ON THIS DAY
1757: William Blake, mystic and visionary 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 to 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: Horse racing 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 opticians’ monopoly on the sale of glasses. 2010: Britain shivered in record low temperatures, including a “ridiculously low“minus 17C in Wales.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Royal Mint announced plans to launch a new 50p piece to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.