Today in history

9 th November 1998

Capital punishment abolition :
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom, already abolished for murder, is completely abolished for all remaining capital offences.


November 9, 1998
Capital punishment in the United Kingdom predates the formation of the UK, having been used within the British Isles from ancient times until the second half of the 20th century. The last executions in the United Kingdom were by hanging, and took place in 1964; capital punishment for murder was suspended in 1965 and finally abolished in 1969. Although unused, the death penalty remained a legally defined punishment for certain offences such as treason until it was completely abolished in 1998; the last execution for treason took place in 1946. In 2004 the 13th Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights became binding on the United Kingdom; it prohibits the restoration of the death penalty as long as the UK is a party to the convention.

10 th November 1871

Stanley locates Livingstone :
Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, famously greeting him with the words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

On this day, November 10th. 1871, Henry Morton Stanley found missionary David Livingstone at Ujiji, in modern day Tanzania, Africa.

Stanley began his search for Livingtone, who had been 'lost' in Africa for two years, some fourteen months earlier. Upon locating him, he simply asked, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

Born John Reynolds in Denbigh, Wales , in 1841, he was the illegitimate son of John Rowland who died within weeks of his birth and Elizabeth Parry who abandoned him as a baby.

Initially raised by family members, at the age of seven he found himself in the care of the St. Asaph Union Workhouse.

At 18 years of age, John Reynolds migrated to the United States where he adopted the name of his wealthy first employer Henry Hope Stanley.
During the American Civil War, Stanley fought for both the Confederate and Union forces as a soldier, before finally serving in the United States Navy before deserting.

Post Civil War Stanley developed a career as a journalist, firstly reporting on 'frontier' expansion followed by international stories.

As the correspondent for the New York Herald he reported on the British victory at the Battle of Magdala in 1868, followed by reporting on Spain's 'Glorious Revolution.

However, his fame as a journalist and explorer was cemented with his expedition to find Dr Livingstone who was 'lost' whilst attempting to locate the source of the River Nile.
Having greeted the missionary with "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" Stanley struck up a friendship that resulted in him, on his return to the coast, sending fresh supplies to enable Livingtone to continue his search for the source of the Nile.

Livingstone continued his exploration but was to die within a year on May Day, 1873.

Henry Morton Stanley was knighted in 1899.

11 th November 1918

The 1918 Armistice :
World War I: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car in the forest of Compiègne.

In September 1918, Germany’s generals informed Kaiser Wilhelm and his chancellor, Prince Max von Baden, that the war was lost. Two months later, the British and French governments demanded that the Germans sign a ceasefire or face an Allied invasion.

On November 10, Kaiser Wilhelm went into exile, leaving Germany in the hands of the leaders of its most prominent political parties. Germany’s new leaders were not sure how to respond to the Allies’ demands for a ceasefire. Matthias Erzberger, one of the new leaders from the Catholic Center Party, asked Paul von Hindenburg, the commander-in-chief of the German Armed Forces, for advice. Hindenburg tearfully told Erzberger to do his patriotic duty by signing the document immediately to end the fighting. There would be no negotiation.

So, early on the morning of November 11, Erzberger and two other representatives of the new republic journeyed to France and signed the agreement. Hindenburg and the other generals did not attend the armistice signing; they did not want their names associated with the document.

When the German people finally learned the terms of truce later that day, almost everyone was outraged. The armistice was a shock for many Germans because they had begun the war with a strong sense of national superiority and the expectation that their country would win. Few blamed the generals or the kaiser for the nation’s defeat.

12 th November 1912

Captain Scott :
The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.


12 November
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO, RN (6 June 1868 – 29 March 1912) was an English Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions. During the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen's Norwegian expedition. On their return journey, Scott's party discovered plant fossils, proving Antarctica was once forested and joined to other continents. At a distance of 150 miles from their base camp and 11 miles from the next depot, Scott and his companions died from a combination of exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold.

The bodies of Scott and his companions were discovered by a search party on 12 November 1912 and their records retrieved. Their final camp became their tomb; a high cairn of snow was erected over it, topped by a roughly fashioned cross. In January 1913, a large wooden cross was made, inscribed with the names of the lost party and Tennyson's line from his poem Ulysses: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield", and was erected as a permanent memorial on Observation Hill, overlooking Hut Point.

13 th November 1954


Rugby league worrld cup :
Great Britain defeats France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup in Paris in front of around 30,000 spectators.


The 1954 Rugby League World Cup was rugby league football's first World Cup and was held in France in October–November 1954. Officially known as the "Rugby World Cup", four nations competed in the tournament: Australia, France, Great Britain and New Zealand. A group stage was held first, with Great Britain topping the table as a result of points difference. They went on to defeat France (who finished second in the table, level on points) in the final, which was held at Paris' Parc des Princes before 30,368 spectators.

The prime instigators behind the idea of holding a rugby league world cup were the French, who were short of money following the seizing of their assets by French rugby union in the Second World War. The first rugby league world cup was an unqualified success. It was played in a uniformly good spirit, provided an excellent standard of play and was a fitting celebration of France's 20th anniversary as a rugby league-playing nation. The trophy, which was donated by the French, was worth eight million francs

The World Cup was a French initiative. Led by Paul Barrière, who donated the Rugby League World Cup trophy himself, they had been campaigning for such a tournament since before the Second World War. Teams from Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States were invited to join the hosts, France, for the first World Cup in 1953.] However, the tournament was not held until 1954, with all teams except the United States participating. The French had suggested that the United States play but the other nations were concerned about a lack of competitiveness which was borne out by France beating the United States 31–0 on 9 January 1954. It had been suggested that Wales be invited instead of the USA but they weren't approached.

The uncertainty of the ultimate outcome was of particular interest. In the early 1950s all four competing nations were quite capable of beating each other – no test series in the period was a foregone conclusion.

If there were a favourite it was Australia who had just won back the Ashes. However, in 1953 they had lost series to both the French and the Kiwis, while Great Britain had defeated New Zealand on the second half of their 1954 Australasian tour.

The form book merely provided a conundrum which was made more confusing when the British were forced, through injuries and players making themselves unavailable, to select a raw and largely untried squad which was given little credibility by the cynics.

The captains for this historic event were Puig-Aubert (France), Cyril Eastlake (New Zealand), Clive Churchill (Australia) and Dave Valentine (Britain). The referees were Warrington's Charlie Appleton and Rene Guidicelli (Perpignan).

14 th November 1952

First U.K pop charts :
The New Musical Express publishes the first regular UK Singles Chart.



The first ever Official Singles Chart - revisited!

70 years ago today, on November 14, 1952, the first ever Official Singles Chart was published in NME. To celebrate, OfficialCharts.com reveal the first ever Top 12 complete with streaming playlists!


In the US, Billboard had been compiling a weekly chart based on record sales since 1940, but here in the UK a song’s popularity was measured not by its physical sales, but by sales of the accompanying sheet music.

In 1952, Percy Dickins, one of the founders of the New Musical Express (which later became the NME) decided to produce a chart based on UK record sales. Dickins compiled the chart by telephoning 20 record shops up and down the country every week and tallying up their biggest-selling singles. The first ever Top 12 (which was actually a Top 15 given that sales of the Number 7, Number 8, and Number 11 singles were tied) was published in the New Musical Express on November 14, 1952.




American crooner Al Martino took the inaugural Official Singles Chart Number 1 with his track Here In My Heart. He would hold onto the top spot for nine consecutive weeks, a feat which has only been beaten by David Whitfield’s Cara Mia (10 consecutive weeks), Rihanna’s Umbrella (10 consecutive weeks), Frankie Laine’s I Believe (11), Wet Wet Wet’s Love Is All Around (15) and Bryan Adams’ (Everything I Do) I Do It for You (16).

