Today in history

4 th July 1837


Grand Junction railway:
Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.


The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company was the first trunk railway to be completed in England, and arguably the world's first long-distance railway with steam traction.


History
The Grand Junction Railway Company was established in the second half of 1832 by the consolidation of two rival companies: the Birmingham and Liverpool Railway Company and the Liverpool and Birmingham Railway Company. Authorised by Parliament on 6 May 1833 and designed by George Stephenson and Joseph Locke, the Grand Junction Railway opened for business on 4 July 1837, running for 82 miles (132 km) from Birmingham through Wolverhampton (via Perry Barr and Bescot), Stafford, Crewe, and Warrington, then via the existing Warrington and Newton Railway to join the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at a triangular junction at Newton Junction. The GJR established its chief engineering works at Crewe, relocating there from Edge Hill, in Liverpool.

It began operation with a temporary Birmingham terminus at Vauxhall,: 12  The travelling post office where mail was sorted on a moving train was instituted on the Grand Junction Railway in January 1838. Using a converted horse-box, it was carried out at the suggestion of Frederick Karstadt, a General Post Office surveyor. Karstadt's son was one of two mail clerks who did the sorting.

When the London and Birmingham Railway opened on 17 September 1838, services were routed to and from Curzon Street station which it shared with the Grand Junction Railway, the platforms of which were adjacent, providing a link between Liverpool, Manchester and London. The route between Curzon Street railway station and Vauxhall primarily consisted of the Birmingham Viaduct. It consisted of 28 arches, each 31 feet (9.4 m) wide and 28 feet (8.5 m) tall and crossed the River Rea. In October 1838, the Liverpool Mercury reported that

It is confidently expected, that after the ensuing winter is over, and the embankments on the London and Birmingham Line are well settled down, first class trains between Liverpool and Manchester and London will not occupy more than nine hours in the journey. This being accomplished, what further improvement could be desired between London and Lancashire?

In 1840, the GJR absorbed the Chester and Crewe Railway soon before it began operation. Considering itself as part of a grand railway network, the company encouraged the development of the North Union Railway which extended the tracks onward to Preston, and it also invested in the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway and the Caledonian Railway. In 1845, the GJR merged with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and consolidated its position by buying the North Union Railway in association with the Manchester and Leeds Railway.

In 1841, the company appointed Captain Mark Huish as the secretary of the railway. Huish was ruthless in the development of the business and contributed significantly to the company's success

5 th July 1996


Dolly:
Dolly the sheep becomes the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.


Dolly, female Finn Dorset sheep that lived from 1996 to 2003, the first clone of an adult mammal, produced by British developmental biologist Ian Wilmut and colleagues of the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, Scotland. The announcement in February 1997 of Dolly’s birth marked a milestone in science, dispelling decades of presumption that adult mammals could not be cloned and igniting a debate concerning the many possible uses and misuses of mammalian cloning technology.

The concept of mammalian clones, even humans, was not new at the time of Dolly’s birth. Among mammals, naturally occurring genetic clones, or individuals genetically identical to one another, had long been recognized in the form of monozygotic (identical) twins. Unlike Dolly, however, such clones are derived from a single zygote, or fertilized egg, and thus they are clones of one another, rather than clones of another individual. Moreover, clones had been generated previously in the laboratory, but only from embryonic cells that were either undifferentiated or only partially differentiated. In animals, the production of clones from fully differentiated (adult) cells (e.g., skin or muscle cells) had been carried out successfully only in lower species, such as frogs.

For decades, scientists had tried and failed to clone mammals from existing adults. The repeated failures led scientists to speculate about the significance of the timing and process of cell differentiation in the developing mammalian embryo. Of particular interest were changes that occurred to DNA during an animal’s development, whereby patterns in gene expression were altered as cells became increasingly specialized in function. It was realized that, through the process of differentiation, adult mammalian cells lose totipotency—the ability to become any of the different cell types required for making a complete and viable animal. It was presumed that the process was irreversible. The successful production of Dolly, however, proved otherwise.

Dolly was cloned from a mammary gland cell taken from an adult Finn Dorset ewe. Wilmut and his team of researchers at Roslin created her by using electrical pulses to fuse the mammary cell with an unfertilized egg cell, the nucleus of which had been removed. The fusion process resulted in the transfer of the mammary cell nucleus into the egg cell, which then began to divide. In order for the mammary cell nucleus to be accepted and functional within the host egg, the cell first had to be induced to abandon the normal cycle of growth and division and enter a quiescent stage. To accomplish that, researchers deliberately withheld nutrients from the cells. The importance of the step had been determined experimentally, though an explanation for its necessity was lacking. Nevertheless, starting with a collection of mammary cell nuclei and host egg cytoplasms derived from Scottish Blackface ewes, a number of fused couplets successfully formed embryos. The reconstructed embryos were transferred to surrogate Scottish Blackface ewes. Of 13 recipient ewes, one became pregnant, and 148 days later, which is essentially normal gestation for a sheep, Dolly was born.


Dolly remained alive and well long after her birth, with a functional heart, liver, brain, and other organs, all derived genetically from the nuclear DNA of an adult mammary gland cell. The technique used to produce her later became known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). SCNT has since been used to generate a wide variety of mammalian clones, from different types of adult cells; its success in producing clones of primates, however, has been notably limited.

On February 14, 2003, Dolly was euthanized by veterinarians after being found to suffer from progressive lung disease. Her body was preserved and displayed at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Piper Alpha disaster:
The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. One hundred sixty-seven oil workers are killed, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life.

Piper Alpha was an oil platform located in the North Sea about 120 miles (190 km) north-east of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Limited[1] (OPCAL) and began production in 1976, initially as an oil-only platform, but later converted to add gas production.

Piper Alpha exploded and sank on 6 July 1988, killing 165 of the men on board, 30 of whose bodies were never recovered, as well as a further two rescue workers after their rescue vessel, which had been trapped in debris and immobilised, was destroyed by the disintegrating rig. Sixty-one workers escaped and survived. The total insured loss was about £1.7 billion (£5 billion in 2021), making it one of the costliest man-made catastrophes ever. At the time of the disaster, the platform accounted for roughly 10% of North Sea oil and gas production. The accident is the world's worst offshore oil disaster in terms of lives lost and industry impact. The inquiry blamed it on inadequate maintenance and safety procedures by Occidental, though no charges were brought.

In Aberdeen, the Kirk of St Nicholas on Union Street has dedicated a chapel in memory of those who died, containing a Book of Remembrance listing them. A memorial sculpture is located in the Rose Garden of Hazlehead Park.

7 th July 2005

     London terror attacks :
                                      A series of four explosions occurs on London's transport system, killing 56 people, including four suicide bombers, and injuring over 700 others.

                           Four bombs in 50 minutes - Britain suffers its worst-ever terror attack
At least 38 people were killed and more than 700 injured as terrorists struck at the heart of London, causing the biggest loss of life in a terrorist attack on mainland Britain.

In a series of coordinated strikes, explosive devices were detonated on three underground trains and a bus travelling through central London during the morning rush hour.

it was feared the death toll could rise, with the explosions leaving many people seriously injured.

Police denied that they had recovered any unexploded devices. But a source told The Guardian that three controlled explosions had been carried out on "suspect devices".

