success and started his own network of agents and started advertising his pills, so successful was this approach that in 1880 he was able to set up a factory and start researching other medications - thus a medicinal giant -Beechams - was founded

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson
(Source: New Yorker)

1894 - Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson, Scottish novelist, dies at 45. He was born of "good stock", with his father and grandfather and other relatives all in the business of designing lighthouses, however, he was born with "a weak chest" and as such he did not pursue a career in the family business of engineering. He instead chose to write articles, novellas and novels.

He had great success with such titles as Treasure Island, The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, The Ebb Tide etc, in fact it is believed that he may well be the most translated author in history as his books have been published in many languages across the globe.

Edward and Wallis
(Source: BBC)

1936 - The Royal Family cancelled all engagements as news broke of Edward VIII's determination to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson. It was viewed by the government at the time that the Nation of Great Britain would not stand by the King, if he married a woman, twice divorced, with two living ex-husbands.

Such a scandal was caused at the time by such news that eventually realising that if he were to push ahead with the marriage, the Prime Minister and the Government would be forced to resign, this would have forced a political turn of events at odds with his politically neutral position, he decided to abdicate from his throne so that he could marry Mrs Simpson.

Home Guard Stand Down March
(Source: Home Sweet Home Front)

1944 - Britain's Home Guard ('Dad's Army') is officially stood down at a special farewell parade in Hyde Park, London. The Battle of Britain in 1940 was won long ago, and the threat of invasion by Germany, having lost the Air Superiority was at an all time low, the decision was made to stand down these Home Guard Soldiers. During their existence, over 1600 had lost their lives through enemy action, all had been awarded The Defence Medal, all received a personal letter from the King to thank them for their service and around 1000 received special medals from the Military Medal, through to the George Cross 

1948 - Ozzy Osbourne, Aston, Birmingham,rock vocalist born. His full name is John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne. He rose to fame as the lead singer of Black Sabbath in the early 1970's. He left the band in 1979 but his success continues, currently he has produced and sold 11 albums as part of his solo career 

Oswald Mosley - British Fascist
(Source: Guardian)

1980 - Oswald Mosley, British politician died He served during the First World War and once service was over, became a conservative politician. After falling out with the Conservative Government over their proposed use of the Army in Northern Ireland, he left the party, crossed the floor and stood in his constituency as an Independent member of Parliament. He constituents had great faith in him and he kept his seat at the by-election.

He is famous for his outspokenness and his fascist beliefs. So much so, that some of his Fascist Ideals can easily be likened to Nazi viewpoints

Edwina Currie
(Source: Guardian)

1988 - Health minister Edwina Currie provoked outrage by saying that most of Britain's egg production was infected with the salmonella bacteria. This outraged farmers as the total production of eggs in 1987 was around 30 million eggs, yet only 26 cases of salmonella were confirmed. 

Sales of eggs crashed and the government were forced to compensate the egg producers to the tune of many millions of pounds and buy up surplus eggs and pay for the slaughter of unwanted poultry.



2012 - St James's Palace announced that the Duchess of Cambridge was expecting a baby. 

On This Day in History - 2nd December

2nd December

St Paul's Cathedral
(Source: Telegraph)

1697 - The rebuilt St Paul’s Cathedral, the work of Sir Christopher Wren, was opened. The previous cathedral had been destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. There has been a cathedral building in one shape or another on this site for 1400 years, dedicated to St Paul. 

It seems to be a beacon for news and radical ideas to be announced and the cathedral always seems to be at the thick of things when it comes to National Events, most recently Baroness Thatcher's funeral on 17th April 2013.

The current cathedral was famously designed and constructed by Sir Christopher Wren. Although it officially opened today for services, it wasnt officially completed until 1710.

This particular cathedral was the first to be built in England since Henry VIII's infamous "Reformation" that saw the Roman Catholic Church driven out and the Church of England take over.

The 2nd Eddystone Lighthouse
(Source: Wikipedia)

1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse (located off the coast of Devon) was destroyed by fire. Four lighthouses have been built on the site in it's history. The light was lit on the fourth, (Douglass's lighthouse, designed by James Douglass) in 1882 and it is still in use.

Napoleon Bonaparte
(Source: BBC)

1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned emperor of France in Paris. The coronation was carried out at Notre Dame Cathedral by Pope Pious VII. He crowned Napoleon as "Napoleon I", then the Pope turned to Josephine and crowned her Empress of France. 

