|
1 July. |
1961 |
Diana,
Princess of Wales, affectionately remembered as the Queen of
Hearts, mother of Princes William and Harry. |
|
2 July. |
1489 |
Thomas Cranmer,
Archbishop of Canterbury under
Henry VIII,
burnt at the stake following Mary's accession to the throne for
refusing to return to the old faith. |
|
3 July. |
1728 |
Robert Adam,
Edinburgh University educated, architect and interior designer, who
together with his brothers, toured Britain redesigning country houses
e.g. Syon Park, Harewood, etc., with an 'Adamite frippery'. |
|
4 July. |
1845 |
Thomas Barnado,
Dublin born evangelist who founded homes for the destitute children
with financial support from the banker Robert Barclay. |
|
5 July. |
1853 |
Cecil Rhodes,
Hertfordshire born colonialist, financier and statesman of Southern
Africa, so influential that they named a country after him
...Rhodesia, before it was changed to Zimbabwe. |
|
6 July. |
1849 |
Alfred Kemper,
London born mathematician and author of the popular 'How to Draw a
Straight Line'. |
|
7 July. |
1940 |
Ringo Starr, drummer
with the legendary Liverpool pop group The Beatles, and more
significantly, the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine. |
 |
|
8 July. |
1851 |
Sir Arthur John Evans,
Oxford educated archaeologist who excavated the Bronze Age city of
Knossos in Crete. |
|
9 July. |
1901 |
Barbara Cartland,
Birmingham-born romantic writer responsible for over 600 best-selling
books, step grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. |
|
10 July. |
1723 |
Sir William Blackstone,
English jurist - 'It is better that ten guilty persons escape than
that one innocent suffer'. |
|
11 July. |
1274 |
Robert I, King of
Scotland, also known as
Robert the Bruce, who seized the throne in 1306 and forced England
to recognise Scottish independence in 1328. |
|
12 July.
|
1730
|
Josiah
Wedgwood, Staffordshire potter and industrialist who, from his
Etruria factory transformed pottery design and manufacture. |
|
13 July.
|
1811 |
George Gilbert
Scott, English architect responsible for the Albert Memorial and
St. Pancras Station in London. |
|
14 July.
|
1858 |
Emmeline
Pankhurst, Manchester born suffragette who was imprisoned in her
efforts to gain the vote for British women. |
|
15 July.
|
1573 |
Inigo Jones,
London architect whose best known buildings are the Queen's House in
Greenwich and the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall. |
|
16 July.
|
1723 |
Sir Joshua
Reynolds, English portrait painter and first president of the
Royal Academy. |
|
17 July.
|
1827 |
Sir Frederick
Augustus Abel, London born chemist and explosive specialist,
co-inventor of cordite, as approved by the British Army. |
|
18 July.
|
1720 |
Reverend
Gilbert White, English naturalist who wrote The Natural History
and Antiquities of Selbourne. |
|
19 July.
|
1896 |
A J Cronin,
graduated in medicine at Glasgow in 1919, went on to use this
grounding for writing his Scottish novels Dr Finlay's Casebook.
|
|
20 July.
|
1889 |
John Reith,
Scottish engineer and first director general of the BBC, architect of
public service broadcasting as we know it ...'Auntie'. |
|
21 July.
|
1934 |
Jonathan
Miller, London born multi-talented TV, film and theatre director,
author, editor, presenter, Research Fellow, curator, etc.. |
|
22 July.
|
1926 |
Bryan Forbes,
actor, director and producer, founded Beaver Films with Sir Richard
Attenborough in 1959. |
|
23 July.
|
1886 |
Arthur Whitten
Brown, Glasgow born aviator, who as navigator with John Alcock
made the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in a Vickers-Vimy
biplane on 14 June 1919. |
|
24 July.
|
1929 |
Peter Yates, British
film director of Summer Holiday, Bullitt and Krull fame.
|
 |
|
25 July.
|
1848 |
Arthur James Balfour,
statesman and Conservative Prime Minister, as Foreign Secretary
1916-18 his Balfour Declaration promised support for a Jewish homeland
in Palestine. |
|
26 July.
|
1856 |
George Bernard Shaw,
Irish dramatist who 'conquered England by his wit'. Nobel prize winner
in 1925. |
|
27 July.
|
1870 |
Hilaire Belloc, MP,
poet and author, born in France he became a British subject in 1902,
best remembered for his nonsensical verse for children. |
|
28 July.
|
1866 |
Beatrix Potter, author
and illustrator, the characters that she created remain classics of
children's literature ...Peter Rabbit, Samuel Whiskers, Squirrel
Nutkin, and friends. |
|
29 July.
|
1913 |
Baron Jo
Grimond, St. Andrews born leader of the Liberal Party, thought by
some to be 'The best Prime Minister Britain never had'. |
|
30 July.
|
1818 |
Emily Brontė,
novelist, one of the three Bronte sisters, her only novel Wuthering
Heights tells a tale of love and revenge set in the remote wilds
of her native Yorkshire. |
|
31 July. |
1929 |
Lynne Reid
Banks, London born author, best known for the L-Shaped Room
and the children's book The Indian in the Cupboard. |