Furthermore Vincent Cannistraro, the former head of the CIA's counter-terrorism centre, told The Guardian that "two unexploded bombs" were recovered as well as "mechanical timing devices".

Emergency services rushed to east, west and central London as the bombs went off in sequence and without warning over a 50-minute period.

The first device exploded at 8.51am on a Circle line train between Aldgate East and Liverpool Street stations. Seven people were killed.

At 8.56am a second device exploded on a train between King's Cross and Russell Square, killing 21 people.

At 9.17am there was another blast on a train at Edgware Road station which blew a hole through a wall into another train on an adjoining platform. Two other trains were affected and seven people were killed.

At 9.47am a fourth blast blew the top off a doubledecker bus in Tavistock Square, central London, possibly killing more than a dozen people.

As the emergency operation swung into operation, the tube and bus network was shut down and ordinary Londoners began a desperate effort to help the terrified and the injured. Passengers, their faces bloodied, blackened and cut, were comforted by underground staff and passersby. Many rushed from offices and shops to help paramedics.

Witnesses described scenes of devastation. Geraldine Formon, who was in Russell Square, said: "I saw at least five people jump from the top deck of the bus. Half of it was blown away. They were jumping on to the street to escape. It was such a big explosion and the bus was packed as the tube was closed. People were covered with dust and debris."

Jackie Head, who was travelling on the King's Cross train, said the effect had been instantaneous. "Suddenly there was a massive bang, the train jolted. There was immediately smoke everywhere and it was hot and everybody panicked. People thought they were just going to suffocate."

Intelligence and anti-terrorist officials said there was little doubt that a group affiliated to or inspired by al-Qaida had carried out the attacks.

Tony Blair praised the "stoicism and resilience" of Londoners in the face of yesterday's onslaught on the capital's transport system by bombers he implied were Islamist terrorists.

"We know these people act in the name of Islam but we also know the vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims here and abroad are decent and law-abiding people who abhor this act of terrorism," he said in a televised statement from Downing Street.

Jack Straw, the foreign secretary underlined this when he told a TV interview: "There's an assumption that this is an al-Qaida-based organisation. It has the hallmarks of an al-Qaida-based organisation and also its ruthlessness. News of the bombings was relayed to Mr Blair at the G8 summit in Gleneagles. After reading a joint statement from the G8 leaders, he rushed to London for meetings with security chiefs.

In the afternoon, as Mr Blair chaired a meeting of Cobra - the top-level emergency group - an Islamist website posted a statement claiming the attacks had been carried out by a European cell of al-Qaida. A body calling itself the Secret Organisation of the al-Qaida Jihad in Europe said the attacks were in retaliation for Britain's involvement in US-led operations. The statement, which could not be immediately confirmed, said: "Rejoice for it is time to take revenge against the British Zionist crusader government in retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan. The heroic mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern and western quarters."

Scotland Yard said the four devices had been "conventional explosives", not containing chemical or biological material, but could not initially say what size the devices were, whether they had been carried by suicide bombers or whether they had been left in packages on the trains and the bus.

The deputy assistant Met commissioner, Brian Paddick, said: "This clearly was a callous attack ... deliberately designed to kill and injure innocent members of the public."

Mr Paddick said the security level in London had been high: "We are content that the security level was appropriate, notwithstanding the G8 summit."

He said there were 1,500 Met officers in Scotland, guarding the G8 summit and 31,000 officers in London.

Mr Paddick said the emergency services had rehearsed for such a scenario and that the plans had worked as they should have done. He said there was no intelligence about other devices but he warned people to be vigilant.

While concentrating on the emergency response and the effort to catch the bombers, Scotland Yard also activated long-established plans to reassure the public, especially ethnic minority groups who fear they may become targets.

Senior community figures were alerted immediately and members of Muslim groups were called to an urgent meeting. The Guardian has learned that within hours of the attacks, 30,000 abusive and threatening emails were sent to the Muslim Council of Britain's website.

Ken Livingstone, London's mayor, was in Singapore celebrating London's successful Olympic bid but  returned to London. In a statement he said: "This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at presidents or prime ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old.

"It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever."

He added: "That isn't an ideology, it isn't even a perverted faith - it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other."

It is known that Scotland Yard had previously intercepted up to eight attempts to cause a terrorist atrocity in the UK. A police source told the Guardian that the attacks were "not on the intelligence radar".

The source said there were believed to have been up to 40 people on board the bus that exploded at Tavistock Square, but it is still not known how many people died in that blast, or whether a suicide bomber was among them.

One theory is that a bomber may have been on his way to a tube station, or the bus bomb may have been planned to cause maximum panic when people flocked to buses after the tube was evacuated.

8 th July 1947


The Roswell incident:
Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash-landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident.


1947: Days after something shiny crashed in the New Mexico desert, the Roswell Army Air Field issues a press release that says the military has recovered the remains of a "flying disc." Although quickly discounted as erroneous, the announcement lays the groundwork for one of the most enduring UFO stories of all time.

The military's initial press release was straightforward in its handling of the discovery of wreckage by rancher W.W. "Mac" Brazel.

"The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the sheriff's office of Chaves County," the press release read.

"The flying object landed on a ranch near Roswell sometime last week. Not having phone facilities, the rancher stored the disc until such time as he was able to contact the sheriff's office, who in turn notified Maj. Jesse A. Marcel of the 509th Bomb Group Intelligence Office. Action was immediately taken and the disc was picked up at the rancher's home. It was inspected at the Roswell Army Air Field and subsequently loaned by Major Marcel to higher headquarters."

The Roswell Daily Record headlined the story "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region," providing a historical artifact that, in retrospect, seems ready-made for fueling an episode of The X-Files.

But press accounts the following day told a much more mundane story: The military had determined the recovered debris to be the wreckage of a weather balloon and related equipment. No flying saucer – a term that had just been coined by newspapers to describe the first widely publicized UFO sighting – had been found.

While the down-to-earth explanation seemed to settle the issue, the so-called Roswell incident flashed back into the public consciousness three decades later. New interviews with individuals proffering information about the crash, and the 1980 publication of Charles Berlitz's book The Roswell Incident, breathed new life into the story, turning Roswell into a rallying cry for ufologists and true believers.

Rumors of recovered extraterrestrial bodies and a government coverup gained such a foothold in popular culture that the U.S. government took the unusual step of producing two reports in the 1990s that set out to put the matter to rest.

In assembling the massive reports, the Air Force gathered and declassified many documents relating to the Roswell incident. Weighing in at nearly 1,000 pages, The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert, published in 1994, set out to "tell the Congress, and the American people, everything the Air Force knew about the Roswell claims."

The second government publication, 1997's The Roswell Report: Case Closed (.pdf), came just days shy of the Roswell incident's 50th anniversary. The report said eyewitness accounts tied to the 1947 recovery actually occurred years later, becoming tangled up in time and further strengthening the Roswell incident's hold on the public's imagination.

"Air Force activities which occurred over a period of many years have been consolidated and are now represented to have occurred in two or three days in July 1947," the report said. "'Aliens' observed in the New Mexico desert were actually anthropomorphic test dummies that were carried aloft by U.S. Air Force high-altitude balloons for scientific research."