Jo Stafford, who would go on the become the Official Singles Chart’s first female chart topper, debuted at Number 2 with You Belong To Me, while Nat King Cole’s Somewhere Along The Way entered at Number 3. Bing Crosby’s The Isle of Innisfree entered at Number 4, and Guy Mitchell’s Feet Up (Pat Him On The Po Po) completed the first ever Top 5.

Further down the chart, Frankie Laine’s High Noon and Vera Lynn’s Forget Me Not were tied for Number 7. Doris Day And Frankie Laine’s Sugarbush and Ray Martin’s Blue Tango were joint Number 8, and Max Bygraves' Cowpuncher’s Cantata and Mario Lanza’s Because You’re Mine were joint Number 11.

The first ever Official Singles Chart was as follows:

1 Here In My Heart Al Martino
2 You Belong To Me Jo Stafford
3 Somewhere Along The Way Nat King Cole
4 The Isle Of Innisfree Bing Crosby
5 Feet Up (Pat Him On The Po-Po) Guy Mitchell
6 Half As Much Rosemary Clooney
7 High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me) Frankie Laine
7 Forget Me Not Vera Lynn
8 Sugarbush Doris Day And Frankie Laine
8 Blue Tango Ray Martin
9 The Homing Waltz Vera Lynn
10 Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart Vera Lynn
11 Cowpuncher's Cantata Max Bygraves
11 Because You're Mine Mario Lanza
12 Walkin' My Baby Back Home Johnnie Ray

15 th November 1985

Anglo Irish agreement :
The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.



15 November 1985 Anglo Irish Agreement signed Thirty-seven years ago today a political crisis, much like the present day, loomed large in Irish society. On 15 November 1985 at Hillsborough Castle, County Down the Anglo-Irish Agreement was singed by Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald and British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
The framework it was hoped would help to end the northern torubles, then entering a sixteenth year and which had claimed countless lives. The agreement provided for regular meetings between ministers in the Irish and British governments on matters affecting Northern Ireland. It outlined cooperation in four areas: political matters; security and related issues; legal matters, including the administration of justice; and the promotion of cross-border cooperation. For Unionists however it was a 'gross betrayal' and they threatened to make Northern Ireland ‘ungovernable’. Both leaders expressed the hope that there would not be a violent reaction from Loyalists. James Molyneaux, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, said that if the course of action set out in the Anglo-Irish deal was allowed to go unchecked and it came to the stage where Unionists were to be ‘transferred like a trussed up parcel from one state to another and the Irish Army attempted to take over this Province, then there would be violence’. The outspoken Ian Paisley added that the violence would be ‘to the death’. Both leaders sought to reassure Unionists concerns wtih Garret FitzGerald stating that ‘Irish political unity would come about only with the consent of a majority’. Margaret Thatcher went further and claimed that there would be ‘no change in the status of Northern Ireland without their consent. The legitimacy of the unionists position has been recognised by the Republic in a formal international agreement’. While ultimately the agreement would be dismissed as a failure it did act as a starting point in negotiations which would lead to the Good Friday Agreement thirteen years later.

16 th November 1992

A hammer and the Hoxne hoard:
The Hoxne Hoard is discovered by metal detectorist Eric Lawes in Hoxne, Suffolk.

The Hoxne Hoard: How a Mislaid Hammer Led to the Largest Roman Treasure in Britain

The Hoxne Hoard is a huge treasure from the late Roman period. To date, this is the largest hoard of late Roman gold and silver that has been found in the UK, and indeed, anywhere in the Roman world. The Hoxne Hoard consists of over 15,000 objects, mostly coins.


Other impressive artifacts in this spectacular hoard include jewelry, and an assortment of tableware. The most important pieces, as well as a selection of the best of the rest are now on permanent display in the British Museum in London.


Finding the Hoxne Hoard Location
The story of the Hoxne Hoard’s discovery begins with a lost hammer. On November 16, 1992, a man by the name of Eric Lawes was helping out a local farmer in Hoxne village, Suffolk. The farmer had lost his hammer in a field, and Lawes, who received a metal detector as a retirement gift, was called to help find it. When the detector picked up a strong signal in the earth, Lawes started digging, which resulted in two carrier bags being filled with coins and silver spoons. At that point, Lawes stopped, and contacted the landowner, the police, and the Suffolk Archaeological Society to report the discovery.


The next day, a team from the Suffolk County Council Archaeology Service arrived at the spot where Lawes had made his discovery. Led by Jude Plouvier, the archaeologists were able to excavate the remaining pieces with more care. A chunk of earth containing the remaining treasure was removed from the site so that the objects within could be carefully removed under laboratory conditions. This allowed the age and the best storage method for the treasure to be determined.




At the end of this process, the archaeologists had a mass of gold and silver artifacts weighing about 27 kg (60 lbs.) This included slightly over 15,000 Roman coins, dozens of silver spoons, and various gold objects. Incidentally, the hammer was also found, and is now part of the British Museum’s collection as well.



The hammer that led to the discovery of the huge Roman hoard. (CC BY NC SA 4.0 )

A Lost Hope in Hoarding
Based on the coins found within the hoard, archaeologists have estimated that the Hoxne Hoard was buried no later than 450 AD. Towards the end of the 4th century AD, the western part of the Roman Empire was in turmoil. In order to defend their territory in mainland Europe from invading barbarians, the Romans removed their troops from Britain. Without Roman protection, Britain was now vulnerable to raids from barbarians such as the Saxons, Anglos, and Picts. As a result, the Romano-British citizens of the island began to hoard their valuables, in the hopes that once the chaos had passed, they could return to collect them.


The fact that hoards have been discovered today is proof enough that their owners somehow never got back to them. Whilst many of the hoards contain only coins, the Hoxne Hoard is rather unique as it contains other valuable objects as well. For instance, one of the best known objects in the treasure is the so-called ‘Empress’ pepper pot. This object is a silver pepper pot in the form of a noble woman. A great deal of attention was paid to the details of the figure when the pot was being made, and features such as the woman’s hairstyle, her clothes, and her jewelry are depicted.





Who Owned the Hoard?
Some of the items in the Hoxne Hoard are quite personal, and may be an indication of its owners. For instance, there is a gold bracelet with the inscription ‘UTERE FELIX DOMINA IULIANE’, which may be translated to mean ‘Use this happily Lady Juliane’, whilst another name, ‘Aurelius Ursicinus’, has been found on several of the other objects.



It is reasonable to consider that Juliane and Aurelius were the couple who owned the treasure, and that the former was the woman depicted on the pepper pot. This, however, only remains a speculation, and we may never know for sure about the identity / identities of the hoard’s owner(s).

17 th November 1603

Treason:
English explorer, writer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason.

Winchester, Hampshire The 17th of November 1606 AD
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With the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603 the fortunes of Walter Raleigh plummeted once more – his was certainly not a life of steady calm. King James wished to halt his new kingdom’s conflict with Spain, and Raleigh who had been a lifelong nuisance to the Spanish – in South America, in the fight against the Armada , in taking Cadiz – was sacrificed to that end.
Strangely Raleigh was brought down for supposedly, and very improbably, having conspired in the Main Plot with Lord Cobham, sponsored by the Spanish, whose aim had been to kill King James before he was crowned, and replace him with Lady Arabella Stuart.
Raleigh was tried in the Great Hall of Winchester Castle. There can be little doubt that any defence he put up would always have been in vain. This was a special commission of oyer and terminer, called to hear a case of treason against the king’s person. Five judges and seven King’s Counsel sat in the panel. The jury had been selected in London and brought to Winchester, and even if they had not been directly coerced, the jury members knew it would have been extraordinarily unwise to find the defendant not guilty.
Sir Edward Coke led the prosecution, and for want of evidence often descended into mere invective against the prisoner. Raleigh’s main accuser, Cobham, had neither sworn on oath when he gave evidence, nor signed his confession implicating Raleigh. And the court obstinately refused to have Cobham brought to court, saying it was against the King’s interest. The only witness called, a merchant named Dyer, gave hearsay evidence of something he had been told in Lisbon by someone who had seemingly been told it themselves.
In spite of the lack of evidence, and Raleigh’s brilliant and often witty defence, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. The trial had run from eight in the morning to midnight, yet the jury felt able to reach a verdict in just 15 minutes. James, however, perhaps fearing the reaction to what would have been judicial murder, had Raleigh put in The Tower instead, where he languished for some 13 years.

