What happened this week in history

In 793 - Vikings raided the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England.
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent married Katherine Worsley this week in 1961. EMN-160306-133835001Prince Edward, Duke of Kent married Katherine Worsley this week in 1961. EMN-160306-133835001
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent married Katherine Worsley this week in 1961. EMN-160306-133835001

1042 - Edward the Confessor became King of England.

1405 - Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York, was beheaded for conspiring against Henry IV; the first English bishop to be executed.

1824 - The washing machine was patented by Noah Cushing of Quebec.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

1829 - The UK’s first municipal swimming pool outside London opened in Liverpool.

1896 - A car was reported as stolen for the first time.

1923 - A government bill made divorce possible on the grounds of the husband’s infidelity.

1929 - Margaret Bondfield became Britain’s first female cabinet minister.

1949 - George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four was published.

1961 - The Duke of Kent married Katherine Worsley.

1968 - James Earl Ray was arrested in London Airport on charges of conspiracy and murder in connection with the assassination of civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

1978 - Naomi James, from New Zealand, became the first woman to sail single-handed around the world.

1982 - Bluff Cove Air Attacks during the Falklands War saw 56 British servicemen killed by an Argentine air attack on two landing ships, RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram.

1991 - Lincolnshire libraries banned Billy Bunter books because they were too old-fashioned for children to read.

1996 - Alex Greaves became the first woman to ride in the Derby.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

1998 - The EU froze Yugoslav assets in protest at Serb action in Kosovo.

1999 - Former cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken was jailed for 18 months after he admitted lying during a failed libel action.

2001 - Tony Blair and the Labour Party were elected to a second term, with a majority of 167 overall in the House of Commons.

2014 - The world’s oldest man, Alexander Imich, died in New York, aged 111.

Related topics: