ON THIS DAY
1660:
The Royal Society was founded in London.
1757:
William Blake, mystic and visionary English poet and painter, was born in London.
1905:
The Irish political party Sinn Fein was founded in Dublin by Arthur Griffith.
1919:
Viscountess (Nancy) Astor became Britain’s first woman MP, holding a safe Plymouth seat for the Tories in a by-election caused by her husband’s elevation of the peerage. 1934:
Winston Churchill warned that weak defences could mean that Britain could be “tortured into absolute subjection” in any war with Germany.
1943:
The Big Three – Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin – met in Tehran to “plan strategy” and discuss post-war policy, including treatment of a defeated Germany.
1967:
Horseracing was suspended in Britain after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. 1968:
Enid Blyton, creator of Noddy and Big Ears among many other children’s favourites, died.
1983:
The government announced an end to the monopoly by opticians on the sale of glasses.
2010:
Britain shivered in record low temperatures, including a “ridiculously low” minus 17C in Wales.