Explore Orlando

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20 August 1640
The Scots (provoked by Charles I 's imposition of the AnglicanBook of Common Prayer on the Scottish Presbyterian Church in 1637) invaded England, and for the second time in eighteen months their monarch marched against them.
21 September 1809
The political rivals Canning of the British Foreign Office and Castlereagh , who was about to be removed from the War Office , fought a dawn duel on Putney Heath south of London.
January 1971
The Open University began teaching its first courses.
23 August 1600
William Shakespeare 's comedy Much Ado about Nothing, probably written between summer 1598 and spring 1599, was licensed with the Stationers' Company ; it was printed this year.
By 1931
British households possessed about 1.3 million electric cookers, 400,000 vacuum cleaners and 220,000 fridges. Almost every home had a radio, called the wireless.
1670
Les Pensées de M. Pascal sur la réligion, et sur quelques autres sujets was posthumously published: it takes the form of a collection of aphorisms and very brief essays.
1831-1836
Charles Darwin 's journey as naturalist on board The Beagle laid the foundation for his work on evolution.
1944
Selman Waksman discovered streptomycin, the first cure for tuberculosis.
1955
Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin founded Daughters of Bilitis , the USA's first lesbian association.
Late 1890s
The York Symphony Orchestra , which played for church services and gave public performances, began to accept women as players.
1780
Sir David Hamilton was knighted by King George III : the first obstetrician to be so honoured.
February 1941
The GermanNazi Party barred Jews from owning cars.
1920
The Women's Trade Union League merged with the Trades Union Congress with agreement that women would hold two protected seats on the General Council; three more seats were added in 1981.
July 1914
A printed Church Missionary Society memorandum noted that the ultimate goal of an organised independent native Church in Indiamust constantly be kept in view.
19 July 1913
Skywriting by aeroplane, a new form of advertising, was first introduced by Milton J. Bryant in the skies over Seattle, Washington.
1862
The Female Medical Society was founded.
15 November 1942
Church bells (which quite recently had stood ready to signal invasion) were rung all over Britain, in the wake of the battle of El Alamein, to celebrate the defeat of Rommel .
1865
Lewis Carroll published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
30 December 1916
The last issue of the avant-garde Bruno's Weekly, edited by Guido Bruno , was published in New York.

Mary Caesar

Despite shaky spelling and punctuation, MC wrote during the early eighteenth century a unique, highly partisan, Jacobite diary or journal, which partakes also of the nature of a memoir, elegy, family history, or commonplace-book. In...
2-17 September 1666
The Great Fire of London almost entirely destroyed the medieval city.
30 November-3 December 1999
World Trade Organization talks at Seattle, Washington, failed to reach agreement; 50,000 people gathered from around the world to protest against the WTO's methods and goals.
1753
The History of the Female Shipwright purported to be the autobiography of Mary Lacy , the facts of whose life are borne out by Admiralty records.
1950
Elizabeth David , the popular cookery author, began her career with Mediterranean Food.

Ethel Wilson

Born in South Africa and raised until age ten in Britain, Ethel Wilson is best known as one of the first regional Canadian writers to capture in intimate detail the beauty of British Columbia, Canada...
Later 1928
After the Representation of the People Act made women electorally equal, Eva Hubback and Margery Corbett Ashby founded the National Union of Guilds for Citizenship (later the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds).
Photograph of a roughly drawn sketch of Rose Macaulay, depicted from the shoulders up. She is wearing a simple dress and her hair is cut short.

Rose Macaulay

RM was highly prolific, publishing during the earlier half of the twentieth century twenty-three novels and two volumes of poetry, as well as three books of short stories, several historical and travel narratives, and works...
March 1795-1796
Fédon's Rebellion, involving thousands of freed and enslaved blacks, took place in Grenada.
April 1910
The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies passed a resolution supporting the Conciliation Bill proposed by the Conciliation Committee .
December 2016
The one-hundredth romance novel by Mills and Boon author Sharon Kendrick , A Royal Vow of Convenience, was released not only in audio as well as book form but in a 3D sound recording.
17 July 1917
George V informed the Privy Council that the royal family (all his subjects descended from Queen Victoria) would take the surname of Windsor.

Charlotte Eliza Humphry

Mrs C. E. Humphry , a journalist at a time when the field was just opening up to women, began her career with a popular newspaper column aimed at women. This chatty column appeared in...
1870
Baby farmerMrs Margaret Waters was hanged for the murder of one of the many children in her care.

Rudyard Kipling

An Indian-born English journalist, novelist, and travel writer, best-known for short stories, poetry, and children's books, RK won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He never felt like a native in England although he spent most...
1975
US advice columnist Ann Landers conducted a poll of her readers and found that 70% of those with children said that if they had their lives over again they would be childless.
23 June 1981
The Family Law (Protection of Spouses and Children) Act of Ireland was passed. This Act gave increased protections to abused or threatened spouses and children.
17 November 1820
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 's first known publication, The Battle of Lovell's Pond, appeared in the Portland Gazette.
1915
The London and South Western railway line was converted to electricity.
February 1959
A non-deferential interview of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan by broadcaster Robin Day is credited with first making television a significant part of the political process in Britain.
11 February 2011
Following protests which had begun on 24 January, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was deposed. The situation in Egypt, however, continued to be no less volatile.
1986
Those in the Anglican mother-church who opposed the ordination of women secured a vote forbidding ordained women from other parts of the Anglican Communion from celebrating the Eucharist in Britain.
17 June 1778
The American Congress declined to negotiate on Lord North 's proposals without a promise of independence and a treaty of peace and commerce consistent with that already signed with France.

Emma Marshall

EM 's output as a writer during the latter part of the nineteenth century amounted to almost two hundred volumes: a rate of production necessitated by the bank crash which lost her husband his job...
1 August 1895
Anti-missionary violence in China (including the deaths of 8 ladies and 2 children) led to the arrival of a British admiral and the punishment of those responsible.
27 April 1994
The UK introduced Take Our Daughters to Work Day, a year after it started in the USA. It later mutated, for many people, into Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.
20 January 1945
The first Russian troops entered Germany.
By 1770
The proportion of fiction among annual publications in England had risen to four percent (from 1.1% in about 1730).
1872
The Ladies began in London as a sixpenny monthly magazine that sympathised with the women's movement.
1832
Walter Hancock designed and built a steam-powered omnibus to carry passengers for the London and Paddington Steam Carriage Company .
21 December 1879
Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (who later changed his name to Josef Stalin ) was born in Gori, Georgia (at that time part of Russia).