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1883: The first Russian Marxist group was organized...

National or international item

1883

The first Russian Marxist group was organized in St Petersburg.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
335

1957: A patent was filed in the USA for the artificial...

Building and people item

1957

A patent was filed in the USA for the artificial sweetener Sweet'N Low (named after Tennyson 's line Sweet and low, sweet and low, which apostrophizes not a taste but a wind).
Lennon, J. Robert. “Tastes like Cancer”. London Review of Books, 8 Mar. 2007, pp. 41-2.
41

6 July 1776: Captain James Cook began his third and last...

National or international item

6 July 1776

Captain James Cook began his third and last circumnavigation.
Langer, William L., editor. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. 4th ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
924, 938
Windschuttle, Keith. The Killing of History: How Literary Critics and Social Theorists are Murdering our Past. Encounter Books, 2000.
82

10 August 1911: The Parliament Act passed the House of Lords,...

National or international item

10 August 1911

The Parliament Act passed the House of Lords , bringing about some curtailment in that body's powers.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Asquith

1944: Carol Reed directed the film The Way Ahead,...

Building and people item

1944

Carol Reed directed the film The Way Ahead, which denoted the change of focus in British film from action-adventure war movies to examinations of the psychological effect of war on people .
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
393
Robinson, David. The History of World Cinema. Stein and Day, 1981.
219

10 February 1838: Following the rebellions of the previous...

National or international item

10 February 1838

Following the rebellions of the previous year, the Constitution of Lower Canada was suspended .
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
II: 460
Williams, Neville. Chronology of the Modern World: 1763 to the Present Time. David McKay, 1967.
182

15 July 1685: The Duke of Monmouth was beheaded on Tower...

National or international item

15 July 1685

The Duke of Monmouth was beheaded on Tower Hill, following his attempt to seize the throne.
Evelyn, John. The Diary of John Evelyn. Editor De Beer, Esmond Samuel, Oxford University Press, 1959.
815

1911: An authorised English translation of Henri...

Writer or writing item

1911

An authorised English translation of Henri Bergson 's Laughter appeared, by Cloudesley Brereton and Fred Rothwell .
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.

April 1916: As a result of the loss of merchant ships...

Writer or writing item

April 1916

As a result of the loss of merchant ships carrying paper making materials, the British Government appointed a Royal Commission on Paper whose purpose was to reduce paper imports and to control distribution.
Kingsford, Reginald John Lethbridge. The Publisher’s Association, 1896-1946. Cambridge University Press, 1970.
52-3
McAleer, Joseph. Popular Reading and Publishing in Britain 1914-1950. Clarendon Press, 1992.
52

1891: William Morris published his collection Poems...

Writer or writing item

1891

William Morris published his collection Poems by the Way at his own Kelmscott Press .
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
35

11 May 1949: Siam changed its name to Thailand....

National or international item

11 May 1949

Siam changed its name to Thailand.
Steinberg, Sigfrid Henry. Historical Tables: 58 BC-AD 1985. 11th ed., Garland Publishing, 1986.
252
Williams, Neville. Chronology of the Modern World: 1763 to the Present Time. David McKay, 1967.
614

February 1915: Margaret Damer Dawson formed the Women's...

National or international item

February 1915

Margaret Damer Dawson formed the Women's Police Service after the Women's Police Volunteers disagreed over its level of cooperation with male police and the military surveillance of women.
Summers, Anne. Angels and Citizens: British Women as Military Nurses 1854-1914. Routledge and Keegan Paul, 1988.
Chisholm, Hugh, editor. Encyclopædia Britannica. 12th ed., Encyclopædia Britannica Company, 1922, 3 vols.
3: 1045
Marwick, Arthur. Women at War, 1914-1918. Croom Helm, 1977.
40, 42

13 August 1888: The Local Government Act, based on the Municipal...

National or international item

13 August 1888

The Local Government Act, based on the Municipal Corporations Act (1882), gave women ratepayers (land owners) the right to vote for the newly created County Councils.
Hollis, Patricia. Ladies Elect: Women in English Local Government, 1865-1914. Clarendon, 1987.
306-7, 490
Law Reports: Statutes. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1866–2026.
1888: 231-51
Halevy, Elie. The Rule of Democracy 1905-1914. Translator Watkin, Edward Ingram, Second (revised) Edition, Peter Smith, 1952, 2 vols.
512-13

21 December 1908: Incest was legally criminalised for the first...

National or international item

21 December 1908

Incest was legally criminalised for the first time by the Punishment of Incest Act: incest by men in England and Wales was punishable by imprisonment for three to seven years.
Orr, Kate. Sex Against the Law. 1999.

