10th May

[chenrezig]

1291 Scottish nobles recognized the authority of Edward I of England.

1307 Scottish King Robert the Bruce defeated an English cavalry army at the Battle of Loudon Hill in Ayrshire.

1768 John Wilkes (English radical, journalist, and politician) was imprisoned for writing an article for the North Briton newspaper severely criticizing King George III. This action provoked rioting in London.

1773 The British Parliament passed the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.

1804 William Pitt the younger, British prime minister, returned to office.

1824 The National Gallery in London opened to the public.

1850 Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, founder of Lipton's grocery chain, was born in Glasgow. He went from errand boy to millionaire by the age of 30.

1857 A revolt by Sepoys at Meerut started the Indian Mutiny by Indian soldiers serving in the British Army.

1897 The Evening Chronicle was first published, by Edward Hulton, a Manchester man.

1910 The British House of Commons resolved that the maximum lifetime of Parliament be reduced from seven to five years.

1915 The birth of Sir Denis Thatcher, British businessman and husband of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

1916 Explorer Ernest Shackleton and companions reached the Falkland island of South Georgia after sailing 800 miles in 16 days in an open boat. They were looking for help for the remaining members of their party marooned on Elephant island, Antarctica.

1919 The first scheduled commercial air service in Britain began. The flight from Manchester to Southport cost 4 guineas one way and was run by A.V.Roe.

1940 German forces invaded Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg by air and land. The invasion began at dawn with large numbers of aeroplanes attacking the main aerodromes and landing troops. Winston Churchill formed a coalition wartime Government. When he first met his cabinet on 13th May he told them - "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears & sweat".

1941 Rudolf Hess, deputy leader of Nazi Germany, flew a small plane to Scotland and parachuted to the ground in a bizarre attempt to negotiate a peace settlement with Britain. After interrogation he was jailed for life.

1941 World War II - The worst night of the Blitz in Britain. 550 German bombers dropped 100,000 bombs on London. More than 1500 people were killed and many thousands more were injured.

1998 The political wing of the republican IRA backed the Good Friday peace agreement heralding a major shift in modern republicanism.

2013 Andrew "Bart" Simpson, a double Olympic medallist from Sherbourne in Dorset died after a Swedish catamaran capsized during a training session for the America's Cup in San Francisco Bay. Before the 2012 Olympics, Mr. Simpson had said that winning the America's Cup, the oldest trophy in the sport, was his biggest goal.

[annie]

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[Rosalind]

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