On this day in history : 30th November 1982 – A letter bomb, sent by animal rights activists, goes off at No.10 Downing Street – injuring a member of staff….
Image credit : Number 10 via Flickr
The bomb had been addressed to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was in her study at No.10 at the time of the blast – but was not hurt….
The bomb had arrived in a padded envelope and had immediately aroused suspicions…. It was whilst it was being examined by office manager Peter Taylor that the package ignited, burning his hands and face…. He was taken to nearby Westminster Hospital but thankfully had suffered only minor injuries and was soon back at work….
A forensic examination of the device showed it to be gun powder based and designed to flare up and burn rather than fully explode…. Four more letter bombs were intercepted, addressed to Labour’s Michael Foot, SDP’s Roy Jenkins, Liberal’s David Steel and Timothy Raison of the Home Office….
Mrs Thatcher told all MPs that they should be on their guard – “Letter bombs anywhere are most distressing and I’m afraid we are all vulnerable”….
On this day in history : 29th November 1975 – British racing driver Graham Hill is killed in an aircraft crash at Arkley in Hertfordshire….
Graham Hill – Image credit : Lothar Spurzem CC BY-SA 2.0
The two times Formula One World Champion (1962 and 1968) had retired from racing four months previously…. Hill was piloting his Piper PA-23 Aztec twin engined light aircraft back from a car testing session in the South of France…. He had on board five passengers, all from the Embassy Hill team : manager Ray Brimble, mechanics Terry Richards and Tony Alcock, designer Andy Smallman and driver Tony Brise….
It was a night flight and they were due to be landing at Elstree Airfield…. Visibility was appalling on account of thick fog….and just before 10pm the aircraft struck a row of trees on Arkley golf course…. All on board were killed….
At the later inquest it emerged that Hill had been flying at only 60ft above the ground – because of the poor visibility he had not realised…. The verdicts on all of the deaths was accidental….
3,000 mourners attended Hill’s funeral in St. Albans, Hertfordshire…. He left behind his wife Bette, two daughters, Brigette and Samantha – and a 15-year-old son, Damon – who was to follow in his father’s footsteps by becoming Formula One World Champion in 1996….
On this day in history : 28th November 1990 – A tearful Margaret Thatcher makes her last speech as Prime Minister outside No.10 Downing Street….
Mrs Thatcher had formally tended her resignation to the Queen earlier that morning…. John Major had been elected as her successor by the Conservative party the previous day – after a leadership challenge had been mounted by Michael Heseltine on the 14th of November…. Mrs Thatcher reportedly regarded her ousting as a betrayal….
As she appeared outside No.10 it was to applause from the gathered Press…. She addressed the reporters : “Ladies and Gentlemen”….her voice cracking on the ‘Gentlemen’….”We’re leaving Downing Street for the last time after eleven-and-a-half wonderful years, and we’re very happy that we leave the United Kingdom in a very, very much better state than when we came here eleven-and-a-half years ago”….
Mrs Thatcher went on to thank the staff who had supported her and to say what a privilege it had been to serve the country…. She finished by wishing John Major all the luck in the world – adding “He’ll be splendidly served and he has the makings of a great Prime Minister”….
After her speech she and husband Denis were driven to Buckingham Palace where they had a half hour meeting with the Queen – and then returned to their home in Dulwich, South London…. Margaret Thatcher remained MP for Finchley until 1992….
On this day in history: 27th November 1920 – The birth of Buster Merryfield, the English actor best known as ‘Uncle Albert’ in the BBC comedy series Only Fools and Horses….
Buster Merryfield as Uncle Albert in ‘Only Fools and Horses’ – Fair use
Buster was born in Battersea, London to Lily and Harry Merryfield…. Weighing a whopping nine pounds he was immediately nicknamed ‘Buster’ by his grandfather…. It was the name he was to go by throughout his entire life – in fact he refused to divulge his real name…. It only became public knowledge after his death that he had really been named Harry, after his father….
His was a working-class background…. He enjoyed sport, liked football and was a life-long Millwall supporter; but he was particularly keen on boxing…. During the 1930s he became quite a boxing sensation himself, he was the 1936 British Schoolboy Champion and an Army Champion in 1945….
Buster began working for the Westminster Bank (now National Westminster) and in June 1942 he married Iris – they went on to have a daughter…. During the War years he served in the Army, as a jungle warfare instructor…. It was while in the Army he discovered his talent for acting and also directing, after joining the Entertainments Division…. He was to become Entertainments Officer, responsible for organising shows….
After being demobilised in March 1946 Buster returned to the bank and was to remain with them for nearly 40 years, reaching the position of Senior Bank Manager at Thames Dutton in Surrey…. He carried on with his acting by joining an amateur dramatics group and after taking early retirement from the bank in 1978 he joined a repertory theatre company….
One of his first professional parts was in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat in Eastbourne; he was also to have other small parts both on stage and television…. Then in January 1985 he joined the cast of Only Fools and Horses as the former sea-dog Albert Gladstone Trotter…. His character ‘Uncle Albert’, the long lost little brother of Grandad Trotter (who had been played by Lennard Pearce until his death in December 1984), was a pipe-smoking rum-swigger – who always predictably started his stories with….”during the War”….much to the annoyance of Del Boy….
Fair use
Buster could not have been more unlike Uncle Albert in real life…. He was keen on keeping himself fit and never drank or smoked during his lifetime…. He died of a brain tumour in Poole General Hospital on the 23rd of June 1999….
On this day in history : 26th November 1867 – Mrs Lily Maxwell of Manchester becomes the first ever woman to vote in a British election, due to an error on the list of registered voters….
Lily Maxwell – Public domain
Scottish born Lily had a shop in Chorlton-upon-Medlock, Manchester – where she sold a variety of household items including candles and crockery…. She was not always as honest as she should have been – and was even once fined £1 by the courts for diddling her customers with short-comings in weights and measures…
As a shop owner Lily was obliged to pay rates to the local council…. When the 1867 by-election for a local MP came around Lily, as a woman, was not entitled to vote – whereas all male rate payers were…. Somehow Lily’s name got on to the list of these entitled men….
Early suffragette Lydia Becker came to hear of this and urged Lily to use her vote…. Lily agreed, as she was a keen supporter of Liberal candidate Jacob Bright, who advocated Women’s Suffrage and was a campaigner for peace….
When voting day arrived Lily, accompanied by Lydia, arrived at the town hall to cast her vote…. Bearing in mind in those days it was not a secret ballot – she had to announce loud and clear to all present who she wished to vote for…. She caused quite a commotion amongst the crowd – but as her name was on the list the presiding officer had no choice but to record her vote…. The room exploded with cheers for the first British woman voter….
More than 5,000 women then applied to have their names added to the electoral registers and on the 2nd of November 1868 the case for these claims came before the Court of Common Pleas…. However, it was ruled that women could not vote in British elections and Women’s Suffrage was declared illegal….
Cottage Capers 