On this day in history

[darlowolf64]

30th December

1902 – The Discovery Expedition under Robert Falcon Scott attained a Farthest South at 82°17′S in Antarctica.

The Discovery Expedition of 1901–1904, known officially as the British National Antarctic Expedition, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions since the voyage of James Clark Ross sixty years earlier (1839–1843). Organized on a large scale under a joint committee of the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society, the new expedition carried out scientific research and geographical exploration in what was then largely an untouched continent. It launched the Antarctic careers of many who would become leading figures in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, including Robert Falcon Scott who led the expedition, Ernest Shackleton, Edward Wilson, Frank Wild, Tom Crean and William Lashly.

Its scientific results covered extensive ground in biology, zoology, geology, meteorology and magnetism. The expedition discovered the existence of the only snow-free Antarctic valleys, which contains the longest river of Antarctica. Further achievements included the discoveries of the Cape Crozier emperor penguin colony, King Edward VII Land, and the Polar Plateau (via the western mountains route) on which the South Pole is located. The expedition tried to reach the South Pole travelling as far as the Farthest South mark at a reported 82°17′S.

As a trailbreaker for later ventures, the Discovery Expedition was a landmark in British Antarctic exploration history.

Also on 30th December...

999 – Battle of Glenmama: The combined forces of Munster and Meath under king Brian Boru inflict a crushing defeat on the allied armies of Leinster and Dublin near Lyons Hill in Ireland.
1460 – Wars of the Roses: Lancastrians kill the 3rd Duke of York and win the Battle of Wakefield.
1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the united Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi Indian tribes is proclaimed.
1825 – The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the Shawnee Nation is proclaimed.
1853 – Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest.
1890 – Following the Wounded Knee Massacre, the United States Army and Lakota warriors face off in the Drexel Mission Fight.
1916 – Russian mystic and advisor to the Tsar Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is murdered by a loyalist group led by Prince Felix Yusupov. His frozen, partially-trussed body was discovered in a Petrograd river three days later.
1936 – The Flint sit-down strike hits General Motors.
1993 – Israel establishes diplomatic relations with Vatican City and also upgrades to full diplomatic relations with Ireland.
1996 – Proposed budget cuts by Benjamin Netanyahu spark protests from 250,000 workers who shut down services across Israel.

 

[darlowolf64]

31st December

1660 – James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.

James VII and II was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was the last Catholic monarch of England, Scotland and Ireland. His reign is now remembered primarily for conflicts over religious tolerance, but it also involved struggles over the principles of absolutism and the divine right of kings. His deposition ended a century of political and civil strife in England by confirming the primacy of the English Parliament over the Crown.


Also on 31st December...

870 – Battle of Englefield: The Vikings clash with ealdorman Æthelwulf of Berkshire. The invaders are driven back to Reading (East Anglia); many Danes are killed.
1600 – The British East India Company is chartered.
1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.
1857 – Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of the Province of Canada.
1862 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River begins near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1878 – Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, files for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine. He was granted the patent in 1879.
1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
1907 – The first ever ball drop in Times Square.
1946 – President Harry S. Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
1951 – Cold War: The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Western Europe.
1961 – RTÉ, Ireland's state broadcaster, launches its first national television service.
1968 – The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-144, the first civilian supersonic transport in the world.

1991 – All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date, five days after the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
1992 – Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
1999 – The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.
1999 – The U.S. government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.
2000 – The last day of the 20th Century and 2nd Millennium.
2009 – Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.
2019 – The World Health Organization is informed of cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause, detected in Wuhan.[19] This later turned out to be COVID-19, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Looking forward to the catch up

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Two really cool musical birthdays for January 8 I can think of

 

[darlowolf64]

1st January

1892 – Ellis Island begins processing immigrants into the United States.

Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 million immigrants arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey were processed there under federal law. Today, it is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and is accessible to the public only by ferry. The north side of the island is the site of the main building, now a national museum of immigration. The south side of the island, including the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is open to the public only through guided tours.

