18th May
Posted: 18 May 2015, 05:011152 Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, married Henry Plantagenet (later Henry II of England). She had been divorced two months earlier from King Louis VII of France.
1593 Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for fellow playwright Christopher Marlowe. No reason for the arrest was given, though a manuscript believed to have been written by Marlowe was said to contain 'vile heretical conceipts'. Twelve days later, Marlowe was stabbed to death by Ingram Frizer.
1756 The Seven Years' War began when Britain declared war on France.
1803 Bored with nobody to fight for almost a year, Britain abandoned the Treaty of Amiens and declared war on France, again!
1812 John Bellingham was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval seven days earlier. To date, Perceval is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated.
1830 Briton Edwin Budding signed an agreement for his invention, the lawn mower, to go into mass production. His first customer was Regent's Park Zoo in London.
1843 The 'Disruption' in Edinburgh in which 450 ministers of the Church of Scotland broke away, over the issue of the Church's relationship with the State, to form the Free Church of Scotland.
1872 Bertrand Russell, English philosopher, mathematician and Nobel Prize recipient, was born. He was imprisoned during the First World War for his outspoken pacifism and was one of the founders of the Committee of 100, advocating nuclear disarmament.
1882 The official opening of the Eddystone Lighthouse, the fourth lighthouse to be built on the site.
1919 Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer was born.
1944 Monte Cassino, Italy, was taken by Allied forces during World War II. The ancient Italian monastery had been a symbol of German resistance since the beginning of the year.
1951 Britain’s first four-engined jet bomber, the Vickers Valiant, made its maiden flight.
1954 The European Convention on Human Rights came into force.
1964 Scores of youths were given prison sentences following violent clashes between gangs of Mods and Rockers at a number of resorts on the south coast of England.
1969 Britain’s champion motor racing driver, Graham Hill, won his fifth and record-breaking Monaco Grand Prix.
1991 Chemist Helen Sharman from Sheffield was the first Briton to go into space, as a participant in a Soviet space mission.
1998 High Society burglar Peter Scott was jailed for 3 years after being involved in a plot to sell a stolen Picasso painting worth £750,000.
2014 AstraZeneca, a British multinational pharmaceutical and biologics company with operations in over 100 countries, rejected America company Pfizer's final offer of £63bn
1593 Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for fellow playwright Christopher Marlowe. No reason for the arrest was given, though a manuscript believed to have been written by Marlowe was said to contain 'vile heretical conceipts'. Twelve days later, Marlowe was stabbed to death by Ingram Frizer.
1756 The Seven Years' War began when Britain declared war on France.
1803 Bored with nobody to fight for almost a year, Britain abandoned the Treaty of Amiens and declared war on France, again!
1812 John Bellingham was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval seven days earlier. To date, Perceval is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated.
1830 Briton Edwin Budding signed an agreement for his invention, the lawn mower, to go into mass production. His first customer was Regent's Park Zoo in London.
1843 The 'Disruption' in Edinburgh in which 450 ministers of the Church of Scotland broke away, over the issue of the Church's relationship with the State, to form the Free Church of Scotland.
1872 Bertrand Russell, English philosopher, mathematician and Nobel Prize recipient, was born. He was imprisoned during the First World War for his outspoken pacifism and was one of the founders of the Committee of 100, advocating nuclear disarmament.
1882 The official opening of the Eddystone Lighthouse, the fourth lighthouse to be built on the site.
1919 Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer was born.
1944 Monte Cassino, Italy, was taken by Allied forces during World War II. The ancient Italian monastery had been a symbol of German resistance since the beginning of the year.
1951 Britain’s first four-engined jet bomber, the Vickers Valiant, made its maiden flight.
1954 The European Convention on Human Rights came into force.
1964 Scores of youths were given prison sentences following violent clashes between gangs of Mods and Rockers at a number of resorts on the south coast of England.
1969 Britain’s champion motor racing driver, Graham Hill, won his fifth and record-breaking Monaco Grand Prix.
1991 Chemist Helen Sharman from Sheffield was the first Briton to go into space, as a participant in a Soviet space mission.
1998 High Society burglar Peter Scott was jailed for 3 years after being involved in a plot to sell a stolen Picasso painting worth £750,000.
2014 AstraZeneca, a British multinational pharmaceutical and biologics company with operations in over 100 countries, rejected America company Pfizer's final offer of £63bn