Today in History

And speaking of Russia...

On this day in 1983, 11-year-old Samantha Smith boarded a plane for the Soviet Union at the invitation of that country’s leader, Yuri Andropov, after writing him a letter during the height of the Cold War.



The schoolgirl received a reply and an invitation to visit. She had seen a TIME magazine article about the Soviet Union and asked her mother, “If people are so afraid of him, why doesn’t someone write a letter asking whether he wants to have a war or not?” Her mom replied, “Why don’t you?” Smith was in fifth grade when she wrote the letter, which was published in the Soviet newspaper Pravda

" Dear Mr. Andropov, My name is Samantha Smith. I am ten years old. Congratulations on your new job. I have been worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to vote to have a war or not? If you aren’t please tell me how you are going to help to not have a war. This question you do not have to answer, but I would like to know why you want to conquer the world or at least our country. God made the world for us to live together in peace and not to fight. Sincerely, Samantha Smith"

 

July 7th 1947

75 years ago, Roswell ‘flying saucer’ report sparked UFO obsession

The world was worrying about war when rancher W.W. Brazel walked into the sheriff’s office in Corona, N.M., on a hot, dusty day 75 years ago to report a “flying disk” he might have found on his property, about 100 miles northwest of Roswell Army Air Field.



The next day — July 8, 1947 — the public information officer at the base issued a news release stating the U.S. Army Air Forces had recovered a “flying saucer” at the ranch. While military brass quickly retracted the statement, it was too late: The legend of Roswell as the “UFO Capital of the World” was already soaring — much like the countless bright objects many Americans claimed to have seen in the sky that summer.

 

On This Day - 10th July
138The death of the Roman Emperor Hadrian who ordered the building of a wall across northern England to keep out the 'barbarian Scottish tribes'.

1040Lady Godiva rode naked on horseback through the streets of Coventry to force her husband, the Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes.

1212The most severe of several early fires in London began in Southwark and burned most of the city to the ground including Southwark Cathedral.


1460In England's Wars of the Roses, the Yorkists (commanded by Richard Neville, the 16th Earl of Warwick) defeated the Lancastrians and captured Henry VI at the Battle of Northampton.


1553Lady Jane Grey, the 9 days Queen, took the throne of England until 19th July when she was succeeded by Mary I. She was later charged with high treason and executed in November of the same year.


1940World War II: The first in a long series of German bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which lasted three and a half months, began.


1947The Government announced that Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) would get extra clothing coupons for her wedding dress.


1954Gordon Richards rode his last mount, at Sandown; the 21,834th of his almost 34-year racing career.


1958Britain's first parking meters were installed, in Mayfair, London.

 

1972William Whitelaw, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, broke the news that he had been involved in secret talks with the provisional IRA in London, as he announced that the two-week ceasefire in Northern Ireland had come to an end.


1985The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior was blown up in Auckland harbour, New Zealand.


1996The battered bodies of Lin Russell, 6-year-old daughter Megan, and 9-year-old daughter Josie, were found half a mile from their home in Kent. Michael Stone, 38, was later found guilty of two counts of murder (of Lin and Megan) and one count of attempted murder (Josie) and given three life sentences. His original conviction was overturned on appeal but a second trial resulted in another verdict of guilty after another prisoner claimed that Stone had confessed to the killings while on remand in jail.


1996Nelson Mandela received eight honorary degrees at Buckingham Palace.


1997More than 100,000 people packed Hyde Park in London for a countryside rally to protest against Government proposals to ban fox hunting.


2000Figures released by the government showed that one in four British homes were using the Internet.


2011The last ever edition of the News Of The World. The newspaper was launched in 1843 and its closure came after a string of new allegations about the paper's extent of phone hacking and corrupt payments made to police officers.

 

On This Day - 16th July
1377The coronation of Richard II, aged 10. He was king of England until he was deposed in 1399.


1439Kissing was banned in England because of the Plague.


1557 The death, aged 41, of Anne of Cleves, Queen of England and 4th wife of Henry VIII.


1723The birth of Sir Joshua Reynolds, an influential English painter, specialising in portraits. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy. King George III appreciated his merits and knighted him in 1769.


1902Eight bills for the building of London underground lines received their second reading in the House of Commons.


1915The American-born writer Henry James became a British citizen, to highlight his commitment to England during the first World War.

1945The leaders of the three Allied nations (Winston Churchill, Harry S Truman, and Josef Stalin) gathered in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany.


1955Stirling Moss won the British Grand Prix at the Aintree track near Liverpool - the first time an Englishman had triumphed in the race. His success in a variety of categories placed him among the world's elite and he is often called 'the greatest driver never to win the World Championship'.


