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14 June 1697: John Dunton's Athenian Mercury ceased pu...

Building and people item

14 June 1697

John Dunton 's Athenian Mercury ceased publication.
Crane, Ronald Salmon et al. A Census of British Newspapers and Periodicals, 1620-1800. University of North Carolina Press; Cambridge University Press, 1927.
16

12 January 1919: David Lloyd George's arrival in Paris for...

National or international item

12 January 1919

David Lloyd George 's arrival in Paris for the peace conference provoked immediate controversy when he requested that all British dominions should be represented by their own delegations.
MacMillan, Margaret. Paris 1919. Random House, 2003.
45

August 1870: The National Association for the Repeal of...

National or international item

August 1870

The National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts moved its headquarters to London.
Walkowitz, Judith R. Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State. Cambridge University Press, 1980.
92

1934: The boys' paper Chums, launched in 1892,...

Writer or writing item

1934

The boys' paper Chums, launched in 1892, ceased publication.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
126-7

30 September 1950: The BBC aired its first live air-to-ground...

Building and people item

30 September 1950

The BBC aired its first live air-to-ground television broadcast, from an aircraft in flight.
BBC Handbook: 1960. BBC, 1960, http://U of A HSS HE 8690 B86.
239
Briggs, Asa. The BBC: The First Fifty Years. Oxford University Press, 1985.
381

25 November 1994: A referendum in Ireland produced a majority...

National or international item

25 November 1994

A referendum in Ireland produced a majority of 9,000 in favour of lifting the constitutional ban on divorce.
Williams, Neville et al. Chronology of the 20th Century. Helicon, 1996.
533

25 April 1913: The Cat and Mouse Act (Prisoners' Temporary...

National or international item

25 April 1913

The Cat and Mouse Act (Prisoners' Temporary Discharge for Ill-Health Act) received royal assent; the Act empowered authorities to release hunger-strikers from prison long enough for them to regain their health, after which they were...

26 September 1879: The London King's Cross to Leeds train service...

National or international item

26 September 1879

The London King's Cross to Leeds train service installed its first regular restaurant car.
Allen, G. Freeman. Railways: Past, Present and Future. Orbis Publishing, 1982.
128-9

11 June 1866: The Contagious Diseases Act was amended....

Building and people item

11 June 1866

The Contagious Diseases Act was amended.
Petrow, Stefan. Policing Morals: The Metropolitan Police and the Home Office 1870-1914. Clarendon Press, 1994, p. 343.
120
Walkowitz, Judith R. Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State. Cambridge University Press, 1980.
78
McHugh, Paul. Prostitution and Victorian Social Reform. 1980th ed., Croom Helm, 1980.
42-3

7 December 1875: The Historical Manuscripts Commission was...

Building and people item

7 December 1875

The Historical Manuscripts Commission was constituted, with a brief to catalogue material in private archives.
Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
5th (1876): prelims

1559: After a suppressed edition of 1555, there...

Writer or writing item

1559

After a suppressed edition of 1555, there was published the anonymous A Myrroure for Magistrates: a collection of verse laments by famous men and women about how fortune brought them down in the end.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
English Short Title Catalogue. http://estc.bl.uk/.

1980: The findings of the first controlled trial...

Building and people item

1980

The findings of the first controlled trial of obstetric ultrasound were reported this year—although the practice, developing rapidly since the 1950s, was already seen as a must for women.
Oakley, Ann. Telling the Truth about Jerusalem. Basil Blackwell, 1986.
47-8

From April 1810: The Rev. Joseph Wilkinson's Select Views...

Writer or writing item

From April 1810

The Rev. Joseph Wilkinson 's Select Views in Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire appeared in instalments, containing William Wordsworth 's introductory Description of the Scenery of the English Lakes and later text.
Moorman, Mary. William Wordsworth: A Biography. Clarendon Press, 1957–1965, 2 vols.
2: 158-9

1885: A proponent of the rational dress movement,...

