|
1 August |
1740 |
'Rule
Britannia' sung for the first time in public, in Thomas Arne's
'Masque Alfred' |
|
2 August |
1100 |
King William
II (Rufus) killed by a crossbow bolt in mysterious circumstances
while hunting in the New Forest |
|
3 August |
1926 |
Britain's
first set of electric traffic lights appear on the streets of
London |
|
4 August |
1914 |
Britain
declares war on Germany |
|
5 August |
1962 |
Nelson
Mandela imprisoned for attempting to overthrow South Africa's
apartheid rule |
|
6 August |
1881 |
Birth of Sir
Alexander Fleming, Scottish discoverer of penicillin. |
|
|
7 August
|
1840
|
Britain bans the employment of climbing boys as chimney sweeps
|
|
8 August
|
1963
|
Britain's Great Train Robbery - £2.6 M stolen from Royal Mail
|
| 9 August
|
1757
|
Birth of Thomas Telford, Scottish civil engineer
credited with opening up northern Scotland by building roads,
bridges and waterways
|
| 10 August
|
1675
|
King Charles II lays the foundation stone of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich
|
| 11 August
|
1897
|
Birth of best-selling children's writer Enid Blyton
|
| 12 August
|
1822
|
Lord Castlereagh, British Foreign Secretary,
commits suicide
|
| 13 August
|
1964
|
Peter Allen and John Walby become the last people to be hanged in Britain
|
| 14 August
|
1945
|
Japan surrenders to the Allies, ending the Second World War
|
| 15 August
|
1888
|
Birth of Thomas Edward Lawrence 'of Arabia'
|
| 16 August
|
1977
|
Death of Elvis Presley
|
| 17 August
|
1896
|
Mrs. Bridget Driscoll of Croydon, Surrey became the first pedestrian in Britain to die after being hit by a car
|
| 18 August
|
1587
|
Virginia Dare born, the first child of English parents to be born in America.
|
| 19 August |
1646 |
Birth of John Flamsteed, Britain's first Astronomer Royal
|
| 20 August
|
1940
|
Winston Churchill referring to the RAF pilots, says " Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".
|
| 21 August
|
1765
|
King William IV born
|
|
| 22 August
|
1485
|
Richard III becomes the last English king to die in battle, killed at Bosworth Field in Leicestershire
|
| 23 August |
1940
|
The first night of the Blitz as German planes bomb the city of London
|
| 24 August
|
1875
|
Matthew Webb (Captain
Webb) started his attempt from Dover England to become the first person to swim the English
Channel. He reached Calais, France at 10.40 am the
following morning, having been in the water for 22 hours.
|
| 25 August
|
1919
|
World's first international daily air service begins between London and Paris
|
| 26 August |
1346
|
With the help of the longbow the English army of Edward III defeats the French at the Battle of Crecy.
|
| 27 August
|
1900
|
Britain's
first long distance bus service begins between London and Leeds. The
journey time being 2 days!
|
| 28 August
|
1207
|
Liverpool
is created a Borough by King John
|
| 29 August |
1897
|
Chop
Suey is invented in New York as a dish to appeal to both Americans
and Chinese.
|
| 30
August
|
1860
|
Britain's
first tramway opens in Birkenhead, near Liverpool
|
| 31
August |
1900
|
Coca
Cola is sold for the first time in Britain.
|