December 5th - 11th
“A thick smog, a great storm and a surprise attack all happened this week in history...”
On 5th December…
1901 - Walt Disney, the man behind cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, was born in Chicago, U.S.A. He is the founder of the Disney Company and also designed the Disneyland theme parks in Los Angeles and Florida before he died.
1952 - A thick dense smog descended over London. It was a mixture of fog and smoke the from chimneys which was being kept down at ground level, unable to escape, because of the air pressure from the weather conditions. The air quality became so bad that thousands of people died from breathing difficulties during the five days that it lasted. At one point visibility was so bad that you couldn’t see further than a metre in front of you. The consequences of the smog prompted the Clean Air Act to be passed by Parliament which restricted the burning of coal in fireplaces and industrial furnaces in certain areas. The Clean Air Act is considered to be a major event in the history of environmentalism.
2013 - Nelson Mandela died at the age of 95 years. He was a South African, anti-apartheid, activist who was imprisoned for 26 years for his political actions. On his release from prison he went on to become the first black president of South Africa.
On 6th December…
King Henry VI is born
1421 - King Henry VI of England was born. He became King of England at the age of 9 months old when his father King Henry V died. His reign was broken during the Wars of the Roses, the war between cousins over the right to the throne. Henry VI was overthrown in 1461 by Edward IV. King Edward IV was in turn overthrown in 1470 and Henry VI was replaced as king again. His second reign of England lasted for a few short months before he was again deposed in 1471 and the throne was taken back by King Edward IV once more.
On 7th December…
Lord Darnley is born
1545 - Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was born in Yorkshire, England. He married Mary Queen of Scots and was father to King James VI of Scotland and I of England before he was murdered in suspicious circumstances. Mary Queen of Scots was suspected of having a hand in his murder.
Cow gets blown into a tree by the Great Storm
1703 - The Great Storm of 1703 visited Britain overnight from the 7th - 8th December. It was so bad that it reportedly killed between 8,000 and 15,000 people. A description of the aftermath went, “It blew fish out of ponds and onto the banks in London’s St James’s Park, beat birds to the ground and swept farm animals away to their deaths. Oaks collapsed and pieces of timber, iron and lead blasted through the streets. The gales blew a man into the air and over a hedge. A cow was blown into the high branches of a tree…” (www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170309-in-1703-britain-was-struck-by-possibly-its-worst-ever-storm) Sounds absolutely horrific!
1941 - During World War II the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. This action brought the previously neutral U.S.A. directly into the war.
On 8th December…
Mary Queen of Scots is born
1542 - Mary Queen of Scots was born in Linlithgow Palace in Scotland. Just six days after her birth her father, King James V died making Mary, Queen of Scotland. Her great-grandfather was King Henry VII of England, her uncle was Henry VIII, and she was a cousin of Elizabeth I, who held Mary captive for eighteen years before beheading her for treason.
Clifton Suspension Bridge opens to the public
1864 - The Clifton Suspension Bridge was finally opened in Bristol after over 33 years of construction. The day was marked with special occasions; a military display began in Bristol’s Queen Square at 9:30am followed by a march along the main streets towards the bridge - there were enough marching troops to stretch over half a mile long. The marching bands and troops were followed by a procession of local tradesmen, policemen, firefighters and societies; the procession was that long that it took nearly an hour to pass by. There were fairground stalls, acrobats and street vendors, the river below was filled with decorated steam ships; it was a spectacular event that people had crowded to witness. Following an artillery-gun salute (small canons were fired to celebrate), the parade crossed the bridge and returned back again. In the evening there were some fireworks and sparklers for the crowds still attending the celebrations which had begun nearly 12 hours before. Sadly, the architect and designer of the bridge, Isambard Kingdom Brunel had died five years earlier so did not get to see it completed; he missed out on a spectacular opening day for his greatest achievement.
On 9th December…
1165 - King Malcolm IV of Scotland died at the age of 24 years. He had been king since he was 11 years old after his grandfather King David I died. Malcolm IV died without children or a wife giving him the nickname of the Maiden. On his death Malcolm’s younger brother William became King William I of Scotland also known as William the Lion.
On 10th December…
1394 - King James I of Scotland was born in Dunfermline Palace.
King of England gives up the throne for love
1936 - King Edward VIII abdicated the English throne so that he could marry the woman he loved. Edward was in love with an American woman called Wallis Simpson who had already been divorced once and was, at the time, married to a second husband. The Royal family, the Church of England, and the English government all disapproved of his desire to marry Wallis and for her to become his queen, so he gave up the throne and his right and the right of any of his children to become King or Queen of England. The throne went to his younger brother who became King George VI. He was the father of Queen Elizabeth II.
1768 - The first edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica was published in Scotland. It was the go-to book to find out anything about everything. Nowadays most people use Google or other search engines to find out information but the Encyclopaedia, although no longer in print, is still available online as Brittanica.com. It is a useful tool for studying and much more accurate than Wikipedia.
On 11th December…
1282 - The last native Prince of Wales, Llywelyn Ap Gruffudd died near Powys, Wales. He was the only Welsh ruler to be officially recognised by an English king (Henry III) as the Prince of Wales.