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1926: Irish dancer and choreographer Ninette de...

Building and people item

1926

Irish dancer and choreographer Ninette de Valois founded her own school, the Academy of Choreographic Art , in London.
Clarke, Mary, 1923 -, and David Vaughan, editors. The Encyclopedia of Dance and Ballet. Pitman, 1977.
120

8 August 1963: The Great Train Robbery took place: the Glasgow...

Building and people item

8 August 1963

The Great Train Robbery took place: the Glasgow to London Royal Mail train was robbed of £2,500,000.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
420
Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History. 3rd revised, Simon and Schuster, 1991.
551, 553

5 May 1718: The Free-Thinker printed a letter from three...

Writer or writing item

5 May 1718

The Free-Thinker printed a letter from three supposed correspondents in favour of single women, who, they said, were wedded to Philosophy; which is indeed the most perfect State of Freedom.
Italia, Iona. Philosophers, Knights-Errant, Coquettes and Old Maids. Cambridge University, 1997.
124

May 1930: Factory-produced television sets (the Baird...

Building and people item

May 1930

Factory-produced television sets (the Bairdtelevisor) went on sale for 25 guineas in the UK.
Briggs, Asa. The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom. Oxford University Press, 1961, 5 vols.
2: 549
Harris, Melvin. ITN Book of Firsts. Michael O’Mara Books, 1994.
126
Singer, Charles et al., editors. A History of Technology. Clarendon, 1958, 8 vols.
7: 1260

April 1860: As Owen Meredith, Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton...

Writer or writing item

April 1860

As Owen Meredith, Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton published his successful verse novel Lucile.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
32

5 June 1977: Wangari Maathai and other women, the nucleus...

National or international item

5 June 1977

Wangari Maathai and other women, the nucleus of the Green Belt Movement , planted seven trees at a ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya, to mark World Environment Day (established on this day in 1972 by...

31 July 1893: The Gaelic League was founded, with Douglas...

National or international item

31 July 1893

The Gaelic League was founded, with Douglas Hyde as president, to promote Irish language and native culture in a non-denominational manner.
MacDonagh, Oliver. Ireland: the Union and its Aftermath. George Allen and Unwin, 1977.
73
Morton, Grenfell. Home Rule and the Irish Question. Longman, 1980.
47
Oxford Reference. http://www.oxfordreference.com.
Tóibín, Colm. “After I am hanged my portrait will be interesting”. London Review of Books, Vol.
38
, No. 7, 31 Mar. 2016, pp. 11-23.
14

10 December 1960: Peter Brian Medawar from Great Britain was...

National or international item

10 December 1960

Peter Brian Medawar from Great Britain was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The prize, recognizing the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance, was shared with Australia's Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet .
Schlessinger, Bernard S., and June H. Schlessinger. The Who’s Who of Nobel Prize Winners, 1901-1995. 3rd ed., Oryx Press, 1996.
The Nobel Foundation. Nobel E-Museum.

1910: The Women's League of Service for Motherhood...

Building and people item

1910

The Women's League of Service for Motherhood was founded.
Weeks, Jeffrey. Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality since 1800. Longman, 1981.
127

March 1686: James II's General Pardon and Royal Warrant...

National or international item

March 1686

James II 's General Pardon and Royal Warrant released another batch of persecuted Quakers from prison.
Kunze, Bonnelyn Young. Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism. Macmillan, 1994.
xv-xvi

1836-1839: The Royal Commission on the Rural Constabulary...

National or international item

1836-1839

The Royal Commission on the Rural Constabulary investigated the causes of criminal activity in England.
Briggs, John et al. Crime and Punishment in England: An Introductory History. St Martin’s, 1996.
126-7

15 July 1099: The First Crusade ended with the fall of...

National or international item

15 July 1099

The First Crusade ended with the fall of Jerusalem to the Franci or Christians. The epic slaughter on this occasion was long remembered.
Nelson, J. L. “Eastern Promises”. London Review of Books, 29 Nov. 2008, pp. 30-2.
30

Helen Bannerman

HB began writing in British India to amuse her two small daughters, published the book The Story of Little Black Sambo at the end of the nineteenth century, and immediately became immensely successful as a...
Helen Bannerman Black and white photo, full face, of Helen Bannerman's head. The image is not very clear, and a strong light produces exaggerated contrasts of light and shade. Bannerman appears to be smiling.

