On 7th March…

321CE - Sunday was declared a day of rest by the Roman Emperor Constantine I. We’re certainly glad he did that, are you?

1876 - Four days after his 29th birthday, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.

On 8th March…

1775 - An anonymous essay was published in the Pennsylvania Journal (an American newspaper) titled African Slavery in America. The essay highlighted the inequalities and injustices incurred upon the slaves in America and paved the way for the country’s first anti-slavery society to be set up. Many people believe that a British writer from Norfolk called Thomas Paine wrote it because he was responsible for many other essays all championing equal rights. His views on equality were often shunned at the time but he is now hailed as a hero for standing up for the rights of all mankind.

1917 - The February Revolution began with riots and strikes in St Petersburg. This was the first phase of the Russian Revolution which brought an end to the Russian royal family and the beginning of communist rule in Russia. Communism is a political system which tries to create a classless society, so that everybody is equal - the land, the mines and factories etc are all owned by the people, and the wealth is distributed equally amongst everybody. (Although it was in March, it was called the February Revolution because Russia still used the Julian calendar at that time which was 11 days behind the Gregorian calendar that the majority of Europe had begun to use.)

On 9th March…

1891 - A great storm began to attack the south of England and would last for four days. It was so fierce that over 200 people and about 6,000 animals died. There were snowdrifts nearly 5m high, burying trains and trapping passengers for days, people ran out of food and coal or wood for their fires. The storm took people by surprise because in the morning it was a calm day but by the afternoon a north-east wind had begun to pick up and bring the snow. By the 14th March the weather began to settle but it would take months before all the snow had disappeared from Dartmoor.

Can you imagine being stuck in a snow drift? What would you do? How would you keep warm to survive?

1934 - The first man in space, Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin was born in the Soviet Union (now Russia). Are you brave enough to have been the first person in space? Is there anything you’d like to be the first to do?

On 10th March…

On 11th March…

1702 - England’s first daily newspaper was published by a woman called Elizabeth Mallet. The Daily Courant was just a single sheet of paper with two columns of news on one side and adverts on the back. Elizabeth wrote the paper pretending to be a man and claimed only to provide the facts without allowing her opinion to blur anything printed. Why do you think she pretended to be a man writing the paper?

On 12th March…

1894 - Coco-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time. Before this it was sold as a fountain drink (similar to how it is often served in a pub) and poured into a glass by the vendor.

On 13th March…

1781 - Uranus was discovered by an amateur astronomer called William Herschel. Did you know that Uranus takes 84 years to orbit the Sun whereas it only takes the Earth one year?

1935 - Voluntary driving tests were introduced in Great Britain. These came into force the day after the speed limit was set at 30mph on roads in towns and villages. Compulsory tests were brought in just over two months later.

1996 - At Dunblane Primary School in Scotland, sixteen children and one teacher were shot dead by Thomas Hamilton who then committed suicide. The tragedy brought about a ban on all handguns in the UK. Safety in schools has been greatly increased since then with every school having a buzz entry system. Today there is a memorial garden with a fountain and plaque to remember the children and their teacher.