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20 June 1960: Nan Winton became the first woman reader...

National or international item

20 June 1960

Nan Winton became the first woman reader of television network news on the BBC .
Briggs, Asa. The BBC: The First Fifty Years. Oxford University Press, 1985.
391

1911: The Women's Industrial Council opened a nursery...

Building and people item

1911

The Women's Industrial Council opened a nursery training school at Hackney.
Mappen, Ellen. Helping Women at Work: The Women’s Industrial Council, 1889-1914. Hutchinson in association with the Explorations in Feminism Collective, 1985.
24

3 May 1661: John Evelyn was shown a wonderfull engine...

Building and people item

3 May 1661

John Evelyn was shown a wonderfull engine for weaving silk stockings, said to have been invented at Oxford forty years earlier.
Evelyn, John. The Diary of John Evelyn. Editor De Beer, Esmond Samuel, Oxford University Press, 1959.
422

15 October 1964: The Labour Party came to precarious power...

National or international item

15 October 1964

The Labour Party came to precarious power in the general election by a majority of four seats; next day Harold Wilson became Prime Minister.
Butler, David E., and Jennie Freeman. British Political Facts, 1900-1960. Macmillan, 1963.
45
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
492, 422
Schott, Ben. Schott’s Original Miscellany. Bloomsbury, 2002.
102
Greenslade, M. W. “Smethwick: Parliamentary History”. British History Online: The Victoria History of the Counties of England: A History of the County of Staffordshire, Volume XVII, 1976.
Younge, Gary. “The colour of politics in Britain today”. Guardian Weekly, 6–12 May 2005, p. 17.
17

6 December 1273: The Dominican friar Thomas Aquinas, aged...

Writer or writing item

6 December 1273

The Dominican friar Thomas Aquinas , aged nearly fifty, had some kind of spiritual experience which caused him to break off writing the centrepiece of his writings. He died the next year, and his Summa...

12 March 1925: Chinese ruler Sun Yat-sen, author of the...

National or international item

12 March 1925

Chinese ruler Sun Yat-sen , author of the Chinese revolution of 1912 and father of the republic, died unexpectedly, unleashing a wave of popular protest (which had foreign influence as one of its prime targets)...

4 October 1535: Miles Coverdale published at Antwerp the...

National or international item

4 October 1535

Miles Coverdale published at Antwerp the first translation of the complete Bible into English, done by himself and William Tyndale .
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
ODNB under Coverdale

1834: Architect Augustus Pugin converted to Roman...

Building and people item

1834

Architect Augustus Pugin converted to Roman Catholicism; he designed many of the newly-built Catholic churches in the Gothic style.
Norman, Edward R. The English Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Century. Clarendon, 1984.
239-40

7 February 1683: John Locke wrote to Mary Clarke about the...

Building and people item

7 February 1683

John Locke wrote to Mary Clarke about the education of her daughter, saying that since I acknowledge no difference of sex in your mind relating . . . to truth, virtue and obedience,
Locke, John. The Correspondence of John Locke. Editor De Beer, Esmond Samuel, Clarendon, 1976–1989, 8 vols.
2: 686

During the 1790s: Sarah Bache ran a school for girls in Is...

Building and people item

During the 1790s

Sarah Bache ran a school for girls in Islington.
Hans, Nicholas A. New Trends in Education in the Eighteenth Century. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1951.
251

27 May 1878: The Factory and Workshop Act passed....

National or international item

27 May 1878

The Factory and Workshop Act passed.
Levine, Philippa. Victorian Feminism 1850-1900. Hutchinson, 1987.
127
Hutchins, B. Leigh. A History of Factory Legislation. P.S. King and Son, 1903.
185, 187-8, 190-1
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.
statutes

May 1951: The BBC experimentally launched a comic radio...