3 September 1953: Florence Horsbrugh, first female Minister...

National or international item

3 September 1953

Florence Horsbrugh , first female Minister of Education in a Conservative government, was given a Cabinet seat after serving nine months without one; she held office till 18 October 1954.
Simon, Brian. Education and the Social Order, 1940-1990. Lawrence and Wishart, 1991.
569

1897: Anton Pavlovich Chekhov published at St Petersburg...

Writer or writing item

1897

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov published at St PetersburgP'esy, a book of plays.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
227

October 1981: The Women's Press published both Andrea Dworkin's...

Writer or writing item

October 1981

The Women's Press published both Andrea Dworkin 's Pornography: Men Possessing Women and Susan Griffin 's Pornography and Silence, both of which received hostile reviews from The Village Voice columnist Ellen Willis .
Brownmiller, Susan. In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution. Dial, 1999.
313
British Books in Print. J. Whitaker and Sons, 1874–1987.
1982

Emily Hickey

EH was a poet of ideas who wrote during the mid to late nineteenth century, developing in her work both her feminist views about reforming social attitudes, and, later, her religious faith as she became...
Emily Hickey .Emily Hickey, cover of Our Catholic Heritage in English Literature, 1910.

10 April 1815: The largest volcanic eruption in modern times,...

National or international item

10 April 1815

The largest volcanic eruption in modern times, that of Mount Tambora in what is now Indonesia, buried an entire civilization. It had twice the magnitude of the later Krakatoa eruption.
Sample, Ian. “Scientists find lost civilisation”. Guardian Unlimited, 1 Mar. 2006.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/.
Jones, Thomas, editor. “Awfully Present”. London Review of Books, Vol.
37
, No. 3, 5 Feb. 2015, pp. 27-8.
27

Mary Maria Colling

MMC wrote at Tavistock, where she was employed as a domestic servant, in the earlier nineteenth century. Her poems were collected as Fables and other Pieces in Verse, her only published volume. Novelist...
Mary Maria Colling Stipple engraving of Mary Maria Colling by Thomas Anthony Dean after William Patten, published 1831. She is wearing a frilled cap that encloses her face, and a top with a high collar and long sleeves. Her dark, smooth hair is parted in the middle.

1933: Alexander Korda produced the film The Private...

Building and people item

1933

Alexander Korda produced the film The Private Life of Henry VIII; it starred Charles Laughton , who won the Oscar for best actor for his role in this picture.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
377
Pickard, Roy. The Oscar Movies from A to Z. Frederick Muller, 1977.
127

3 October 1980: The Housing Act passed by Margaret Thatcher's...

Building and people item

3 October 1980

The Housing Act passed by Margaret Thatcher 's recently-elected Conservative government came into effect, giving five million council house tenants in England and Wales the right to buy their homes from local authorities
Childs, Peter, and Mike Storry, editors. Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture. Routledge, 1999.
261

26 May 1770: Oliver Goldsmith published his best-known...

Writer or writing item

26 May 1770

Oliver Goldsmith published his best-known poem, The Deserted Village.
Goldsmith, Oliver. Collected Works. Editor Friedman, Arthur, Clarendon, 1966, 5 vols.
4: 278

1982: Mary Douglas pioneered anthropological work...

Women writers item

1982

Mary Douglas pioneered anthropological work on environmentalism and risk analysis in her book Risk and Culture, written in collaboration with political scientist Aaron Wildavsky .
Fardon, Richard. Mary Douglas: An Intellectual Biography. Routledge, 1999.
144, 300, 302

July 1995: Jeff Bezos launched in Seattle, Washington,...

Writer or writing item

July 1995

Jeff Bezos launched in Seattle, Washington, an online bookselling company named Amazon . It did only moderately well in 1996, but took off the following year.
Wray, Richard. “’Our belief is that there will be lots of winners’”. Guardian Unlimited, 24 Oct. 2005.

Harriet Downing

HD is remarkable both as a late Romantic poet (whose first publication makes a strong claim for women's capacity for friendship, equal to that of men) and as an early Victorian writer of short magazine...