There is a myth that Napoleon grabbed the crown and placed it on his own head before the Pope could complete the move as Napoleon didn't want to be subjugated by the Pope's authority, but this tale is dubious in origin. Napoleon turned France away from democracy back towards imperialism, a move which his long term friend, Ludwig van Beethoven disapproved of, so much so that the dedication to Napoleon on his 3rd Symphony was removed.

Charles Dickens
(Source: Victorian Web)

1867 - In a New York City theatre, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States. He read from his own works, "Carol" and "Trial of Pickwick"

John Cobb
(Source: Ness-Scape)

1899 John Cobb, British racing driver was born. He made money as a director of fur brokers and could therefore afford to specialise in large capacity motor-racing. He was born and lived in Esher, Surrey, near the Brooklands race track. He broke the land speed record at Bonneville on August 23, 1939, achieving 367.91 mph. Without this being beaten he raised the record to 394.19 mph in 1947. He died in 1952, attempting to break the world water speed record on Loch Ness in the jet speedboat Crusader at a speed in excess of 200 mph.

Admiral Yamamoto
(Source: Imperial War Museum)

1941 - Yamamoto sends his fleet to Pearl Harbour, who successfully attacked the American Fleet at Pearl Harbour on 7th December 1941

1966 - The Mini skirt, the symbol of the Swinging Sixties, was banned from the Houses of Parliament at Westminster

Britney Spears
(Source: Billboard)

1981 - Britney Spears, singer born in Mississippi - famed for acting roles as a child star and then launch of her pop career with "Hit Me Baby One More Time". She is also famed for her personal struggles and her highs and lows of life became legendary

Big Daddy - Wrestler
(Source: Mirror)

1997 -  Former wrestler Big Daddy (real name Shirley Crabtree) died in Halifax, aged 67. He was a member of the Coldstream Guards, Rugby League player for Bradford Northern and even a coal miner before he followed in his fathers footsteps and became a professional wrestler. In 1975 he formed a tag team with a relative newcomer, Giant Haystacks, but the relationship became sour by 1977, and Haystacks became famous for being Big Daddy's nemesis in the ring.

1999 - The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive

Tom Daley, British Olympian
(Source: Telegraph)

2013 - British Olympic Diver Tom Daley announces to the world via a YouTube broadcast that he is gay. After various rumours and speculations about his relationships he confirmed that he had been on dates with various women, but that a particular relationship with a man "just clicked and felt right"

Background History To Mary Hyatt and Joel Fisher

The Playhouse, Weston Super Mare, Somerset

Playhouse Theatre Frontage
(Source: Weston Mercury)

If you have been watching our investigation at The Playhouse at Weston-super-Mare, you will know that throughout the nights investigation, we were being followed and contacted by the spirit of Mary Hyatt. She initially revealed herself to our medium, but she also made contact with James, through knocking in response to questions and finally through the Ouija experiment.

Below we have listed the historical facts that we have unearthed regarding Mary Hyatt and her ill fated marriage to Joel Fisher

Here are the facts that we have dug up about Joel and his wife.

An Example of a Waterloo Medal
(Source: British Medals.co.uk)

Joel Fisher was born in wick St Lawrence, near Worle, Weston-super-Mare on 10th June 1792, his parents were John and Susannah Fisher.  Joel Fisher served with the 7th Hussars in 1811, fought in Orthes and Vittoria and other battles his regiment engaged in until 1814. At that point his regiment fought at Waterloo, as did Joel which won him the Waterloo Campaign Medal. He was in the army for a total of 23 years, without a single black mark upon his service record. 

When his Commanding Officer retired in 1836, Fisher also retired to become the Colonel's "Batman", a kind of man-servant. He served with the Colonel for a period of around 9 months. He married his first wife around 1834, but in 1837 his first wife died leaving him with two small children. Not long after the first wife's passing, Joel met Mary Hyatt, whom he ended up marrying in St Mary Redcliffe Church in Bristol, then they moved to Backwell.

Within a few months of the marriage, Joel and Mary were arguing. Mary rekindled her romance with her first husband, a Mr Hill and ran off with him. Mary had told Joel that Mr Hill was a cripple and diseased and could hardly function so she said she needed to be with him during his final months, which was a real shock to Joel as only a month afterwards, Mr Hill turned up, in full health and strength demanding furniture that Mary and Joel had received as part of their wedding gifts. Joel told Mr Hill where to go as it were and Mr Hill was never heard of again. Within two months of this, Mary was back with Joel, Joel having forgiven her and allowed her back home.