Despite the military's assertion that the Roswell incident was a side effect of Cold War secrecy and sci-fi fantasies, the story retains a vital spot in UFO lore. The town of Roswell has turned into a tourist destination, hosting the International UFO Museum and Research Center and an annual Roswell UFO Festival.

9 th July 1922


Swimming first's:
Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the world swimming record and the 'minute barrier'



Today, July 9th, is the 101st-year anniversary of Weissmuller breaking one of the most significant barriers in swimming history. He became the first swimmer to swim the 100-meter freestyle in under a minute. In 1922, at Neptune Beach in Alameda, California, Weissmuller swam a 58.6, to break the old mark held by Kahanamoku. These days, a 58.6 100-meter freestyle makes an average high school swimmer. In 1922, it broke the old record of 1:00.4 by nearly 2 seconds. Consider that Weissmuller swam a 58.6 without blocks or flip-turns.

He broke the mark again in 1924, clocking in at 57.4, a record which stood for exactly 10 years and 13 days, when it was broken by Peter Fick.

In addition to his 51 official World Records, it is believed that Weissmuller broke countless other records, but never turned in the record applications. In 1922, without television cameras and the internet, it’s certainly conceivable that a record-setting swim could go unrecorded.

While his 5 Olympic golds may appear pedestrian compared to today’s gargantuan medal totals, keep in mind that at the 1924 games, 3 was 50% of the possible golds. He probably could have taken a 4th, but he didn’t even swim the 100-meter backstroke, despite having broken several World Records throughout his career in the 100 yard version.

Weissmuller was also recruited to be a part of the 1924 Olympic Water Polo team, which won a bronze medal. He once noted that they “never could beat those Yugoslavians. They never blow a whistle over there,” a sentiment that some might argue is true of water polo in that region to this day. But I digress.

After the 1928 games, Weissmuller took up a career as a swimsuit model. One thing led to another, and Weissmuller was invited to a casting call to play the part of Tarzan, along with about 150 aspiring actors. He reluctantly accepted the audition, and despite having no real acting experience, and to his own shock, Weissmuller got the part. He went on to play Tarzan in 12 feature films, and is by far the most recognizable Tarzan of all time. In fact, his signature Tarzan yell was so impressive, that it was still used in remakes of the film as many as 50 years later.


Although there is much controversy and disagreement about Weissmullers exact personal history, he is widely accepted to have born in Austria-Hungary, in a region that falls into present-day Romania. His family immigrated to the United States shortly after his first birthday, and later in life, Weissmuller was able to obtain American passports that claimed he was born in Pennsylvania, allowing him to compete for the United States.

So he was one of the biggest sports stars in a golden era that hosted Bobby Jones and Babe Ruth. He was one of the biggest movie stars in a golden era that included Clark Gable and Greta Garbo. He was a swimsuit model. Sounds pretty much like perfect human being.

Not quite. He had Polio. Shortly after the crippling disease saw a United States President (Franklin Roosevelt) begin his term in the White House bound to a wheel chair, a young Johnny was diagnosed with the same disease. At age 9, a doctor recommended that he take up swimming to combat his condition, and less than a decade later was one of the best athletes in the world. Simply astounding.

Like most swimmers of the time, Weissmuller was not registered for his local neighborhood swim team like kids are today. Rather, he perfected his stroke while lifeguarding at one of Chicago’s Lake Michigan beaches. His Coach, William Bachrach, discovered him while he was serving as a bellboy at the Illinois Athletic Club: a story reminiscent to that of Adolf Kiefer a decade later. Bachrach, one of the more unlikely coaches in history, weighed in at roughly 350 pounds, but still was able to coach Weissmuller to National titles in the 50 and 220 yard freestyles in August of 1921, less than a year after he began training.

To this day, he is respected as one of the 3 greatest male swimmers of all time, along with Spitz and Phelps, and rightfully so. His influence extends even beyond the pool, as he was an ancient predecessor to every modern athlete who tries to extend their brand off of the playing field. His story is simply amazing, and that’s what makes Johnny Weissmuller a Legend of the Pool.

10 th July 1921

Bloody Sunday:
Belfast's Bloody Sunday occurs with 20 killings, at least 100 wounded and 200 homes destroyed during rioting and gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland.


Bloody Sunday (1921)

Bloody Sunday or Belfast's Bloody Sunday was a day of violence in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 10 July 1921, during the Irish War of Independence. The violence erupted one day before a truce began, which ended the war in most of Ireland. With the truce nearing, police launched a raid against republicans, but were ambushed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and an officer was killed. In retaliation, Protestant loyalists attacked Catholic enclaves in west Belfast, burning homes and businesses. This sparked rioting and gun battles between Protestants and Catholics, including paramilitaries. There were also gun battles between republicans/nationalists and the police, and some police patrols fired indiscriminately at Catholic civilians. Seventeen people were killed or fatally wounded on 10 July, and a further three were killed or fatally wounded before the truce began at noon on 11 July. At least 100 people were wounded. About 200 houses were destroyed or badly damaged, most of them Catholic homes, leaving 1,000 people homeless

11 th July 1962


Transatlantic tv:
First transatlantic satellite television transmission.

First live television transmission from the US via Telstar satellite
11 July 1962

On 11 July 1962 British television viewers saw pictures beamed live from the US via the Telstar satellite. Raymond Baxter and Richard Dimbleby were on hand to provide commentary, although the precise time of the broadcast was not known in advance. The first pictures, received in Britain just after 1am, were of the chairman of AT&T, Frederick Kappel, and of poor quality, while in France they were picked up clearly. However this landmark transmission marked the beginning of satellite broadcasting, and changed the face of telecommunications.


The technical problems of the first night were traced to a component in the Goonhilly Down aerial - specially constructed by the Post Office - that had been fitted the wrong way round. The following day's transatlantic broadcasts were much more successful, and reported to be so clear as to be indistinguishable from ordinary television. Then the first programmes were beamed the other way, from France to America. Later in the month the BBC took the lead in producing a complex outside broadcast from nine European countries to the US.

Other landmarks achieved by Telstar included the first transatlantic colour transmission, from Britain on 16 July. Today satellite technology has made the most remote parts of the world accessible.

12 July 1963


Moors murders:
Pauline Reade, 16, disappears in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders.

July 12, 1963. Pauline Reade, 16, disappears on her way to a dance at the British Railways Club in Gorton, England; she was the first victim of the Moors Murders, perhaps the most infamous crimes committed in post-WWII Great Britain.

The Moors Murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965 and are so named because the victims were discovered buried under Saddleworth Moor outside Manchester.

Brady and Hindley tortured and murdered five youngsters aged between 10 and 17 — Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans. At least four of them were sexually assaulted. The full horror of their killings did not come to light until the murderers’ confessions in 1985. Until that year both had still claimed to be innocent.



On the evening of July 12, 1963, Brady told Hindley he wanted to “commit his perfect murder”. He told her to drive around the neighbourhood in a van while he would follow on a motorcycle. He told Hindley that when he spotted his victim he would flash his light and Hindley should stop and offer that person a ride.

