On This Day

[Raybosailor]

11th. October.

1138 A massive earthquake strikes Aleppo, Syria killing over 200,000 and now the Russians are having a go.

1797 The Battle of Camperdown between the British Royal Navy and the Royal Netherlands Navy ended in a victory for the British Navy.

1899 The start of the Boer War between the British Empire and the Republics of the Orange Free State.

1919 The first airline meals were served on a flight from London to Paris. They were pre-packed lunch boxes at 3 shillings each (15p) I think Easy Jet are still using the same stock.

1957 The radio telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire was switched on for the first time, it was the largest in the world at the time.

1982 The Mary Rose, the pride of Henry VIII's English fleet until it sank in the Solent in 1545, was raised, by the Mary Rose Trust. It is on display at the 'Historical Dockyard' in Portsmouth.

Births
1738 Admiral Arthur Phillip, who founded the first penal colony in Australia and the forefather of Sydney.
1821 George Williams the founder of the YMCA was born in Dulverton, Somerset.
1872 Emily Wilding Davison, suffragette who ran in front of the Kings horse at Epsom resulting in her death.
1937 Bobby Charlton, England and Manchester United footballer.
1943 John Nettles, actor.
1951 Gordon Richards, champion British jockey.
1957 Dawn Roma French, actress and comedian.

[qbman1]

There are some seriously expensive-looking houses around there Raymondo - those games of killer must be how they made all their money !

There used to be a few racehorse trainers in that area Cubie so I suppose that was more lucrative than a weekly game of killer.

Oxton is just a stones throw from Calverton said to be the birthplace of William Lee the inventor of the Stocking Frame and of course there is Southwell the other way with its Minster and Racecourse, it is also the origin of the 'Bramley Apple' too.

Yes, I shall be visiting Southwell to see if I can pick up a few plants at the market and there are a few nice little coffee and cake shops too. Probably a visit to the garden centre will be included in my adventure!

I shall be seeking out this headstone at the Minster too !

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[Raybosailor]

12th. October.

1492 Christopher Columbus makes landfall in the Caribbean believing he had found the Indies.

1817 The launch of HMS Trincomalee the oldest naval warship still afloat is now berthed in Hartlepool.

1823 Charles Macintosh of Scotland began selling raincoats, later nicknamed Mac's.

1915 World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell who helped allied troops to escape Belgium was executed by a German firing squad.

1948 The first of 1.6 million Morris Minor's was produced at Cowley, Oxfordshire, the last one built in 1971.

1984 The Grand Hotel in Brighton is bombed by the IRA killing 5 and injuring 31.

Births
1537 Edward VI of England, the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Jane died 13 days after the birth.
1860 Elmer Ambrose Sperry, co-inventor of the gyrocompass which is still used in navigation today.
1872 Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the most diverse composers of music in history.
1944 Angela Rippon, English journalist.
1953 Les Dennis, comedian and tv presenter best known for 'Family Fortunes'.
1966 Brian Kennedy, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist.

[Raybosailor]

13th. October.

1792 The cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion was laid in Washington, the building is renamed 'The White House' 20 years later.

1884 During a conference it was agreed that the Meridian line would pass through the Observatory of Greenwich to determine a zero degrees longitude line and later determines 'Greenwich Mean Time' (GMT)

1923 Ankara replaces Istanbul as the capital of Turkey.

1943 During World War 2 the new government of Italy changes sides and declares war on Germany.

1958 Paddington Bear books written by Michael Bond hit the bookshops, I was a 'Rupert Bear' fan myself.

The 13th. of October was an unlucky day for flying as there were three air disasters on this day in four years.
1972 An Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-62 crashes outside Moscow killing 174.
1972 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes mountains, near the border between Argentina and Chile only 16 of the 45 on board survived and they had to wait until the 23rd. of December for rescue.
1976 A Bolivian Boeing 707 cargo jet crashes into a street in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, killing the 3 crew and 97 on the ground.
The bad luck continues on this day in 1992 an Antonov An-124, cargo plane crashes near Kiev killing the crew of eight, hope nobody is flying today.

1992 The government announces the closure of one third of pits putting 31,000 miners out of work.

Births
1453 Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, he died at the age of 18 in the Battle of Tewkesbury.
1853 Lillie Langtry (born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton), English actress and singer, also famous for her relationships with the Prince of Wales and other gentry.
1904 Wilfred Pickles, English actor and radio host, who remembers "whats on the table Mable ?".
1925 Margaret Thatcher, she was not for turning.

