The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
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: 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 Britain might be “tortured into absolute subjection” in any war with Germany.
1943: The Big Three – Winston Churchill, Franklin D Roosevelt and Joseph 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: Author 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 cold temperatures, including a “ridiculously low” minus 17C (1.4F) 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.