Shortly after 8pm, Brady spotted a girl in a pale blue coat wearing high-heels and signalled Hindley to stop. Hindley recognised the victim as Pauline Reade, a friend of her younger sister Maureen and asked her if she would mind helping her search for a glove she had lost on Saddleworth Moor.

Reade accepted and soon after they reached the moor, where they were soon joined by Brady. Brady sexually assaulted and then killed Reade on the moor while Hindley waited in the van. After burying the body together, the couple returned to Gorton where they noticed Pauline’s mother and her son searching the streets for her missing daughter.

The murderers were caught when Maureen’s husband witnessed the killing of Edward Evans and reported it to the police. Hindley was described in the press as “the most evil woman in Britain”. She died in prison in 2002, at the age of 60. Brady died on th 15thMay 2017

13 th July 1985

Live Aid:
The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Moscow and Sydney.

Live Aid concert raises $127 million for famine relief in Africa

On July 13, 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London, Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially open Live Aid, a worldwide rock concert organized to raise money for the relief of famine-stricken Africans. Continued at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia (where Joan Baez famously kicked it off by telling the crowd "this is your Woodstock, and it's long overdue") and at other arenas around the world, the 16-hour “superconcert” was globally linked by satellite to more than a billion viewers in 110 nations. In a triumph of technology and good will, the event raised more than $125 million in famine relief for Africa.

Live Aid was the brainchild of Bob Geldof, the singer of an Irish rock group called the Boomtown Rats. In 1984, Geldof traveled to Ethiopia after hearing news reports of a horrific famine that had killed hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians and threatened to kill millions more. After returning to London, he called Britain’s and Ireland’s top pop artists together to record a single to benefit Ethiopian famine relief. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was written by Geldof and Ultravox singer Midge Ure and performed by “Band Aid,” an ensemble that featured Culture Club, Duran Duran, Phil Collins, U2, Wham! and others. It was the best-selling single in Britain to that date and raised more than $10 million.

“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was also a No. 1 hit in the United States and inspired U.S. pop artists to come together and perform “We Are the World,” a song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. “USA for Africa,” as the U.S. ensemble was known, featured Jackson, Richie, Geldof, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, and many others. The single went to the top of the charts and eventually raised $44 million.

With the crisis continuing in Ethiopia, and the neighboring Sudan also stricken with famine, Geldof proposed Live Aid, an ambitious global charity concert aimed at raising more funds and increasing awareness of the plight of many Africans. Organized in just 10 weeks, Live Aid was staged on Saturday, July 13, 1985. The lineup featured more than 75 acts, including Elton John, Queen, Madonna, Santana, Run DMC, Sade, Sting, Bryan Adams, the Beach Boys, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Duran Duran, U2, the Who, Tom Petty, Neil Young and Eric Clapton. The majority of these artists performed at either Wembley Stadium in London, where a crowd of 70,000 turned out, or at Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium, where 100,000 watched. Thirteen satellites beamed a live television broadcast of the event to more than one billion viewers in 110 countries. More than 40 of these nations held telethons for African famine relief during the broadcast.

A memorable performance of the concert was by Queen, particularly frontman Freddie Mercury, who unexpectedly stole the show with a fierce performance. With the group losing steam as they went into the early 1980s after a career of multiple hits, they offered the crowd an unforgettable 20-minute performance. Going from "Bohemian Rhapsody" to "We Will Rock You" and finishing with "We Are the Champions," Queen captivated the audience with a journey through their hits, with Mercury at the helm.

Another top moment was by Phil Collins in Philadelphia after flying by Concorde from London, where he performed at Wembley earlier in the day. He later played drums in a reunion of the surviving members of Led Zeppelin. Beatle Paul McCartney and the Who’s Pete Townsend held Bob Geldof aloft on their shoulders during the London finale, which featured a collective performance of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Six hours later, the U.S. concert ended with “We Are the World.”

Live Aid eventually raised $127 million in famine relief for African nations, and the publicity it generated encouraged Western nations to make available enough surplus grain to end the immediate hunger crisis in Africa. Geldof was later knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his efforts.

In early July 2005, Geldof staged a series of “Live 8″ concerts in 11 countries around the world to help raise awareness of global poverty. Organizers, led by Geldof, purposely scheduled the concert days before the annual G8 summit in an effort to increase political pressure on G8 nations to address issues facing the extremely poor around the world. Live 8 claims that an estimated 3 billion people watched 1,000 musicians perform in 11 shows, which were broadcast on 182 television networks and by 2,000 radio stations. Unlike Live Aid, Live 8 was intentionally not billed as a fundraiser–Geldof’s slogan was, “We don’t want your money, we want your voice.” Perhaps in part because of the spotlight brought to such issues by Live 8, the G8 subsequently voted to cancel the debt of 18 of the world’s poorest nations, make AIDS drugs more accessible and double levels of annual aid to Africa, to $50 billion.

July 14 th 1965

                  Mariner 1V:
                                  Mariner 4 flyby of Mars takes the first close-up photos of another planet. The photographs take approximately six hours to be transmitted back to Earth.

1965: After a few million years of watching Mars from afar, humanity meets the red planet -- not quite in person, but through the eyes of NASA's Mariner 4 satellite.

The half-ton space camera flew past Mars eight months after being shot from Earth on an Atlas rocket, having traveled 325 million miles. It flew within 6,000 miles of the planet's surface, snapping 22 digital photographs before continuing into space. They were the first close-ups ever taken of another planet, and it was only appropriate that the subject was Mars, a source of fascination since the beginning of recorded history.

There were, alas, none of the canals seen by astronomers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, nor evidence of senders of messages heard by Nikola Tesla or Gugliemo Marconi. Indeed, the hazy images of a barren, crater-strewn landscape ended speculation that Mars might plausibly be inhabited by higher life forms. But those low-resolution -- 0.04 megapixel -- images stirred the soul in different ways, and they paved the way for future photo shoots that would reveal a planet every bit as fantastic as imagined.

After leaving Mars, Mariner 4 journeyed to the far side of the sun, and finally returned to Earth's vicinity in 1967. Long after it was expected to break down, the satellite continued to send information about cosmic dust, celestial dynamics and solar plasma. After being put through a series of operations tests, Mariner 4 was shut down Dec. 20, 1967.  

                                   

                                   THEN AND NOW  The first fuzzy image of Mars (inset) from Mariner 4 in 1965 showed hints of clouds.   The Curiosity rover snapped a selfie while exploring Gale Crater.

15 th July 1799


The rosetta stone:
The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign.



What is the Rosetta Stone?
The Rosetta Stone is one of the most famous objects in the British Museum. But what is it?

The Stone is a broken part of a bigger stone slab. It has a message carved into it, written in three types of writing. It was an important clue that helped experts learn to read Egyptian hieroglyphs(Opens in new window) (a writing system that used pictures as signs).

Why is it important?
The writing on the Stone is an official message, called a decree, about the king. The decree was copied on to large stone slabs called stelae, which were put in every temple in Egypt. It says that the priests of a temple in Memphis supported the king. The Rosetta Stone is one of these copies, so not particularly important in its own right.


