13th April

[chenrezig]

1570 The birth of Guy Fawkes, also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries. He belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

1668 The appointment of the first Poet Laureate - John Dryden.

1732 The birth of Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guildford. As Lord North, he levied the tax on tea that so incensed the American colonists that it provoked the so called ‘Boston Tea Party’.

1741 Britain's Royal Military Academy was established at Woolwich. It is now at Sandhurst.

1742 George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah made its world-premiere, in Dublin, Ireland.

1771 Richard Trevithick, Cornish engineer was born. The son of a mining captain, he performed poorly in school, but went on to be an early pioneer in steam-powered rail. He designed high pressure steam engines and steam powered, road locomotives including 'the Puffing Devil'. It was one of the world's first steam powered road vehicles to carry passengers.

1829 The British Parliament passed the Catholic Emancipation Act, lifting restrictions imposed on Catholics at the time of Henry VIII.

1892 The birth of Sir Arthur Travers Harris, Royal Air Force Bomber commander, nicknamed 'Bomber' Harris by the press, and often within the RAF as 'Butcher' Harris. He instituted the mass bombing raids over Germany, including the controversial blanket bombing of Dresden.

1892 The birth of Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, considered by many to be the inventor of radar. The system provided the vital advance information that helped the Royal Air Force win the Battle of Britain.

1912 The formation of the Royal Flying Corps (later incorporated into the RAF).

1919 British troops opened fire on 10,000 unarmed civilians at Amritsar in India who had defied the restrictions against public gatherings. 379 people were killed and 1,200 wounded.

1922 John Braine, English novelist was born. His books included best sellers 'Room at the Top' and 'Life at the Top'.

1935 Imperial Airways and QANTAS inaugurated their London to Australia air service.

1936 Luton Town footballer Joe Payne, aged 22, set a goal scoring record when he scored ten goals in one match against Bristol Rovers.

1937 The birth of Edward Fox, stage, film and television actor. He is generally associated with portraying the role of the upper-class Englishman, such as the title character in the film The Day of the Jackal (1973) and King Edward VIII in Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978).

1992 Neil Kinnock resigned as Labour Party leader. He blamed the Conservative backed press for his party's defeat at the general election.

2013 Five members of the same family, including a baby, were killed in a crash on the A18 near Grimsby. A nationwide survey conducted by the Road Safety Foundation in 2010 deemed the Grimsby section the UK's highest-risk stretch of road for car drivers.

2014 New reasearch defined Britishness as the monarchy, the BBC and pubs, with William Shakespeare, the House of Commons and our weather topping the list. The British Social Attitudes survey found that a third of people were very proud to be British, compared with 43 per cent a decade previously.

[annie]

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[Rosalind]

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