British History

On this day in history….13th May 1995

On this day in history : 13th May 1995 – British mother Alison Hargreaves becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of Sherpas – only to die tragically three months later….

Mount Everest – Image credit : Pavel Novak CC BY-SA 2.5

Alison was born on the 17th of February 1962 and spent her childhood in Belper, Derbyshire where she attended Belper High School…. She married James Ballard and in 1995 they moved to Spean Bridge in the Scottish Highlands, close to suitable conditions for her training….

For it was Alison’s intention to climb in 1995 the three highest mountains in the world – Everest, K2 and Kanchenjunga – and her aim was to do it unaided….

She arrived at base camp on Mount Everest on the 11th of April….and on the 13th of May, at 12.08 local time (7.23am) in Britain) she reached the 29,028ft summit…. She had done it without the aid of Sherpas or bottled oxygen – and was the second ever person to do so – the first being Reinhold Messner in 1980…. On reaching the summit Alison immediately radioed back to base camp as she wanted to get a message home to her husband and two children, 6-year-old Tom and 4-year-old Kate….

After a short break back in Scotland she set out in the June of 1995 for her climb of K2…. She was joining an American team who had a permit to climb the world’s second highest mountain, at 28,251ft and located in Pakistan….

K2 – Image credit : Maria Ly – CC BY 2.0

By the 13th of August the team had joined forces with teams from New Zealand and Canada…. Then on arriving at Camp 4, around 12 hours from the summit, they joined a Spanish team….

At 6.45pm on the 13th Alison and Spaniard Javier Oliver reached the summit of K2 – shortly afterwards American Rob Slater, New Zealander Bruce Grant and Javier Escartin and Lorenzo Ortiz from the Spanish team arrived…. It is unclear exactly what happened next….

The following day two other Spanish climbers were descending the mountain when they came across equipment they recognised as Alison’s – and a blood stained anorak…. In the distance a body could be seen – but it was impossible to get to and so was never formerly identified – but it was believed to be Alison….It appears she had been blown off of the mountain…. All six members of the team had been killed…. Witnesses on the mountain at the time said there was a sudden violent mountain storm with winds reaching 100mph….

Alison had died exactly three months to the day following her jubilant conquest of Mount Everest…. Her son, Tom, was to also to go on to become a climber….becoming the first to climb solo all six great north faces of the Alps in one single winter…. He died in 2019, whilst climbing the 9th highest mountain in the world, Nanga Parbat – the western anchor of the Himalayas….

On this day in history….12th May 1937

On this day in history : 12th May 1937 – The birth of English cyclist Beryl Burton – who was to dominate women’s cycle racing in the United Kingdom, winning more than 90 titles….

Beryl Burton – Dutch National Archives CC0

Born Beryl Charnock in the Halton area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, Beryl was to spend the duration of her life in Morley…. As a child she suffered with rheumatic fever resulting in a hospital stay and then fifteen months in a convalescence home….

She married her husband, Charlie Burton, in 1955 and it was he who introduced her to cycling…. In 1957 she won her first national medal – a silver in the National 100-mile Individual Time Trial Championship….

During her international career she won the Women’s World Road Race Championship in 1960 and again in 1967…. She won world championship medals 5 times, was a silver medalist 3 times and won bronze 4 times….

Competing on the track, 1967 – Dutch National Archives – CC BY-SA 3.0nl

But it was at home that she was to really dominate…. For 25 consecutive years, from 1959-1983 she was the Road Time Trials Council’s ‘British Best All-Rounder’…. She won a total of 72 national time trial titles and a further 24 national titles in road racing and on the track….

She was to set 50 new national records…. In 1963 she became the first woman to break the hour barrier for a 25 mile time trial…. And in 1967 she set a 12-hour time trial of 277.25 miles – surpassing even the men’s record by .73 miles…. Beryl’s motto was “Anything lads can do ~ I can do”…. It appears she wasn’t wrong there…. It was 1967 and 99 men started off on an Otley Cycle Club 12-hour time trial…. Beryl waited for a couple of minutes after their departure and then set off after them…. One by one she overtook the lot – including the famous Mike McNamara…. The story goes that as she passed him she handed him a liquorice allsort – to which he said “Ta, love” – popped it in his mouth and ate it….

Even in her mid 40s she was still setting records – when in 1982 she set the British 10-mile record for women’s tandem bicycle, with her 26-year-old daughter, Denise….

Beryl remained an amateur throughout her cycling career – even though she was offered plenty of lucrative sponsorships ~ as a day job she worked on a rhubarb farm…. In 1968 she was awarded an OBE….

On the 5th of May 1996 Beryl was out on her bicycle delivering invitations for her upcoming 59th birthday party – when she suffered sudden heart failure and died…. There has to be an element of irony in there somewhere….

British History

On this day in history….11th May 1685

On this day in history : 11th May 1685 – The execution by drowning of 18-year-old Scottish martyr Margaret Wilson – for refusing to swear an oath declaring James II of England (James VII of Scotland) as head of the Church….

‘The Martyr of Solway’ – painting of Margaret Wilson by John Everett Millais, 1871 – Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool – Public domain

Margaret was the daughter of wealthy farmer Gilbert Wilson, of Glevernoch, near Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire…. Her parents were loyal Episcopalians – whereas Margaret followed her older brothers’ example of worshipping the Covenanters – a movement to maintain the reforms of the Scottish Reformation…. After the Restoration of the Monarchy the Covenanters were declared treasonable….

