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Here, you’ll find randomized material from across the textbase’s author profiles and timelines. To jump to the content of your choice, click on its image card.

20-21 May 1927: In the Spirit of St Louis, Charles A. Lindbergh...

Building and people item

20-21 May 1927

In the Spirit of St Louis, Charles A. Lindbergh made the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic, from Roosevelt Field, New York, to Le Bourget airfield at Paris.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
208

1840: The Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend's Facts in...

Building and people item

1840

The Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend 's Facts in Mesmerism described the phenomenon of sleep-waking exhibited by patients; the text brought mesmerism fully into the public eye.
Gauld, Alan. A History of Hypnotism. Cambridge University Press, 1992.
203

1847: The Lancashire Public School Association...

Building and people item

1847

The Lancashire Public School Association was founded.
Roach, John. Social Reform in England 1780-1880. St Martin’s Press, 1978.
174

October 1974: Five people (a civilian and two soldiers...

National or international item

October 1974

Five people (a civilian and two soldiers of each sex) were killed and seventy injured in two pub bombings in Guildford, Surrey, attributed to the IRA .
Kelley, Kevin. The Longest War: Northern Ireland and the IRA. Brandon; Lawrence Hill, 1982.
226
Oxford Reference. http://www.oxfordreference.com.

21 June 1969: Queen Elizabeth II and her family, in tune...

National or international item

21 June 1969

Queen Elizabeth II and her family, in tune with the lowering of boundaries of the time period, provided the BBC unprecedented access to their lives for the documentary The Royal Family.
“The Queen at 80: Timeline”. BBC News.

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 October 1980: Margaret Thatcher, at her second Conservative...

National or international item

10 October 1980

Margaret Thatcher , at her second Conservative Party Conference as Prime Minister, facing the threat of revolt within her party and her Cabinet, delivered a strong speech which proved a turning-point.
Thatcher, Margaret, Baroness. The lady’s not for turning. Guardian News and Media, 2007.

1994: The British Arts Council formulated a policy...

Building and people item

1994

The British Arts Council formulated a policy whereby developers applying for planning permission are requested to spend one or a half percent of their planning gain on art for the development.
Webb, Julia. “Social Sculpture”. The Oxford Times, 3 Nov. 2006, pp. 33-5.

1910: The Postal Telegraph Clerks' Association...

Building and people item

1910

The Postal Telegraph Clerks' Association wrote equal pay into their union programme.
Grint, Keith. “Women and Equality: The Acquisition of Equal Pay in the Post Office, 1870-1961”. Sociology, Vol.
22
, No. 1, 1988, pp. 87-108.
98

May 1856: Ellen Terry made her theatrical debut at...

Building and people item

May 1856

Ellen Terry made her theatrical debut at the Princess's Theatre , watched by an audience which included Queen Victoria and Prince Albert .
Cheshire, David F. Portrait of Ellen Terry. Amber Lane Press, 1989.
15-6
Macqueen-Pope, Walter James. Ladies First: The Story of Woman’s Conquest of the British Stage. W. H. Allen, 1952.
356

15 February 1816: Lord Elgin petitioned the House of Commons:...

National or international item

15 February 1816

Lord Elgin petitioned the House of Commons : he wanted to compel the British Museum to buy his collection of ancient Greek artefacts, the Elgin Marbles (especially the famous frieze from the Parthenon in Athens).
Brewer, John. The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1997.
282-6
Boase, Thomas Sherrer Ross, editor. English Art, 1800-1870. Clarendon, 1959.
132

14 October 1958: Alan Sillitoe, husband of Ruth Fainlight,...

Writer or writing item

14 October 1958

Alan Sillitoe , husband of Ruth Fainlight , had his first success with Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, a novel resulting from Robert Graves 's advice to write something honest about his native Nottingham.
Graves, Richard. Robert Graves and the White Goddess, 1940-85. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1995.
286 and n
Sillitoe, Alan. Life without Armour. HarperCollins, 1995.
251, 263

7 July 1975: The first work by the Afro-American writer...

Writer or writing item

7 July 1975

The first work by the Afro-American writer Ntozake Shange opened off Broadway in New York: the choreopoem (or verse sequence for musical performance with dance) For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When...

February 1843: Daniel and Alexander Macmillan founded their...