1964The Rolling Stones had their first UK No.1 single with It's All Over Now, although their American tour, just a month earlier had been, in Bill Wyman's words, 'a disaster',


1970Prime Minister Edward Heath declared a state of emergency following the start of a national dock strike - the first state of emergency issued in Britain since 1926.


1987The two biggest airlines in the UK (One time rivals British Caledonian and British Airways) merged in order to compete with America's giant air corporations.

 

1955Stirling Moss won the British Grand Prix at the Aintree track near Liverpool - the first time an Englishman had triumphed in the race. His success in a variety of categories placed him among the world's elite and he is often called 'the greatest driver never to win the World Championship'.


1964The Rolling Stones had their first UK No.1 single with It's All Over Now, although their American tour, just a month earlier had been, in Bill Wyman's words, 'a disaster',


1970Prime Minister Edward Heath declared a state of emergency following the start of a national dock strike - the first state of emergency issued in Britain since 1926.


1987The two biggest airlines in the UK (One time rivals British Caledonian and British Airways) merged in order to compete with America's giant air corporations.


1988Lord Harewood, the Queen’s cousin, brought in police to investigate the theft of the world’s smallest horse, Pernod, a 27-inch-high Shetland stallion.


1993Britain's internal security service, MI5, held the first photocall in its 84-year history when Stella Rimington (Director General) posed openly for cameras at the launch of a brochure outlining the organization's activities.


1996Diana, Princess of Wales, announced that she was severing links with more than 100 charities.

2000Footballer George Best's doctor begged every barman in Britain to refuse to serve alcohol to the footballing legend to help him beat his addiction. Best was controversially granted an NHS liver transplant in 2002 and died in 2005, aged 59, due to complications from a drug used to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs.


2001Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged that public services could not be transformed totally within the coming Parliament.


2001The Labour Government was defeated in the House of Commons for the first time since it came to power in 1997.

 

Today in History July 30th

1945: The Portland-class heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis was torpedoed and sunk by the imperial Japanese Navy Submarine I-58

Out of a crew of 1,195 only 316 survived the grueling ordeal

 

On This Day - 30th July
1718William Penn, English Quaker leader and founder of the American colony of Pennsylvania died.


1746 The death of Francis Towneley, an English Jacobite who was executed for his role in the rebellion of 1745. His head was placed on a pike on Temple Bar, London but was secretly removed and has since been in possession of the Towneley family. The skull is now preserved in the chapel at Towneley Hall. The chapel's early 16th Century altarpiece is a magnificent example of Flemish craftsmanship.


1818Emily Brontë, English novelist and author of Wuthering Heights was born at this house ( in Thornton, West Yorkshire. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother Branwell. She published under the pen name Ellis Bell. The Brontës' later home was the Haworth Parsonage, in West Yorkshire.

1898The birth of Henry Moore, an English sculptor, and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. f 'Draped Seated Woman' at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. His forms are generally pierced or contain hollow spaces. Many interpreters liken the undulating form of his reclining figures to the landscape and hills of his birthplace, Yorkshire.


1900London Underground's Central Line was opened by the Prince of Wales, with a two pence (tuppence) fare for all destinations.


1935'Penguin' paperback books, founded by Allen Lane, went on sale in Britain.


1938 The first edition of The Beano was published. It is the longest-running British children's comic magazine, published by DC Thomson in Dundee. By April 1950 the weekly circulation was almost 2,000,000. The Beano reached its 4,000th issue on 28th August 2019.


1940The birth of Sir Clive Sinclair, inventor, and pioneer of the first home computers (Sinclair ZX80, ZX81, and Spectrum). His ZX 80 computer was launched in 1980 (as reflected in the name) and cost less than £100. At that time computers cost at least £700 (over £3,000 when adjusted for inflation). Sinclair was an inventor first and a businessman second. In 1983, he formed Sinclair Vehicles and released the Sinclair C5, a small, one-person battery electric recumbent tricycle. In 2010 Sinclair stated that he did not use computers himself, and preferred using the telephone to email.


1948The world's first radar station was opened, to assist shipping at the port of Liverpool.

 

1958Daley Thompson, a British athlete was born. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984 and broke the world record for the event four times. With four world records, two Olympic gold medals, three Commonwealth titles, and wins in the World and European Championships, Thompson is considered by many to be the greatest decathlete of all time.


1963Kim Philby, a British intelligence officer from 1940 and Soviet agent since 1933, fled to the USSR.


1966England won the Football World Cup in London, beating West Germany 4 - 2. This was England's first (and only) win since the tournament began in 1930. England forward Geoff Hurst became the only man to score a hat-trick in a world cup final.


