1st June ! (already?)

[chenrezig]

1495 Friar John Cor recorded the first known batch of Scotch whisky in Lindores Abbey, Fife.

1533 Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's new queen, was crowned.

1648 The Roundheads defeated the Cavaliers at the Battle of Maidstone in the Second English Civil War.

1831 The magnetic North Pole was located by Sir James Clark Ross on his Arctic exploration expedition with Admiral Parry.

1878 John Masefield, English poet was born. He became Poet Laureate in 1930.

1907 Frank Whittle, English inventor who developed the jet engine was born.

1910 Captain Robert Falcon Scott set off to reach the South Pole, sailing from London’s East India Dock in his ship Terra Nova.

1935 Britain introduced the compulsory wearing of 'L' plates for learner drivers. Also On This Day, all people who had started to drive on or after 1 April 1934 needed to have passed the test. Legislation for compulsory testing was introduced for all new drivers with the Road Traffic Act 1934 but the test was initially voluntary to avoid a rush of candidates.

1938 The Bren gun was issued to the armed forces service. The name was derived from Brno, the Czech town where it was first made, and Enfield, where it was made in Britain.

1939 In Liverpool Bay, while carrying out trials, the Royal Navy submarine Thetis sank, killing 99 crew.

1943 BOAC Flight 777 was shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that the downing was an attempt to kill the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.

1946 Television licences were issued in Britain for the first time. They cost £2.

1953 Gordon Richards became the first jockey to be knighted. Six days later he won the Derby at his 28th attempt. On This Day in 1977 and 1983, Lester Piggott won his eighth and ninth Derbys.

1957 'ERNIE' drew the first premium bond prizes in Britain. The first prize was £1000.

1958 Britain introduced the Clean Air Act, affecting industry as well as domestic uses of energy.

1968 Britain and Iceland signed a formal end to the 'Cod War' over fishing rights in the North Sea.

1977 The maximum speed limits on Britain's roads was changed to 70mph

1979 Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) formally ended nearly 90 years of white minority rule.

1997 Prime Minister Tony Blair apologised to the people of Ireland for British actions during the Potato Famine 150 years earlier.

[wendy]

[Rosalind]

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[annie]

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