Building and people item

May 1951

The BBC experimentally launched a comic radio series, Crazy People; as The Goon Show, it ran for nine years and became a household word.
Dixon, Stephen. “Obituary: Spike Milligan”. Guardian Weekly, 7–13 Mar. 2002, p. 22.
22

1780: Of 21,000 children whose births were registered...

Building and people item

1780

Of 21,000 children whose births were registered in Paris this year, only 5 per cent were fed their mothers' milk.
Jolly, Alison. “Keep Me”. London Review of Books, 10 Aug. 2000, pp. 23-4.
24

1 June 1679: The Scottish Covenanters won their only significant...

National or international item

1 June 1679

The Scottish Covenanters won their only significant victory against government forces: the battle of Drumclog near Kilmarnock.
The Covenanters: The Fifty Years Struggle 1638-1688. http://www.sorbie.net/covenanters.htm.

1760: The year he was twenty, Horace Benedict de...

Building and people item

1760

The year he was twenty, Horace Benedict de Saussure , natural scientist, visited Chamonix and offered a reward for the first successful ascent to the summit of Mont Blanc.
Nardin, Jane. “A Meeting on the Mer de Glace: Frankenstein and the history of Alpine mountaineering”. Womens Writing, Vol.
6
, No. 3, 1999, pp. 441-9.
443

By 4 May 1889: Mary Bramston published In Hiding, a novel...

Women writers item

By 4 May 1889

Mary Bramston published In Hiding, a novel of moral struggle in which the central characters are women.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
3210 (1889): 564

By 17 December 1859: Under her pseudonym Mrs Motherly, Emily Augusta...

Women writers item

By 17 December 1859

Under her pseudonym Mrs Motherly, Emily Augusta Patmore (Coventry Patmore 's first wife) published her second book of the year, Nursery Poetry, with illustrations.
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.

June 1891: The Women's Trade Union Review began publication...

Building and people item

June 1891

The Women's Trade Union Review began publication in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
15
Harrison, Royden et al. The Warwick Guide to British Labour Periodicals, 1790-1970: A Check List. Harvester Press, 1977.
605

20 July 1915: The second and final issue of Wyndham Lewis's...

Writer or writing item

20 July 1915

The second and final issue of Wyndham Lewis 's Vorticist magazine, Blast, included artwork and literary pieces by Helen Saunders , Jessie Dismorr , and Dorothy Shakespear , along with poems by Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot .
Wees, William C. Vorticism and the English Avant-Garde. University of Toronto Press, 1972.
214-15

2 October 1653: According to George Thomason, William Harvey...

Building and people item

2 October 1653

According to George Thomason , William Harvey published this day the first English version of his pioneering work on the circulation of the blood.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.
English Short Title Catalogue. http://estc.bl.uk/.

18 July 1936: The Spanish Civil War began between the Republicans...

National or international item

18 July 1936

The Spanish Civil War began between the Republicans (including Communists) and the Fascists led by Francisco Franco .
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
228

1835: Father Luigi Gentili arrived in England to...

Building and people item

1835

Father Luigi Gentili arrived in England to join the Roman Catholic mission at Prior Park; he was to become one of the most famous Catholics of the century, converting hundreds of people and bringing...

By 20 September 1953: Saul Bellow published The Adventures of Augie...

Writer or writing item

By 20 September 1953

Saul Bellow published The Adventures of Augie March. Martin Amis , in later hailing this as the first American novel to show an immigrant as a rightful Discoverer, or a pioneer,
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
21 October 2008

: The Gunning sisters arrived in London from...

Building and people item

Summer 1751

The Gunning sisters arrived in London from Ireland, and created a sensation with their beauty: Maria was aged around seventeen and Elizabeth was a year younger.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.

31 March 1715: Daniel Defoe published The Family Instructor,...

Writer or writing item

31 March 1715

Daniel Defoe published The Family Instructor, which explores in fictional dialogue form religious and educational issues arising in families.
Moore, John Robert. A Checklist of the Writings of Daniel Defoe. Indiana University Press, 1960.
122