1968The Beatles closed the Apple Boutique and gave clothes away for free to passers-by.


1973British victims of the drug Thalidomide were awarded £20 million compensation as their 11-year case against the Distillers company ended in victory.


1991Italian tenor Pavarotti celebrated 30 years in opera with a huge, free concert in Hyde Park.


2000The News of the World came under mounting pressure to end its 'name and shame campaign against pedophiles.


2006The world's longest-running music show Top of the Pops was broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years. 2213 episodes were screened, the first being broadcast on New Year's Day 1964. Disc Jockey Jimmy Savile (who died on October 29th, 2011) was the presenter of both the first and last shows. In October 2012 numerous allegations were made that Savile had sexually abused hundreds of young people, stretching from 1955 to 2009. In the aftermath, his gravestone at Scarborough was removed at the request of Savile's family and plaques and statues of him in other locations were removed to prevent further defacement.


2014A large part of the 144-year-old Grade II listed pier at Eastbourne's seafront was 'reduced to a mangled wreck' after a huge blaze that is believed to have started in wall paneling. In the aftermath, Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne pledged up to £2 million to help Eastbourne's tourism industry recover from the pier's loss.

 

On This Day - 31st July
1423 The Battle of Cravant, during the Hundred Years War between English and French forces. The French army contained a large number of Scots under Sir John Stewart. When the French began to withdraw, the Scots refused to flee. Over 3,000 of them fell and over 2,000 were taken prisoners, including John Stewart, leading to a victory for the English and their Burgundian allies.


1703English novelist Daniel Defoe was made to stand in the pillory as punishment for offending the government and church with his satire 'The Shortest Way With Dissenters. Bystanders pelted him with flowers instead of the customary harmful and noxious objects and drank to his health.


1910Dr Crippen was arrested aboard the SS Montrose as it was docking at Quebec. He was charged with the murder of his wife and was the first criminal to be caught by the use of radio.


1917The third Battle of Ypres (World War I) commenced as the British attacked the German lines.


1941World War II: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring ordered SS General Reinhard Heydrich to 'submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question.' The demand led to the Holocaust and the genocide of approximately six million European Jews.


1942The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (later called Oxfam) was founded.


1944Jonathan Dimbleby, broadcaster and TV presenter was born.


1950Britain's first self-service store, (Sainsbury's) opened in Croydon.

 

1956Yorkshire-born cricketer Jim Laker (who played for Surrey) became the first man to take all 10 wickets in a Test match innings as he returned figures of 10 wickets for 53 runs against Australia in the second innings at Old Trafford, Manchester. His match figures for the two innings gave him an incredible 19 wickets for a mere 90 Australian runs.


1959Cliff Richard had his first British No.1 with 'Living Doll'.


1968The first episode (entitled The Man and the Hour) of Dad's Army, a British comedy about the Home Guard in the Second World War. The TV series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers during the 1970s and is still repeated today.


1969 The pre-decimal half penny ceased being legal tender. It had been a regular feature of British coinage since the 13th century.


1970Black Tot Day occurred On This Day. It was the last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy that dated back to 1665. It was poured as usual at 6 bells in the forenoon watch (11 am) after the pipe of 'up spirits. Some sailors wore black armbands, tots were 'buried at sea, and in one navy training camp, there was a mock funeral procession complete with a black coffin and accompanying drummers and piper.


1973Militant Protestants, led by Rev Ian Paisley, disrupted the first sitting of the new Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast.


1990In the England v India Test Match at Lords, a total of 1603 runs were scored, in exactly 1603 minutes.


1992The death of Leonard Cheshire, the British pilot, and philanthropist who created the Leonard Cheshire Disability charity.


1998The British Government announced a total ban on landmines, a month before the first anniversary of the death of Princess Diana.


2009 The death (aged 76) of Sir Robert William "Bobby" Robson CBE, English footballer, and football manager. He was manager of Newcastle from September 1999 to 30th August 2004.


2013Magdelena Luczak and her partner, Mariusz Krezolek were found guilty of murdering her four-year-old son Daniel Pelka. Daniel died from a head injury in March 2012 after being left alone in his unheated room for 33 hours. Detectives said that Daniel had been beaten, poisoned with salt and starved and he had had to resort to stealing food from fellow pupils and from school dustbins. During the nine-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court, the boy's emaciated body was likened by a doctor to that of a concentration camp victim.

 

Today in history August 14th

1521
Aztec capital falls to Cortés
After a three-month siege, Spanish forces under Hernán Cortés capture Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec empire. Cortés’ men leveled the city and captured Cuauhtémoc, the Aztec emperor. Tenochtitlán was founded in 1325 A.D. by a wandering tribe of hunters and gatherers on