Jeanette Winterson

JW , writing in the late twentieth and the twenty-first centuries, has been acclaimed by some critics and savaged by others for her provocative and outspoken novels, in which she uncompromisingly confronts cultural notions of...
Jeanette Winterson Photograph of Janette Winterson taken in Warsaw, Poland, on 16 February 2005 by Mariusz Kubik. She has her lips parted, and is apparently speaking into a microphone . She has short, brown,curly hair and wear a black t-shirt with a seahorse logo.

By January 1820: John Clare published his first volume, Poems...

Writer or writing item

By January 1820

John Clare published his first volume, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, By . . . a Northamptonshire Peasant.
Quarterly Review. J. Murray.
22 (January 1820): 565

1 January 1804: Haiti became an independent black republic...

National or international item

1 January 1804

Haiti became an independent black republic after the capitulation (the previous November) of a large force sent by Napoleon to quell the rebellion there.
Rogozinski, Jan. A Brief History of the Caribbean: From the Arawak and the Carib to the Present. Revised, Facts on File, 1999.
173
Walvin, James. Black Ivory: A History of British Slavery. Howard University Press, 1994.
xii
Langer, William L., editor. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. 4th ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
862
Farmer, Paul. “Who removed Aristide?”. London Review of Books, 15 Apr. 2004, pp. 28-31.
28

16 April 1953: R. A. Butler, Chancellor of the Exchequer,...

National or international item

16 April 1953

R. A. Butler , Chancellor of the Exchequer, made the first budget speech to be broadcast on BBC television.
Briggs, Asa. The BBC: The First Fifty Years. Oxford University Press, 1985.
383

J. K. Rowling

JKR , late-twentieth- and twenty-first-century author of children's books which are phenomenally popular, has published the fastest-selling series in history and has made a fortune from her writing. Her Harry Potter series features an alternative...
J. K. Rowling Informal photograph of J. K. Rowling, leaning forward in a white chair in front of a green background, hands clasped on a book in her lap. She wears a pale cardigan over a colourful dress. Her blonde hair is pulled back and she dangling white teardrop earrings.

1900: Bertha Thomas published her last novel, The...

Women writers item

1900

Bertha Thomas published her last novel, The Son of the House. Her last book, a volume of stories, came twelve years later.
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.

January 1914: The Westminster Review (which had been launched...

Writer or writing item

January 1914

The Westminster Review (which had been launched under this title on 24 January 1824, and modified its title from time to time on acquiring another periodical) issued its final number.
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. 18 July 2011, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.

2 August 1858: Government and military control of India...

National or international item

2 August 1858

Government and military control of India was transferred by the Government of India Act from the East India Company to the British Crown after the successful suppression of the Indian Mutiny by the British army...

15 January 1963: The BBC removed its ban preventing comedy...

Building and people item

15 January 1963

The BBC removed its ban preventing comedy programmes from discussing politics, sex, religion, or royalty.
Seymour, David, and Emily Seymour, editors. A Century of News. Contender Books, 2003.

June 1843: Ben Webster, manager of the Haymarket, announced...

Writer or writing item

June 1843

Ben Webster , manager of the Haymarket , announced a play-writing contest.
Donkin, Ellen. “Mrs. Gore gives tit for tat”. Women and Playwriting in Nineteenth-Century Britain, edited by Tracy C. Davis and Ellen Donkin, Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 54-74.
55

May 1381: Insurrection followed Wat Tyler's killing...

National or international item

May 1381

Insurrection followed Wat Tyler 's killing of a poll-tax collector for indecent rudeness to his daughter; this became known as the Peasants' Revolt.
Griffiths, Ralph Alan. “The Later Middle Ages (1290-1485)”. Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, edited by Kenneth O. Morgan, Oxford University Press, 1984, pp. 166-22.
190
Steinberg, Sigfrid Henry. Historical Tables: 58 BC-AD 1985. 11th ed., Garland Publishing, 1986.
85
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Ball