18 th November 1987

The Kings Cross fire :
King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station, King's Cross St Pancras.

The King's Cross fire claimed the lives of 31 people – including a senior ranked firefighter – and seriously injured many more at King's Cross station.

More than 150 firefighters and 30 fire engines were called to a blaze at King's Cross station at on the evening of 18 November 1987.

The blaze, which is thought to have started around 7:25pm, when a lit match fell through a gap on a wooden escalator and set fire to the grease and litter beneath the steps.

Although small to begin with, described by one firefighter as "about the size of a large cardboard box", it became more serious quickly. The flames heated the framework and decking of the Piccadilly line escalator, pre-heating the rest of the wooden staircase before bursting into flames

What happened?
Investigators labelled this behaviour of the flames lying down in the escalator the 'trench effect'.

Many passengers escaped using an alternative escalator and all trains had been instructed not to stop at the station, however, the ticket hall was still busy with the last of the evening's rush hour crowd when the fireball erupted from the stairwell.

The time shown by the clock at the top of the escalator read 7:45pm – the exact moment when the flames burnt through its wiring.

What was it like on the scene?

A large ball of flame, which was about head height, hit the ceiling in the ticket hall…this was followed almost instantaneously by dense black smoke.



Hot enough to strip tiles from the walls
The blaze cracked concrete, stripped tiles from the walls and caused molten plastic to drip from the ceiling. The thick smoke engulfed the ticket hall, obscuring the exits and hampering rescue efforts.

The heat from the fire was so intense that firefighters tackling the blaze had to use their hoses to spray the backs of colleagues in a bid to keep the temperature bearable for brief period.

The fire was under control at 9:48pm and was out at 01:46am on 19 November. Search and salvage operations continued throughout the night.

A heroic act
Among those caught up in the fireball was Soho's Station Officer Colin Townsley, who had entered the underground with a colleague, Temporary Sub-Officer Roger Bell, of Clerkenwell Fire Station, to assess the situation.

Crews found the body of Station Officer Townsley beside the badly burned body of a passenger at the steps leading up to the Pancras Road entrance of the station.

Witnesses recalled seeing a firefighter wearing a white helmet just before the flashover telling passengers to get out.

What did it change?
The King's Cross fire claimed the lives of 31 people – including a senior ranked firefighter – and seriously injured many more at King's Cross station.

A public inquiry by Sir Desmond Fennell published in November 1988, made 157 recommendations including:

Replacing wooden escalators.
The smoking ban extended to all station areas.
Radio equipment used by British Transport Police to be compatible with those of the Brigade.
A review of the Brigade's Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Improvement to the Brigade's radio communications between firefighters below ground.
Plans to be kept outside stations in locations agreed with the Brigade.
Review of training and policy.

19 th November 1994

First national lottery:
In the United Kingdom, the first National Lottery draw is held. A £1 ticket gave a one-in-14-million chance of correctly guessing the winning six out of 49 numbers.


This day in history
19 November 1994: The first National Lottery draw

“Release the balls!” On this day in 1994, in a one-hour TV extravaganza hosted by Saturday evening TV institution Noel Edmonds, 18-year-old Deborah Walsh pressed the button that inaugurated the UK's National Lottery. 22 million people watched as the numbers were called: in ascending order, they were 3, 5, 14, 22, 30, 44, and the bonus ball was number 10.

The frequency of draws was doubled in February 1997 when a Wednesday draw was added. The use of the same range of numbers 1-49 was controversial, as it encouraged people to play who might otherwise not have, in case “their” numbers came up. Some wanted numbers 51-99 to be used instead.

The odds of winning are, famously, 14 million to one (actually 13,983,816 to one). But in that first week, seven people shared the jackpot, scooping £839,254 each.

However, this was not England's first National Lottery. That took place on 11 January 1569. In 1566 Queen Elizabeth instructed Sir John Spencer to set up a lottery to raise funds to be "employed to good and public acts and beneficially for our realm and our subjects". 400,000 tickets were sold at ten shillings a pop for the chance of a £5,000 jackpot. Other prizes included immunity from arrest for a week, and free entry to libraries. Collectors got sixpence a ticket.

And in 1694, the English State Lottery was launched. Also called the “Million Lottery”, 100,000 tickets were sold at £10 each, partly to fund war against France (who else?).

20 th November 1992

Windsor castle fire :

In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.

THE FIRE AT WINDSOR CASTLE - 1992

On the 20th of November 1992, almost 27 years ago, a spotlight and a curtain caused a major royal upset. The curtain was ignited by the heat of the light against it and the blaze that ensued devastated the largest inhabited castle in the world. Six people suffered minor injuries but fortunately, no one lost their life.


The castle is so large it has its own fire brigade operating around the clock.

It is somewhat ironic, that at the time of the fire the castle was undergoing refurbishment in the upper ward, with extensive rewiring and installation of automatic fire detection. Almost all works of value had been removed from the 56-meter-long St George’s Hall.

The private chapel adjoining the hall linked by the double-sided organ was being utilised as a working area for art experts to assess works before sending out for restoration. This was where the fire started. The curtains screening the alter were ablaze and the fire quickly spread to the roof and floor of the private chapel.


At 11:36am the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service were informed, and a special team was despatched; two water tender ladders, one water tender, one hydraulic platform and one salvage pump. By this time, the first crew from the Windsor Castle Brigade were reporting that the load-bearing timber of the gallery was at the point of collapse and the fire was spreading rapidly at higher levels. Further assistance was immediately requested.

By 2:30pm a major incident room was set up to work alongside the control room so that all appliances being directed to the fire could be tracked. Nine brigades were involved, 25 officers, 36 pumps, 31 jets,7 specialised units, 200 personnel and 3 monitors.

Due to the 2.5m voids piercing the 4m thick walls, the fire was fed plenty of air which facilitated the rapid spread. The heat was ferocious. At the initial point of the fire, the art packaging materials and carpets aided the spread along the floor. However, the path most favoured by the flames was upwards across the alcove offering little resistance as the roof void was shared by the hall. The vestry tower was soon alight and then the Brunswick Tower.

The corridor behind the chapel ignited and from there the fire travelled into the upper kitchen area, glazed panelling fuelled the spread but the many voids behind panelling and ceiling cavities contributed to the destructive power of the flames. The Crimson drawing-room was the next damaged.

At 2:30 am the fire was finally extinguished. The fire had been contained to the Northeast wing thanks to aggressive firefighting by a dedicated team. Six rooms and three towers were damaged or destroyed.

The Queen was informed by telephone call by her son Prince Andrew and was said to be devastated.

250 Castle staff and contractors, 100 military 20 estate personnel and members of the royal family all worked together to salvage items that were under threat and relocate them to other parts of the castle.

Over the next few years at a cost of £36.5 million, the castle was restored.

Initially, because Windsor Castle is owned by the Government and not the Royal Family, it was suggested the tax payers would foot the bill. The resultant raging debate over the estimated £60m bill found its way to parliament where increasing pressure was placed to cut the cost of the Royal Family to the people. There was also pressure from public opinion to make the Queen pay income tax.

As a result, the Queen paid tax on her private income and restricted which members of the Royal Family were paid from the public purse. She also met 70% of the restoration work and opened parts of Buckingham Palace to the public to generate income.

The restoration was completed ahead of schedule on the fifth anniversary of the fire.

21 st November 1974

The Birmingham pub bombings :
The Birmingham pub bombings kill 21 people. The Birmingham Six are sentenced to life in prison for the crime but subsequently acquitted.


