On this day in history – Cottage Capers

On this day in history….13th November 1002

On this day in history : 13th November 1002 – English King ‘Aethelred the Ill-advised’ orders the killing of all Danish men in England – it is known today as the St. Brice’s Day Massacre….

In 2008 evidence of a brutal massacre of Vikings was found in Oxford during an archaeological dig…. At least 35 male skeletons, aged between 16 – 25, were discovered at St. John’s College in a dig prior to building work being carried out…. The bones showed obvious signs of violence, with fractured skulls and blade puncture marks, especially to the back of the head…. A similar mass grave, of at least 55 skeletons, again all young males, had been found previously when the Weymouth relief road had been built…. These finds indicated an intolerance towards Vikings at the time and gave evidence that violence had been rife….

Aethelred came to the throne in 978 at the age of 12, after his mother had arranged for the murder of his stepbrother…. All the while the Vikings were watching from their lands across the seas – and seeing this young king as weak thought it a good time to make a claim on England…. What followed were numerous Viking raids and Aethelred was powerless to stave them off…. The Danes were establishing themselves everywhere, whole Viking families trading and farming – the north and east of England was to become known as ‘Danelaw’….

Aethelred and his advisors became concerned that there would be a mass Viking uprising and that the whole country would fall under their rule…. So an order was given that all Danish men in England were to be executed – the massacre began on the feast day of St. Brice….

These ruthless mass killings angered Viking leaders and the attacks from overseas became more frequent and even more ferocious…. Particularly angry was King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, as his sister Gunnhild had been slaughtered at Oxford…. Eventually in 1013 Sweyn was declared King of England….

On this day in history….12th November 1919

On this day in history : 12th November 1919 – The first successful flight from England to Australia begins at Hounslow…. The converted Vickers Vimy bomber reached Darwin on the 10th of December 1919….

The winning Vickers Vimy, 1919 – Image credit : John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland – Public domain

It was in 1919 that the Australian government offered 10,000 Australian £s, as prize money, to the first Australian pilots in a British aircraft to fly from Britain to Australia…. Six entries were received…. The rules stipulated that the crews had to be Australian, the aircraft had to be made in the British Empire and the flight had to be done in no more than 30 days – arriving by midnight on the 31st of December 1920…. In addition departure had to be either from Heath Aerodrome, Hounslow near to London for land-planes or from RNAS Calshot for sea-planes….

Vickers entered a Vimy bomber, which had been designed for World War I but which had not seen active service…. It had twin Rolls Royce engines, a top speed of 177 kph – and an open cockpit…. It completed the 17,911 km (11,123 mile) journey in 28 days – at an average speed of 137 kph….

The aircraft was crewed by brothers pilot Ross and co-pilot Keith Smith, along with mechanics James Bennett and Wally Shiers…. They left Hounslow at 8.30am and flew via Lyon, Rome, Cairo, Damascus, Basra, Karachi, Delhi, Calcutta, Akyab, Rangoon, Singora, Singapore, Batavia, Surabaya and reaching Darwin at 4.10pm on the 10th of December…. The journey was not without its difficulties…. They became bogged-down in Surabaya – and a temporary airstrip had to be constructed from bamboo mats – and heavy rain forced several unscheduled stops….

Brothers Capt. Ross & Lieut. Keith Smith – Pilot and co-pilot – Image credit : State Library of South Australia via Flickr CC BY 2.0

The prize money was shared between the four crew and each of the two brothers received a knighthood…. The aircraft was presented to the Australian government and is now on display at Adelaide Airport….

British History

On this day in history….11th November 1987

On this day in history : 11th November 1987 – ‘Irises’ ~ a painting by Vincent Van Gogh sells at Sotheby’s for a record of £27m, more than twice the amount the painting had been expected to reach….

Irises – Vincent van Gogh – Public domain

It had beaten the previous world record for a work of art, which had stood for two and a half years – also a painting by Van Gogh – ‘Sunflowers’ – which had sold for $40m….

Irises had been painted in 1889, just a few months before Van Gogh killed himself at the age of 37…. He had painted it in the garden of the French mental asylum in Saint-Remy, where he was being treated….

