16th April

[chenrezig]

1705 Queen Anne of England knighted the scientist Isaac Newton at Trinity College, Cambridge.

1746 Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was defeated at the Battle of Culloden Moor by an English Army under the the command of William, Duke of Cumberland. The bloody battle earned the Duke the name ‘Butcher Cumberland’. The Young Pretender Charles Stuart escaped and was later helped by Flora Macdonald to flee the country.

1786 The birth of John Franklin, English Arctic explorer who discovered the Northwest Passage.

1889 Charlie Chaplin, English-born film actor and director was born.

1895 The birth of Sir Ove Arup, English structural engineer, to Danish parents. He built the Sydney Opera House and worked with Sir Basil Spence on Coventry Cathedral.

1912 American Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel. She took off from Dover, en route to Calais, France and made the flight in 59 minutes, landing about 25 miles from Calais, on a beach. Although Quimby died at the age of thirty-seven (in an aeroplane accident), she had a major influence upon the role of women in aviation.

1918 Spike Milligan, English comedian and writer was born.

1919 Gandhi organized a day of 'prayer and fasting' in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Amritsar Massacre by the British. Official Government of India sources estimated the fatalities at 379, with 1,100 wounded, many of them women and children.

1953 Queen Elizabeth II launched the Royal Yacht Britannia at Clydeside. She was used by the British Royal Family for state visits and diplomatic missions for the next 45 years and is now permanently moored as an exhibition ship at Ocean Terminal, Leith - Edinburgh.

1964 Twelve members of the Great Train Robbery gang were sentenced, to a total of 307 years.

1982 Queen Elizabeth proclaimed the new Canadian constitution, severing Canada's last colonial links with Britain.

1986 Brewery heiress Jennifer Guiness was released in Dublin after being kidnapped and held hostage for 7 days.

1996 The Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, announced that they were to divorce.

1996 Barclay's bank revealed that it had been the target of a 15-month terrorist campaign by the 'Mardi Gras' bomber who was attempting to extort large sums of money from the bank.

1997 A DNA data base for birds was launched, to deter thieves from stealing valuable eggs.

2008 It was announced that Karen Matthews (aged 32, from Dewsbury) was to stand trial alongside Michael Donovan, charged with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of her 9 year old daughter Shannon who disappeared on 19th February.

[annie]

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