Foundation stone of Royal Greenwich Observatory laid, 1675
On 4th March 1675, King Charles II issued a royal warrant appointing John Flamsteed as his ‘astronomical observator’ – a position later known as Astronomer Royal. The warrant detailed his…
The quagga became extinct, 1883
The quagga were an equine species, similar to the zebra but with stripes only on the head, neck and shoulders. They roamed the drier parts of South Africa between the…
First Jefferson Airplane gig, 1965
In the early 1960s, the singer Marty Buchwald signed to Challenge Records, which promoted him as a teen idol under the name of Marty Balin. Having failed to achieve any…
Cologne Cathedral completed, 1880
In 1164, Cologne’s Archbishop Rainald von Dassel brought the relics of the Magi to the city after the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, took them from Milan. These relics attracted…
Peterloo Massacre, 1819
In spite of victory, the Napoleonic Wars left Britain with chronic economic problems. The Government’s response, the Corn Laws, resulted in famine and unemployment, which only served to politicise the…
Indonesian independence declared, 1945
In the early sixteenth century, Portuguese explorers arrived in Indonesia seeking a source of spices that would break the monopoly of Muslim traders and their Venetian agents. Over the next…
Battle of Lower Sioux Agency, 1862
In 1851, the United States government signed a pair of treaties with the Dakota Sioux who ceded much of their land in the Minnesota Territory in return for goods and…
Tucson, Arizona founded, 1775
Hugh O’Connor was born in Dublin in 1732 into an aristocratic family. Like many contemporary Irish Catholics of the day, Hugh saw no future for himself in his homeland, which…
Buffalo Nine arrested, 1968
In the summer of 1968, a group of anti-war protesters centred on the University of Buffalo in New York State began to engage in draft resistance. Fearing arrest, a number…
Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia, 1968
In January 1968, Alexander Dubček became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Dubček was previously leader of the party in Slovakia, where he had implemented a programme of…