The double bombing in 1974 was the worst ever terrorist attack in Britain until the London 7/7 bombings in 2005

The bombs were widely acknowledged to be the work of the Irish Republican Army - the IRA.


1974: THE BOMBING.

Two bombs exploded on 21 November 1974 in The Mulberry Bush and Tavern In The Town pubs. Twenty-one people were killed and 182 were injured.

The youngest victims were Neil Marsh and Jane Davis, who were both 17 at the time.

A third, unexploded bomb was found in the doorway of Barclays Bank on Hagley Road.

The IRA has never officially claimed responsibility for what happened.

It was one of the sides in the "troubles" between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. The IRA - made up of Catholics - wanted Northern Ireland to break away from British rule and join the Republic of Ireland.

After admitting bombings and shootings in Northern Ireland, the IRA extended its campaign to England.

Several of the victims at the Tavern In Town bar were blown through brick walls in the blast
Six Irishmen were arrested hours after the blasts, but despite claims that police forced them to sign false confessions, they were sentenced to life in prison in 1975.

Paddy Hill, Gerry Hunter, Johnny Walker, Hugh Callaghan, Richard McIlkenny and Billy Power became known as The Birmingham Six.

1991: The release
The Birmingham Six were released in 1991 after 16 years behind bars.

They maintained their innocence throughout their time in prison.

The Court of Appeal overturned their convictions because of a botched investigation by West Midlands Police.

2016: The coroner
In February of this year, Birmingham and Solihull coroner Louise Hunt heard an application for inquests into 21 deaths to be reopened.

She ordered the police to produce any information on claims the force may have been tipped off in advance.

It has been claimed the police knew about the planned bombing 24 hours before the attack, thanks to a mole in the IRA.

Ashley Underwood QC, who represents some victims' families, claims the Birmingham Six were jailed to protect the mole.

An emotional Julie Hambleton spoke to press after the hearing in Birmingham
The coroner says there is "a wealth of evidence that still has not been heard".

"I have serious concerns that advanced notice of the bombs may have been available to the police and that they failed to take the necessary steps to protect life," she said.

Julie Hambleton's sister, Maxine, was 18 when she died in the bombings. Julie explained: "All we want is to be heard - truth, justice and accountability.

"An inquest gives us the opportunity to hear from people you wouldn't normally hear from and it can lead to all sorts of things.

"The truth is fundamental."

22 nd November 1963

   U.S President J.F.Kennedy is assassinated:
                                                           U.S. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John Connally is seriously wounded by Lee Harvey Oswald, who also kills Dallas Police officer J. D. Tippit after fleeing the scene. U.S Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States afterwards.

NOVEMBER 22, 1963: DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT

Shortly after noon on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas.
By the fall of 1963, President John F. Kennedy and his political advisers were preparing for the next presidential campaign. Although he had not formally announced his candidacy, it was clear that President Kennedy was going to run and he seemed confident about his chances for re-election.

At the end of September, the president traveled west, speaking in nine different states in less than a week. The trip was meant to put a spotlight on natural resources and conservation efforts. But JFK also used it to sound out themes—such as education, national security, and world peace—for his run in 1964.

Campaigning in Texas
A month later, the president addressed Democratic gatherings in Boston and Philadelphia. Then, on November 12, he held the first important political planning session for the upcoming election year. At the meeting, JFK stressed the importance of winning Florida and Texas and talked about his plans to visit both states in the next two weeks.

Mrs. Kennedy would accompany him on the swing through Texas, which would be her first extended public appearance since the loss of their baby, Patrick, in August. On November 21, the president and first lady departed on Air Force One for the two-day, five-city tour of Texas.

President Kennedy was aware that a feud among party leaders in Texas could jeopardize his chances of carrying the state in 1964, and one of his aims for the trip was to bring Democrats together. He also knew that a relatively small but vocal group of extremists was contributing to the political tensions in Texas and would likely make its presence felt—particularly in Dallas, where US Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson had been physically attacked a month earlier after making a speech there. Nonetheless, JFK seemed to relish the prospect of leaving Washington, getting out among the people and into the political fray.

The first stop was San Antonio. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Governor John B. Connally, and Senator Ralph W. Yarborough led the welcoming party. They accompanied the president to Brooks Air Force Base for the dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center. Continuing on to Houston, he addressed the League of United Latin American Citizens, and spoke at a testimonial dinner for Congressman Albert Thomas before ending the day in Fort Worth.

Morning in Fort Worth
A light rain was falling on Friday morning, November 22, but a crowd of several thousand stood in the parking lot outside the Texas Hotel where the Kennedys had spent the night. A platform was set up and the president, wearing no protection against the weather, came out to make some brief remarks. "There are no faint hearts in Fort Worth," he began, "and I appreciate your being here this morning. Mrs. Kennedy is organizing herself. It takes longer, but, of course, she looks better than we do when she does it." He went on to talk about the nation's need for being "second to none" in defense and in space, for continued growth in the economy and "the willingness of citizens of the United States to assume the burdens of leadership."

The warmth of the audience response was palpable as the president reached out to shake hands amidst a sea of smiling faces.

Back inside the hotel the president spoke at a breakfast of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, focusing on military preparedness. "We are still the keystone in the arch of freedom," he said. "We will continue to do…our duty, and the people of Texas will be in the lead."

On to Dallas
The presidential party left the hotel and went by motorcade to Carswell Air Force Base for the thirteen-minute flight to Dallas. Arriving at Love Field, President and Mrs. Kennedy disembarked and immediately walked toward a fence where a crowd of well-wishers had gathered, and they spent several minutes shaking hands.

The first lady received a bouquet of red roses, which she brought with her to the waiting limousine. Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, were already seated in the open convertible as the Kennedys entered and sat behind them. Since it was no longer raining, the plastic bubble top had been left off. Vice President and Mrs. Johnson occupied another car in the motorcade.

The procession left the airport and traveled along a ten-mile route that wound through downtown Dallas on the way to the Trade Mart where the President was scheduled to speak at a luncheon.

The Assassination
Crowds of excited people lined the streets and waved to the Kennedys. The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza.

Bullets struck the president's neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. Kennedy. The governor was shot in his back.

The car sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital just a few minutes away. But little could be done for the President. A Catholic priest was summoned to administer the last rites, and at 1:00 p.m. John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead. Though seriously wounded, Governor Connally would recover.

The president's body was brought to Love Field and placed on Air Force One. Before the plane took off, a grim-faced Lyndon B. Johnson stood in the tight, crowded compartment and took the oath of office, administered by US District Court Judge Sarah Hughes. The brief ceremony took place at 2:38 p.m.

Less than an hour earlier, police had arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a recently hired employee at the Texas School Book Depository. He was being held for the assassination of President Kennedy and the fatal shooting, shortly afterward, of Patrolman J. D. Tippit on a Dallas street.

On Sunday morning, November 24, Oswald was scheduled to be transferred from police headquarters to the county jail. Viewers across America watching the live television coverage suddenly saw a man aim a pistol and fire at point blank range. The assailant was identified as Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner. Oswald died two hours later at Parkland Hospital.

The President's Funeral
That same day, President Kennedy's flag-draped casket was moved from the White House to the Capitol on a caisson drawn by six grey horses, accompanied by one riderless black horse. At Mrs. Kennedy's request, the cortege and other ceremonial details were modeled on the funeral of Abraham Lincoln. Crowds lined Pennsylvania Avenue and many wept openly as the caisson passed. During the 21 hours that the president's body lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda, about 250,000 people filed by to pay their respects.

On Monday, November 25, 1963 President Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. The funeral was attended by heads of state and representatives from more than 100 countries, with untold millions more watching on television. Afterward, at the grave site, Mrs. Kennedy and her husband's brothers, Robert and Edward, lit an eternal flame.

Perhaps the most indelible images of the day were the salute to his father given by little John F. Kennedy Jr. (whose third birthday it was), daughter Caroline kneeling next to her mother at the president's bier, and the extraordinary grace and dignity shown by Jacqueline Kennedy.

