16th May

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16th May

Postby chenrezig » 16 May 2016, 05:41

1220 Henry III of England laid the foundation stone of a new Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey, thus beginning the new abbey-church which was completed in 1245.

1532 Sir Thomas More resigned as Lord Chancellor of England. He opposed the King's separation from the Catholic Church and refused to accept the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England. He was imprisoned in 1534, tried for treason in 1535 where he was convicted on perjured testimony and beheaded.

1568 Mary Queen of Scots fled to England. Disguised as an ordinary woman, she crossed the River Solway and landed at Workington, Cumbria, spending her first night at Workington Hall.

1578 The birth of Sir Everard Digby, a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned, along with Robert Catesby and others, to kill James I in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

1877 The birth of Sir Bernard Spilsbury, the British pathologist who became known for his conclusive evidence in the trial of Dr. Crippen. Many years later, nder modern-day DNA testing techniques the remains of his "wife" were found to be of a man.

1908 Britain’s first diesel submarine was launched.

1943 The famous ‘Dam Busters’ raid by the 617 Squadron of Lancaster bombers led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson breached the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany using the ‘bouncing’ bombs developed by Dr Barnes Wallis. They practiced their techniques at the Derwent Dam in Derbyshire where you can see this memorial to them. The Eder was Europe’s largest dam, and massive damage and loss of life were caused by flood water, as well as a serious loss of hydroelectric power for the German industrial area of the Rhine.

1951 The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights began between John F Kennedy International Airport in New York and Heathrow Airport in London.

1956 England's Jim Laker took all 10 Australian wickets for 88 in 46 overs at the Oval.

1983 London police began wheel clamping illegally parked vehicles.

1985 Two South Wales miners, Russell Shankland and Dean Hancock , both aged 21, were jailed for life for the murder of taxi driver David Wilkie during the miners' strike. In November 1984, Shankland and Hancock had planned to disrupt a police escort and taxi taking miner David Williams to the Merthyr Vale pit. The taxi driver died after the men hurled a concrete block and a concrete post from a bridge over the Head of the Valleys Road at Rhymner.

1990 John Gummer (government minister) attempted to reassure the public that British beef was safe despite growing fears over BSE. He enlisted his daughter by having her filmed eating a beef burger for the benefit of the TV cameras.

1991 Queen Elizabeth II addressed the U.S. Congress, the first British monarch to do so.

2001 Labour's Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, punched a man who threw an egg at him during his visit to, Rhyl, North Wales. The two men were then involved in a scuffle before the police intervened and arrested Craig Evans, aged 29.

2013 Following earlier government plans to raise the state pension age, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a 'think tank', found that retirement resulted in a 'drastic decline in health' in the medium and long term. Many of us who are retired would disagree!
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Re: 16th May

Postby annie » 16 May 2016, 07:39

than999
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Re: 16th May

Postby Rosalind » 16 May 2016, 23:18

go90 tha22222
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