31st March

[chenrezig]

1837 The death of John Constable, English painter, best known for his paintings of the English countryside such as Dedham Vale and The Hay Wain. Although his paintings are now among the most popular and valuable in British art, he was never financially successful and did not become a member of the establishment until he was elected to the Royal Academy at the age of 52. In May 2013 Constable's 1831 masterpiece 'Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows' was bought by the Tate for £23.1m.

1855 Charlotte Bronte, Yorkshire novelist and author of Jane Eyre, died during her pregnancy, aged 38

1912 Both the Oxford and the Cambridge boats sank in the annual university boat race.

1921 British champion jockey Sir Gordon Richards rode the first of his career total of 4,870 winners.

1924 The first British national airline, Imperial Airways, was founded at Croydon Airport.

1930 Scottish engineer John Logie Baird installed a TV set at 10 Downing Street.

1938 The birth, in Kirkcaldy, Fife, of David Steel who served as the Leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988.

1939 Britain and France agreed to support Poland if Germany threatened to invade.

1949 Winston Churchill declared that the atomic bomb was the only thing that kept the Soviet Union from taking over Europe.

1953 More than 1,500 attended the funeral of Queen Mary at St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

1966 Harold Wilson won a sweeping victory in the general election, with a majority of about 100 seats in the House of Commons.

1972 The Beatles' Official Fan Club closed down.

1972 More than 500 people attended a rally in London ahead of a four-day demonstration against nuclear arms.

1973 Racehorse Red Rum won the Grand National Steeplechase in a record time of 9 min. 1.9 sec., a record that remained unbroken for 16 years. He is the only horse to have won the Grand National three times.

1986 Hampton Court Palace was severely damaged by fire.

1986 Six metropolitan county councils, along with Greater London Council were abolished On This Day. They were .... The West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Tyne and Wear, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire councils. The disbanding of seven of the largest councils in Europe was ordered by the government to cut bureaucracy and increase efficiency.

1990 An anti-poll tax rally in London erupted into the worst riots in the city for a 100 years when 200,000 protestors took to the streets.

2011 Edward Stobart, who built up the Eddie Stobart lorry empire and ran it for more than 30 years, died at the age of 56.The company has grown to the extent that its iconic green trucks are now a regular sight all over the country, with a fan club of 25,000.

2013 Easter Sunday was confirmed as the coldest Easter day on record, with the lowest temperature recorded as -12.5C in Braemar, in the Scottish Highlands.

2014 The Hillsborough inquests began, with a jury of 11 people selected from 1,000 who initially received a summons. The inquests into the deaths of the 96 victims of the 1989 Hillsborough football stadium disaster were ordered in December 2012, after verdicts of accidental death from a previous inquest were quashed by the High Court in London.

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[Rosalind]

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