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20 November 1934: Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour, a...

Writer or writing item

20 November 1934

Lillian Hellman 's The Children's Hour, a play in which schoolgirls accuse teachers of having a lesbian relationship, opened on Broadway, New York.
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
20 November 2008

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

RPJ has been successful in two careers: as a novelist (a dozen titles) and short-story writer (eight collections), and as an author of film scripts (twenty-three), many of them adaptations from published fiction.
Watts, Janet. “Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Obituary”. The Guardian, 3 Apr. 2013.
The two...
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Colour photo of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala at the home of her frequent collaborator, director James Ivory, in Claverack, New York, September 1981. She is wearring a tweed blazer and has her hands in her pockets. She is standing in a park in fall, and the sky is blue with many clouds. The are birch trees in the background are bare.

14 March 1939: John Steinbeck caused a sensation with his...

Writer or writing item

14 March 1939

John Steinbeck caused a sensation with his novel The Grapes of Wrath, about the hardships and exploitation visited on a family displaced from their Oklahoma farm to California by dust-bowl conditions.
“Victims of Mammon”. Times Literary Supplement, No. 1962, 9 Sept. 1939, p. 525.
525
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
14 March 2008

3-15 January 1966: Fidel Castro's Tricontinental Conference...

National or international item

3-15 January 1966

Fidel Castro 's Tricontinental Conference held in Havana, Cuba, resulted in the formation of the Cuban Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL).
Blight, James G., and Philip Brenner. Sad and Luminous Days: Cuba’s Struggle with the Russians After the Missile Crisis. Rowman and Littlefield, 2003.
103

1817: The Scotsman newspaper began publication...

Writer or writing item

1817

The Scotsman newspaper began publication at Edinburgh.
Schott, Ben. Schott’s Original Miscellany. Bloomsbury, 2002.
140
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.

1903: The Representative Church Council was created...

Building and people item

1903

The Representative Church Council was created to advocate for the Church of England 's legislative autonomy from Parliament.
Norman, Edward R. Church and Society in England, 1770-1970. Clarendon, 1976.
273

25 August 1857: The Obscene Publications Act allowed for...

Building and people item

25 August 1857

The Obscene Publications Act allowed for the censorship of pornographic materials entering Britain.
Ledbetter, Rosanna. A History of the Malthusian League: 1877-1927. Ohio State University Press, 1976.
28
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.
605
Weeks, Jeffrey. Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality since 1800. Longman, 1981.
84
Craig, Alec. The Banned Books of England and Other Countries. George Allen and Unwin, 1962.
41-2

7 July 1946: BBC television broadcast to children for...

National or international item

7 July 1946

BBC television broadcast to children for the first time, in For the Children.
Briggs, Asa. The BBC: The First Fifty Years. Oxford University Press, 1985.
379

1980: The Independent Commission on International...

National or international item

1980

The Independent Commission on International Development , chaired by former German Chancellor Willy Brandt , whose remit included an analysis of relations between nations of North and South, met and reported.
“The Brandt Report”. Share the World’s Resources.

1 November 1899: The General Post Office removed its restrictions...

National or international item

1 November 1899

The General Post Office removed its restrictions on the size of picture postcards.
Staff, Frank. The Picture Postcard and Its Origins. F. A. Praeger, 1966.
59

1867: Joseph Lister (still a surgeon and professor...

Building and people item

1867

Joseph Lister (still a surgeon and professor in Glasgow) introduced two antiseptic agents this year: phenol, which was said to have reduced the surgical death rate from 45% to 15%, and carbolic acid for...

1939-44: During the war years books were exempt from...

Writer or writing item

1939-44

During the war years books were exempt from purchase tax, and book sales per head of population in Britain went up by fifty per cent. At the same time bombed-out libraries developed the need to...