The important thing for us is that the decree is inscribed three times, in hieroglyphs(Opens in new window) (suitable for a priestly decree), Demotic(Opens in new window) (the cursive Egyptian script used for daily purposes, meaning 'language of the people'), and Ancient Greek(Opens in new window) (the language of the administration – the rulers of Egypt at this point were Greco-Macedonian after Alexander the Great's conquest(Opens in new window)).

The Rosetta Stone was found broken and incomplete. It features 14 lines of hieroglyphic script:

The importance of this to Egyptology is immense. When it was discovered, nobody knew how to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Because the inscriptions say the same thing in three different scripts, and scholars could still read Ancient Greek, the Rosetta Stone became a valuable key to deciphering the hieroglyphs.

When was it found?
Napoleon Bonaparte(Opens in new window) campaigned in Egypt(Opens in new window) from 1798 to 1801, with the intention of dominating the East Mediterranean and threatening the British hold on India. Although accounts of the Stone's discovery in July 1799 are now rather vague, the story most generally accepted is that it was found by accident by soldiers in Napoleon's army. They discovered the Rosetta Stone on 15 July 1799 while digging the foundations of an addition to a fort near the town of Rashid(Opens in new window) (Rosetta) in the Nile Delta. It had apparently been built into a very old wall. The officer in charge, Pierre-François Bouchard (1771–1822), realised the importance of the discovery.

On Napoleon's defeat, the stone became the property of the British under the terms of the Treaty of Alexandria(Opens in new window) (1801) along with other antiquities that the French had found. The stone was shipped to England and arrived in Portsmouth in February 1802.

Who cracked the code?
Soon after the end of the 4th century AD, when hieroglyphs had gone out of use, the knowledge of how to read and write them disappeared. In the early years of the 19th century, scholars were able to use the Greek inscription on this stone as the key to decipher them. Thomas Young(Opens in new window) (1773–1829), an English physicist, was one of the first to show that some of the hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone wrote the sounds of a royal name, that of Ptolemy.

The French scholar Jean-François Champollion(Opens in new window) (1790–1832) then realised that hieroglyphs recorded the sound of the Egyptian language. This laid the foundations of our knowledge of ancient Egyptian language and culture. Champollion made a crucial step in understanding ancient Egyptian writing when he identified the hieroglyphs that were used to write the names of non-Egyptian rulers. He announced his discovery, which had been based on analysis of the Rosetta Stone and other texts, in a paper at the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres(Opens in new window) at Paris on Friday 27 September 1822. The audience included his English rival Thomas Young, who was also trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Champollion inscribed this copy of the published paper (see image 'Tableau de Signes Phonétiques') with alphabetic hieroglyphs meaning 'à mon ami Dubois' ('to my friend Dubois'). Champollion then made a second crucial breakthrough, realising that the alphabetic signs were used not only for foreign names, but also for Egyptian names. Together with his knowledge of the Coptic language(Opens in new window), which derived from ancient Egyptian, this allowed him to begin reading hieroglyphic inscriptions fully.

A letter from Thomas Young written on 10 February 1818 asking William Bankes to seek out these hieroglyphic examples while in Egypt. The meanings he suggests for these groups are mostly correct, but he was unable to analyse how the signs conveyed their meaning.
What does the inscription actually say?
The inscription on the Rosetta Stone is a decree passed by a council of priests. It is one of a series that affirm the royal cult of the 13-year-old Ptolemy V(Opens in new window) on the first anniversary of his coronation (in 196 BC). You can read the full translation here(Opens in new window).

According to the inscription on the Stone, an identical copy of the declaration was to be placed in every sizeable temple across Egypt. Whether this happened is unknown, but copies of the same bilingual, three-script decree have now been found and can be seen in other museums. The Rosetta Stone is thus one of many mass-produced stelae designed to widely disseminate an agreement issued by a council of priests in 196 BC. In fact, the text on the Stone is a copy of a prototype that was composed about a century earlier in the 3rd century BC. Only the date and the names were changed!

Where is it now?
After the Stone was shipped to England in February 1802, it was presented to the British Museum by George III(Opens in new window) in July of that year. The Rosetta Stone and other sculptures were placed in temporary structures in the Museum grounds because the floors were not strong enough to bear their weight. After a plea to Parliament for funds, the Trustees began building a new gallery to house these acquisitions.

The Rosetta Stone has been on display in the British Museum since 1802, with only one break. Towards the end of the First World War, in 1917, when the Museum was concerned about heavy bombing in London, they moved it to safety along with other, portable, 'important’ objects. The iconic object spent the next two years in a station on the Postal Tube Railway 50 feet below the ground at Holborn.

16 th July 1858


Lourdes, the last apparition:
The last apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France.

Friday 16th July 1858 The 18th and final apparition

For more than three months now, Bernadette Soubirous has not had an apparition of the one who, on 25th March, presented herself, saying, “I am Immaculate Conception. “

In fact, the last apparition dates back to Passover Wednesday, 7th April 1858. Many events have taken place in the grotto, without Bernadette being involved in any way. The turmoil that reigns for some time encourages the authorities to prohibit access to the grotto from 15th June. Signs, boards, barricades are put up. Shortly after, because of the potentially explosive situation, the bishop goes as far as to forbid Catholics to go to the grotto. Two weeks later, his spirits being appeased, the bishop lifts his ban. Mary can return to Massabielle.

On the evening of 16th July, Bernadette feels once again that irresistible inner compulsion that draws her to the grotto. It is a feeling she knows well, but one she has not experienced for a long time. She leaves, accompanied by Lucile Castérot, the youngest of her aunts, just 20 years old. But this time she knows what to expect and prepares for it. Firstly, she wears borrowed clothes which are a little too big for her, so as not to be recognised. Secondly, she chooses another route not going directly to the grotto, but in front of it. They do not cross the Gave, remaining on the right bank of the stream.

Bernadette kneels in front of the grotto, but at a certain distance from the hollow. It is about half past ten in the evening. Slowly, as the Virgin Mary taught her, she makes a generous sign of the cross. Then she begins to pray the rosary.

On her right is her aunt Lucile and, on her left, two young girls, members of the parish association of the Children of Mary, who each carry a lighted candle in their hands. The night has almost fallen, but in the light of the candles, her three neighbours can see the transfigured face of Bernadette, radiating the happiness of another world.

The Immaculate Virgin is here for the eighteenth time. No words are exchanged. Yet, communion between the Mother of God and the young girl from Lourdes is intense. After this last apparition, Bernadette simply says, “Mary was more beautiful than ever“. She will specify that she saw the Blessed Virgin, as during the apparitions, that is to say, very close to her.

Bernadette knows that she has just experienced her last meeting on this earth with the Immaculate Virgin.

17 th JULY 1945

The Potsdam conference:
World War II: The main three leaders of the Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, meet in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany.


Potsdam Conference begins

The final “Big Three” meeting between the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain takes place towards the end of World War II. The decisions reached at the conference ostensibly settled many of the pressing issues between the three wartime allies, but the meeting was also marked by growing suspicion and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.

