On 4th July…

On 5th July…

On 6th July…

1249 - King Alexander II of Scotland died. He was the only Scottish monarch to take a military force down to England’s southern coast when he marched to join a rebellion against King John of England.

1535 - Sir Thomas More was executed at the Tower of London for refusing to accept Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church of England.

On 7th July…

1928 - Sliced bread was sold for the first time in Missouri, America.

On 8th July…

1497 - The Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama departed on his first voyage. Sailing from Lisbon, he become the first European to reach India by sea.

On 9th July…

1877 - The first Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships were held. No women were allowed to enter the tournament until 1884. The first men’s singles title was won by Spencer Gore.

1937 - The English artist David Hockney was born in Bradford. He is considered to be one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century.

On 10th July…

138 - Hadrian, the Roman Emperor died. He ordered the construction of Hadrian’s Wall to keep out the invading northern barbarian tribes of Caledonia (Scotland). The wall is 73 miles and spans across the width of England from Bowness on Solway in the west to Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east.

1645 - Royalist forces were defeated by Oliver Cromwell’s parliamentarian New Model Army led by Sir Thomas Fairfax at the Battle of Langport in the English civil war.

1940 - The Battle of Britain began in World War II when the Germans commenced a long series of bombing raids lasting three and half months against Britain beginning with air attacks on British ships and ports. The Battle of Britain was fought in the air.