As people throughout the nation and the world struggled to make sense of a senseless act and to articulate their feelings about President Kennedy's life and legacy, many recalled these words from his inaugural address:


All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days, nor in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration. Nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

23 rd November 1963

First Dr Who :
The BBC broadcasts An Unearthly Child (starring William Hartnell), the first episode of the first story from the first series of Doctor Who, which is now the world's longest running science fiction drama



Nov. 23, 1963: Doctor Who Materializes on BBC
Doctor Who's on first this date in 1963. Who can explain it. Who can tell you why.

Dr Who

1963: At 6:15 on a cold, wet night, the BBC premieres its new family science fiction show, Doctor Who, with its first episode, “An Unearthly Child.” The series will become a legendary part of modern British folklore and the longest-running sci-fi series on TV.

Featuring a benevolent traveling alien known only as The Doctor, the series followed the adventures of the heroic Time Lord and his human companions through time and space.


Originally developed by Canadian Sydney Newman, BBC’s head of drama, the day-to-day creation of the show’s first season fell to script department head Donald Wilson, BBC staff writers C. E. Webber and Anthony Coburn, story editor David Whitaker, and producer Verity Lambert. Fans of the show traditionally recognize Lambert as the show’s strongest creative force at the start.

The stories took place in serial form – with each episode lasting about 25 minutes, ending with a cliffhanger that would bring the audience back for the next segment.

Ron Grainer (the composer for many TV themes, including The Prisoner) wrote the series’ unforgettable theme music with its driving bass beat. But experimental composer Delia Derbyshire of the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop is credited with choosing the eerie electronic sounds that created the final piece.

The original brief for the character didn’t specify his origin (later identified as Gallifrey), his race or his actual age. Portrayed by veteran character actor William Hartnell, the first Doctor was a dark, often-hostile man of mystery.

Viewers first encountered The Doctor’s ship, the Tardis (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space) in a junkyard as the Doctor headed out in London. The interior of the time-space traveling craft is dimensionally transcendental and exists in its own universe – allowing the ship to be bigger on the inside than its outer shell.

A properly operating Tardis includes a chameleon circuit that changes its exterior appearance to blend in with the surroundings. But The Doctor’s ship malfunctions and remains stuck as a 1960s Metropolitan Police public call box.

Because the show was originally intended for children, the creators cast an appealing, sympathetic actress, Carol Ann Ford, as The Doctor’s teenage granddaughter, Susan. When Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), two of Susan’s teachers, become concerned over the girl’s bizarre behavior, they stumble across The Doctor and Tardis. Once exposed, The Doctor insists on taking the two earthlings with him into time and space.

But, a very real tragedy almost swept the show aside before any audience found it. The assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22 dominated the news and public consciousness that weekend, obviously pushing the premiere of a new TV series off the British TV radar.

BBC program planners decided to re-air the original premiere a week later, along with the series’ second episode. Doctor Who’s first storyline featured time travel back to caveman times and attracted a lukewarm public and critical reaction.

But, the show’s second complete story – a sci-fi piece kicking off with “The Dead Planet" – featured a voyage to the home planet of the Daleks. The metallic monsters became an overnight sensation and established Doctor Who as a British institution.

The series remained in production from 1963 to 1989. Producers invented the convention that The Doctor’s alien physique could regenerate into new forms 12 times – allowing new actors to seamlessly take over the part through the decades. After Hartnell came Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Perter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant. And in 2010 ... Matt Smith.

Doctor Who returned to regular BBC production under producer Russell T. Davies in March 2005 and remains one of the network’s top-rated series.

24 th November 1974

Lucy , long lost ancestor :
Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discover the 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, nicknamed "Lucy" (after The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"), in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression.

Nov. 24, 1974: Humanity, Meet Lucy. She's Your Mum

1974: Paleonanthropologist Don Johanson and graduate student Tom Gray discover the skeleton of Lucy, the first recognizably human member of the primate family tree.

One morning toward the end of his second field season in Hadar, Ethiopia, Johanson decided to put his paperwork away and go bone-hunting with Gray. After several fruitless hours, they stopped in a gully that had been searched twice before, yielding nothing.

This time, Johanson noticed a fragment of arm bone. Near it were pieces of ribs, legbones, vertebrae and skull — all, amazingly, from the same skeleton. Thus was born specimen AL 288-1, whom the world would eventually know as Lucy.

Johanson's team found hundreds of fragments, assembling them into the skeleton of a female Australopithecus afarensis who lived 3.2 million years ago and stood 3½ feet tall, with an emphasis on stood. Though Lucy's long fingers and toes hinted at the arboreal origins of humanity's ancestors, her pelvis and knees were clearly suited for walking on the ground.


Scientists hailed A. Afarensis as the oldest human primate. To the public, Lucy was the mother of man.

"Lucy captivated people of all ages in a way I don't remember before her. She was a game-changer in every respect. For much of the public, she brought human evolution into view for the first time," said William Jungers, a Stony Brook University paleoanthropologist. "Anyone with even a remote interest in human evolution had not just a tooth or a skull to think about, but an entire body."


More than 40 percent of Lucy's skeleton was recovered, a remarkable amount in a field accustomed to drawing species-wide conclusions from bone fragments that could fit in the palm of a hand. Even today, Lucy's one-of-a-kind completeness makes her extraordinarily valuable as a reference frame for other hominid fossils, from 4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus to the Indonesian hobbits who died out just 13,000 years ago. "Lucy is more relevant than ever now," said Jungers. "We can compare so many different body parts to hers, and get a sense from her of what's primitive" and what's new.

On a cultural level, the leading role played by Ethiopian scientists in excavating and subsequently studying Lucy signaled a shift in the world of anthropology, said Rick Potts, a Smithsonian Institution paleoanthropologist. "It wasn't just a matter of an American researcher going into some other country and claiming the fame," said Potts. "Since then, there's been a great movement towards cooperation." Humanity's heritage was shared.

But the greatest cultural effect was among the public. Paleoanthropology had been a dry and esoteric field, but Lucy — named after the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky, With Diamonds," which was on heavy rotation at camp in Hadar — wasn't just another skeleton. She was an individual who touched their imaginations, even their hearts. Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind, written by Johanson and Maitland Edey, became an international bestseller, kicking off what sometimes seems like a never-ending parade of books and documentaries about humanity's origins.


Naming skeletons is now de rigueur among paleoanthropologists, but it's hard to imagine any finding having as profound an effect as Lucy. It's not, however, hard to imagine the discovery of earlier human ancestors.

Lucy is now considered "rather more humanlike" than originally thought, with many as-yet-unidentified steps linking her to the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans, said Arizona State University paleoanthropologist William Kimbel, who analyzed Lucy's bones as a student and continues to gather A. afarensis fossils in Ethiopia.

In October, researchers described Ardipithecus ramidus, or Ardi, a hominid who predates Lucy by more than a million years. It's not yet clear whether Ardi was a member or an offshoot of the lineage that led to Lucy and ultimately humans. But if not Ardi, then some other fossil will almost certainly take Lucy's place as the oldest hominid.

"Lucy once represented the beginning of the human story. Now she's only halfway through it," said Potts. This, of course, is the nature of science. "In August, I was on a panel with Johanson. He was asked how he felt about Lucy being supplanted. He said, 'Lucy likes having ancestors.'"

25 th November 1984

Band Aid :
Thirty-six top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.

On November 25th 1984, the cream of the British pop world gathered at SARM Studios, London, to record the historic “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” The single, which was written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, featured Paul Young, Bono, Boy George, Sting, and George Michael. It went on to sell over three million copies in the UK, becoming the bestselling record ever, and raised over £8 million ($13.6 million) worldwide.

