British History

On this day in history….3rd December 1993

On this day in history : 3rd December 1993 – Princess Diana, wanting more privacy and to avoid the constant attention from the paparazzi and tabloid press, announces she is withdrawing from public life….

Image credit : Paisley Scotland via Flickr

“When I started my public life, 12 years ago, I understood the media might be interested in what I did. I realised then their attention would inevitably focus on both our private and public lives. But I was not aware of how over-whelming that attention would become. Nor the extent to which it would affect both my public duties and my personal life, in a manner, that’s been hard to bear. At the end of this year, when I’ve completed my diary of official engagements, I will be reducing the extent of the public life I’ve lead so far”….

32-year-old Princess Diana made her announcement at a charity event held at the Hilton Hotel in London…. She and Prince Charles had married in the Summer of 1981 and Prince William was born in July 1982 – followed by Prince Harry in September 1984…. It was not long after that the marriage began to fail and in 1992 they separated and finally divorced in 1996….

On this day in history….2nd December 1697

On this day in history : 2nd December 1697 – The opening of the new St. Paul’s Cathedral, designed by Christopher Wren following the destruction of the old St. Paul’s in the Great Fire of London….

The old St. Paul’s, which had been consecrated in 1240, had been gutted by the fire…. It could have been reconstructed but the decision was made to rebuild a new and more modern style cathedral…. Christopher Wren was appointed to design the new building on the 30th of July 1669…. In all Wren was responsible for the design of more than 50 of the city’s new churches….

Reconstructed image of the old St. Paul’s – Public domain

He was asked to make sure that the new St. Paul’s was ‘Handsome and noble to all ends of it and to the reputation of the city and the nation”…. The design took him several years and the result was the second largest church in Britain, with its dome proclaimed the finest in the world….

The cathedral was financed by a tax on coal and took 35 years to complete – although the first service was held 22 years into its construction…. It was finally declared complete on Christmas Day 1711…. By 1716 the cost of the build had accumulated to £1,095,556 (over £165m in today’s terms)…. The new St. Paul’s was consecrated on the 2nd of December 1697, 31 years and 3 months after the Great Fire….

Image credit : Diliff – own work – CC BY-SA 3.0

British History

On this day in history….1st December 1960

On this day in history : 1st December 1960 – Paul McCartney and Pete Best are deported from Hamburg after being arrested following accusations of arson….

When the Beatles first travelled to Hamburg they were still very young…. In fact so young that George Harrison, at just 17 was not old enough to be participating in the late night sets the band were performing…. When the German authorities discovered his age he was shipped back to England….

Image credit : Michael Donovan via Flickr

The boys were staying in a room at the Kaiserkeller and when the club owner terminated their contract they had to move out…. They found lodgings in an attic room above a cinema – finished their final set at the club and moved their gear out immediately…. It was late at night and when they arrived at their new lodgings the place was in total darkness…. Once inside, to cast some light on the situation, they decided to improvise – and one of them hung a condom from a nail on the stone wall and set light to it (as you do)! They might of briefly gained some light to see what they were doing – but they also managed to scorch the wall….

The cinema owner, obviously furious, went to the police and reported McCartney and Best for trying to burn his building down…. The pair were arrested and held in the cells over night and the following day were escorted from the country….leaving behind John Lennon and Stu Sutcliffe…. Lennon made his way back to the UK ten days later but Sutcliffe remained in Hamburg until the beginning of 1961…. Once Harrison had turned 18 the band headed back to Germany again….

British History

On this day in history….30th November 1982

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….

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”….

British History

On this day in history….29th November 1975

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….