In the 19th century, Ellis Island was the site of Fort Gibson and later became a naval magazine. The first inspection station opened in 1892 and was destroyed by fire in 1897. The second station opened in 1900 and housed facilities for medical quarantines and processing immigrants. After 1924, Ellis Island was used primarily as a detention center for migrants. During both World War I and World War II, its facilities were also used by the US military to detain prisoners of war. After the immigration station's closure, the buildings languished for several years until they were partially reopened in 1976. The main building and adjacent structures were completely renovated in 1990.

 

[darlowolf64]

Also on 1st January...

1502 – The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is first explored by the Portuguese.
1651 – Charles II is crowned King of Scotland at Scone Palace.
772 – The first traveler's cheques, which could be used in 90 European cities, are issued by the London Credit Exchange Company.
1773 – The hymn that became known as "Amazing Grace", then titled "1 Chronicles 17:16–17, Faith's Review and Expectation", is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
1801 – The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is proclaimed.
1808 – The United States bans the importation of slaves.
1885 – Twenty-five nations adopt Sandford Fleming's proposal for standard time and also, time zones.
1901 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister.
1910 – Captain David Beatty is promoted to Rear admiral, and becomes the youngest admiral in the Royal Navy since Horatio Nelson.
1912 – The Republic of China is established.
1923 – Britain's Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMS.
1929 – The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia are amalgamated into Vancouver.
1932 – The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth.
1934 – Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay becomes a United States federal prison.
1945 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed, attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow.
1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways.
1959 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces.
1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.
1973 – Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom are admitted into the European Economic Community.
1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone.
1999 – The Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden.

 

[darlowolf64]

2nd January

1942 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) obtains the conviction of 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history; Also known as the Duquesne Spy Ring.

The Duquesne Spy Ring is the largest espionage case in the United States history that ended in convictions. A total of 33 members of a Nazi German espionage network headed by Frederick "Fritz" Joubert Duquesne were convicted after a lengthy investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Of those indicted, 19 pleaded guilty. The remaining 14 were brought to jury trial in Federal District Court, Brooklyn, New York, on September 3, 1941; all were found guilty on December 13, 1941. On January 2, 1942, the group members were sentenced to serve a total of over 300 years in prison.

The agents who formed the Duquesne Ring were placed in key jobs in the United States to get information that could be used in the event of war and to carry out acts of sabotage: one opened a restaurant and used his position to get information from his customers; another worked on an airline so that he could report Allied ships that were crossing the Atlantic Ocean; others worked as delivery people as a cover for carrying secret messages.

William G. Sebold, who had been blackmailed into becoming a spy for Germany, became a double agent and helped the FBI gather evidence. For nearly two years, the FBI ran a shortwave radio station in New York for the ring. They learned what information Germany was sending its spies in the United States and controlled what was sent to Germany. Sebold's success as a counterespionage agent was demonstrated by the successful prosecution of the German agents.

One German spymaster later commented the ring's roundup delivered "the death blow" to their espionage efforts in the United States. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover called his concerted FBI swoop on Duquesne's ring the greatest spy roundup in U.S. history.


Also on 2nd January...

• 1900 – Chicago Canal opens.
• 1920 – The second Palmer Raid, ordered by the US Department of Justice, results in 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists being arrested and held without trial.
• 1941 – World War II: The Cardiff Blitz severely damages the cathedral in Cardiff, Wales.
• 1955 – Following the assassination of the Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera, his deputy, José Ramón Guizado, takes power, but is quickly deposed after his involvement in Cantera's death is discovered.
• 1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
• 1967 – Ronald Reagan, former movie actor and future President of the United States, is sworn in as Governor of California.
• 1971 – The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football match.
• 1981 – One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

 

[darlowolf64]

3rd January

1833 – Captain James Onslow, in the Clio, reasserts British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

In December 1832, two naval vessels were sent by the United Kingdom to re-assert British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, after the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, part of which later became Argentina, ignored British diplomatic protests over the appointment of Luis Vernet as governor of the Falkland Islands and a dispute over fishing rights.

In 1765, Captain John Byron was searching for the mythical Pepys Island, Byron explored Saunders Island, which lies 1.5 miles off the coast of West Falkland. He named the harbour Port Egmont, and claimed this and other islands for Britain, on the grounds of prior discovery. The next year Captain John MacBride established a British settlement at Port Egmont. Independently France had established in 1764 a colony at Port Louis, which it handed over to Spain in 1767.