On July 17, 1945, U.S. President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met in the Berlin suburb of Potsdam to discuss issues relating to postwar Europe and plans to deal with the ongoing conflict with Japan. By the time the meeting began, U.S. and British suspicions concerning Soviet intentions in Europe were intensifying. Russian armies occupied most of Eastern Europe, including nearly half of Germany, and Stalin showed no inclination to remove his control of the region. Truman, who had only been president since Franklin D. Roosevelt died three months earlier, arrived at the meeting determined to be “tough” with Stalin. He was encouraged in this course of action by news that American scientists had just successfully tested the atomic bomb.

The conference soon bogged down on the issue of postwar Germany. The Soviets wanted a united but disarmed Germany, with each of the Allied powers determining the destiny of the defeated power. Truman and his advisors, fearing the spread of Soviet influence over all Germany–and, by extension, all of western Europe–fought for and achieved an agreement whereby each Allied power (including France) would administer a zone of occupation in Germany. Russian influence, therefore, would be limited to its own eastern zone. The United States also limited the amount of reparations Russia could take from Germany. Discussion of the continuing Soviet occupation of Poland floundered.

When the conference ended on August 2, 1945, matters stood much where they had before the meeting. There would be no further wartime conferences. Four days after the conference concluded, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan; on August 9, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. World War II officially came to an end on August 14, 1945.

18 th July 1976

Perfect 10:
Nadia Comăneci becomes the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics.


1976: First Gymnast to Score a Perfect 10 at an Olympics GamesBy Jamie ClarkePublished 19 August 2015
Back in 1976, scoring a perfect 10 in gymnastics was thought of as impossible to achieve. So much so that Swiss company Omega who had responsibility for the timing and scoring of Olympic events since 1932, queried whether they would need room for three digits or four at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. Daniel Baumat, now the director of Swiss Timing, which like Omega is part of the Swatch Group, was told that as 10.0 was out of the realms of achievement, only three digits would be needed.

This would prove to be a rather embarrassing error in judgement.

They didn’t anticipate the events that were ensue when an unknown 14 year-old from Romania named Nadia Comăneci took to the uneven bars on Sunday 18 July, the second day of the Montreal Games.

She was given the nickname of ‘Little Miss Perfect’ due to her the serious face and the ice-cold precision she adopted during her routines. Perfect as well, due to her commanding and unbeatable score.

Marking what was to be her first ever appearance at the Olympic Games, she dazzled the judges with a precise, faultless performance that left them no alternative but to award her full marks. The first ever person to achieve this feat in the field of gymnastics at the Olympic Games, the score read 1.0.

"Everybody was surprised to see a 14-year-old being able to do the level of gymnastics that I did, but even I didn't know that I was extraordinary at the time. She told the Guardian in 2011 : “I hoped to win a medal and hoped it would be gold. I knew I was good but didn't know I would be the one to score something that had never been done before.”

Even more remarkable, was the fact that she did it a further seven times at Montreal. This included four perfect routines in the asymmetic or uneven bars, and three times on the beam. In total she won three gold medals for the bars, the beam and the all-around competition, as well as a team silver and a bronze for her floor exercise. Only two other women matched Comaneci’s achievment, Mary Lou Retton (USA) in 1984 and Daniela Silivaş (Romania) in 1988. The International Gymnastics Federation changing the scoring system in 2006, varying scores across events and difficulty levels, meaning Nadia’s perfect score can now no longer be matched.

Due to the short career span of gymnastics, which involves years of strenuous and often brutal training regimes from an early age, Comăneci would only compete at one further Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980 before retiring in 1981. She would live in folklore as a national hero in Romania as well as a legend in the field of gymnastics.

In later life, Comăneci has published her own books, worked in the media, providing valuable insight into the world of gymnastics. In 1984, as well as in 2004, Comăneci received the Olympic Order, the highest award given by the International Olympic Committee. She is the only person to have received this honour twice, and was also the youngest recipient. She has also been inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

The emergence of Comăneci at the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976 took the world by storm and pushed the boundaries of expectation in the realms of human achievement.

19 th July 1843


SS.Great Britain:
Brunel's steamship the SS Great Britain is launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull and screw propeller, becoming the largest vessel afloat in the world.

THE LAUNCH OF THE GREAT BRITAIN STEAMSHIP, 1843


THE STORY
The Launch

The launch of the SS Great Britain in 1843 was dramatic. Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, had travelled on Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway from London to Bristol to attend the launch. Bristolians welcomed him enthusiastically and tickets for the launch were sold with the advertisement “Prince Albert – To be seen alive!”

The SS Great Britain was ‘christened’ when a bottle of champagne was thrown and smashed on the bow (front) of the ship. There are different reports from the time about who performed this honour and what happened during the event. One version reported that Mrs Miles, the wife of a local Member of Parliament, launched the SS Great Britain. She had also launched Brunel’s previous ship the ps Great Western in 1837. Other reports claim Mrs Miles failed to hit the ship with the bottle. Prince Albert apparently then threw a champagne bottle from his table and successfully smashed it upon the ship, showering the crowd below with glass. With conflicting evidence, we cannot be certain whether it was really Prince Albert or Mrs Miles who actually launched the ship.

CONTINUE THE STORY
The construction of the SS Great Britain

The launch of the SS Great Britain caused great excitement. In 1843, the SS Great Britain was the world’s largest, longest and first iron-hulled, screw-propelled ship. Isambard Kingdom Brunel had to persuade the Directors of the Great Western Steam Ship Company to change his original design, from a ship with paddle wheels to one that used new propeller-power technology. It was this technology that was to make the SS Great Britain the forerunner of modern ships.

The SS Great Britain was built over four years by local ship builder William Patterson, in a specially built Dry Dock in Bristol’s Great Western Dockyard. Brunel was the Project Engineer and his Drawing Office can still be seen beside the ship today.

The SS Great Britain began her working life carrying passengers between Liverpool and New York City and did not return to Bristol until 1970; 127 years later. When she returned she was placed in the same Dry Dock where she was originally built, which visitors can now explore.

20 th July 1982

The Hyde park and Regent park bombings:
Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.

The Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings were carried out on 20 July 1982 in London, England. Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated two improvised explosive devices during British military ceremonies in Hyde Park and Regent's Park, both in central London.

The explosions killed eleven military personnel: four soldiers of the Blues and Royals at Hyde Park, and seven bandsmen of the Royal Green Jackets at Regent's Park. Seven of the Blues and Royals' horses were also killed in the attack. One seriously injured horse, Sefton, survived and was subsequently featured on television programmes and was awarded "Horse of the Year".

In 1987, Gilbert "Danny" McNamee was convicted of making the Hyde Park bomb and jailed for 25 years. He served 12 years before being released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement; his conviction was later quashed. In 2013, IRA member John Downey was charged with four counts of murder in relation to the Hyde Park attack; his trial began in January 2014, but collapsed the following month after a ruling upon a letter sent to him by the Metropolitan Police assuring him that he would not be prosecuted over the attack. On 18 December 2019, the High Court ruled in a civil case that John Downey was an "active participant" in the bombing.

No one has ever been charged in connection with the Regent's Park bombing.

