|
1 Nov. |
1762 |
Spencer Perceval, British
Prime
Minister who was assassinated in the House of Commons in 1812 by
a Liverpool merchant who blamed the government for his
bankruptcy. |
|
2 Nov. |
1815 |
George Boole, son of a Lincolnshire
cobbler, who despite having no formal education and no degree,
was appointed Professor of Mathematics at Cork University in
1849.The logic of his Boolean algebra remains essential to
the design of circuits and computers. |
|
3 Nov. |
1919 |
Sir Ludovic
Kennedy Edinburgh-born TV
broadcaster and writer, joined the BBC in the 1950’s as
librarian – editor – interviewer - newscaster, etc., noted for
his just stance, his many books include Ten Rillington
Place and Euthanasia: the good death. |
|
4 Nov. |
1650 |
William III, Dutch-born King of Great
Britain and Ireland who just happened to be passing Torbay
with an army of English and Dutch troops when Parliament
declared the throne empty. |
|
5 Nov. |
1935 |
Lester Keith Piggott, widely
considered to be the most brilliant jockey since World War II,
he rode his first winner in 1948, and went on to win 30
Classics, including nine Derbies. |
|
6 Nov. |
1892 |
Sir John Alcock, Manchester-born pioneer
aviator who in 1919 made the first non-stop flight across the
Atlantic with Sir Arthur Whitten-Brown in a Vickers-Vimy
biplane. |
 William III |
|
7 Nov.
|
1949
|
Su Pollard, comedy actress, best
remembered for her role as Peggy the downtrodden cleaner in
the 1970’s ‘Hi De Hi’, TV series. |
|
8 Nov.
|
1656
|
Edmond Halley (note the spelling!),
English Astronomer Royal and mathematician who was the first
to realise that comets do not appear randomly, best remembered
for the comet named after him and not Bill. |
|
9 Nov. |
1841 |
Edward VII, King of Great Britain and
Ireland, considered by his mother Queen Victoria to be “too
frivolous” for politics. He was a keen sportsman and gambler. |
|
10 Nov. |
1697 |
William Hogarth, son of a London teacher.
He studied painting under Sir James Thornhill, with whose daughter
he eloped in 1729. His social commentaries of the day
concerning ‘men of the lowest rank’, are recorded in his
prints Gin Lane and Beer Street (1751). |
|
11 Nov. |
1947 |
Rodney Marsh, cricketer who made his
debut as a wicket-keeper for Australia in 1970 and continued
in that role for 14 years, making a record total of 355
dismissals; many, many, many of them English. |
|
12 Nov.
|
1940 |
Screaming Lord Sutch, 1960’s pop singer,
politician, leader of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party,
died 16th June 1999 … his eccentricity lives on
through us all! |
|
13 Nov.
|
1312
|
Edward III, English King who attempted to
restore some order back into the monarchy following his
father’s chaotic reign, but did not appear to help matters by
claiming the French Crown, declaring war against Philip VI and
starting the Hundred Year War. |
|
14 Nov.
|
1948
|
Charles, Prince of Wales
and heir apparent to the British throne, married Lady Diana Spencer
in 1981, they divorced in 1996. |
 Charles
I |
|
15 Nov.
|
1708
|
William Pitt the Elder,
English Whig politician also known as the ‘Great Commoner’. As
Paymaster of
the Forces 1746-55, he broke with tradition by refusing to
enrich himself. Following his death in1778 the government
voted £20,000 to pay off his debts. |
|
16 Nov.
|
1811
|
John Bright,
son of a Rochdale cotton-spinner, became an MP in 1843. A leading opponent of
the Corn Laws and a staunch supporter of the Peace Society, he
denounced the Crimean War. |
|
17 Nov.
|
1887
|
Bernard Law Montgomery (of Alamein),
British Field-Marshal of World War II whose many victories in
battle included the defeat of Erwin Rommel’s army in North
Africa 1942. He was known as a ‘soldiers general’ and
considered by some to be the best British Field Commander
since the Duke of Wellington. |
|
18 Nov.
|
1836
|
Sir W(illiam) S(chwenck) Gilbert, best
remembered as librettist of Arthur Sullivan’s light comic
operas, their partnership started in 1871 creating
masterpieces such as HMS Pinafore and The Pirates of
Penzance. |
|
19 Nov.
|
1600
|
Charles I, King of Great Britain and
Ireland who, after upsetting the Puritans and Scots, alienated
the rest of the nation with his taxes and finally declared war
on his Parliament. He lost his head after the Civil War on 30th
January 1649 in Whitehall, London. |
|
20 Nov.
|
1908
|
Alistair (Alfred) Cooke, Salford-born
journalist and broadcaster who moved to the USA and became a
US citizen in 1941. He has written numerous books on the America’s
and has broadcast his weekly radio programme Letter from
America since 1946. |
|
21 Nov.
|
1787
|
Sir Samual Cunard. Canadian-born, he
emigrated to Britain in 1838, and together with Glaswegian
George Burns and Liverpudlian David McIver, founded the
British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company,
later known as the Cunard Line. |
|
22 Nov.
|
1819
|
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), prolific
writer who captured the images and characters of her fellow
native Midlanders in her novels which include classics such as
Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner and perhaps her
greatest work Middlemarch. |
|
23 Nov.
|
1887
|
Boris Karloff, Dulwich-born actor who
after moving to Hollywood made a career for himself on the
silver screen starring mainly in horror films such as
Frankenstein (1931) and The Body Snatcher (1945).
|
|
24 Nov.
|
1713
|
Laurence Sterne, Irish-born, Halifax and
Cambridge-educated novelist, who mastered a technique of
channelling his own sentiments through his books such as The
Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy and Letters from
Yorick to Eliza. |
|
25 Nov.
|
1835 |
Andrew Carnegie.
Born in Dunfermline he
emigrated to Pittsburgh in 1848, there he founded and grew the
largest iron and steel works in the USA, retiring back to
Scotland in 1901, a multimillionaire. |
|
26 Nov.
|
1810
|
William George Armstrong.
Originally a
Newcastle solicitor, he turned his attention to engineering in
the 1840’s, developing and inventing hydraulic cranes, engines
and bridges, before turning his attention to ordnance with the
‘Armstrong’ breech-loading gun. |
|
27 Nov.
|
1809
|
Fanny Kemble.
Made her debut as an
actress at Covent Garden in 1829, when her Juliet created a
great sensation, moving to and marrying in the USA, she
eventually returned to London, she published dramas, poems and
eight volumes of autobiography. |
|
28 Nov.
|
1757
|
William Blake.
Guided and encouraged by
his visitations from the spiritual world, he engraved and
painted many illustrated books, his finest works adorn the
National Gallery and many of his poems have been put to music
including Jerusalem. |
|
29 Nov.
|
1898
|
C(live) S(taples) Lewis. Belfast-born he
won a scholarship to Oxford where he headed a group of writers
known as the ‘Inklings’, which included J R R Tolkien. He went
on to be one of the most influential authors of children’s
books with The Chronicles of Narnia. |
|
30 Nov.
|
1874
|
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill.
Began his
‘walk with destiny’ as Prime Minister of the coalition
government in World War II masterminding battle strategy and
the diplomacy which ultimately drew the USA into the conflict.
In a recent pole voted the ‘Greatest Britain of all Time’ –
the result of which is difficult to argue against! |