2nd August

[chenrezig]

1100 King William II of England, son of William the Conqueror, was killed by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest after allegedly being mistaken for a deer.

1610 English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay in north eastern Canada, thinking that he had made it through the Northwest Passage and reached the Pacific Ocean.

1776 The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place. On 4th July earlier that year the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire.

1784 The first specially-built Royal Mail coach began its scheduled service from Bristol to London.

1788 The death of Thomas Gainsborough, English portrait and landscape painter. He preferred landscapes to portraits, but painted King George III and his Queen, although the King was obliged to give the credit to Joshua Reynolds,Gainsborough's rival, as Reynolds was the royal painter.

1865 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was published but was soon withdrawn because of bad printing. Only 21 copies of the first edition survived, making it one of the rarest 19th century books.

1870 Tower Subway opened in London. It is cited as the world's first underground 'tube' railway, though it was not the first underground railway. That was London's Metropolitan Railway which opened in 1863 and used a 'cut and cover' design to support the roof.

1894 Death duties, now known as inheritance tax, were introduced in Britain.

1922 The death of Alexander Graham Bell, the Scottish scientist who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

1925 Alan Whicker, broadcaster and writer was born.

1957 The official Elvis Presley Fan Club was launched in the UK.

1970 The British army used rubber bullets for the first time to quell a riot in Northern Ireland.

1973 51 people were killed when fire swept through the Summerland Amusement Centre at Douglas on the Isle of Man. It was one of the worst British peacetime disasters involving a fire since 1929 when the Glen Cinema in Paisley, Scotland caught fire. It killed 69 children and injured 40 others.

1989 Trade restrictions between Britain and Argentina were lifted for the first time since the 1982 Falklands war.

1993 Following speculative pressure on currencies in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, the Mechanism collapsed and currencies were allowed to fluctuate within broad band of 15% on either side of central rates.

2001 Speed cameras should be made 'bright and visible' said a senior police officer, while a poll showed 50% of drivers backed having more cameras.

[wendy]

[annie]

[Rosalind]

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