In This Week in … 1588, the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon towards the English Channel (19 May 1588); 1927, Charles Lindbergh sets off in the Spirit of St. Louis in an attempt to fly nonstop across the Atlantic (20 May 1927); 1881, the American Red Cross is founded in Washington, D.C. by Clara Barton and Adolphus Solomons (21 May 1881); 1802, Martha Washington dies at […]
On This Day
In This Week in … 1949, the Soviet blockade of West Berlin is lifted (12 May 1949); 1607, the English colony of Jamestown is founded on the James River in modern day Virginia (13 May 1607); 1804, Lewis and Clark depart for their epic exploration of the vast American interior (14 May 1804); 1941, the first Allied jet plane, the Gloster-Whittle E 28/39, is successfully flown […]
In This Week In … 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte dies in exile on the remote island of St Helena. His last words were reportedly “France, armée, Joséphine” (5 May 1821); 1937, the airship Hindenburg bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey (6 May 1937); 1915, the British ocean liner Lusitania is torpedoed without warning by a German submarine. 1198 people are drowned. (7 […]
In This Week In … 1945, Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans and hung upside down for public display (28 April 1945); 1968, in the midst of the culture wars, the musical Hair opens on Broadway (29 April 1968); 1789, the USA’s first ever presidential inauguration is held as George Washington is sworn into office in New York (30 April 1968); […]
In This Week in … 1776, the US Navy captures its first British warship. USS Lexington, under Captain John Barry, takes the Royal Navy’s HMS Edward (7 April 1776); 2013, Baroness Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, dies at her suite in the Ritz (8 April 2013); 1865, Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, effectively ending the US Civil […]
In This Week in … 1889, the Eiffel Tower opens in a ceremony that saw an enormous French tricolor raised and fireworks set off from the second platform (31 March 1889); 1918, the Royal Air Force is formed by amalgamating the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service (1 April 1918); 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon discovers Florida and claims the territory for the […]
In This Week in … 1603, Queen Elizabeth dies at the age of 69 after reigning over England for 44 years. The Tudor dynasty dies with her (24 March 1603); 1957, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg sign the Treaty of Rome establishing the EEC (25 March 1957); 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel (This Side of Paradise) is published (26 March 1920); 1905, […]
In This Week in … 461 CE., Saint Patrick, Christian missionary, bishop and apostle of Ireland, dies at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland (17 March 461); 1834, the 6 Tolpuddle Martyrs are sentenced to Australia’s New South Wales penal colony for their trade union activities (18 March 1834); 1931, Nevada legalises gambling in an attempt to pull itself out of the Great Depression. Population of Las Vegas? c. 5,000 (19 […]
In This Week in … 241 BCE, the Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet in the Battle of the Aegates Islands and bring the First Punic War to an end (10 March 241 BCE). 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev is selected as the new general secretary and leader of the Soviet Union (11 March 1985). 1933, 8 days after inauguration, FDR gives his first “fireside chat” radio broadcast to the nation from […]
In This Week in … 1284, the Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England (3 March 1284). 1933, Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States of America (4 March 1933). 1946, Churchill delivers his famous ‘Iron Curtain’ speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri (5 March 1946) 1857, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in the Dred Scott case […]