[Silver_Shiney]

1943 During World War 2 the new government of Italy changes sides and declares war on Germany.

Well I never knew that - you learn something new every day! Thanks, Ray

[qbman1]

13th. October.

1958 Paddington Bear books written by Michael Bond hit the bookshops, I was a 'Rupert Bear' fan myself.

Bet you've still got the check trousers and scarf Raymondo !

I had the hots for Tiger Lily !

[Raybosailor]

No but I've got some check jim jams Cubie.

[Raybosailor]

14th. October.

1066 A few weeks earlier King Harold had won a major battle at Stamford Bridge but on this day he was defeated and killed at the Battle of Hastings. This battle always reminds me of my dear mum because as kids me and my mates were always making bows and arrows and she would shout out “you’ll have somebody’s eye out with that”.

1322 Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Scotland's independence, don’t tell Krankie.

1586 Mary, Queen of Scots, goes on trial for conspiracy against Elizabeth I of England, she was executed the following February.

1812 Work on London's Regent's Canal starts, the canal was built to link the Grand Union Canal with the River Thames at Limehouse Basin, it is 8.6 miles long with 13 locks.

1898 The steamer ship SS Mohegan sinks with a loss of 106 lives after hitting the Manacles a treacherous group of rocks near The Lizard in Cornwall, known locally as the church stones.

1913 The Senghenydd Colliery Disaster, near Caerphilly kills 439 miners the worst mining disaster in the UK.

1926 The children's book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne, is first published, there seems to be a Bear theme this month.

1939 The German submarine U-47 sinks the British battleship HMS Royal Oak at Scapa Flow, Scotland.

1940 Nazi Luftwaffeair raids kill 66 in Balham underground station.

1969 Two years ahead of the complete changeover to decimalization, Britain scrapped the 10 shilling note and introduced the 50 pence coin.

Births
1644 William Penn, English businessman, founded the Province of Pennsylvania.
1873 Jules Rimet,3rd President of FIFA the Jules Rimet World Cup Trophy was named in his honour.
1890 Dwight D. Eisenhower,34th President of the United States.
1940 Harry Rodger Webb, better known as Cliff Richard was born in India.
1960 Steve Cram, athlete born in Jarrow.

[qbman1]

Shall we have a bit of music "history" today ?

1966, Pink Floyd played their first ever "underground" set when they appeared at All Saints Hall, Notting Hill, London, UK.

1967, The second series of The Monkees TV show started on BBC TV in the UK. Plans for the shows to be screened in colour were dropped, so it was aired in black & white.

1968, The Jackson Five make their national TV debut on 'ABC TV's Hollywood Palace.

1969, Police in New Jersey issued a warrant for the arrest of Frank Sinatra in relation to his connections with the Mafia.

1971, Music publishing firm, Arco Industries filed a $500,000 dollar lawsuit against Creedence Clearwater Revival singer John Fogerty, claiming that Fogerty's song Travelin' Band "contained substantial material copied from Little Richard's Good Golly, Miss Molly". The suit was eventually dropped.

1972, Michael Jackson went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Ben', his first solo No.1. which was also a a No.7 hit in the UK.

1977, David Bowie released his twelfth studio album "Heroes", the second installment of his Berlin Trilogy with Brian Eno (the other releases being Low and Lodger). The album was later named NME Album of the Year.

1988, Def Leppard became first act in chart history to sell seven million copies of two consecutive LPs, with Pyromania (their third studio album released in 1983) and Hysteria, (which became the band's best-selling album to date, selling over 20 million copies worldwide, and spawning six hit singles).

[Frank Manning]

1939 as above :- Gunther Prien was the Commander of U-47. He was feted as a hero and awarded the coveted Ritterkreuz, a Knights Cross of the Iron Cross. The entire crew were flown to Berlin in Hitler's private plane and a great parade through the streets followed with masses of cheering crowds.
It had been a great loss of loss face and loss of life for the Royal Navy which had thought that Scapa Flow was impenetrable. Despite this, the facts were that the Royal Oak was an outdated relic of WWI, and five major capital units had very recently left Scaa following a reconnaissance by the Luftwaffe leading the authorities to expect a major air raid on Scapa. Consequently sad though it was the long term strategic significance was not great. Prien, and two other aces were lost during the war, and Kretschmer was taken prisoner.