The British presence in the west continued, until interrupted by Spain, during the Falkland Crisis from 10 July 1770 to 22 January 1771. Economic pressures led Britain to unilaterally withdraw from many overseas settlements in 1774, and they left Port Egmont on 20 May 1774, leaving a plaque asserting their continuing sovereignty over the islands. A few years later, under orders from Madrid, the Spanish demolished the settlement at Port Egmont and removed the plaque. The Spanish settlement was itself withdrawn in 1811.

Under the command of Captain John James Onslow, the brig-sloop HMS Clio, previously stationed at Rio de Janeiro, reached Port Egmont on 20 December 1832. It was later joined by HMS Tyne. Their first actions were to repair the fort at Port Egmont and affix a notice of possession.

Onslow arrived at Puerto Louis on 2 January 1833. Pinedo sent an officer to the British ship, where he was presented with the following written request to replace the Argentine flag with the British one, and leave the location.

Also on 3rd January...

1777 – American General George Washington defeats British General Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
1815 – Austria, the United Kingdom, and France form a secret defensive alliance against Prussia and Russia.
1868 – Meiji Restoration in Japan: The Tokugawa shogunate is abolished; agents of Satsuma and Chōshū seize power.
1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London leaves two dead. It sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill.
1956 – A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
1961 – The SL-1 nuclear reactor, near Idaho Falls, Idaho, is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities.
1990 – United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.
1993 – In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
2009 – The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, is established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto.

 

[darlowolf64]

4th January

1912 – The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Empire by royal charter.

The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was formed in 1910 and incorporated in 1912 by a royal charter under its previous name of The Boy Scouts Association.

The association is the largest national Scout organisation in Europe, representing 35% of the membership of the European Scout Region.

As of 2021, the association claimed to provide activities to 362,752 young people (aged 6–25) in the UK with over 141,659 adults leaders which is more than one adult for each 2.5 children.[2] This represents a significant 22% decline from 464,700 young adults in 2018,[6] despite commencing a programme for even younger children. Its programmes now include Squirrels (aged 4–6), Beavers (aged 6–8), Cubs (aged 8–10+1⁄2), Scouts (aged 10+1⁄2–14), Explorer Scouts (aged 14–18) and adult Network members (aged 18–25).

Also on 4th January...

1642 – English Civil War: King Charles I, accompanied by 400 soldiers, attempts to arrest five members of Parliament for treason, only to discover the men had been tipped off and fled.
1649 – English Civil War: The Rump Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial.
1717 – The Netherlands, Great Britain, and France sign the Triple Alliance.
1762 – Great Britain declares war on Spain, which meant the entry of Spain into the Seven Years' War.
1853 – After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northup regains his freedom; his memoir Twelve Years a Slave later becomes a national bestseller.
1884 – The Fabian Society is founded in London, United Kingdom.
1903 – Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company records the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy's death.
1909 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes.
1948 – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic.
1951 – Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time.
1958 – Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, falls to Earth from orbit.
1959 – Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
1972 – Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, UK.
1987 – The Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people.
1989 – Second Gulf of Sidra incident: A pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.
1999 – Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota, United States.
2007 – The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.

 

[darlowolf64]

5th January

1941 – Amy Johnson, a 37-year-old pilot and the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia, disappears after bailing out of her plane over the River Thames, and is presumed dead.

Amy Johnson CBE was a pioneering English pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia.

Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, she set many long-distance records during the 1930s. In 1933, Katharine Hepburn's character in the film Christopher Strong was inspired by Johnson. She flew in the Second World War as a part of the Air Transport Auxiliary and disappeared during a ferry flight. The cause of her death has been a subject of discussion over many years.

On 5 January 1941, while flying an Airspeed Oxford for the ATA from Prestwick via RAF Squires Gate to RAF Kidlington near Oxford, Johnson went off course in adverse weather conditions. Reportedly out of fuel, she bailed out as her aircraft crashed into the Thames Estuary near Herne Bay.