Many Covenant ministers refused to give up their beliefs and submit, instead they took to holding illegal open-air conventicles which were often broken up using military force…. By 1684 many Covenanters had gone into hiding in the hills to escape the authorities, as by now refusing to swear an allegiance to King James and renouncing the Covenant carried a death sentence….

Despite this Margaret began attending conventicles with her younger brother, Thomas…. However, in February 1685 he too had fled to the hills….

Margaret and her younger sister, Agnes, went into Wigtown to visit a friend, elderly widow Margaret McLachlan…. It was during this visit that the two sisters were seized by the authorities and imprisoned in the ‘thieves hole’…. Here they refused to take the oath renouncing the Covenant…. A few days later Margaret McLachlan and her servant woman were also arrested and imprisoned with the sisters….

The women appeared before the local assizes on the 13th of April 1685 and were found guilty of attending illegal conventicle meetings…. The two sisters and McLachlan were sentenced to be ‘tied to palisades fixed in the sand, within the flood mark of the sea, and there to stand till the flood o’erflowed them’….

Gilbert Wilson travelled to Edinburgh to plead clemency for his daughters and McLachlan…. Agnes was granted freedom on a bond of £100 and reprieves were granted for the two Margarets, dated the 30th of April 1685…. The authorities of Wigtown were urged to respect the reprieves….

However, on the 11th of May 1685 Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLachlan were chained to stakes on the Solway Firth…. As the salt water began to choke her Margaret Wilson was given a last chance to offer a prayer to the King – which she did but she still refused to renounce the Covenant…. She was then forcibly pushed beneath the waves to her death….

Illustration of Margaret Wilson’s martyrdom, published in Once A Week, July 1862 – Public domain

She and McLachlan were buried in the churchyard of Wigtown…. The two Margarets became known as the ‘Wigtown Martyrs’….

British History

On this day in history….10th May 1940

On this day in history : 10th May 1940 – Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain – after losing a confidence vote in the House of Commons….

In 1938 Chamberlain had signed the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler, handing over the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany…. In doing so Chamberlain claimed it would bring “peace in our time”…. However, in September 1939 Germany invaded Poland and in return Chamberlain declared war on Germany….

Under the direction of Chamberlain Britain proved ineffective at stopping Hitler – and when British forces were unable to prevent the German occupation of Norway in April 1940, with the loss of some 4,000 British troops, Chamberlain was to face the withdrawal of support from many members of his own Conservative party…. On the 10th of May Germany invaded France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – and Chamberlain completely lost the confidence of the House of Commons….

Chamberlain as Prime Minister – Public domain

Initially Lord Halifax was offered the position of Prime Minister but was to decline…. So, with his track record of military leadership Winston Churchill was appointed Prime Minister…. Labour leader Clement Attlee had made it clear his party would not work with a coalition under Chamberlain – but Churchill was to form a successful coalition and quickly won the hearts and support of the nation…. “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” ~ Winston Churchill in his first speech as Prime Minister….

Churchill with Lord Halifax 1938 – Public domain

Chamberlain served briefly under Churchill in the War Cabinet as Lord President of the Council, until retiring through ill-health in October 1940…. He died the following month of cancer….

British History

On this day in history….9th May 1935

On this day in history : 9th May 1935 – The birth of author and illustrator of children’s books, Roger Hargreaves – best remembered for his much loved Mr Men and Little Miss series of stories….

Charles Roger Hargreaves was born in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire and attended Sowerby Bridge Grammar School…. He then spent a year working in the family laundry and dry cleaning business before going to work in advertising….

Roger wrote his first Mr Men story – ‘Mr Tickle’ – in 1971…. It came about when his 8-year-old son asked him what a tickle looked like…. In response he drew a figure with a round orange body and long bendy arms – and so the first Mr Men character was born….

At the time Roger was the Creative Director of a London advertising company…. He had some difficulty in initially finding a publisher for his books but once he did success came quickly…. In three years more than one million copies had sold…. 1974 saw the BBC animated Mr Men series, narrated by Arthur Lowe – and by 1976 Roger had given up his advertising career to concentrate on his writing…. The Little Miss books were launched in 1981 and they too were made into a TV series in 1983 – this time narrated by husband and wife team John Alderton and Pauline Collins….

In all there were 46 Mr Men and 33 Little Miss books…. With over 100 million books being sold Roger was to become Britain’s third best selling author of all time…. His other works included the 25 book series ‘Timbuctoo’, ‘The Roundy and Squary’ books, ‘John Mouse’, ‘Hippo Potto and Mouse’ and the ‘Veggie Fruits’ – but it is undoubtedly the Mr Men and Little Miss stories that won so many hearts….

Between 1975 and 1982 Roger and his wife Christine lived on Guernsey with their four children – Adam, Giles and twins Sophie and Amelia – upon whom ‘Little Miss Twins’ was based…. The family then moved to Cowden in Kent…. On the 11th of September 1988 Roger was to die suddenly following a stroke – he was aged just 53…. After his death his son, Adam, continues his work – and in April 2004 Christine sold the rights to the characters to the Chorion entertainment group….