23rd April

[chenrezig]

1016 Edmund Ironside succeeded his father Æthelred the Unready as king of England,

1348 The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III. It is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St. George as England's patron saint. Membership to the order is limited to the Sovereign, the Prince of Wales, and no more than twenty-four 'members, or companions.'

1564 The birth of poet & playwright William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. He died on his 52nd birthday in 1616.

1661 Charles II was crowned King of England, completing the restoration of the monarchy. His father, Charles I, had been beheaded by Oliver Cromwell following the Civil War.

1775 J M W Turner, English painter was born. He was one of the greatest masters of British watercolour landscape painting. His painting of Raby Castle, commissioned by the third earl of Darlington, was one of Turner's most successful "house portraits."

1850 William Wordsworth, English poet, died. For almost 9 years he lived and wrote at Dove Cottage - Grasmere.

1879 The first Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opened in Stratford-upon-Avon, and in 1932 the New Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was opened by the Prince of Wales.

1942 World War II – German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.

1968 The first decimal coins appeared in Britain - the 5p and 10p pieces which replaced the 1 shilling and 2 shilling coins.

1980 The British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia was expelled from the country following the broadcast on British TV of the documentary 'Death of a Princess'. It depicted the life and execution of a Saudi Arabian Princess found guilty of committing adultery.

1982 The launch of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer. The entry level model had 16 kB RAM and an external tape recorder was needed to load the majority of software. It was 'a computer for the masses' and much cheaper than its rivals - the Commodore 64 and the BBC Microcomputer.

1983 Canadian snooker player Cliff Thorburn completed the first televised maximum break of 147 during the World Snooker Championships at the Crucible Theatre, in Sheffield.

1990 Charlie Wilson, the ‘silent man' of the Great Train Robbery (8th August 1963), was shot dead at his home near Marbella, Spain.

2011 The death of John Sullivan, the television scriptwriter responsible for several popular British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends.

2013 Data from the UK Peace Index showed that rates of murder and violent crime had fallen more rapidly in the UK in the previous decade than anywhere else in Western Europe, with a fall in UK homicides per 100,000 people from 1.99 in 2003, to 1 in 2012.

2014 Research by Leicester University found that people who migrate to the Mediterranean are unhappier than those who remain in northern European countries, including the UK. Reasons cited included not having a sense of belonging, struggling without family ties and a damage to social standing by perhaps living in a less economical country.

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