Present Day London Inn (Old Devonshire Inn)
(Source: JonnyEdgar.com)

In 1841 the couple bought the Devonshire Inn on the High Street in Weston Super Mare (now called The London Inn) and moved there, but things were far from happy for the couple. Mary would quite often leave Joel, usually taking some valuable items with her to sell, but Joel would always take her back, which we believe was in part due to the fact that Joel was illiterate and needed Mary to be able to help him run his business.

Map of the Area
(Source: Gina Suzuki)

In 1840, Mary made off with a quantity of fine linen and £20 cash from the pub. She ran as far as Bath however, Joel employed the use of a policeman to track her down and bring her back.

In the end, the couple had one too many arguments and Joel became very violent towards Mary. The final argument was about Mary kicking out a lodger, Peter Baker, and then turning on the other lodger, William Upshall. This cut the inn's income down immensely and made Joel very angry. She ran up the stairs into one of the servants (Ann Evans) quarters and pleaded to stay with the servant over night as she would feel safer. Joel was having none of this and broke the door down. She made for the bedroom window. She was part way out of the window when Joel grabbed her and dragged her back in.

Things calmed down for a bit and Mary managed to get to sleep, however at 5am the next morning, Joel was stood at the foot of the bed and jumped onto Mary, pinning her to the bed with his feet. He then produced a long carving knife and drew it across her throat, cutting so deep that he actually went down to the bone. The wound was only 4 inches across, however, it had "severed her carotid artery, divided her wind pipe and gullet and the bones of the spine were laid bare" according to Charles Bernard, a surgeon of Weston who performed the autopsy.

He stood over her corpse, and refuse to leave. He told the serving girl Ann, that he had done a great sin, but in doing so had removed an even bigger sin from the world. He asked Ann to go and get a policeman, he would wait. Once the constable arrived he was immediately arrested to await trial. The trial was held in September with Mr Justice Patteson presiding, and Joel was sentenced to Death. Joel stated then that the sentence as a just one.

Rev. John Forsyth
(Source: Gina Suzuki)

Weston's curate, Rev John Hamilton Forsyth visited Joel many times during his brief prison time, as the case deeply troubled the Reverend. In the time Joel had left, he became deeply religious. 

The sentence was carried out at Taunton Jail. Moments before he died he said to his son "Oh, John, would that I had died at Waterloo; you then would never have been born to this disgrace, and I never should have committed this dreadful crime"

At the execution some 5000 people came to watch. Joel walked to the gallows calmly and offered not a sign of fear. He prayed to God and resigned himself to his fate. It is said when he swung from the gallows, he did not struggle and he died very quickly. After hanging for the regulation 1 hour, he was cut down and buried in the grounds of Wilton Prison, Taunton

St John The Baptist Church. WSM
(Source: WSM Family History Society)

The Bristol Mercury, dated 17th August 1844 ran an article on the murder to inform its readers of the sordid goings on.

Mary Hyatt is buried in an unmarked grave in St John the Baptist Cemetery, and was interred on the 8th June 1844, register reference number 498, but it is worth making a note that she is referred to as Mary FISHER (Joel's married name) aged 54. St Johns stopped receiving burials in 1850 after the parliamentary act was passed allowing Weston Council to create a new burial ground at Milton.

On This Day in History - 1st December

1st December

Louis V1 of France
(Source: Medieval Lydia)

1081 - Louis VI of France born. Famously called "Louis le Gros" or Louis the Fat due to his size, he seemed to spend most of his reign either fighter Barons that kept invading Paris for their own personal gain, or defending Normandy against the Norman Kings of England who treated their original homeland of Normandy as a further extension of England.

Henry I of England
(Source: English Crown)

1135 - Henry I Beauclerc, King of England, died. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and gained power from William in 1100 when William died in a hunting accident. He is also recognized as the first King of England to be truly fluent in English, rather than his native tongue of French. He seized the English throne before either of his brothers could get hold of it. He married Matilda of Scotland, but had many mistresses and illegitimate children by them. His only true heir William Adelin died in 1120 in a shipwreck, so he decreed that his daughter, Matilda would become Queen and married her off to Geofrey of Anjou. However, Henry became ill during the later part of November and after a week of illness died. This threw the Royal Family into turmoil as Henry's nephew, Stephen, seized the throne, putting England into a period of civil war known as "The Anarchy".

Henry V of England
(Source: English Crown)

1420 - Henry V of England enters Paris - As part of the Treaty of Troyes signed earlier on 21st May in 1420 after Henry's win over the French forces, King Charles VI of France would remain in power, Henry would marry Charles' daughter Katherine and thus become the rightful heir to the throne once Charles died. He marched into Paris on the 1st December and was greeted by the Armagnacs. This small rebellion was put and Henry did well in France, returning to England in early 1421 as Parliament had failed to send further funds to Henry to carry on his campaign.