The attacks
Hyde Park bombing.
At 10:43 am, a nail bomb exploded in the boot of a blue Morris Marina parked on South Carriage Drive in Hyde Park. The bomb comprised 25 lb (11 kg) of gelignite and 30 lb (14 kg) of nails. It exploded as soldiers of the Household Cavalry, Queen Elizabeth II's official bodyguard regiment, were passing. They were taking part in their daily Changing of the Guard procession from their barracks in Knightsbridge to Horse Guards Parade. Three soldiers of the Blues and Royals were killed immediately, and another, their standard-bearer, died from his wounds three days later. The other soldiers in the procession were badly wounded, and a number of civilians were injured. Seven of the regiment's horses were also killed or had to be euthanised because of their injuries.[ Exploisives experts believed that the Hyde Park bomb was remotely triggered by an IRA member inside the park.

Regent's Park bombing
The second attack happened at 12:55 pm, when a bomb exploded underneath a bandstand in Regent's Park. Thirty military bandsmen of the Royal Green Jackets were on the stand performing music from Oliver! to a crowd of 120 people.

It was the first in a series of advertised lunchtime concerts there. Six of the bandsmen were killed outright and the rest were wounded; a seventh died of his wounds on 1 August. At least eight civilians were also injured. The bomb had been hidden under the stand some time before and triggered by a timer.] Unlike the Hyde Park bomb, it contained no nails and seemed to be designed to cause minimal harm to bystanders

21 st July 1972

     Bloody Friday:
                          The Troubles: Bloody Friday: The Provisional IRA detonate 22 bombs in central Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom in the space of 80 minutes, killing nine and injuring 130.


Bloody Friday is the name given to the bombings by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 21 July 1972, during the Troubles. At least twenty bombs exploded in the space of eighty minutes, most within a half hour period. Most of them were car bombs and most targeted infrastructure, especially the transport network. Nine people were killed: five civilians, two British soldiers, a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) reservist, and an Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member, while 130 were injured. The IRA said it sent telephoned warnings at least thirty minutes before each explosion and said that the security forces wilfully ignored some of the warnings for their own ends. The security forces said that was not the case and said they were overstretched by the sheer number of bombs and bomb warnings, some of which were hoaxes.

The bombings were partly a response to the breakdown of talks between the IRA and the British government. Since the beginning of its campaign in 1970, the IRA had carried out a bombing campaign against civilian, economic, military and political targets in Northern Ireland and less often elsewhere. It carried out 1,300 bombings in 1972. However, Bloody Friday was a major setback for the IRA as there was a backlash against the organization. Immediately after the bombings, the security forces carried out raids on the homes of republicans. Ten days later, the British Army launched Operation Motorman, in which it re-took the no-go areas controlled by Republicans. Loyalist paramilitaries also reacted to the bombings by carrying out 'revenge' attacks on Catholic civilians.

On the thirtieth anniversary of the bombings, the IRA formally apologized to the families of all the civilians it had killed and injured.

22nd July 1707

The act of union:
The Acts of Union 1707 are agreed upon by commissioners from the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which, when passed by each country's Parliament, leads to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.


The Acts of Union (Scottish Gaelic: Achd an Aonaidh) were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706, following negotiation between commissioners representing the parliaments of the two countries. By the two Acts, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland—which at the time were separate states with separate legislatures, but with the same monarch—were, in the words of the Treaty, "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain".

The two countries had shared a monarch since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne from his double first cousin twice removed, Queen Elizabeth I. Although described as a Union of Crowns, and in spite of James's acknowledgement of his accession to a single Crown, England and Scotland were officially separate Kingdoms until 1707 (as opposed to the implied creation of a single unified Kingdom, exemplified by the later Kingdom of Great Britain). Prior to the Acts of Union, there had been three previous attempts (in 1606, 1667, and 1689) to unite the two countries by Acts of Parliament, but it was not until the early 18th century that both political establishments came to support the idea, albeit for different reasons.

The Acts took effect on 1 May 1707. On this date, the Scottish Parliament and the English Parliament united to form the Parliament of Great Britain, based in the Palace of Westminster in London, the previous home of the English Parliament. This specific process is sometimes referred to as the "union of the Parliaments" in Scotland

23 rd July 1943

The bath chair murder:
The Rayleigh bath chair murder occurred in Rayleigh, Essex, England.



Archibald Brown had given 3 years of service in the Great War and on his return home had become a successful miller. However, a motorcycle accident aged 24 changed his life forever. By 1943 aged just 47 Archibald was in constant pain and unable to walk. He was confined to a bath chair – similar to a modern-day wheelchair. He needed the care of 3 full-time nurses. He ruled his house with an iron fist he was a bitter temperamental bully who treated his family with disdain. Doris his wife, seemed resigned to live with Archibald and suffered his abuse with silent stoicism for his son Eric the beatings and humiliation from his father was getting harder to bare.

Eric had been conscripted into the 8th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment, British Army as the Second World War raged, but the army made allowances in light of Archibald’s disability and stationed Eric at Spilsby Barracks which was very close to the family home in London Hill, Rayleigh Essex. He was also granted regular leave meaning Eric could make frequent visits back to help care for his father.

On the 23rd of July at 1.45 pm, Nurse Doris Irene Mitchell went to the family’s air raid shelter where the bath chair was stored. The door was unexpectedly locked. She fetched Doris but as they approached the shelter, Eric exited looking unsettled and evasive. The ladies retrieved the chair and got Archibald comfortable for his regular walk in the fresh air with Nurse Mitchell.

After about a mile as they walked through a local park, Archibald shifted in his chair to retrieve his cigarette pack and gave the nurse a cigarette. She walked a few steps away to light it. That’s when there was a violent explosion.

Nurse Mitchell miraculously survived suffering injuries to her legs and arm. Archibald and his chair were nowhere to be seen.

Pieces of the chair were found scattered throughout the park, parts were even hanging from the trees. Archibald himself was spread over an even wider area. His right foot, still in its shoe was found in the front garden of a house, a quarter mile from the explosion.

The police were immediately called. They first had to rule out enemy action. As this is 1943 and located close to London it was reasonable to think that this could have been an accident. German aircraft would often pepper the ground with “Butterfly Bombs” where they would sit unexploded until disturbed.

This was quickly discounted. The remains of a Number 75 British Hawkins Grenade- Mine, used as an anti-tank mine, anti- vehicle grenade or demolition charge were found in the debris. It had been hidden under the seat cushion.

A Hawkins was a small mine measuring 3 inches wide by 6 inches long, containing approximately a pound of TNT explosive. Weight is exerted on a pressure plate, then a glass chemical ignitor is cracked, and the acid within drips into a sensitive chemical mix that detonates the charge. It is likely when Archibald shifted in his chair for the cigarettes, he pressed on the pressure plate with enough force to crack the ignitor and the process of the acid mixing gave enough time for Nurse Mitchell to walk clear of the impending explosion.

19-year-old Eric Brown was the obvious suspect.

The detectives investigating the case uncovered that Eric had taken a lecture at Spilsby Barracks on the Hawkins Mine on April the 23rd and when a stock take was performed in the armoury a Hawkins was missing. Three weeks after the murder Eric was arrested and was facing the death penalty if convicted.

Detective Chief Inspector Draper and Detective Inspector Jack “Trapper” Barkway interviewed Eric. The latter then wrote down his confession, which asserted that his mother had been made a drudge and was living a completely intolerable life. “I decided that the only real way in which my mother could lead a normal life and my father to be released from his sufferings was for him to die mercifully.” Eric had adjusted the pressure plate on the Hawkins to lower the weight needed to set off the device. Doris was interviewed for 5 hours and corroborated Eric’s description of life in the Brown household and the abuse Archibald inflicted on them. There was no financial gain from the murder and Eric must have known he would be the prime suspect.