27 August 1883: The volcano Mount Krakatoa in the Indonesian...

National or international item

27 August 1883

The volcano Mount Krakatoa in the Indonesian archipelago erupted with a force equal to multiple nuclear explosions: the 40,000 people killed included thousands of victims of tidal waves in Hawaii; the ash propelled into...

3 January 1854: British and French fleets sailed for the...

National or international item

3 January 1854

British and French fleets sailed for the Black Sea to support the Turks against Russia in the looming Crimean War.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
205

1895: Karl Kli made the first successful prints...

Writer or writing item

1895

Karl Kli made the first successful prints using an intaglio process called photogravure.
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
164

1843: Prince Albert assumed the presidency of the...

Building and people item

1843

Prince Albert assumed the presidency of the Society of Arts.
Boase, Thomas Sherrer Ross, editor. English Art, 1800-1870. Clarendon, 1959.
10: 254

By October 1988: Cosmologist Stephen Hawking sought in A Brief...

Building and people item

By October 1988

Cosmologist Stephen Hawking sought in A Brief History of Time to offer a theory of the universe, its origins and laws.
Reeves, Hubert. “Universal models”. Times Literary Supplement, No. 4464, 21–27 Oct. 1988, p. 1167.
1167

1882: An act of parliament was passed granting...

National or international item

1882

An act of parliament was passed granting the Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway permission to build the first deep-level railway with electric traction.
Day, John R. The Story of London’s Underground. London Transport, 1974.
50

After March 1843: Following a controversial trial, judges for...

National or international item

After March 1843

Following a controversial trial, judges for the House of Lords formalized the M'Naghten Rules, aimed at regularizing legal procedure for prosecuting defendants showing no criminal intent by virtue of defect of reason.
Smith, Roger. “The Boundary Between Insanity and Criminal Responsibility in Nineteenth-Century England”. Madhouses, Mad-Doctors, and Madmen: The Social History of Psychiatry in the Victorian Era, edited by Andrew Scull, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981, pp. 363-84.
366-7
Walker, Nigel. Crime and Insanity in England. Edinburgh University Press, 1968.
96

August 1878: The Bicycle Touring Club was founded by Stanley...

Building and people item

August 1878

The Bicycle Touring Club was founded by Stanley Cotterell .
Barker, Theodore Cardwell, and Dorian Gerhold. The Rise and Rise of Road Transport, 1700-1990. Macmillan, 1993.
53
Richardson, Kenneth, and C. N. O’Gallagher. The British Motor Industry 1896-1939. Macmillan, 1977.
12

9 March 1857: The Penal Servitude Act of 1853 link to 1853...

National or international item

9 March 1857

The Penal Servitude Act of 1853 was amended.
Emsley, Clive. Crime and Society in England 1750-1900. 2nd ed., Longman, 1996.
277
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.

1729: The publisher Andrew Millar, a Scotsman,...

Writer or writing item

1729

The publisher Andrew Millar , a Scotsman, established his printing house at 141 The Strand, London.
Bracken, James K., and Joel Silver, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 154. Gale Research, 1995.
184

Just before 27 July 1723: The government called for all and every person...

National or international item

Just before 27 July 1723

The government called for all and every person whatsoever over eighteen years of age (male or female) in Great Britain to take the oaths of allegiance.
Colley, Linda. Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837. Yale University Press, 1992.
202

Early 1880s: The first battery-powered vibrator was patented...

Building and people item

Early 1880s

The first battery-powered vibrator was patented and put into production; unlike many other doctors, inventor British physician Joseph Mortimer Granville opposed its use for treating women.
Maines, Rachel P. The Technology of Orgasm: ’Hysteria’, the Vibrator, and Women’s Sexual Satisfaction. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.
15, 19

July 1892: The University Association of Women Teachers...

Building and people item

July 1892

The University Association of Women Teachers began publishing its journal in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
16
Harrison, Royden et al. The Warwick Guide to British Labour Periodicals, 1790-1970: A Check List. Harvester Press, 1977.
572