A convoy of wartime vessels in the Thames Estuary spotted Johnson's parachute coming down and saw her alive in the water, calling for help.[30] Conditions were poor: there was a heavy sea and a strong tide, snow was falling and it was intensely cold. Lt Cmdr Walter Fletcher, the Captain of HMS Haslemere, navigated his ship to attempt a rescue. The crew of the vessel threw ropes out to Johnson but she was unable to reach them and was lost under the ship. A number of witnesses believed there was a second body in the water. Fletcher dived in and swam out to this, rested on it for a few minutes and then let go. When the lifeboat reached him he was unconscious and as a result of the intense cold he died in hospital days later. Johnson's watertight flying bag, her log book and cheque book later washed up and were recovered near the crash site.

In 1999, it was reported that Johnson's death may have been caused by friendly fire. Tom Mitchell, from Crowborough, Sussex, claimed to have shot Johnson's aircraft down when she twice failed to give the correct identification code during the flight. Mitchell explained how the aircraft was sighted and contacted by radio. A request was made for the signal. She gave the wrong one twice. "Sixteen rounds of shells were fired and the plane dived into the Thames Estuary. We all thought it was an enemy plane until the next day when we read the papers and discovered it was Amy. The officers told us never to tell anyone what happened."

Also on 5th January...

1757 – Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, who becomes the last person to be executed in France by drawing and quartering (the traditional form of capital punishment used for regicides).
1895 – Dreyfus affair: French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.
1900 – Irish nationalist leader John Edward Redmond calls for revolt against British rule.
1912 – The sixth All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Prague Party Conference) opens. In the course of the conference, Vladimir Lenin and his supporters break from the rest of the party to form the Bolshevik movement.
1914 – The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and minimum daily wage of $5 in salary plus bonuses.
1919 – The German Workers' Party, which would become the Nazi Party, is founded in Munich.
1953 – The play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett receives its première in Paris.
1972 – US President Richard Nixon announces the Space Shuttle program.
1975 – The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
1993 – The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.

 

[darlowolf64]

6th January

2021 – Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump attack the United States Capitol to disrupt certification of the 2020 presidential election, resulting in five deaths and evacuation of the U.S. Congress.

On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of then-U.S. president Donald Trump, two months after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. They sought to keep Trump in power by preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the Electoral College votes to formalize the victory of President-elect Joe Biden. The attack was ultimately unsuccessful in preventing the election results from being certified. According to the House select committee that investigated the incident, the attack was the culmination of a seven-part plan by Trump to overturn the election.

Within 36 hours of the event, five people had died: one was shot by Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes, including a police officer. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months. As of July 7, 2022, monetary damages caused by attackers exceed $2.7 million.

Also on 6th January...

1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.
1540 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves.
1661 – English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London, England. The revolt is suppressed after a few days.
1781 – In the Battle of Jersey, the British defeat the last attempt by France to invade Jersey in the Channel Islands.
1847 – Samuel Colt obtains his first contract for the sale of revolver pistols to the United States government.
1929 – Mother Teresa arrives by sea in Calcutta, India, to begin her work among India's poorest and sick people.
1930 – Clessie Cummins arrives at the National Automobile Show in New York City, having driven a car powered by one of his diesel engines from Indianapolis.
1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to offer a round-the-world ticket.
1994 – U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked and injured by an assailant hired by her rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.
2005 – Edgar Ray Killen is indicted for the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner during the American Civil Rights Movement.

 

[darlowolf64]

7th January

1922 – Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64–57 vote.

The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence. It provided for the establishment of the Irish Free State within a year as a self-governing dominion within the "community of nations known as the British Empire", a status "the same as that of the Dominion of Canada". It also provided Northern Ireland, which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, an option to opt out of the Irish Free State (Article 12), which the Parliament of Northern Ireland exercised.

The agreement was signed in London on 6 December 1921, by representatives of the British government, which included Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who was head of the British delegates and by representatives of the Irish Republic including Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith. The Irish representatives had plenipotentiary status (negotiators empowered to sign a treaty without reference back to their superiors) acting on behalf of the Irish Republic, though the British government declined to recognise that status. As required by its terms, the agreement was approved by "a meeting" of the members elected to sit in the House of Commons of Southern Ireland and separately by the British Parliament. In reality, Dáil Éireann first debated then approved the treaty; members then went ahead with the "meeting". Though the treaty was narrowly approved, the split led to the Irish Civil War, which was won by the pro-treaty side.