On the 21st of September Eric was committed to trial at Essex Assizes. The trial started on the 4th of November at Shire Hall, Chelmsford.

Eric pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The facts of the case were undisputed, it all hinged on Eric’s mental health. The prison doctor testified he was sane but had attempted suicide while in custody. The defence doctor diagnosed Schizophrenia, Eric had a history of mood swings and bizarre behaviour, which had caused him to be asked to resign from his last civilian job at Barclays Bank in 1942. The jury after hearing all the evidence deliberated for just 45 minutes. They found him guilty but agreed that he was insane. Judge Atkinson passed a sentence that Eric would be detained “at Her Majesty’s pleasure” in a psychiatric hospital. This sort of sentence means Eric would be at the hospital for as long as it takes for the doctors to believe he is safe to be released if ever.

32 years after the crime in 1975, aged 51 Eric was released. No information is known about Eric after this time. Nurse Mitchell mostly recovered though she had a limp and permanent injury to her arm



The remains of the bath chair.

24 th July 1411

                           Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place

    BATTLE OF HARLAW:
                                  The Battle of Harlaw is significant as one of the bloodiest medieval battles within Scotland. It is also one of a number of battles between forces serving the Stewart dynasty, as rulers of Scotland from the lowlands, against the Lords of the Isles, the major power in northern Scotland. It is held of particular importance in the Aberdeen area, as the retreat of the MacDonald forces after Harlaw saved the city, and many of the city's important residents were killed at Harlaw in its defence.
The Battle of Harlaw was one of the bloodiest battles of the Medieval period in Scotland. The MacDonald army under the command of Domhnall MacDonald, the Lord of the Isles, was advancing on Aberdeen to defend his control over the Earldom of Ross. The Earl of Mar, Alexander Stewart, was sent by his uncle, the governor Duke of Albany, to stop them. The outcome of the battle was militarily inconclusive, and both sides claimed victory despite each having suffered heavy losses.
The consequence of the battle was to halt MacDonald's advance towards Aberdeen and bring his campaign to an end. The Duke of Albany quickly seized a firm grip on the Earldom of Ross and the Lord of the Isles, who had been the chief internal threat to Stewart control of Scotland, was forced to relinquish his claim in the Treaty of Lochgilphead in 1412. Robert, the Duke of Albany, was left in control of Scotland as governor for the imprisoned James I.

25 th July 1978

Louise Brown:
Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF.


Louise Joy Brown (born 25 July 1978) is an English woman who was the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation experiment (IVF). Her birth, following a procedure pioneered in Britain, has been lauded among "the most remarkable medical breakthroughs of the 20th Century".

Birth and early life
Louise Joy Brown was born at Oldham General Hospital, Lancashire, by planned Caesarean section performed by registrar John Webster. She weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces (2.608 kg) at birth. Her parents, Lesley and John Brown, had been trying to conceive naturally for nine years, but Lesley faced complications of blocked fallopian tubes.

On 10 November 1977, Lesley Brown underwent a procedure, later to become known as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), developed by Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards and Jean Purdy. Purdy was the first to see her embryonic cells dividing. Edwards, as the only surviving partner, was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Medicine for this work. In March 2022 a plaque was installed on Royal Oldham Hospital to record the importance of Sister Muriel Harris and Jean Purdy to the work. Although the media referred to Brown as a "test tube baby", her conception actually took place in a Petri dish. Her younger sister, Natalie Brown, was also conceived through IVF four years later, and became the world's 40th child after conception by IVF. In May 1999, Natalie was the first human born after conception by IVF to give birth herself—without IVF.

Career and family life
In 2004, Brown married nightclub doorman Wesley Mullinder. Dr. Edwards attended their wedding. Their first son, conceived naturally, was born on 20 December 2006.

Brown's father died in 2006. Her mother died on 6 June 2012 in Bristol Royal Infirmary at the age of 64 due to complications from a gallbladder infection.

26 July 1803

First public railway:
The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London, United Kingdom.

The first public railway was the Surrey Iron Railway, which ran from Wandsworth to Croydon, UK, and opened on 26 July 1803. Around the turn of the 19th century, many early tramroads or plateways existed, but these were all privately owned for the use of mines, quarries and steelworks. The Surrey Iron Railway was constructed as a plateway, approximately 9 miles (14.5 km) long, using "L" section rails to a gauge of 4 ft 2 in (1.27 m), which would not support the weight of a locomotive. It was built to allow the public to use the line, but they had to provide their own horses and wagons to carry goods. A fee was paid to the owner of the line based on the weight of material transported. No passengers were ever carried.

27 th July 1890

Van Gogh:
Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.

The Mysterious Death Of Vincent Van Gogh


It was on July 27th back in 1890 when the painter Vincent van Gogh supposedly committed suicide by shooting himself, but did he pull the trigger? A theory exists that he was murdered! Either way the events surrounding his shooting and death two days later are rather bizarre. It is also worth noting that most people die on the day they commit suicide, if that's what he did.

At the time of the shooting Vincent was staying at the Auberge Ravoux in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise in northern France. He would rise early and go out to paint, returning for lunch and dinner at the inn. However, on the day of the shooting Vincent didn’t return for lunch, and then didn’t return for dinner either. The occupants of the house, the Ravoux family, thought this strange as he usually stuck to a routine.

Vincent finally returned at 9pm walking bent over and clutching his stomach. Concerned the owner of the inn asked him if he was ill and Vincent showed him a wound near his heart and explained that he’d shot himself. The bullet hadn’t killed him, but he’d passed out. As the coolness of evening arrived Vincent came around. Apparently, he tried to finish the job but couldn’t find the gun and staggered back to the inn. He died in his room at the inn on July 29th at the tender age of thirty-seven years old, destined to become one of the most famous artists in history.

28 th July 1939


Sutton Hoo helmet:
The Sutton Hoo helmet is discovered.


The Sutton Hoo helmet: an Anglo-Saxon treasure


The Sutton Hoo helmet, discovered in 1939 at the Sutton Hoo dig site in Suffolk, England, is a remarkable archaeological find from the early 7th century Anglo-Saxon period. Found in a ship burial, this helmet stands out for its intricate design and the presence of a human face, allowing us to relate to the people of that time. Reconstructing the helmet was a challenging task due to its numerous fragments. Conservator Nigel Williams spent a year matching and piecing together the curved and thick pieces, using a blend of original and modern components. The reconstructed helmet provides insights into ancient craftsmanship and culture.

The helmet's design shows influences from late-Roman helmet types and highlights a connection between England and eastern Sweden. Although fragmented, the imagery on the helmet includes depictions of humans, animals, and scenes of victory and defeat, blurring the line between Roman and northern European influences. The Sutton Hoo helmet is a rare complete metal helmet from its period, making it a significant artifact for understanding the history and warfare of the time. Its discovery and reconstruction shed light on ancient cultures and their interconnectedness, offering a tangible link to the past.


The re-constructed helmet