In October 1984, a BBC report by Michael Buerk was aired on British TV highlighting the famine that had hit the people of Ethiopia. Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof saw the report and wanted to raise money. He called his friend Midge Ure from Ultravox and together they quickly co-wrote the song, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984.

The 1984 original became the biggest selling single in UK singles chart history, selling a million copies in the first week alone. It stayed at Number 1 for five weeks, becoming Christmas number one, and sold more than 3.5 million copies domestically. It remained the highest selling single in UK chart history until 1997, when Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind 1997” was released in tribute to the late Diana, Princess of Wales, which sold almost five million copies in Britain.

Geldof asked producer (and Buggles member) Trevor Horn to produce the song, but he was unavailable. Instead, Horn gave the use of his studio, SARM West in London, free of charge to the project for 24 hours, and Geldof put Ure in charge of production duties.

The song has since been covered many times and has continued to raise money, which is great, but no one could ever repeat the buzz, the excitement and feel of this original version. Pop stars who had previously never met checked their egos at the door and got down to business – and recorded a piece of pop music history.

The world’s media were in attendance as artists began arriving from 9am. Duran Duran, George Michael, Sting, Spandau Ballet, Bono and Adam Clayton of U2, Paul Young, Culture Club, Phil Collins of Genesis, Paul Weller, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo, Bananarama, and some of Geldof’s band mates from the Boomtown Rats.

Some artists had to make a bit of an effort to attend. Boy George was forced to leave his bed early and take a flight from New York to London to record his lines.

So how did they organize such a star-studded session? Producer Midge Ure played the backing track and guide vocals to the singers, then decided, in a way of getting all involved straightaway, to record the crescendo first, which also allowed the ‘team shot’ of the day to be photographed. The artists were put in a huge group and sang the ‘feed the world, let them know it’s Christmas time’ refrain over and over again until it was completed.

Then Ure asked for a volunteer to be first into the studio to sing the main body of the song. Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet took the plunge, with plenty of rival artists watching him, and sang the song straight through. Then other singers then did the same – with Ure taping their efforts and then making notes as to which bits would be cut into the final recording. Despite having already recorded his vocal at Ure’s house, Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon re-recorded his parts so he could be part of the moment. Sting also recorded the words again, this time to provide harmony.

Phil Collins arrived with his entire drum kit and recorded his parts over an electronic drum track that had already been put in place. Boy George arrived late in the afternoon from the airport and went straight into the recording booth to deliver his lines.

Ure worked on the mix through the night and finally completed the task at 8am on the Monday morning. Prior to departing SARM, Geldof recorded a statement: “This record was recorded on the 25th of November 1984. It’s now 8am on the 26th. We’ve been here 24 hours and I think it’s time we went home.”

The song was quickly dispatched to the pressing plants who had promised to have the single pressed and ready by the Tuesday. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” hit the shops on Thursday 29 November in a sleeve designed by Peter Blake (who designed the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper sleeve), and the track went straight to the top of the charts.

Geldof’s life was never to be the same again. The Irish singer threw himself into the project, becoming the front person and voice and driving force behind Live Aid. Not only was he responsible for making the biggest selling charity single ever, he was about to stage the largest worldwide concert ever seen.

26 th November 1983

Brinks-mat robbery:
Brink's-Mat robbery: In London, 6,800 gold bars worth nearly £26 million are stolen from the Brink's-Mat vault at Heathrow Airport.

Brinks Mat Robbery


Heathrow, London The 26th of November 1983 AD

One of the most spectacular and lucrative robberies in British history took place at Heathrow Airport on November 26 1983, when six armed men burst into the Brinks Mat warehouse at the airport and overpowered guards there, cracking one over the head with a pistol.
The robbers, it turns out, had expected to find £3 million in cash; instead they found £26 million in gold bars, and two bags of diamonds. Planned as an in and out job, the removal of the gold actually took over two hours – first they had to fetch a van in which to carry the three tonnes of bullion. Guards had been hand-cuffed and threatened, and had petrol poured over them to ensure cooperation; the criminals evidently knew the layout of the building and how to deactivate its security system, and had been wearing security officer uniforms when they arrived.
Police investigating the crime rapidly concluded a guard who had missed the robbery because he arrived for work late had been involved: this guard, Anthony Black, when interrogated gave information about his sister’s boyfriend, Brian Robinson, and hard man Michael McAvoy. The latter pair got 25 years, Black six. It did not hurt the police case that Robinson and McAvoy had both bought mansions in Kent for cash just after the robbery. McAvoy had even named two Rottweilers he bought Brinks and Mat.
Many criminals involved in the robbery and subsequent events have been jailed, had their property seized, or in some cases been murdered. Some only half-jokingly refer to the curse of Brinks Mat now. It would appear that McAvoy had placed his share in the hands of a major crime figure in London - for safe keeping, though it proved anything but. McAvoy, Robinson and another figure linked to the crime, Tony White, have orders against them which mean their earnings largely go to the court to help recover the £28 million cost of the robbery. The notorious Kenneth Noye was jailed for his part in melting the gold down and hiding its origins by adding copper to alter its purity. A jeweller called Solly Nahome who handled some of the gold was gunned down in December 1998. But in the end, the gold has never been recovered.

27 th November 1975

Ross McWhirter assassination :
The Provisional IRA assassinates Ross McWhirter, after a press conference in which McWhirter had announced a reward for the capture of those responsible for multiple bombings and shootings across England.


On November 27, 1975, Ross McWhirter was assassinated by two IRA terrorists. He was shot outside of his home in north London. His killers Harry Duggan and Hugh Doherty, both of whom were members of what became known as the Balcombe Street Gang were captured and charged with his and nine other murders.

They were sentenced to life imprisonment but freed in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. McWhirter was a sports journalist who helped co-found the Guinness Book of Records. In the early 1960s, he became a Conservative Party activist. In 1975, McWhirter co-founded the ultra right wing political organization National Association for Freedom. The organization initiated legal challenges against the trade union movement in the United Kingdom. He also advocated restrictions on the Irish community in Britain such as making it compulsory for all Irish people in Great Britain to register with the local police and to provide signed photographs of themselves when renting flats or booking into hotels and hostels. In doing so, McWhirter recognized that he could then be a target himself. In addition, McWhirter offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for several recent high-profile bombings in England that were publicly claimed by the IRA. This was considered a 'bounty' by the IRA, a view that led directly to his assassination on November 27, 1975.

28 th Novembe 1919

First woman to sit in house of commons :
Lady Astor is elected as a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She is the first woman to sit in the House of Commons. (Countess Markievicz, the first to be elected, refused to sit.)


Nancy Astor became the first woman to sit as a Member of Parliament
by Professor Patricia Thane FBA

30 NOV 2018

In December 1919, Nancy Astor became the first female MP to take her seat in the House of Commons – alongside 706 men. This was a turning point towards gender equality, or, rather, the beginning of a long, slow turn.



Nancy Astor, sitting at her desk in her office with some books and papers.


Transformation of voting rights

1918 had seen UK voting rights turn around: all adult men were enfranchised, whereas previously 40% were excluded, mainly because of a property qualification. Women were enfranchised only from age 30 and if they or their husbands possessed the property qualification, which had been eliminated for men. This was due partly to women long being a majority of the adult population: 107 females per 100 males in 1911, later increasing to 110 in 1921 following wartime deaths. Male politicians resisted a majority female electorate. The coalition government equally feared a socialist takeover following the enfranchisement of many working-class men, the growth of the Labour Party and the recent Russian revolution. They hoped to avert this danger by enfranchising only older, better-off women, as they were less likely to be socialists than irresponsible young ‘flappers’.