The Irish Free State as contemplated by the treaty came into existence when its constitution became law on 6 December 1922 by a royal proclamation.

Also on 7th January...

1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia.
1610 – Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, although he is not able to distinguish the last two until the following night.
1835 – HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago.
1894 – Thomas Edison makes a kinetoscopic film of someone sneezing. On the same day, his employee, William Kennedy Dickson, receives a patent for motion picture film.
1904 – The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS".
1927 – The first transatlantic commercial telephone service is established from New York City to London.
1928 – A disastrous flood of the River Thames kills 14 people and causes extensive damage to much of riverside London.
1931 – Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight from Australia to New Zealand in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast.
1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
1999 – The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins.
2023 – The longest U.S. House of Representatives speaker election since the December 1859 – February 1860 U.S. speaker election concludes and Kevin McCarthy is elected 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

 

[darlowolf64]

8th January

1989 – Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.

The Kegworth air disaster occurred when British Midland Airways Flight 092, a Boeing 737-400, crashed onto the motorway embankment between the M1 motorway and A453 road near Kegworth, Leicestershire, England, while attempting to make an emergency landing at East Midlands Airport on 8 January 1989.

Just before crossing the M1 motorway at 20:24, the tail and main landing gear struck the ground and the aircraft bounced back into the air and over the motorway, knocking down trees and a lamp post before crashing on the far embankment around 475 m short of the active runway's paved surface and about 630 m from its threshold. The aircraft broke into three sections. This was adjacent to the motorway; remarkably, no vehicles were travelling on that part of the M1 at the moment of the crash.

The aircraft was on a scheduled flight from London Heathrow Airport to Belfast International Airport when a fan blade broke in the left engine, disrupting the air conditioning and filling the cabin with smoke. The pilots believed this indicated a fault in the right engine, since earlier models of the 737 ventilated the cabin from the right, and they were unaware that the 737-400 used a different system. The pilots mistakenly shut down the functioning engine. They selected full thrust from the malfunctioning one and this increased its fuel supply, causing it to catch fire. Of the 126 people aboard, 47 died and 74 sustained serious injuries. The inquiry attributed the blade fracture to metal fatigue, caused by heavy vibration in the newly upgraded engines, which had been tested only in the laboratory and not under representative flight conditions.

The accident was the first hull loss of a Boeing 737 Classic aircraft, and the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 737 Classic aircraft.

Also on 8th January...

1746 – Second Jacobite rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.
1811 – Charles Deslondes leads an unsuccessful slave revolt in the North American settlements of St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.
1867 – The United States Congress passes the bill to allow African American men the right to vote in Washington, D.C.[16]
1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
1918 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" as conditions for ending World War I.
1959 – Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic.
1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesakes granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.

As stated above, born on this date were Elvis Presley in 1935, Shirley Bassey in 1937 and David Bowie in 1947. Also Paul Hester, in 1959, Australian drummer of Split Enz and founder member of Crowded House.

 

[darlowolf64]

9th December

1941 – World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.

The origins of the Lancaster stem from a twin-engined bomber that had been submitted to British Air Ministry Specification P.13/36 of 1936 for a twin-engined medium bomber for "worldwide use" which could carry a torpedo internally, and make shallow dive-bombing attacks. Further requirements of the specification included the use of a mid-mounted cantilever monoplane wing, and all-metal construction while the use of the Rolls-Royce Vulture, which was in development was encouraged. Twin-engine designs were submitted by Fairey, Boulton Paul, Handley Page and Shorts, using Rolls-Royce Vulture, Napier Sabre, Fairey P.24 or Bristol Hercules engines.

Avro submitted the Avro 679 to fulfil Specification P.13/36 and, in February 1937, Avro's submission was selected, along with Handley Page's bid as a backup. In April 1937, a pair of prototypes for each design was ordered. Avro's aircraft, named the Manchester, entered RAF service in November 1940. Although a capable aircraft, the Manchester was underpowered and its Vulture engines proved to be unreliable.