Writer or writing item

February 1843

Daniel and Alexander Macmillan founded their own publishing house in London.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 178, 179, 180

March 1890: The renowned English actress Mrs Patrick...

Building and people item

March 1890

The renowned English actress Mrs Patrick Campbell made her first appearance on the London stage in Sheridan Knowles 's The Hunchback.
Hartnoll, Phyllis, editor. The Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 4th ed., Oxford University Press, 1983.
128
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.
1239

1568: Edmund Tilney published Brief and Pleasant...

Building and people item

1568

Edmund Tilney published Brief and Pleasant Discourse of Duties in Marriage, called the Flower of Friendship.
Buchanan, Dave. Augustan Women’s Verse Satire. University of Alberta, 1998.
96
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.

1759: The London Magazine pronounced 1759 a year...

National or international item

1759

The London Magazine pronounced 1759 a year as glorious as ever appeared, even in the glorious annals of this nation - for the glory of Great Britain may now be justly said to extend from...

5 February 1836: The children's writer Dorothy Kilner died...

Women writers item

5 February 1836

The children's writer Dorothy Kilner died at Stratford near London; she and her sister-in-law, Mary Ann Kilner (1753-1831), published their anonymous, undated works through John Marshall from the 1770s.
Yonge, Charlotte, editor. A Storehouse of Stories. Macmillan, 1870–1872, 2 vols.
1: vii-ix
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.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
58 (1784): 319
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

28 July 1821: Peru declared its independence from Spain,...

National or international item

28 July 1821

Peru declared its independence from Spain, but Simon Bolivar , first president of the new republic, was not secure in his position for a good while longer.
“Library of Congress Country Studies”. Country Studies/Area Handbook Series, 2003.

2 July 1969: Newpapers reported that (following the Abortion...

Building and people item

2 July 1969

Newpapers reported that (following the Abortion Act of October 1967) abortion trips to England were being organized by the Danish Association for the Individual and Society .
Hindell, Keith, and Madeleine Simms. Abortion Law Reformed. Peter Owen, 1971.
219-20
Hordern, Anthony. Legal Abortion: The English Experience. Pergamon, 1971.
136

27 February 1782: The House of Commons, on news of the British...

National or international item

27 February 1782

The House of Commons , on news of the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, urged George III to end the war with the United States.
Coakley, Robert, and Stetson Conn. The War of the American Revolution. Center of Military History, 1975.
133

20 October 1952-12 January 1960: A state of emergency was in force in Kenya...

National or international item

20 October 1952-12 January 1960

A state of emergency was in force in Kenya in response to a large-scale peasants' revolt, known as the Mau Mau Rebellion, among the Kikuyu people.
Reader, John. “Scram from Africa”. London Review of Books, 16 Mar. 2000, pp. 31-4.
33
Preston, Peter. “Atrocity at the end of empire”. Guardian Weekly, 28 Jan. 2005, p. 26.
26
Porter, Bernard. “How did they get away with it?”. London Review of Books, 3 Mar. 2005, pp. 3-6.
3, 5

Andrea Levy

AL was a Black British novelist with roots in Jamaica, who began publishing towards the end of the twentieth century. Her five novels (in 2015) centre on the attainment of satisfactory mixed-race and mixed-nationality...
Andrea Levy Portrait photo of Andrea Levy. She has curly black hair and a white cardigan. Behind her is a tree trunk and to her left is a smattering of foliage.

Willa Cather

WC ranks as one of the major American novelists of the earlier twentieth century, and her popularity has remained undiminished while her critical reputation has fluctuated. She was a highly professional journalist and reviewer before...
Willa Cather Black and white, three-quarter-length photo of Willa Cather, c. 1912, sitting facing the camera with her hands on the arms of her Renaissance-style chair. She is wearing a hat with a turned-up brim holding a plume of white feathers; her blouse and jacket are black. She has a short pendant at her throat, and a long, tasselled necklace which came to her from Sarah Orne Jewett.

1957: Thalidomide was first put on the market in...

National or international item

1957

Thalidomide was first put on the market in Germany, as a sedative, under the brand name Contergan.
Hindell, Keith, and Madeleine Simms. Abortion Law Reformed. Peter Owen, 1971.
108