The first woman MP refused her seat in Westminster

Then, in November 1918, parliament voted that all women could stand for parliament at age 21, which meant that women could stand as MPs before they could vote. The reason for this surprising anomaly was that some MPs opposed equivalence with the franchise qualification because they, as young men inhabiting lodgings or parental property and therefore not yet independent property holders, had also been elected before they could vote. Women should not be treated differently. Ellen Wilkinson, the tenth woman elected to Parliament, became a prime example of this curious situation. When she became an MP at age 33, she was unable to vote because, she said, she had ‘neither a husband nor furniture’. In the December 1918 election, 17 women stood but only one was elected, Countess Constance Markiewicz, Irish nationalist and feminist, in Holloway prison at the time for her role in the Easter Rising. Like other Sinn Feiners, she refused to take her seat in Westminster.

Nancy Astor: the first female MP to take her seat

Nancy Astor was American by birth and moved to Britain following divorce. She re-married wealthy Waldorf Astor, who became Conservative MP for Plymouth in 1910. They had five children. Nancy canvassed and organised for him, showing no interest in the contemporaneous women’s suffrage movement. In 1919, the death of Waldorf’s father made the son the new Viscount, requiring him to leave the Commons for the Lords. Waldorf did so reluctantly, planning to divest himself of the title and promoting Nancy as his stop-gap replacement until he returned. In her campaign for the seat, she presented herself as a loyal wife, uninterested in a political career or in gender politics, and was elected. As it was impossible to renounce a peerage until 1963, Waldorf could not return to the Commons and Nancy remained.

She found the Commons a lonely, often hostile, place. She later recalled: ‘When I stood up and asked questions affecting women and children, social and moral questions, I used to be shouted at for five or ten minutes at a time’. She found her office filled with hats sent by milliners seeking publicity. To avoid media obsession with her appearance she invariably wore a white blouse, black skirt, jacket and tricorn hat, with a white gardenia in her buttonhole. In 1920, she was joined by Liberal Margaret Wintringham who also replaced her husband, on his death. Many women lacking the advantage of a husband’s reflected glory wanted to stand for parliament, but for decades sexist prejudice prevented their selection for winnable seats for any party. This problem remains in 2018 when women, still a majority of adults, form just 32% of MPs, the highest proportion ever. The most women elected between the wars was 15 in 1931, when 62 women stood.

Nancy Astor’s causes
Feminists were dubious about Astor because she had no record of supporting women’s causes, but she was responsive to their briefings, perhaps grateful for support in an often hostile political world. She became Vice-President of the feminist 6-point Group. Women voters demanded her attention, sending her up to 2,000 letters each week. They similarly bombarded male MPs on policy issues, reminding them that women’s votes mattered. Women certainly used the vote and the flourishing women’s organisations of the period campaigned, with some success, for legal changes promoting gender equality. Most women MPs of different parties co-operated. Nancy Astor became good friends with Ellen Wilkinson, Labour’s first female MP elected in 1924. In 1921, she successfully reorganised the Consultative Committee of Women’s Organisations, established by suffragists in 1916, providing a link between women’s organisations and supportive MPs, male and female, promoting networking and regular meetings. Campaigns she supported included provision of nursery schools, widows’ pensions, more women police, improved maternity services. In 1923, a teetotaller, she promoted legislation prohibiting the sale of alcohol to under 18s. But, as a devoted Christian Scientist, she opposed equal divorce rights for women, introduced in 1923, and the vigorous women’s campaign for birth control. In March 1927, she organised a deputation to urge the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, to keep his promises of several years to equalise the franchise. It took further lobbying, demonstrations and a threat to revive suffrage activism to bring this about in 1928.

The lead-up to World War Two
Astor continued to support women’s causes in the 1930s, including campaigning, unsuccessfully, for the admission of women to the diplomatic service. She was deeply committed to peace so, like many other women and men, she supported appeasement. She publicly supported the international women’s peace movement but was widely accused of fascism for her desire to keep friendly relations with Germany and entertaining Germans, especially von Ribbentrop, at the Astor country home, Cliveden.

Photograph of the majestic Cliveden Italianate country house and estate.
Cliveden, the family estate of Lady Nancy Astor. Photo by Bettmann / Getty Images.
However, she was not pro-Nazi and abandoned appeasement when they invaded Prague. She criticised Hitler’s treatment of women and was on the Nazi Black List for arrest when they invaded Britain. She was also among the Conservatives who forced Chamberlain from office. Throughout the war, she remained in parliament and continued to stand up for women’s rights. With her husband, she supported the people of Plymouth through severe bombing. Waldorf persuaded her that she risked defeat in the 1945 election, as Labour’s victory loomed. Reluctantly, she stood down and ceased political activity. She was not a conventional feminist but she raised the profile of women in UK politics, working with other women to edge the country towards gender equality.

29 th November 1877


the first "record player ":
Thomas Edison demonstrates his phonograph for the first time.

On 29 November 1877, Thomas Edison gave the world a demo of his phonograph invention – thereby paving the way for generations of teenagers to lock themselves away in their bedrooms and madden their parents by playing their records way too loud.


The witnesses were unbelievable about this invention and considered it a magic thing, since then Edison began to be called "The Wizard in Menlo Park, New Jersey", where he lived.

November 29, 1877 - Thomas Edison unveils a hand-turned gramophone, his first invention
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 - October 18, 1931) was an inventor and merchant who developed a lot of devices that greatly influenced life in the 20th century. He was named by a journalist. " Sorcerer Master in Menlo Park ", he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the creative process, and thus could be considered to have created a public research lab. First career.


Some inventions were attributed to him, although he was not the first person to have that idea, but after the first patent was changed it became his (the most famous was the light bulb), in fact is the work of many people inside his company. However, Edison is considered one of the most inventive inventors in history, he holds 1,093 patents in the United States under his name, as well as patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany (gross plus 1,500 inventions worldwide.

On November 29, 1877, he introduced to the public his first invention as a hand-turned gramophone . The witnesses were unbelievable about this invention and considered it a magic thing, since then Edison began to be called " The Wizard in Menlo Park, New Jersey ", where he lived. His first phonograph recorded the sound on tin-lined poles for low sound quality and it destroyed the recording track when listening again so it could only be heard once. In the 1880s, a redesigned model used beeswax-coated cardboard posts made by Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell, and Charles Tainter. This is one reason why Thomas Edison continues to work to create his own "Perfect Singing Machine ".


By wrapping tin foil around the cylinder, and thanks to a needle that vibrates according to the vibrations of the sound creating grooves with different depths on the tin he has recorded the song 'Mary had a little lamb '. And by using a needle and diaphragm (diaphragm), Edison recreated the recording. When conducting research on Edison electric bulbs, he forgot this invention for several years. Only then, when he regained his passion for the reproduction of sound, did he invent a series of cylindrical cylinders by creating a monolithic mold of the original cylinder through electroplating.

In 1887, Edison continued to develop a series of cylindrical rotary tube recorders. This process lasted until 1890 when he used a type of wax that, when put into a mold, could shrink at cool, making it easy to remove. Now a type of gramophone invented by Emil Berliner based on Edison's own principle began to dominate the market, a difference being that the device could record the vibrations of sound on the zinc plate instead. because on cylindrical rotors. The device is called a recorder , it creates grooves on the plane of the disc. Sound replacements will be recorded through spiral-shaped grooves of constant depth on a flat disc. Berliner calls this disc a recording disc.


Early recording and cylindrical recording discs were capable of producing sound of similar quality, although in theory, Edison's cylindrical cylinders had a recording time of 2 to 4 minutes, collected at 160 rpm. The Berliner disk runs at 60 rpm for 2 minutes. All is just enough to record a single piece of music! Sound recording and pronunciation are done entirely mechanically in the presence of a large and glossy metal trumpet. When recording, the trumpet is responsible for 'gathering' the sound again to create a large pressure for the recorded needle. Conversely, when pronouncing, people must use the trumpet in the opposite direction to amplify the sound to the level of audibility.

Although cylindrical cylinders and record discs coexist during the first decade of the 20th century, it is easy to see that the disc is easier to put into mass production. Until 1913, the record became overwhelming and the cylindrical spinning machine was no longer produced. Dance music became popular, musicians were quickly formed to meet demand. Edison again designed the thick disk for dance music with adjustable grooves in the vertical direction, rotating 80 rpm.

