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18 June 1940: Charles de Gaulle, a French officer who had...

National or international item

18 June 1940

Charles de Gaulle , a French officer who had fled to Britain when France fell (now technically, with Marshall Pétain 's armistice plan, a rebel and a deserter for seeking to fight on),
Beevor, Antony, and Charles de Gaulle. “Foreword”. The flame of French resistance, Guardian News and Media, 2007, pp. 5-8.
5
broadcast...

By 14 January 1775: Arms were seized from royal forts in New...

National or international item

By 14 January 1775

Arms were seized from royal forts in New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
Thomas, Peter David Garner. Tea Party to Independence: The Third Phase of the American Revolution, 1773-1776. Clarendon, 1991.
197

27 March 1998: The US Food and Drug Administration authorised...

Building and people item

27 March 1998

The USFood and Drug Administration authorised the use of a drug called Viagra to treat male erectile dysfunction.
“National News”. CBC Television.
27 March 2013

1953: Ann Davison completed the remarkable feat...

Building and people item

1953

Ann Davison completed the remarkable feat of sailing solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

1911: Hilda Hewlett became the first British woman...

Building and people item

1911

Hilda Hewlett became the first British woman accredited as a pilot.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

By August 1785: William Cowper published The Task, his meditative-didactic...

Writer or writing item

By August 1785

William Cowper published The Task, his meditative-didactic poem in six books. Writing it was a task set before him by his friend Lady Austen .
Gentleman’s Magazine. Various publishers.
55 (1785): 637, 985

1934: The British Council was founded to promote...

Building and people item

1934

The British Council was founded to promote education abroad about Britain and British art.
Windsor, Alan, editor. Handbook of Modern British Painting 1900-1980. Scolar Press, 1992.
42

Gertrude Thimelby

GT was a Roman Catholic poet of the mid seventeenth century with a powerful individual voice, dealing with the themes of family love, bereavement, and religious devotion. Her surviving poems number only nineteen.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

22 May 1760: Laurence Sterne published Sermons of Mr....

Writer or writing item

22 May 1760

Laurence Sterne published Sermons of Mr. Yorick.
Battestin, Martin C., editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 39. Vol. 2 vols., Gale Research, 1985.
477

Later 1884: The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty...

Building and people item

Later 1884

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (later the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children or NSPCC) was founded.
Bristow, Edward. Vice and Vigilance: Purity Movements in Britain Since 1700. Gill and Macmillan, 1977.
92
Jackson, Louise A. Child Sexual Abuse in Victorian England. Routledge, 2000.
16, 54-55

19 May 1845-1848: John Franklin made his final, unsuccessful...

National or international item

19 May 1845-1848

John Franklin made his final, unsuccessful attempt to discover the North-West Passage.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
II: 464
Williams, Neville. Chronology of the Modern World: 1763 to the Present Time. David McKay, 1967.
199

30 January 1961: The National Health Service announced that...

Building and people item

30 January 1961

The National Health Service announced that the early contraceptive pill Enovid would become available in Britain in December this year. The birth-control pill had to be bought, but was subsidized to keep its cost to...

1880s: Social purity organizations began their vigorous...

Building and people item

1880s

Social purity organizations began their vigorous campaign to control the sexuality of the young.
Bristow, Edward. Vice and Vigilance: Purity Movements in Britain Since 1700. Gill and Macmillan, 1977.
126, 128

1866: The crinoline rapidly fell from favour among...

Building and people item

1866

The crinoline rapidly fell from favour among the fashionable classes; it was nearly extinct by 1870.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
134-5
Adburgham, Alison. A Punch History of Manners and Modes 1841-1940. Hutchinson, 1961.
88, 91

Sir J. M. Barrie

SJMB began his career in the late nineteenth century as a journalist, then moved to short stories, then novels, then plays. Those of his plays which survive in the repertoire, for professionals or amateurs, all...
Sir J. M. Barrie Photograph of James Barrie, not yet a baron, by Frederick Hollyer, 1892. Barrie sits, wearing a coat, jacket, and waistcoat, with his head tilted to one side and chin resting on his left hand.

Maria Grey

MG wrote during the second half of the nineteenth century. Her early productions were literary: she collaborated with her sister on a narrative and a novel, and then produced a second novel independently. Her later...
Maria Grey Low-resolution black-and-white photo of Maria Grey sitting in a chair,holding a book. She has a white cap tied round her head and she is wearing glasses. Her dress is buttoned up the front and topped by a short jacket.

1703: A class-conscious educational pamphlet entitled...

Building and people item

1703

A class-conscious educational pamphlet entitled The Ladies' Catechism was published.
Adburgham, Alison. Women in Print: Writing Women and Women’s Magazines from the Restoration to the Accession of Victoria. George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1972.
37

1845: American Charlotte Cushman made a sensation...

Building and people item

1845

American Charlotte Cushman made a sensation at her debut on the English stage as Bianca in Henry Hart Milman 's Fazio at the Princess's Theatre.
Markus, Julia. Across An Untried Sea: Discovering Lives Hidden in the Shadow of Convention and Time. Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.
13
Leach, Joseph. Bright Particular Star. Yale University Press, 1970.
188-9

October 1846: Queen Isabella of Spain married her cousin,...

National or international item

October 1846

Queen Isabella of Spain married her cousin, despite machinations by British and French diplomats to arrange a marriage that would be politically opportune for them.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
78-79

December 1854: The quality of the New Monthly Magazine began...

Writer or writing item

December 1854

The quality of the New Monthly Magazine began rapidly to decline when Henry Colburn 's control ceased.
Houghton, Walter E., and Jean Harris Slingerland, editors. The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900. University of Toronto Press, 1966–1989, 5 vols.
3: 169, 302

1910: Havelock Ellis's sixth volume of the series...

Writer or writing item

1910

Havelock Ellis 's sixth volume of the series Studies in the Psychology of Sex was the earliest to be published in Britain.
Craig, Alec. The Banned Books of England and Other Countries. George Allen and Unwin, 1962.
66

2 April-28 May 1871: The second siege of Paris took place; this...

National or international item

2 April-28 May 1871

The second siege of Paris took place; this time the besiegers were monarchists, and the defenders were the supporters of the Paris Commune , who had ousted the monarchist National Assembly.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
288
Merriman, John M. “Contested Freedoms in the French Revolutions, 1830-1871”. Revolution and the Meanings of Freedom in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Isser Woloch, Stanford University Press, 1996, pp. 173-11.
202-6
Marlière, Philippe. “Globalisation before Globalisation”. London Review of Books, Vol.
37
, No. 13, 2 July 2015, pp. 21-2.
21

1857: J. F. Hope of London published the two volumes...

Women writers item

1857

J. F. Hope of London published the two volumes of Mrs Robert Cartwright's third novel, The Royal Sisters; or Pictures of a Court.
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.

1806: An Italian invented the prototype of carbon...

Writer or writing item

1806

An Italian invented the prototype of carbon paper, for making copies simultaneously with writing.
Winchester, Simon. The Meaning of Everything. Oxford University Press, 2003.
147

21 September 1777: Five British regiments launched a surprise...

National or international item

21 September 1777

Five British regiments launched a surprise attack near the Paoli Tavern, Pennsylvania, which became known as the Paoli Massacre.
The tavern was apparently named for the leader of another independence struggle: Pasquale Paoli of Corsica.
Coakley, Robert, and Stetson Conn. The War of the American Revolution. Center of Military History, 1975.
109