4th July

[chenrezig]

1776 The American Congress voted for independence from Britain.

1829 Britain's first regular scheduled bus service began running, between Marylebone Road and the Bank of England, in London.

1840 The Cunard Shipping Line began its first Atlantic crossing when the paddle steamer Britannia sailed from Liverpool en route to Halifax. The voyage took 14 days.

1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known under his pseudonym Lewis Carroll, told Alice Liddell a story as they were rowing on the Isis through Oxford, that, three years later, would grow into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels. Alice's Shop - at 83 St Aldates, Oxford is part of the original storyand is situated across the road from Alice's childhood home, the Oxford University College of Christ Church. An entire episode in the story takes place in the shop

1879 In the Anglo-Zulu War, the Zululand capital of Ulundi was captured by British troops and burnt to the ground, thus, ending the war.

1892 The General Election saw the appointment of Britain's first socialist MP - James Keir Hardie, elected for Holytown, Lanarkshire.

1903 Dorothy Levitt became the first English woman in the world to compete in a 'motor-race'. She was the most successful female competitor in Great Britain, a victorious speedboat driver, holder of the Water Speed record and holder of the Ladies World Land speed record. She even instructed Queen Alexandra and the Royal Princesses on how to drive.

1947 The 'Indian Independence Bill' was presented before the House of Commons, proposing the partition of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries – India and Pakistan.

1968 Round-the-world yachtsman Alec Rose received a hero's welcome as he sailed into Portsmouth in his boat Lively Lady, after his 354-day trip.

1969 British tennis player Ann Jones won the Wimbledon women's singles title, beating American Billie Jean King in the final.

1977 Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty was sacked by the club's directors.

1985 Ruth Lawrence achieved the best first-class mathematics degree at the University of Oxford, at the age of 13.

1990 Footballer Paul Gascoigne's booking, (that would have excluded him from the World Cup Final, had England got there), resulted in the famous on pitch crying scenes from Gascoigne.

1995 John Major emerged as the winner in an unprecedented parliamentary election for leadership of the ruling Conservative Party.

1996 Prince Charles, Prince of Wales delivered his terms for a divorce from Diana, Princess of Wales - an offer of £15m reportedly backed by the Queen.

2000 The campaigning organization 'Tidy Britain Group' condemned local councils for failing to enforce litter laws.

2007 BBC correspondent, 45 year old Alan Johnston, was released by kidnappers in the Gaza Strip after 114 days in captivity. An online petition had been signed by some 200,000 people demanding his release.

2012 'The Lock' a work by the English romantic painter John Constable was sold for £22,441,250 - a world record price at auction for the artist.

2013 British detectives opened a new investigation, after reviewing all the evidence into the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann, six years after she went missing from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal.