Cottage Capers

On this day in history….12th July 1910

On this day in history : 12th July 1910 – Pioneering pilot and co-founder of Rolls Royce, Charles Rolls, is killed when the tail of his bi-plane breaks off during a flying display….

Photograph on the front page of the Illustrated London News, 16 July 1910 – Public domain

32-year-old Charles had been flying at Hengistbury Airfield, Southbourne, Bournemouth when the tail of his Wright Flyer broke away…. He was the first air fatality in the UK – and the 11th internationally….

Charles Steward Rolls had been born on the 27th of August 1877 at Berkeley Square, London but kept strong connections with the family home, The Hendre, in Monmouth, Wales…. He attended Eton and then Trinity College, Cambridge and studied mechanical and applied science….

irollsc001p1 — Charles Rolls – Public domain

In 1896, at the age of 18, he travelled to Paris to buy his first car….a Peugeot Phaeton – and it is thought this was the first car in Cambridge – and one of the first three in Wales…. He became a founder member of the Automobile Club of Great Britain….

Charles was also a keen cyclist and captained Cambridge University’s Bicycle Club before his graduation in 1898…. In January 1903 he started one of Britain’s first car dealerships, C.S.Rolls & Co. in Fulham, selling Peugeot and Belgian Minerva automobiles….

It was on May the 4th 1904 that he met Henry Royce, through a mutual friend at the Royal Automobile Club…. Charles was impressed with Henry’s ‘Royce 10’ – a two-cylinder car….and the two formed a partnership….’Rolls Royce’….

But alongside that Charles was also a keen pioneer aviator, initially as a balloonist – having made over 170 flights…. In 1903 he won the Gordon Bennett Gold Medal for the longest single flight time…. Then on the 8th of October 1908 he became the second ever Briton to go up in an aeroplane – in a plane piloted by Wilbur Wright…. In October 1909 he bought his own aircraft….a Wright Flyer and made over 200 flights in it….becoming the second person licensed to fly a plane…. He was the first man to make a non-stop double-crossing of the English Channel….and helped found the Royal Aero Club….

C.S. Rolls in a balloon – Horace Hall – Public domain

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….11th July 1859

On this day in history : 11th July 1859 – Big Ben chimes for the first time….but just two months later it is to crack and is taken out of commission for nearly four years….

Big Ben – Image credit : D S Pugh CC BY-SA 2.0

Most people refer to the clock tower – (which was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee) – as ‘Big Ben’ ~ but it is actually the name given to the bell housed inside…. It is believed to have been named after Sir Benjamin, First Commissioner for Works – and indeed his name is inscribed upon it….

However, the current bell is not the original one…. In August 1856 a bell was cast by Warners of Norton, Stockton-on-Tees….and it was originally to be called the ‘Royal Victoria’…. Unfortunately this first bell cracked during testing in October 1857 and a second bell had to be cast…. This time the honour went to George Mears at his Whitechapel Foundry in April 1858…. However, this bell cracked too – but the problem was solved by turning it a quarter clockwise and chiming it with a lighter hammer….

Big Ben finally went into service in July 1859 – but disaster struck with yet another crack in the following September…. According to the foundry manager, a hammer more than twice the maximum weight specified had been used….

Since that time Big Ben has fallen silent on other occasions…. In 1976 it was taken out of commission for 9 months for repairs….and again for 7 weeks in 2007…. On Monday the 21st of August 2017, after the 12 noon chimes, Big Ben’s bongs temporarily ceased….as extensive repair, conservation and refurbishment work on the clock tower began….

Big Ben weighs a massive 13.7 tonnes, is 7.2ft (2.2m) tall and 8.9ft (2.7m) in diameter…. Its hammer weighs 200kg…. Elizabeth Tower is 96m tall and has 11 floors…. Each clock Face is 23ft (7m) in diameter and is made of 312 sections of opal glass…. The hour hand is 9.2ft (2.8m) in length and the minute hand is 14ft (4.3m)…. The clock is accurate to one second….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….10th July AD138

On this day in history : 10th July AD138 – The Roman Emperor Hadrian, upon whose orders the wall across northern England was built to keep out the ‘barbarians’, dies at his villa in Baiae, Italy….

Marble bust of Hadrian at the Venice National Archaeological Museum – Image : Livioandronico2013 – CC BY-SA 4.0

Hadrian was 62-years-old when he died – for the last few years of his life he had suffered chronic illness…. He had ruled the Roman Empire for 21 years…. Initially he was buried at Puteoli, near to Baiae – but not long after his remains were moved to the Gardens of Domitia, Rome…. Then, in AD139, on completion of the Castel Sant’Angelo, which was built for Hadrian by his successor Antoninus Pius, Hadrian’s body was cremated and his ashes placed there with those of his wife and adopted son – who also died in AD138….

Hadrian visited England in AD122 and it was then that he ordered the building of a wall across the north of the country…. It remained the north-western frontier of the Roman Empire for nearly 300 years….and is the best preserved frontier of the empire….

The wall, built by the Roman Army, took 15,000 men at least 6 years to build…. It was 73 miles (80 Roman miles) long and ran from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway on the Irish Sea to the west….

Built to separate the Romans from the barbarians the original plan had been for the wall to have a guarded gate every couple of miles – with observation towers in-between….however, between 14 and 17 forts were later added…. Most of the wall was built from stone but a 30 mile stretch of the eastern section was a turf bank some 6m (20 Roman ft) wide…. The stone wall would have been a maximum 4.6m (15 Roman ft) high and 3m (10 Roman ft) wide…. There would have been a walkway along the top and possibly a parapet wall…. To the south of the wall a large ditch with a mound on each side, known as the ‘vallum’ was dug…. There are sections of the route where this has survived better than the wall itself…. After its construction it is thought the wall would have been plastered and then whitewashed so it stood out for miles around….

Vallum at Hadrian’s Wall near Milecastle 42 (Cawfields) – Image: Voice of Clam CC BY-SA 3.0

Remains of the fort at Housesteads – Image : Wilson44691 at English Wikipedia – Public domain

Remains of Castle Nick, Milecastle 39 (nr Steel Rigg) – Image : Adam Cuerden – Public domain

Only about 10% of the wall now survives; over the centuries much of the stone has been robbed…. Long sections were used for road building during the 1700s – especially by General Wade to build a military road during the Jacobite insurrection…. It was only in the 19th century that archaeologists and historians began to take a real interest….

In 1987 Hadrian’s Wall was made a World Heritage Site and in 2003 a National Trail footpath following the route from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway was opened – which walkers are asked to adhere to…. Today’s historians are convinced there is still so much more to learn and discover….

Hadrian’s Wall & Turret

Image source : Pixabay

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….9th July 1955

On this day in history : 9th July 1955 – Dixon of Dock Green is shown on British television for the first time…. With Jack Warner playing the part of George Dixon the series ran for 21 years….

Image credit : Leonard Bentley via Flickr

The programme, created by Ted Willis, ran on the BBC between 1955 and 1976 for 22 series with 367 episodes….and centred on everyday life in an East End of London police station…. It dealt with petty crime in a reasonable and human way….

Jack Warner had been a comedian on the radio and continued to play comic characters in his early film career…. However, in the early 1940s he began to extend his range, becoming a character actor….displaying warmth and maturity…. ‘George Dixon’ made his first appearance in the film ‘The Blue Lamp’ in 1950….

As a TV programme Dixon of Dock Green aired at 6.30pm on a Saturday evening….and always started with one of its famous lines….”Evening, all”…. In 1961 it was voted the second most popular TV show, with an estimated 13.85 million viewers…. Dixon was popular among the police themselves; Warner was made an honorary member of both the Margate and Ramsgate police forces…. On a visit to the studios, where the series was made, HM The Queen said she thought Dixon of Dock Green had become part of the British way of life….

However, towards the end of the 1960s ratings had begun to decline – faster paced cop shows, such as Z Cars and then later The Sweeney, were becoming increasingly popular…. Loyal fans stuck with Dixon though; in one episode when the character was shot over 4,000 letters were received by the BBC inquiring of his well-being…. An announcement had to be made on TV to say he was alright….

But by the mid 1970s Jack Warner’s own health was beginning to suffer….he was looking frail and no longer looked the part in a police uniform…. The series came to an end with the last episode being shown on the 1st of May 1976…. “Goodnight, all”….

Uncategorized, British History

On this day in history….8th July 1967

On this day in history : 8th July 1967 – Vivien Leigh, English film actress, whose films include ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘A Streetcar named Desire’, dies after a recurrence of tuberculosis….

The 53-year-old, two time Academy Award winning actress, was found by her husband, Jack Merivale, in their Belgravia apartment…. It appears she had collapsed whilst attempting to walk to the bathroom – her lungs were filled with fluid….

Vivien had the previous month been struck down by a recurrence of TB – a disease that had plagued her for half her life….although she had appeared to have been getting better after this last attack….

Photograph by Roloff Beny, 1958 – Copyrighted free use

She had been born Vivien Mary Hartley on the 5th of November 1913 in Darjeeling, India…. Her father was of French descent and her mother came from Ireland…. Vivien was educated in a Bavarian convent and she then attended finishing schools in England and Europe….

Her very first appearance on the stage was at the age of three, when she played ‘Little Bo Peep’ – but her first serious role was at the age of fourteen….

Vivien married London barrister Herbert Leigh Holman when she was nineteen – and the couple had a daughter, Suzanne…. Vivien first came to the public’s attention in 1935, as Henriette in the stage play ‘The Mask of Virtue’…. It was at this time that she first met Lawrence Olivier….when he stopped by to congratulate her on her perfomance…. Although he was also married, to actress Jill Esmond, there was a strong attraction between Vivien and Lawrence from the start…. Vivien’s own husband had an intense dislike of the theatre; this would undoubtedly have put pressure upon the marriage – soon Vivien and Lawrence were involved in a passionate affair….

It was in 1939 that Vivien began to show the first signs of bipolar disorder – for which there was no treatment at the time…. Her marriage to Herbert ended in divorce in 1940 – and on the 31st of August of the same year she and Lawrence were married…. She was to suffer two miscarriages during the marriage – which was to end in 1960, after twenty years….both went on to remarry….

Vivien and Lawrence in Australia, June 1948 – Public domain

In 1944 Vivien was first diagnosed with TB in her left lung…. On the day of her death, a Saturday, all of London’s West End theatres extinguished their lights for an hour during the evening in her memory…. A memorial service was held at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and her cremated ashes were scattered upon the lake of her summer home, Tickerage Mill in East Sussex….

Vivien won two Oscars during her career; the first for her portrayal of Scarlett in ‘Gone with the Wind’ and the second for ‘A Streetcar named Desire’…. Undoubtedly she found everlasting fame as Scarlett O’Hara – a role she was chosen for out of over 1,400 other women….