6th July

[chenrezig]

1189 The date of accession of Richard I (Richard the Lionheart). In English law the phrase 'time immemorial' means a time before legal history and beyond legal memory. In 1275, by the first Statute of Westminster, the time of memory was limited to the reign of Richard I, beginning on 6th July 1189.

1483 England's King Richard III was crowned. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field was the decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses.

1535 Sir Thomas More was beheaded on London's Tower Hill for refusing to accept Henry VIII as head of the church. He lifted his beard from the axe, on the basis that it had committed no offences against the king!

1553 Mary I acceded to the throne, becoming the first queen to rule England in her own right.

1557 King Philip II of Spain, consort of Queen Mary I set out from Dover to war with France, which eventually results in the loss of the City of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, and Mary I never seeing her husband again.

1685 James II defeated the Duke of Monmouth, claimant to the throne, at the Battle of Sedgemoor, the last major battle to be fought on English soil.

1892 Britain's first non-white MP was elected when Dadabhai Naoraji won the Central Finsbury seat.

1907 The opening of Brooklands - the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit.

1919 The first airship to cross the Atlantic, the British-built R34, arrived in New York.

1924 The first photo was sent experimentally across Atlantic by radio, from the US to England.

1952 After nearly a century of service, trams made their final appearance in London.

1957 Future Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney were introduced to each other when Lennon's band, the Quarrymen, performed at the St. Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton, Merseyside.

1965 The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night was premiered in London, with royal attendance.

1978 Eleven people died and seventeen were injured in a blaze on the Penzance to Paddington sleeper train.

1978 Three bags of horse manure were hurled from the public gallery in the House of Commons during a debate on Scottish Home Rule. Yana Mintoff, daughter of the Prime Minister of Malta, was later arrested and fined.

[annie]

tha22222

[wendy]

[Rosalind]

go90  tha22222