Edmund Campion
(Source: Jesuit Institute)

1581 Edmund Campion (later to be canonised and called St. Edward) and three other Jesuits were martyred. He was tried on a charge of treason for promoting Catholicism and was hanged in London

Marie Tussaud
(Source: British Museum)

1761 Birth of Madame Marie Tussaud (Grosholz), Swiss-born French waxworks modeller. During the French Revolution she made death masks from the severed heads of the famous. In 1800, separated from her husband, she toured Britain with her waxworks, eventually setting up a permanent exhibition in London

Hans Christian Anderson
(Source: Denmark Net)

1835 - Hans Christian Andersen published his 1st book of fairy tales - called in Danish (his native language) Eventyr. Translated it means "Fantastic Tales". Later in 1836 he published more tales that were then bound into a larger volume and became Fairy Tales for Children.

Woody Allen
(Source: IMDB)

1935 - Woody Allen, actor born - Woody Allen - birth name Allen Stewart Konigsberg, was born in The Bronx, New York. At age 17 he changed his name to Heywood Allen and by the age of 19 he was a script writer for various American comedy shows including the Ed Sulivan Show during the mid to late 1950's. By 1965 he was helping co-write film scripts and by 1969 he wrote, directed and starred in his first film Take the Money and Run. He had written or starred in earlier films, but this was the first film which he had done all three, which soon became a trademark of his genre.

Sir William Beveridge
(Source: Liberal History)

1942 The Beveridge Report, written by Sir William Beveridge, proposed a welfare state for Britain, offering care to all from the cradle to the grave. It revolved around a compulsory National Insurance scheme to provide all adults with free medical treatment, unemployment benefit and old age pensions

1947 - Aleister Edward S Crowley, British occultist, died aged 72. Famous for being called "The Wickedest Man in the World" he started life being born into a very pro-Christian family that were part of a strict Order known as "Plymouth Brethren" After he reached his teens, he rebelled against his families upbringing and travelled the Middle East, claiming that he had experienced a vision from an Ancient God who gave him the "Book of the Law" and using this as a template set up his own cult, known as The Temple of Thelema. He gained his reputation for being wicked due to his open bisexual nature, his openness with recreational drug experimentation and his social criticism.

1987 - Digging begins to link England & France under English Channel. The

Tunnel Boring Machine
(Source: BBC)

tunnels were created using Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM's) which were large cylindrical steel "shields", that supported the weight of the chalk rock above, whilst the miners using the cutting teeth on the central part drilled forward. As the machine moved forward, the tunnel lining was erected, thus driving the tunnel forwards. When the TBM's were getting close to each other, the British TBM was aimed downwards and driven deeper into the rock and the French machine driven over the top to intersect with the English tunnel. The French TBM, costing £millions to build, was removed piece by piece and taken back to France for re-use elsewhere, whereas the English machine was stripped of the hydraulics and running components, but the cutting teeth and shield itself, being made of very strong steel, was used to perform the role of an earthing rod for the electrical works for the tunnel

1990 - British & French workers meet in English Channel's tunnel (Chunnel) - it took three years, but the work started on the tunnel (see above) comes to fruition as the French and English tunnels meet, called "Breaking Through". When a tunnel drive "Breaks Through" all work stops and a celebratory party is held to commemorate the achievement.

The Big Freeze
(Source: Metoffice)

2010 Large parts of the UK were brought to a standstill by the early freeze. Temperatures plunged again overnight to -16C (3F) in the Scottish Highland after one of the coldest starts to December in more than 20 years. Some 4,000 schools were closed, the Forth Road Bridge was closed for the first time since it opened in 1964 and Edinburgh and Gatwick airports were shut. 

On This Day in History - 30th November

30th November

King Cnut
(Source: BBC)

1016 - Cnut (or Canute), king of Denmark, claims the English throne after the death of Edmund 'Ironside'. We have mentioned Cnut before on A41 The Road to Discovery, that his mission to capture the English throne started by him sailing past Weston-super-Mare, at that time nothing more than an unremarkable fishing village of a few huts and boats, up to to Avonmouth, sailing up the Avon to Bristol (or Brigstowe as it was called at the time), and turning down the River Frome which still travels under Bristol to this day, but is covered over by road and concrete (The Bristol Hippodrome effectively stands on the banks of the Frome) onto the border of Somerset and Wiltshire to start his campaign

King Edmund II
(Source: NNDB)

1016 - Edmund II, Ironsides, King of the Saxons (1016), dies at 27, buried at Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset. He was originally King of Wessex, the ancient kingdom that included Somerset, but after his initially defeat on 18th October 1016 to the Danes the Kingdom of England was divided up between Edmund and the Danes. Edmund retaining control of Wessex, Cnut having the rest. When Edmund died the whole of England came under the control of Cnut and he became the first King of a unified England




1648 - English Parliamentary army captures King Charles I.

