On 28th November…

1170 - King Owain of Gwynedd died. He was the last great King of the Welsh and managed to expand the Welsh lands during the civil wars between the English King Stephen and his cousin Matilda over the English throne.

1660 - The Royal Society was formed in London after a lecture by Christopher Wren, the famous architect. Today it is the U.K.’s national science academy and a Fellowship of 1,600 of the world’s leading scientists which is dedicated to the promotion of excellence in science.

On 29th November…

1781 - The crew of the British slave ship Zong began murdering African slaves by throwing them into the sea because it was overloaded, had missed its destination in the Caribbean and had been at sea three weeks longer than planned. Drinking water was sparse and sickness had spread among the slaves and the crew. The captain decided that the best course of action was to throw the slaves overboard to try and stop disease spreading further. In total 133 slaves were thrown overboard to drown. There were court cases and trials afterwards where the hearing was to decide not whether murders had been committed but whether or not insurance could be claimed for lost cargo (the slaves thrown overboard). This inspired the abolitionists (people who wanted to end slavery) to set up a Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

1940 - Liverpool suffered 8 hours of air raid bombing in World War II which killed 166 people and left 2,000 people homeless. The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, called it the ‘single worst civilian incident of the war.’

On 30th November…

60 - St Andrew died. He is the patron saint of Scotland, and also of Russia. His cross has been adopted as Scotland’s flag, the white X on a blue background and forms part of the Union Flag of the U.K.

1874 - Winston Churchill, was born in Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. He was the British Prime Minister during World War II and kept Britain’s spirits up with his rousing speeches which became famous. Did you know he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953?

On 1st December…

On 2nd December…

1697 - The newly rebuilt St Paul’s Cathedral was consecrated (declared sacred) and a service was held in London. There had been several churches and cathedrals on the site since around 600AD in Anglo-Saxon time. Each one was destroyed by fire or intentionally by Vikings. The last building had been built of stone and dated back to about 1087 and the reign of William the Conqueror, it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London over 30 years earlier. The new St Paul’s cathedral was designed by the architect Sir Christopher Wren and took over 30 years to build.

On 3rd December…

1894 - The Scottish writer and author Robert Louis Stevenson died. His most famous books are Treasure Island, Kidnapped and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

On 4th December…

1154 - The only Englishman ever to become pope, Nicolas Breakspear was elected as pope and began his papacy in Rome as Pope Adrian IV.

1214 - King William I of Scotland, also known as William the Lion, died. He fought England to regain the lands of Northumberland but ended up being captured during battle. To be released he had to sign the Treaty of Falasie which made him agree to tax the Scottish people and pay King Henry II of England to keep English armies in Scottish castles. The treaty also made William acknowledge Henry as his overlord and superior. When Henry II died William was able to buy back the English rights and gain Scottish freedom from England because the new English king, Richard I, needed money to finance his crusades abroad.

1791 - The Observer newspaper was first published in London. It is Britain’s oldest Sunday newspaper.