March 21st - 27th
“Three new kings; the death of a queen and a burial fit for a king; the end of the slave trade; and a nationwide lockdown...”
On 21st March…
King Henry V
1413 - Henry V was declared King of England. He was a great warrior king and is famous for leading his troops into battle and beating the French at the Battle of Agincourt.
Did you know that when he was 17 years old an arrow struck his face and lodged itself 6 inches (15cm) into his skull, narrowly missing his brain and his spinal cord?
Special tongs were made and carefully inserted, all the way, into the wound and used to grip hold of the broken arrowhead and remove it. It took just three weeks for the wound to heal and close-up. He underwent all of this without the use of modern-day anaesthetics or antibiotics. Would you be brave enough?
On 22nd March
871 - King Aethelred, the Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex, fought Viking invaders at the Battle of Marton or Meretun. The outcome is unclear: some reports say the Vikings won; others say King Aethelred won. It was still only March and the battle was the fourth of the year against the Vikings. Aethelred died about a month later, possibly from battle wounds. Who do you think won? Would you rather be a Viking invading the land or an Anglo-Saxon defending your king and country?
On 23rd March…
1929 - Roger Bannister the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes was born in Harrow, Greater London. In 1954 he completed the race in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. At the time it was thought to be impossible to run that far in less than 4 minutes, but today top athletes regularly beat the 4-minute mile. Hicham El Guerrouj from Morocco is the current record holder, his time stands at 3 minutes 43.13 seconds (3:43.13) and hasn’t been beaten since 1999.
2020 - Following the worldwide pandemic outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, the first Lockdown in the UK began. The government hoped it would stop the spread of the virus and save lives. People were told to stay at home; schools, shops, offices, bars and restaurants were all closed. How did the lockdown make you feel? Were you scared or worried for relatives? Or did you enjoy being at home with your family and having on-line school lessons?
Did you know that schools closed during the outbreak of Spanish flu in 1918? My grandmother used to tell me how she had to stay at home and how everyone was told to wear a handkerchief over their face to stop them from catching the flu?
On 24th March…
Queen Elizabeth I
1603 - Queen Elizabeth I died bringing an end to the Tudor reign of England.
Elizabeth I had no children and left no heir to the throne, so King James VI of Scotland, her second cousin and closest relative, became King James I of England.
With his rule, the reign of the Stuarts began.
On 25th March…
1306 - Robert the Bruce became King Robert I of Scotland. At his lowest point he hid out in a cave after being defeated in battle, he was about to give up when he watched a spider try and fail and try again to build a web. This inspired him to regroup his troops and march into battle once more with the now famous phrase, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.”
1807 - The slave trade was abolished in the UK. This meant that anybody transporting or selling slaves was breaking British law. Slavery itself wasn’t abolished in the UK until 1834.
On 26th March…
1945 - David Lloyd George, the politician who was Prime Minister of Britain during World War I died of cancer.
King Richard III
2015 - King Richard III’s body was buried in Leicester Cathedral. The king had died at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 and his body had lain in an unmarked grave that was found underneath a car park in Leicester. DNA testing proved the skeleton to be that of King Richard III and he was finally given a proper burial with all the grandeur fit for a king.
On 27th March…
King Charles I
1625 - King Charles I became King of England when his father James I died. Charles I is the only English monarch to be tried and executed for treason.
1968 - Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, crashed and died whilst on a training flight.