Building and people item

1885

A proponent of the rational dress movement, Mrs Ada Ballin , published The Science of Dress.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
185

16 April 2007: Novelist Yann Martel began a project of sending...

Writer or writing item

16 April 2007

Novelist Yann Martel began a project of sending a book every two weeks to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper together with an admonitory letter; on a website he recorded the books sent and gave the...

16 October 1843: Søren Kierkegaard published Fear and Trembling...

Writer or writing item

16 October 1843

Søren Kierkegaard published Fear and Trembling under the pseudonym of Johannes de Silentio.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
Arbaugh, George E., and George B. Arbaugh. Kierkegaard’s Authorship; A Guide to the Writings of Kierkegaard. Augustana College Library, 1967.
105-6

June 1973: The so-called cod war broke out between Britain...

National or international item

June 1973

The so-called cod war broke out between Britain and Iceland, caused by increasing national competitiveness over depleted fishing stocks.
“National archives 1973”. The Guardian, 1 Jan. 2004, pp. 4-5.
5

23 September 1782: Covent Garden Theatre re-opened after a three-month...

Building and people item

23 September 1782

Covent Garden Theatre re-opened after a three-month reconstruction, enlargement, and renovation.
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
5: 541-3, 555

1 October 1935: At the Labour Party's annual conference Ernest...

National or international item

1 October 1935

At the Labour Party 's annual conference Ernest Bevin made a dramatic attack on the pacifist views of the leader, George Lansbury , who thereupon resigned.
Light, Alison. “Harnessed to a Shark”. London Review of Books, 21 Mar. 2002, pp. 29-31.
31
Woolf, Virginia. The Diary of Virginia Woolf. Editors Bell, Anne Olivier and Andrew McNeillie, Hogarth Press, 1977–1984, 5 vols.
4: 345

1758: Carl Linnaeus' tenth edition of his Systema...

Building and people item

1758

Carl Linnaeus ' tenth edition of his Systema Naturae catalogued all known fauna and flora.
Langer, William L., editor. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. 4th ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
524
Shteir, Ann B. Cultivating Women, Cultivating Science. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
passim

12 June 1924: Compton Mackenzie presented the first disc-jockey...

Building and people item

12 June 1924

Compton Mackenzie presented the first disc-jockey programme on BBC radio.
Briggs, Asa. The BBC: The First Fifty Years. Oxford University Press, 1985.
366

1 July 1916: A British advance on the River Somme resulted...

National or international item

1 July 1916

A British advance on the River Somme resulted in appalling losses: 60,000 (including 19,000 British) died the first day, and 400,000 British by the end of the battle, on 18 November.
Morgan, Kenneth O., editor. The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain. Oxford University Press, 1984.
526
Cannan, May, and Bevil Quiller-Couch. The Tears of War. Editor Fyfe, Charlotte, Cavalier Books, 2000.
54

12 April 1861-9 April 1865: The American Civil War raged between the...

National or international item

12 April 1861-9 April 1865

The American Civil War raged between the Confederacy of southern slave-owning states and the Union of the rest: from the first shots fired by Confederate artillery at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, to the surrender...

October 1963: The editors of the Australian satire magazine...

Writer or writing item

October 1963

The editors of the Australian satire magazine Oz (parent of a London-edited successor) were fined on the charge of producing an obscene publication.
Wallace, Christine. Germaine Greer: Untamed Shrew. Richard Cohen Books, 1999.
99

22 March 1765: A new Stamp Act received the royal assen...

National or international item

22 March 1765

A new Stamp Act received the royal assent.
Carretta, Vincent. George III and the Satirists from Hogarth to Byron. University of Georgia Press, 1990.
104
Thomas, Peter David Garner. British Politics and the Stamp Act Crisis: The First Phase of the American Revolution, 1763-1767. Clarendon, 1975.
132-5