Anniversaries - October- General
Best Boxer in the World Takes on Toughest Boxer in the World
1-OCT-1975: Muhammed Ali defeats Joe Frazier in the ‘Thrilla in Manila’, Philippines.
2-OCT-1909: Twickenham stadium hosts its first rugby match - Harlequins vs Richmond.
3-OCT-1990: East and West Germanys are politically conjoined as one nation.
4-OCT-1957: USSR commences the ‘Space Race’ when the Sputnik I satellite is launched from Kazahkstan.
‘Squaddie Pubs’ in the 1970s - Always a Bit Difficult to Tell if This Was Before or After the Bomb Went Off
5-OCT-1974: The IRA put bombs in the Horse & Groom and Seven Stars pubs in Guildford, Surrey - used by British soldiers - killing five.
6-OCT-1981: Egyptian president Anwar Sadat is assassinated in Cairo for making peace with Israel.
7-OCT-1571: Battle of Lepanto - the fleet of the Holy League, under John of Austria routs the Ottoman Turks.
8-OCT-1829: Stephenson’s Rocket beats Perseverence, Novelty and Sans Pareil to win the Rainhill Trials for railway engines.
9-OCT-1981: France abolishes capital punishment, the last European nation to do so.
10-OCT-1928: Newcastle’s famous Tyne Bridge is opened.
11-OCT-1521: Pope Leo X bestows the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ on King Henry VIII.
12-OCT-1492: Christopher Columbus lands in the Americas in ‘El Salvador’ - which was actually the Bahamas.
Margaret Thatcher - Even at 100yrs Old, Still Twice as Good as Any of Her Successors
13-OCT-1925: Birth of Margaret Thatcher in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
14-OCT-1066: Battle of Hastings - the Normans conquer England. King William I founds a monastery on the site.
The ‘Last Lanc’ - White Coastal Command Lancaster
15-OCT-1956: The Avro Lancaster completes its RAF service at RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall at the Coastal Command School of Maritime Reconnaissance.
16-OCT-1987: Southern Britain is ravaged by the ‘Great Storm’ that the Met Office assured us was ‘going to miss us’.
17-OCT-1973 : A major world oil crisis is created when oil-producing Arab states increased prices by 70% and cut production to protest at US support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War.
18-OCT-1685: King Louis XIV revokes the Edict of Nantes, ending religious freedom in France.
19-OCT-1970: British Petroleum announced the first major discovery of oil under the British sector of the North Sea.
20-OCT-1818: Britain and US sign a treaty that settles the US-Canada border along the 49th parallel.
21-OCT-1854: Florence Nightingale led 38 nurses to Constantinople to tend to the wounded of the Crimean War, the first battle of which was at Alma a month previously.
1962, Russian Missiles in Cuba ‘Not OK’ - 2022, American Missiles in Ukraine ‘Perfectly OK’
22-OCT-1963: Cuban Missile Crisis begins creating six days of immense tension.
23-OCT-1642: Battle of Edgehill - the first significant conflict of the English Civil War.
24-OCT-1994: After a ceasefire, Northern Ireland’s streets are troop-free for the first time in 25yrs.
25-OCT-1415: Crimean War - Battle of Balaclava: Russian cavalry was halted by the ‘Thin Red Line’ of the Highland Regiment, and then pursued by the ‘Charge of the Heavy Brigade’ (Dragoons and Dragoon Guards). This achieved some success, but it was followed by the disastrous ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’. The battle ended in stalemate.
26-OCT-1951: Winston Churchill becomes British PM for the second time.
27-OCT-1968: Around 6,000 marchers, demonstrated against the Vietnam War outside the US Embassy in London. It ended in violence.
28-OCT-1919: Despite presidential veto the Volstead Act was passed, thereby ratifying the 18th Amendment which forbade the manufacture, distribution and sale of alcohol anywhere in USA - i.e. the origins of ‘Prohibition’.
1956, Britain and France Invade Egypt ‘Not OK’ - 1965, America Invades Vietnam ‘Perfectly OK’
29-OCT-1956: Operation Musketeer: Britain, France and Israel invade Egypt thus igniting the ‘Suez Crisis’.
30-OCT-1990: Britain is connected to mainland Europe by a tunnel/rail-line.
31-OCT-1961: USSR begins de-Stalinisation - his body is removed from display in the state mausoleum and his name is expunged from Soviet history.