14th July

[chenrezig]

1766 The official opening of the 137 mile long Grand Union Canal (Britain's longest canal) that links London to Birmingham.

1789 The Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie finally completed his journey to the mouth of the great river he hoped would take him to the Pacific, but which turns out to flow into the Arctic Ocean. Later named after him, the Mackenzie is the second-longest river system in North America.

1791 The Priestley Riots (also known as the Birmingham Riots of 1791) took place from 14th to 17th July. The rioters' main targets were English Dissenters, i.e. those Christians who had separated from the Church of England, most notably the controversial clergyman and chemist Joseph Priestley, who is credited with the discovery of oxygen.

1858 The birth, in Moss Side Manchester, of Emmeline Pankhurst, the English suffragette who led the fight for women's suffrage in Britain.

1865 British climber Edward Whymper led the first team of climbers to reach the summit of the Matterhorn in the Alps. As they made their way down, Douglas Hadow, aged 19, slipped and dragged two English climbers and a guide after him. The rope snapped and they plunged to their deaths down a 4,000 ft precipice, but the three others in the party were saved.

1867 Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel demonstrated dynamite for the first time, at a quarry in Redhill, Surrey.

1903 It became known that the government would reject proposals to introduce driving tests, vehicle inspections and penalties for drunken drivers.

1939 The government announced that all infants and nursing mothers would get fresh milk free or at no more than two pence a pint.

1940 World War II: Britain tackled the threat of a German invasion by forming the Home Guard - a part-time volunteer army, generally comprising men too old for national service.

1958 Iraq became a republic after the assassination of King Faisal.

1962 The Beatles played their first gig in Wales when they appeared at The Regent Dansette Theatre in Rhyl.

1967 Abortion was legalized in Britain.

1991 British troops protecting the Kurdish population in Iraq began to pull out of the region.

1996 A bomb exploded in a hotel at Enniskillen in Northern Ireland in which 40 people were injured. It was the first bomb in the province for two years.

1997 Convicted murderer and former London gangster Reggie Kray married Roberta Jones at Maidstone Prison in Kent.

2005 The death of Dame Cicely Saunders, English nurse, physician and writer. She helped the dying and terminally ill to end their lives in the most comfortable way possible and is best known for her role in the birth of the hospice movement.

2014 The Church of England General Synod approved women bishops. The announcement was followed by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, leading the General Synod in a rendition of 'We are Marching in the Light of God'.

[annie]

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