By mid-1940, Avro's chief design engineer, Roy Chadwick, was working on an improved Manchester powered by four of the more reliable but less powerful Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, specifically adopting the "Power-egg" installation developed for the Beaufighter II, and installed on a wing of increased span. Initially, the improved aircraft was designated as the Type 683 Manchester III but was subsequently renamed the Lancaster. The prototype, serial number BT308, was assembled by the Avro experimental flight department at Ringway Airport, Manchester, being modified from a production Manchester airframe, combined with the new wing to accommodate the additional engines. The first flight was made by test pilot H. A. "Sam" Brown on 9 January 1941 at RAF Ringway, Cheshire.

From 1942 onwards, the Lancaster became the mainstay of the British heavy bomber fleet; by the end of the war in Europe, there were roughly 50 squadrons equipped with the Lancaster, the majority of these being the Lancaster B.I model. From its entry into service, the original model of the Lancaster was operated in almost every major bombing raid of the European conflict.

Adolf Galland (commander of the Luftwaffe fighters) considered the Lancaster to be "the best night bomber of the war", as did his adversary, Arthur "Bomber" Harris, who referred to it as Bomber Command's "shining sword". Goulding and Garbett wrote that: "The achievements of the Lancaster and the men who flew it have been widely acclaimed, and the aircraft has been described as the greatest single factor in winning WWII, an exaggeration but a pardonable one".

Also on 9th December...

1431 – The trial of Joan of Arc begins in Rouen.


1793 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.
1799 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the Napoleonic Wars.
1806 – Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral.
1816 – Humphry Davy tests his safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.
1903 – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.
1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
1916 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.
1918 – Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars.
1957 – British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty.
1962 – Apollo program: NASA announces plans to build the C-5 rocket launch vehicle, then known as the "Advanced Saturn", to carry human beings to the Moon.

 

[leedswolf]

6th January

2021 – Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump attack the United States Capitol to disrupt certification of the 2020 presidential election, resulting in five deaths and evacuation of the U.S. Congress.
View attachment 9246 View attachment 9247 View attachment 9248 View attachment 9249
On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of then-U.S. president Donald Trump, two months after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. They sought to keep Trump in power by preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the Electoral College votes to formalize the victory of President-elect Joe Biden. The attack was ultimately unsuccessful in preventing the election results from being certified. According to the House select committee that investigated the incident, the attack was the culmination of a seven-part plan by Trump to overturn the election.

Within 36 hours of the event, five people had died: one was shot by Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes, including a police officer. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months. As of July 7, 2022, monetary damages caused by attackers exceed $2.7 million.

Also on 6th January...

1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.
1540 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves.
1661 – English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London, England. The revolt is suppressed after a few days.
1781 – In the Battle of Jersey, the British defeat the last attempt by France to invade Jersey in the Channel Islands.
1847 – Samuel Colt obtains his first contract for the sale of revolver pistols to the United States government.
1929 – Mother Teresa arrives by sea in Calcutta, India, to begin her work among India's poorest and sick people.
1930 – Clessie Cummins arrives at the National Automobile Show in New York City, having driven a car powered by one of his diesel engines from Indianapolis.
1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to offer a round-the-world ticket.
1994 – U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked and injured by an assailant hired by her rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.
2005 – Edgar Ray Killen is indicted for the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner during the American Civil Rights Movement.

Just as a footnote;

The Battle of Jersey took place on 6 January 1781 when French forces during the Anglo-French War (1778–1783) and the American Revolutionary War unsuccessfully invaded the British island of Jersey to remove the threat it posed to French and American shipping. Jersey provided a base for British privateers.

The French expedition was defeated, losing nearly half its force, including its commander, Baron Philippe de Rullecourt, who died of wounds sustained in the fighting. The battle is often remembered for the death of the British commander, Major Peirson.

 

[darlowolf64]

10th January

49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war.

Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) was a civil war during the late Roman Republic between two factions led by Gaius Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey), respectively. The main cause of the war was political tensions relating to Caesar's place in the republic on his expected return to Rome on the expiration of his governorship in Gaul.

Before the war, Caesar had led an invasion of Gaul for almost ten years. A build-up of tensions starting in late 50 BC, with both Caesar and Pompey refusing to back down, led to the outbreak of civil war. Pompey and his allies induced the Senate to demand Caesar give up his provinces and armies in the opening days of 49 BC. Caesar refused and instead marched on Rome.

