28th April

[chenrezig]

1442 Edward IV, King of England and son of Richard, Duke of York, was born. He was the first king of the House of York.

1603 Queen Elizabeth I's funeral took place at Westminster Abbey.

1770 English navigator Captain James Cook and his crew, including the botanist Joseph Banks, landed in Australia, at Stingray Bay, which was later named Botany Bay.

1772 The death, in London, of the world's most travelled goat. She had circumnavigated the world twice, first on Dolphin under Captain Wallis, then on Cook's Endeavour. The Lord of the Admiralty even signed a document acknowledging her age and adventures.

1789 The crew of the Bounty, led by Fletcher Christian, mutinied against the harsh life at sea under Captain Bligh. They were on the return journey from Tahiti where they had spent six months gathering breadfruit trees. Bligh and 17 others were cast adrift in a small boat without a chart. While the mutineers eventually colonized Pitcairn Island, Bligh managed to sail the small craft 3,618 miles to Timor, near Java, arriving there on 14th June.

1795 The birth of Charles Sturt, English explorer who headed three major Australian expeditions. With Hume, he discovered the River Darling. He also charted the Murray to its source near Adelaide, suffering great hardships along the way. Another area he explored, the Sturt desert, is named after him.

1801 Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury was born. He was one of the most effective social and industrial reformers in 19th-century England. He introduced the Coal Mines Act in 1842 which prohibited the employment of women and children underground and was also the acknowledged leader of the evangelical movement within the Church of England.

1888 The birth of Walter Tull, professional football for Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town. He was the first 'Afro-Caribbean / mixed heritage' outfield player in the top division of English football, and the first to be commissioned as an infantry officer in the British Army. Northampton South MP Brian Binley has campaigned for Tull to be posthumously awarded the Military Cross for his 'gallantry and coolness' while leading his company of 26 men on a raiding party into enemy territory during World War 1.

1910 Frenchman Louis Paulhan won the London to Manchester air race and the £10,000 prize. It was the first long-distance aeroplane race in England and was first proposed by the Daily Mail newspaper in 1906.

1923 The first FA Cup Final was held at Wembley Stadium. 200,000 people arrived at a stadium which was only designed to hold 125,000 and when 60,000 irate fans rushed the turnstiles a human torrent swept onto the pitch. Players were engulfed by the crowd and 1,000 men, women and children were injured. Finals were made 'all ticket' after that. The game began one hour late and Bolton beat West Ham 2-0.

1999 The death of Sir Alfred Ernest 'Alf' Ramsey, manager of the English national football team from 1963 to 1974. His greatest achievement was winning the 1966 World Cup with England on 30th July 1966.

2010 Former Prime MInister, Gordon Brown, said that he was 'mortified' after being caught on microphone describing Rochdale pensioner, Gillian Duffy, as a bigoted woman after she had had challenged him on issues, including immigration.

[annie]

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[wendy]