Self portrait – Vincent van Gogh – Public domain

After Van Gogh’s death Irises came into the possession of Julien ‘Pere’ Tanguy, an art dealer…. He later sold it to art critic Octave Mirbeau for 300 francs…. In 1975 it came into the ownership of John Whitney Payson, heir to one of America’s biggest fortunes…. He inherited the painting from his mother who had paid £44,000 for it in 1947 – and had kept it hanging over her fireplace…. Payson had a gallery built in his mother’s memory and this is where Irises was displayed….

However, after the sale of Sunflowers and realising the potential value of Irises he began to worry about the painting’s safety – and so decided to sell it…. The purchaser remained anonymous at the time but turned out to be Australian entrepreneur Alan Bond…. He purchased it with the help of a loan from Sotheby’s – causing controversy as critics claimed such practices artificially inflated values…. As it was, Bond ran into difficulties repaying the loan and in 1990 Irises was sold to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles for $53.9m….

British History

On this day in history….10th November 1998

On this day in history : 10th November 1998 – The death of English actress and singer Mary Millar – who played Rose in the highly successful BBC TV comedy series Keeping Up Appearances….

Mary Millar as Rose in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ – Fair use

Mary was born on the 26th of July 1936 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, to music hall singers Horace and Irene Weston…. Her parents had an act, Sweethearts in Harmony and as a child Mary would go on tour with them…. At first she had her heart set on becoming a stable hand – but changed her mind and began singing arias on stage at the age of 14….

In 1953, aged 17, Mary made her first TV appearance in Those Were the Days…. She went on to appear in The Dick Emery Show and The Stanley Baxter Show…. But she is probably best remembered as Rose, the youngest sister of Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances…. Rose, with her eye for the men (especially married ones) and her love of skimpy clothes, who brought shame to her social climbing snobbish elder sister….

The cast of ‘Keeping up Appearances’ – Fair use

In 1962 Mary made her acting stage debut in Lock Up Your Daughters; in the same year she married Rafael D Frame and the couple had a daughter in 1972…. Mary had a busy and constant theatrical career and was in the original cast of Phantom of the Opera…. Her final performance was in 1998 as Mrs Potts in the West End production Beauty and the Beast…. She left the production in February 1998 as her health was deteriorating – she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer the previous month…. Mary lost her battle with her illness in the November of 1998, dying in Brockley, London, with her husband and daughter at her bedside….

British History

On this day in history….9th November 1907

On this day in history : 9th November 1907 – The Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever to be found, is presented to King Edward VII on his birthday by the government of Transvaal….

The stone had been discovered on the 26th of January 1905, near to Pretoria in South Africa – and had been named after Thomas Cullinan, chairman of the mining company…. The diamond weighed 3,106 carats and measured approximately 10cm x 6.5cm x 6cm….

It was presented to Edward VII as a gift to help cement the new relationship between Britain and South Africa following the Boer War…. At first the King was reluctant to accept a gift so extravagant but it was finally presented to him on his 66th birthday in a formal ceremony held at Sandringham….

The gem was sent to Asschers of Amsterdam, the world’s leading diamond cutters – it took weeks to decide the best way to split it…. Eventually, on the 10th of February 1908 Joseph Asscher broke it in two – the first blow broke his cutting knife! It took a further eight months and three experts to cut and polish nine individual stones from the original diamond…. They were named I – IX and are still referred to in this way today…. 97 smaller diamonds were also created from the spoils….

Joseph Asscher splitting the diamond – Public domain

I is known as the Great Star of Africa, weighing 530 carats it has 74 facets…. II is the Second Star of Africa and has 66 facets…. After Edward’s death in 1910 he was succeeded by George V, who had the Great Star set into the top of the Sovereign’s Sceptre and the Second Star set into the Imperial State Crown (but can be removed and worn as a brooch)…. Asschers kept the remainder of the diamonds in payment for their work…. Edward VII had already purchased VI and VIII as a gift for his wife, Queen Alexandra and the South African government bought back the remainder and presented them to Queen Mary…. Queen Elizabeth II received them in 1953 as a bequeathment, stones III – XI were made into part of Her Majesty’s personal jewellery…. The smallest diamond, IX, is 4.39 carats and is set into a platinum ring….