21st May

[chenrezig]

1471 Henry VI, King of England, was murdered in the Tower of London where he had been imprisoned by Edward IV, who then resumed the throne.

1554 A royal Charter was granted to Derby School as a grammar school for boys, by Queen Mary I, in return for a payment of £260 13s 4d, 'for the instruction and education of boys and youths in the said town of Derby for ever to be maintained by the Bailiffs and Burgesses of the same town.'

1662 England's Charles II married Catherine de Braganza, daughter of John IV of Portugal.

1736 Francis Egerton, Duke of Bridgwater, and builder of Britain's first canal was born.

1780 The birth of Elizabeth Fry, English Quaker and prison reformer who visited Newgate Prison, London in 1813 where over 300 women and their children were living in filthy, overcrowded conditions. From this time, she devoted herself to improving conditions, providing hostels for the homeless and establishing various charitable organizations to help the poor.

1840 Britain claimed complete sovereignty over New Zealand.

1894 The official opening, by Queen Victoria, of the Manchester Ship Canal. At its opening it was the largest river navigation canal in the world. Its designer, Edward Leader Williams, was later knighted

1917 The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was established through Royal Charter to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth military forces.

1932 American Amelia Earhart landed in Derry, Ireland, after taking off from Newfoundland the previous day. It was the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot.

1946 A world wheat shortage led to bread rationing in Britain.

1950 Two people died and more were injured as violent storms and a tornado swept through counties around London.

1958 Announcement was made that automated telephone connection, making calls easier and cheaper, would be introduced in December.

1965 Geoffrey de Havilland, British aircraft designer died.

1966 American boxer Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) ended the hopes of British heavyweight champion Henry Cooper winning the world heavyweight titles when the bout was stopped in Round 6 because of a severe cut above Cooper's eye.

1996 After the failure of EU representatives to take steps to ease the ban on British beef, John Major announced that the British government would adopt a policy of non co-operation with the EU.

1997 The British government announced a complete ban on anti-personnel landmines.

2014 Dozens of people complained about 'unsightly' litter in the River Cam in Cambridge but conservationists said that it could not be cleaned because of a mother moorhen's nest. 'Disturbing the nest is illegal under the 1984 Wildlife and Countryside Act.'

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