They were brave men who manned the U-Boats.

[Raybosailor]

You wouldn't get me in a submarine Frank, I am a bit claustrophobic and a cruise cabin is pushing the boundaries out for me that is why I spend most of the cruise on the outer decks or the larger public areas.

The Royal Navy had quite a few WW1 relics in their fleet during WW2 my dad's ship 'HMS Walker' being one of them, he always said that the C Class Destroyers were a lot better and was glad when he went on HMS Cavendish.

[Raybosailor]

15th. October.

1066 Following Harold's death at the Battle of Hastings Edgar the Ætheling is proclaimed King of England, but is never crowned, he only reigns until 10 December 1066.

1793 Queen Marie Antoinette of France is tried and convicted in a trial at the Palais de Justice, Paris, and condemned to death the following day.

1989 Wayne Gretzky becomes the all-time leading points scorer in the NHL, he was the greatest ice hockey player of all time and still holds 60 NHL records.

1887 Preston North End beat Hyde 26-0 in an FA Cup tie, the highest goal score ever in a major competition.

1987 The worst hurricane to hit Britain since records began devastated southern England and caused at least 17 deaths.

2016 The last day of the 'Robin Hood Beer & Cider Festival' considered to be the largest in the UK, last year there were 1270 real ales and over 200 ciders on offer. Yours truly will be down there today sampling a few apple ciders (part of my 5 a day) and there are 19 gluten free cask ales on offer too.

Births
1881 P. G. Wodehouse, author and playwright, 'Jeeves and Wooster' was one of his works.
1925 Tony Hart, English painter and television host, 'Take Hart' was one of his most popular shows where he was accompanied by a plasticine character called Morph.
1948 Chris de Burgh, Argentinian singer 'Lady in Red'.
1959 Sarah, Duchess of York.

[Frank Manning]

You wouldn't get me in a submarine Frank, I am a bit claustrophobic and a cruise cabin is pushing the boundaries out for me that is why I spend most of the cruise on the outer decks or the larger public areas.

The Royal Navy had quite a few WW1 relics in their fleet during WW2 my dad's ship 'HMS Walker' being one of them, he always said that the C Class Destroyers were a lot better and was glad when he went on HMS Cavendish.

Ray, I recommend a book 'One of our Submarines' by the late Commander Edward Young DSO DSC. He was the first RNVR Submarine Commander, and even before he got command he had some narrow escapes, including one from the bottom of the North Sea after his sub had been rammed by one of our ships.

I went to meet him a few years before he died, and he was absolutely charming and so modest. He signed my copy of his book, and I even have a letter from him. It is a great read from beginning to end.

I expect that you know that there is a C class destroyer HMS Cavalier preserved at Chatham, and at Gdansk is the Polish Destroyer ORP Blyskawicza (Lightning). Both ships were built by John Samuel White at Cowes. The Cavendish was built at John Browns.

[Raybosailor]

16th. October.

1793 After her trial yesterday Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis XVI, is executed by guillotine.

1834 The Old Palace of Westminster in London burns to the ground, the New Palace is now the House of Commons and the seat of British Government.

1847 Charlotte Bronte's novel 'Jane Eyre' is published under her pseudonym Currer Bell.

1869 England's first residential college for women Girton College, Cambridge was founded.

1902 Britain opened its first 'Borstal' detention centre, in the village of Borstal in Kent.

1923 The Walt Disney Company is founded by Walt Disney with his brother Roy.

1958 Leila Williams and Christopher Trace present the first Blue Peter programme.

1964 Harold Wilson became Prime Minister, after a Labour absence of 13 years.

Birthdays
1803 Robert Stephenson, son of George they were both locomotive and railway engineers.
1922 Max Bygraves, actor and singer, is your toothbrush pink or blue ?.
1925 Angela Lansbury, English-American actress and singer.
1947 Terry Griffiths, Welsh snooker player.

Happy Birthday today to Broadside, I am down your way in a couple of weeks, 4 days in Southwold.

[Raybosailor]

17th October

1814 The London Beer Flood, at a brewery in Tottenham Court Road a vat of beer ruptured causing other vats in the building to rupture making a tidal wave of over 323,000 gallons ( over 2.5 million pints) of beer. The wave destroyed two homes and a pub killing 8 people including 4 & 3 year old children.

