2nd March

[chenrezig]

1545 The birth of Sir Thomas Bodley, English diplomat, scholar and founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The library is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is second only in size to the British Library.

1705 The birth of William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish judge and politician. He is best known for his judgment in what was known as Somersett's Case, where he held that slavery was unlawful in England, although this did not end slave trafficking altogether.

1791 John Wesley, English theologian and founder of Methodism, died.

1882 An unsuccessful attempt was made by Scotsman Roderick Maclean to assassinate Queen Victoria. As she was leaving Windsor railway station he stepped forward from the cheering crowd, lifted a revolver and fired into her carriage. Before a second shot could be fired, he was overpowered by the crowd and arrested by Superintendent Hayes. Remaining calm, the Queen and her companions rode on to Windsor Castle.

1918 The birth in Kenmare, Ireland, of Sir Peter O'Sullevan, horse racing commentator for the BBC for fifty years, from 1947 to 1997.

1930 David Herbert Lawrence (known as D.H. Lawrence), novelist and poet, died from tuberculosis in Vence - France at the age of 44. His books included Lady Chatterley's Lover, Women in Love and Sons and Lovers.

1947 The birth of Harry Redknapp, former English footballer with a long career in football management, starting in 1983 with Bournemouth and manager of Tottenham Hotspur from 2008.

1958 A British team, led by explorer Vivian Fuchs, completed the first crossing of the Antarctic. His 12-man party endured severe hardships to travel the 2,500 miles from the Filchner Ice Shelf to McMurdo Sound in just 99 days.

1969 The maiden flight of Concorde, the Anglo-French supersonic airline. The Anglo-French plane took off from Toulouse and was in the air for just 27 minutes.

1970 Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia, declared Rhodesia a republic, thereby severing its links with the British Crown.

1986 The Queen signed the Australia Act in Canberra. The Act resolved the anomalous power of the United Kingdom's parliament to legislate over the individual Australian states, a power that it had exercised since colonial times.

1988 The Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party launched their new joint political party - the Social and Liberal Democrats.

1995 British financial dealer Nick Leeson, who bankrupted Barings Bank, was arrested at Frankfurt Airport.

2000 Chilean General Augusto Pinochet left Britain after UK Home Secretary Jack Straw told him that he was free to leave and declared that he would not be extradited to Spain to face charges of human rights abuses.

2001 Joanne Kathleen Rowling (J. K. Rowling), author of Harry Potter, received an OBE from HRH Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace.

[Rosalind]

Very interesting  tha22222

[annie]

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