On 14th October…

On 15th October…

1987 - Hurricane strength winds of up to 115mph swept across the south of Britain overnight and into the 16th October causing devastation and killing 18 people. The hurricane had not been predicted and only severe weather warnings of heavy rain and wind were given for the south coast of England. Infamously a weatherman on BBC Television even quashed rumours of a hurricane on the way by saying, “Don’t worry, there isn’t one.”

People woke up the next morning to find trees ripped up from their roots and strewn across roads. Many roofs had been completely ripped off and even a rowing boat had been blown 400 metres inland from the sea. It was estimated that 15 million trees were lost overnight.

On 16th October…

1430 - King James II of Scotland was born. He was the only son of King James I and became king at the age of 6 years when his father was assassinated.

1555 - In Oxford, Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London and Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, were burned at the stake for their Protestant beliefs. England at the time was ruled by Queen Mary I who was intent on making England a Catholic country once more after her father, King Henry VIII, had broken free from the pope and the Roman Cathiolic Empire, and made England a Protestant country. The two men have become known as the Oxford Martyrs.

1946 - Ten Nazi leaders were hanged for their war crimes of World War II after being found guilty at the Nuremberg Trials. The trials were a series of court hearings in which former Nazi leaders were tried as war criminals by the International Military Tribunal.

1950 - The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe written by C.S. Lewis was first published in London. It is the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia series.

On 17th October…

On 18th October…

1931 - Thomas Edison, the American inventor of the lightbulb and the phonograph died. When he died, he held a record 1,093 patents either by himself or with partners. (A patent registers your invention and stops other people from copying or stealing your idea.)

1967 - Walt Disney’s animated version of The Jungle Book was first released in cinemas in the U.S.A. It reached Britain on Christmas Eve of the same year.

On 19th October…

1914 - The first Battle of Ypres began in World War I near the town of Ypres in Belgium. This battle lasted five weeks and saw nearly a quarter of a million soldiers killed (Allied and German forces).

On 20th October…

1632 - Christopher Wren, the English architect, was born in Wiltshire, England. One of his famous buildings is St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

1822 - The Sunday Times newspaper was first published in London.

1968 - Dick Fosbury, an American athlete, won the gold medal in the high jump at the Mexico City Olympics. His different style of jumping has become accepted as the most efficient technique for the high jump- the ‘Fosbury Flop’.