1849 The death of Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, Polish composer.

1860 At Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland the first Open Championship is played.

1943 The Burma Railway (Burma–Thailand Railway) is completed, Cheryl’s dad was one of over 60,000 Japanese POW’s forced to work on the railway and one of the lucky few to survive, his medical records are pretty disturbing reading and he only weighed just over 6 stone when released. The survivors although starving were only allowed small amounts of food and drink by the medics because any more could have killed them.

2000 A train crash at Hatfield, north of London kills four and injuring over 70 people.

Births
1934 Johnny Haynes, Fulham and England footballer.
1968 Graeme Le Saux, Chelsea, Blackburn and Southampton footballer born in Jesey.
1969 Ernie Els, South African golfer.

[qbman1]

A place close to my heart Cubie, I used to go to The Green Dragon in Oxton regularly on a Saturday night. They used to play darts for money and at the end of the night there used to be a game of killer where everyone in the pub chucked a shilling in.
It was winner takes all and if you won it paid for your night out.

Here's one for you then, Raymondo...

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[Raybosailor]

That's the one Cubie, I used to be a fair dart player in those days but I probably wouldn't hit the board now.

Did you find the gravestone at Southwell Minster ?, the initials looked rather rude to me.

[qbman1]

That's the one Cubie, I used to be a fair dart player in those days but I probably wouldn't hit the board now.

Did you find the gravestone at Southwell Minster ?, the initials looked rather rude to me.

Yes, I did find the gravestone. It is really quite small and insignificant in the flesh.

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[qbman1]

That's the one Cubie, I used to be a fair dart player in those days but I probably wouldn't hit the board now.

Did you find the gravestone at Southwell Minster ?, the initials looked rather rude to me.

The Green Dragon has obviously aged a bit since you frequented it, Raymondo - it's now "The OLD Green Dragon" !

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[Raybosailor]

I think it probably was 'The Old Green Dragon' Cubie but to be honest we just used to call it The Dragon.

[qbman1]

Not sure, Raymondo. When I first started going up there, it was closed and boarded up so it may well have re-opened with a new name

[Raybosailor]

18th. October.

1356 An earthquake the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.

1851 Herman Melville's book Moby-d**k was first published as 'The Whale' by Richard Bentley of London.

1910 The trial of English murderer Dr Crippen began at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London.

1922 The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters.

1954 In Dallas,the companyTexas Instruments announces the production of the first transistor radio.

2014 A flock of sheep was left feeling rather woolly-headed after accidentally munching on £4,000 worth of cannabis plants that had been dumped in their field, at the edge of Fanny’s Farm in Merstham, Surrey. By the time that the police arrived, much of the evidence had been eaten, so no brass from the grass.

Births
1939 Lee Harvey Oswald, American assassin of John F. Kennedy, Oswald was shot days later by Jack Ruby.
1947 Paul Harman Elliott, better known as Paul Chuckle of the Chuckle Brothers, "to me, to you".
1955 Timmy Mallett, tv goon with the big pink foam mallet.
1956 Martina Navratilova, Czech tennis ace.
1960 Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgian martial artist, actor and producer.
1978 Mike Tindall, English rugby player and husband of Zara Phillips.

[Stephen]

Neil Armstrong walked on the moon on the 20 July 1969 and I was pregnant waiting for my first son

Does Neil know

[Raybosailor]

Not sure, Raymondo. When I first started going up there, it was closed and boarded up so it may well have re-opened with a new name

I didn't know it had shut down at some stage Cubie but I'm not surprised because Oxton is only a small village and people don't venture out to pubs these days.

[Raybosailor]

19th. October.

1216 King John of England dies at Newark Castle in Nottinghamshire and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry.

1745 Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, died aged 77 he is buried in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin where his Epitaph can be found.

1914 The First Battle of Ypres begins, between the allied forces of France,Belgium and Britain against Germany with heavy losses from both sides.

2005 Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.

2013 The violin that was said to have been played to calm the passengers of the sinking Titanic was sold at auction for £900,000.

Births
1469 John Fisher, a Roman Catholic cardinal who was executed by Henry V111 for refusing to accept the king as leader of the Church of England.
1688 William Cheselden, one of the forerunners of surgery as a profession.
1858 George Albert Boulenger, a zoologist who identified over 2,000 species of fish, reptiles and amphibians.
1886 Joseph Lister VC, was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry at the battle of Passchendaele, Belgium on 9 October 1917 when he stormed two machine gun posts and captured 100 enemy troops.
1954 Sam Allardyce, English footballer and manager of England for one game.