30 th November 1934

Locomotive speed records :
The LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman becomes the first steam locomotive to be authenticated as reaching 100 mph.


NOVEMBER 30, 1934: The Flying Scotsman became the first steam locomotive exceed 100mph on this day in 1934 – becoming the fastest in the world.

The train, which is often said to be the most famous in the world, officially clocked the speed while travelling between Edinburgh and London.

The A3 Gresley Pacific - the first locomotive to acquire the Flying Scotsman service name for itself - steamed its way into the record books ten years after it was built.

Prior to operators of several trains dating back to 1905 claimed they had broken the 100mph barrier – although until that point none had been authenticated.

But the Flying Scotsman – named after a 10am service in both directions that had been running between London and Edinburgh since 1862 - was truly revolutionary.

Starting its journey with nine tons of coal to heat its boiler, in 1928 it was the first train to complete the
392-mile route without stopping.

This enabled it to reduce the journey time by 30 minutes to eight hours between the English capital and its Scottish counterpart along the East Coast Main Line.

By 1932, the Flying Scotsman – one of ten A3 and A1 steam engines used by the London and North East Railway – had cut the time down to seven and a half hours.

Other faster trains served the route – including the Gresley A4 Pacific 4468 Mallard, which in 1938 set the standing world steam speed record after hitting 125.88mph.

But it was the A3 Flying Scotsman – which started life in LNER green livery, was black during the war and blue with British Rail – that would become the most iconic.


It served for 39 years before being decommissioned from scheduled service in 1963 after it had clocked up more than two million miles.

Since then it has had various owners and even toured the world.



In 1989 it set a record it set a record for the longest non-stop run of any steam engine after travelling 422 across Australia without refuelling.

But by 1996 it was lying in bits at a stockyard in Southall, west London when Dr Tony Marchington bought it.

1st December 1990


   The Chunnel :
                      Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet beneath the seabed.


                  Channel Tunnel Links Britain and France


The 1st of December 1990 AD

Linking Britain and France by tunnel, a dream since at least 1802 became a reality on December 1 1990 when an Englishman crossed into the French section, and a Frenchman returned the compliment. The two men squeezed through a hole enlarged since a 50mm bore-hole had broken through on October 30.
Work on the project (which was not the first effort to get underway of course) had begun on December 17 1988 , and it would be another four years after the breakthrough before all the tunnel and track construction would be completed, the official opening coming on May 6 1994. But with the crossing of Graham Fagg and Phillippe Cozette some 40m beneath the seabed off Folkestone we had at last been given a practical demonstration of what the tunnel would mean.
The Channel Tunnel was and is an engineering marvel, and has made a significant change to freight and passenger transport to and from this country – the continent can no longer be cut off by fog in the Straits of Dover . It is in some ways a major green measure, travel now between Paris and London simpler and often quicker point-to-point by train than plane, with less environmental impact. But it would be straining reality to call it a financial success, given the estimated cost was £2.6 billion, and the actual came in £2 billion over that.



Graham Fagg and Philippe Cozette broke through and shook hands 40m below the sea bed

2 nd December 1982

Artificial heart :
At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.


HISTORY HEALTHPLASTIC AND PERMANENT: THE ARTIFICIAL HEART'S DEBUT

Barney Clark’s heart was made of plastic — and instead of beating, it whooshed.

The 61-year-old retired dentist was in an advanced stage of cardiomyopathy, a progressive weakening of the heart muscle, when he became the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart on this day, Dec. 2, in 1982.

Heart transplants were already being done to prolong lives, but in a limited, last-resort way. Surgeons accomplished the first human-to-human transplant in South Africa in 1967, when a man with severe heart damage received the heart of a 25-year-old woman who had died in a car crash. He survived 18 days. In 1977, after new immunosuppressant drugs dramatically increased the odds of survival, the first recipient of a heart transplant at Columbia University’s Medical Center — one of only three institutions in the country performing the surgery at the time — survived 14 months.

But Clark was 11 years too old to be a candidate for a heart transplant, according to the criteria U.S. surgeons had by then agreed on. His only hope of survival was Dr. Robert Jarvik’s pneumatically-powered heart. The Jarvik 7, as it was called, comprised two plastic pumps powered by compressed air, which required the patient to be hooked up at all times to a rolling console the size and weight of a refrigerator. The artificial heart could pump blood through the body at 40 to 120 pulses per minute, but it replaced the telltale heartbeat with a soft clicking sound followed by a whoosh.

Clark knew what he was in for: before agreeing to the operation, he first toured a facility where Jarvik’s hearts were keeping several sheep and calves alive, including a calf named Tennyson who set the survival record of 268 days, according to TIME.

He met the requirements for the surgery by having a fatal heart condition, with no other treatment alternatives, as well as a strong will to live. By the time of the surgery, he was nearly dead already: his heart was pumping a liter of blood per minute, or a fifth the normal rate.

The surgery was considered a success, since Clark went on to live another 112 days. A surgeon told TIME that his color had changed, from blue to pink, after more oxygen infused his blood. There were hitches, however. A week after the surgery, he suffered a series of seizures his doctors blamed on an imbalance of fluids and salts. Following the seizures, he was often disoriented, and sometimes believed he was still a dentist in Seattle.

He never left the hospital after his transplant, and ultimately died of “circulatory collapse and secondary multi-organ system failure” triggered by an infection that was likely the result of a blood transfusion, according to his obituary in the New York Times.

Later recipients fared somewhat better with the Jarvik 7. William Schroeder lived a record 620 days with one, although his quality of life was poor after he suffered serious strokes within the first three weeks. Another recipient, Leif Stenberg, made remarkable progress with his new heart, and lived 229 days before suffering a fatal stroke.

Stenberg’s renewed vigor was a triumph fraught with unexpected philosophical considerations. Long suspected of being a powerful Swedish crime boss, he was never convicted of any crime, partly because his health problems delayed a trial on charges of tax evasion. But the transplant led to a new delay, since Swedish law defined death as the moment when one’s heart stopped beating. Stenberg’s attorneys, therefore, argued that he should not have to stand trial, since he was already dead.

3 rd December 1992

First text nessage :
A test engineer for Sema Group uses a personal computer to send the world's first text message via the Vodafone network to the phone of a colleague.

World’s first text message was sent 30 years ago today



Before WhatsApp took over, Short Message Service or SMS was then the new age form of communication. It was so popular that its character limits forced people to create a new form of writing, which was often referred to as the ‘SMS lingo’. But can you tell how long it’s been that the first ever SMS was sent? It’s been 30 years!

In 1992, Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old software programmer, sent the first ever text message from a computer to his colleague Richard Jarvis. Papworth had been working as a developer and test engineer to create a Short Message Service (SMS) for his client, Vodafone. That very first text, sent on the 3rd December 1992, simply said ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’. Back then, texts had to be no longer than 160 characters.

Papworth says, “In 1992, I had no idea just how popular texting would become, and that this would give rise to emojis and messaging apps used by millions. I only recently told my children that I sent that first text. Looking back with hindsight, it’s clearer to see that the Christmas message I sent was a pivotal moment in mobile history.”

Like mentioned above, the first SMS wasn’t even sent on a mobile phone. Handsets could only receive messages, not send them, so Papworth typed out the season’s greetings on a computer. It took a while for texting to catch on. SMS-capable phones were only just available in 1993, but as mobile phones became more popular, texting skyrocketed. In 1993, Nokia introduced an SMS feature with a distinctive ‘beep’ to signal an incoming message.

As for the ‘SMS lingo’ we mentioned, early SMS adopters got around this by inventing ‘txt spk’, such as ‘LOL’ for ‘laughing out loud’ and the then ‘emoticons’, which were limited to : ) or ヽ(•‿•)ノ. However, these later inspired the first emojis, which were invented in Japan in 1999.