26th June

[chenrezig]

1483 Richard, Duke of Gloucester, began to rule England as Richard III, having deposed his nephew, Edward V. Edward and his brother, Richard, Duke of York.

1817 The birth of Branwell Brontë, painter, poet, the only son of the Brontë family, and the brother of the writers Charlotte, Emily, and Anne.

1830 George IV died. His brother, William VI ascended the throne.

1857 The first investiture ceremony for Victoria Cross awards took place in Hyde Park, London. Queen Victoria presented 62 servicemen with Britain's highest military honour.

1862 Joseph Wells (father of sci-fi writer H.G. Wells) was a Kent cricketer and became the first man to take four first class wickets with four consecutive balls, playing against Sussex.

1909 London's Victoria & Albert Museum opened to the public

1937 Britain's Duke of Windsor married American divorcee Wallis Simpson in France following his abdication as King Edward VIII.

1939 Britain's first National Serviceman, Private Rupert Alexander, signed up for the Middlesex Regiment. His service number was 10000001.

1945 Delegates from nations around the world signed the United Nations Charter, designed to help ensure future world peace. The first meeting of the U.N. General Assembly occurred in London early the following year.

1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and President Eisenhower.

1974 British actor Richard Burton divorced his wife, American actress Elizabeth Taylor for the first time. They remarried on 10th October 1975 and divorced for the second time on 29th July 1976.

1977 Peter Sutcliffe (the Yorkshire Ripper) killed 16 year old Jayne MacDonald in Leeds. She was the fifth of his 13 victims. Her murder changed public perception of the killer, as she was the first victim who was not a prostitute. In 1981 Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attacking seven others. He is currently serving 20 sentences of life imprisonment in Broadmoor Hospital.

1986 Entrepreneur Richard Branson set off on his second attempt to claim the transatlantic powerboat record for Britain. He smashed the previous record by two hours but was denied the Blue Riband by the trustees of the award because he had broken two rules of the competition; he had stopped to refuel and his vessel did not have a commercial maritime purpose.

1991 After campaigning to prove their innocence for 15 years, the 'Maguire Seven' were cleared by the Court of Appeal of running an IRA bomb factory in England.

1997 Dresses belonging to Diana, Princess of Wales were auctioned for more than £2million in New York.