The war was fought in Italy, Illyria, Greece, Egypt, Africa, and Hispania. The decisive events occurred in Greece in 48 BC: Pompey defeated Caesar at the Battle of Dyrrhachium, but the subsequent larger Battle of Pharsalus was won by Caesar and Pompey's army disintegrated. Many prominent supporters of Pompey surrendered after the battle, such as Marcus Junius Brutus and Cicero. Others fought on, including Cato the Younger and Metellus Scipio. Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was assassinated upon arrival.

Caesar led a military expedition to Asia Minor before attacking North Africa, where he defeated Metellus Scipio in 46 BC at the Battle of Thapsus. Cato and Metellus Scipio killed themselves shortly thereafter. The following year, Caesar defeated the last of the Pompeians, at the Battle of Munda in Spain, who were led by his former lieutenant Labienus. Caesar was then made dictator perpetuo by the Roman senate in 44 BC. He was assassinated by a group of senators (including Brutus) shortly thereafter.

Also on 10th January...

1645 – Archbishop William Laud is beheaded for treason at the Tower of London.
1776 – American Revolution: Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense.
1812 – The first steamboat on the Ohio River or the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans, 82 days after departing from Pittsburgh.
1863 – The Metropolitan Railway, the world's oldest underground railway, opens between Paddington and Farringdon, marking the beginning of the London Underground.
1920 – The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I for all combatant nations except the United States.
1927 – Fritz Lang's futuristic film Metropolis is released in Germany.
1946 – The first General Assembly of the United Nations assembles in the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster. Fifty-one nations are represented.
1954 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1, explodes and falls into the Tyrrhenian Sea, killing 35 people.
1984 – Holy See–United States relations: The United States and Holy See (Vatican City) re-establish full diplomatic relations after almost 117 years, overturning the United States Congress's 1867 ban on public funding for such a diplomatic envoy. The current United States Ambassador to the Holy See is Joe Donnelly.

 

[darlowolf64]

11th January

1879 – The Anglo-Zulu War begins.

The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coupled with military campaigns, might lead to a ruling white minority over a black majority, which would provide a large pool of cheap labour for the British sugar plantations and mines, encompassing the African Kingdoms, tribal areas and Boer republics into South Africa. In 1874, Sir Bartle Frere was sent to South Africa as High Commissioner for the British Empire to effect such plans. Among the obstacles were the armed independent states of the South African Republic and the Kingdom of Zululand.

Frere, on his own initiative, sent a provocative ultimatum on 11 December 1878 to the Zulu king Cetshwayo and upon its rejection sent Lord Chelmsford to invade Zululand. The war is notable for several particularly bloody battles, including an opening victory of the Zulu at the Battle of Isandlwana, followed by the defence of Rorke's Drift by a small British Garrison from an attack by a large Zulu force. The British eventually won the war, ending Zulu dominance of the region. The Zulu Kingdom was then made a protectorate and later annexed by the British Empire in 1887.

Also on 11th January...

630 – Conquest of Mecca: The prophet Muhammad and his followers conquer the city, and the Quraysh association of clans surrenders.
930 – Sack of Mecca by the Qarmatians.
1787 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
1805 – The Michigan Territory is created.
1908 – Grand Canyon National Monument is created.


1917 – The Kingsland munitions factory explosion occurs as a result of sabotage.1922 – Leonard Thompson becomes the first person to be injected with insulin.
1927 – Louis B. Mayer, head of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at a banquet in Los Angeles, California.
1935 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
1964 – Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., publishes the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.
1986 – The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia is officially opened.
1994 – The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin.
1996 – The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on mission STS-72 to retrieve the Japanese Space Flyer Unit.
1998 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Went over Gateway Bridge when I arrived here. It’s quite a decent size.

 

[darlowolf64]

I kept that one in for you @Paddingtonwolf, glad you're still reading!

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

It was so odd that Gerry Adam's voice was banned, I wasn't even a teenager when it stopped, but having his voice dubbed anytime he appeared on TV just seemed so pointless.

Just read that the Irish ban was different to the UK ban, the UK ban was just voices and didn't end until the September of 1994.