1760 The first public hanging took place at Tyburn in London. Earl Ferrers was executed after being convicted of murdering his valet. He was the first to be hanged by the new 'drop' which had just been introduced in the place of the barbarous cart, ladder and medieval three-cornered gibbet.
1904 The birth of Sir Gordon Richards,the first jockey ever to be knighted. He was the first to ride 4,000 winners and his career total of 4,870 victories was a world record that stood until 1956 when it was broken by Johnny Longden of the United States.
1930 British aviator Amy Johnson took off from Croydon Airport in her Gypsy Moth plane 'Jason'. She became the first woman to fly solo to Australia, arriving on May 24th.
1955 World famous American virologist Dr Jonas Salk witnessed a ceremonial polio vaccination in London when Margaret Jenkins from Kent became the 500,000th person in London to receive the vaccine to prevent the crippling disease poliomyelitis.
1964 The first meeting of a 'Clean Up TV' campaign led by Norah Buckland and her friend Mary Whitehouse. The organization was later given the name of The National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association.
1967 The first ever all-British satellite, Ariel 3, was successfully launched into orbit from the United States
1980 The SAS stormed the terrorist-occupied Iranian Embassy at Knightsbridge in London. Four gunmen were killed in the attack and all 19 hostages were rescued.
1981 Riots in Northern Ireland followed the death of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands in the Maze prison.
1997 William Hague was elected leader of the Conservative Party.
2001 Britain's tourist industry hoped that the bank holiday weekend and good weather would attract visitors to areas previously closed due to foot and mouth disease.
2005 Labour, under Tony Blair, won a historic third term in Government for Labour, but with a greatly reduced majority.
No comments:
Post a Comment