King Charles I
(Source: BBC)

During 1642, Charles fought both the English and his previous allies the Scots for control, believing that a King has "Divine Right" to rule, according to his own conscience rather than by laws, which made him very unpopular with a lot of his subjects. Eventually he surrendered to a Scottish force in 1645, and they took care of him for a while but eventually handed him over to the Parliamentary forces of Cromwell in 1648. Charles was eventually tried and convicted and sentenced to death for High Treason in January 1649.

Princess Augusta Saxe-Gotha
(Source: National Portrait Gallery)

1719 - Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales - born in Gotha, Germany at the age of 16 she travelled to Britain and married Frederick, Prince of Wales. Between them they had 9 children, and after the death of her husband 9 years earlier, her son was given succession to the throne and became George III


1782 - Britain signs agreement recognizing US independence after years of bloody war. The Treaty of Paris was signed by the British Government in November 1782, conceding defeat in the war and handing independence to the United States, however, it wasn't until nearly a full year later on November 25th 1783 that all British forces and militia were fully disbanded and removed.  

Mark Twain
(Source: NPR Books)

1835 - Mark Twain, real name Samuel L Clemens, born. He was the author of the famous books about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and had a vicious sense of humour, some of his biting quotes still exist now, such as “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well" and "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society"


1874 - Winston Churchill, Conservative British Prime Minister born. He saw first a career as a soldier, seeing action in Cuba, the Boer War, and the First World War before entering into politics. He was arguably the worlds greatest war time leader and inspired a nation during its hardest times

Kid Curry Logan
(Source: Eyewitness)

1902 - American Old West: Second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang, Kid Curry Logan, is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour 

Charlie Chaplin
(Source: Film Bug)

1913 Charlie Chaplin made his film debut without the moustache and cane in 'Making a Living'.
1936 The Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire. The spectacular blaze was seen miles away. Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, it was originally erected in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition in 1851.
1960 Gary Lineker, footballer, and former England captain, was born. Despite his long career, Lineker was never cautioned by a referee for foul play, a feat equalled only by Billy Wright, John Charles and Sir Stanley Matthews

1966 - Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom, after the Second War War, a lot of Great Britain's Commonwealth Territories demanded Independence. Barbados became an English (ad later British) Territory in 1627 when it was settled by English families looking for a new start. There was very little in the way of African Slaves in Barbados with the White Settlers working happily along side the African workers equally. This may be due in part that Barbados was also used as a "transport" location for British Prisoners, in the same way that prisoners were transported to Australia. When Judge Jeffries tried prisoners from the Monmouth Uprising, those who found themselves lucky enough not to be hung, would usually find themselves transported to Barbados to work on the plantations.
1982 A letter bomb exploded inside No. 10, Downing Street, injuring a member of staff. The package was sent by animal rights activists. Margaret Thatcher was at home when the device exploded but she was not hurt in the blast

Burt Lancaster
(Source: IMDB)

1990 - Actor Burt Lancaster suffers a stroke. He was initially an acrobat in the circus and performed with the special services during the Second World War entertaining the troops to keep up morale. Upon his return, he wanted work, didnt really wan to go into films but thought he would "give it a go". Between 1945 and 1980 he starred in many many films, gaining four Acadamy Awards in the process and his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His last film was "Field of Dreams" in 1989 where he starred as the Old Doc character.

Operation Desert Storm
(Source: US Army)

1995 - Official end of Operation Desert Storm - This was the conflict to liberate Kuwait from Iraq's unlawful occupation. The Operation is famously called Desert Storm, but in the UK, its official name was actually Operation Granby.


1999 - British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems, Europe's largest defense contractor and the fourth largest aerospace firm in the world. The site as Filton, Bristol was "assured" every success for the future. On that site, Filton had historically helped develop and build aircraft such as the BAE146 Whisper Jet, guided missiles such as Rapier, and even space vehicles and satellites such as the Giotto Probe, designed to intercept Halley's Comet