On this day in history – Page 52

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”….

British History, Uncategorized

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….

As Scarlett O’Hara – Trailer screenshot – Public domain

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….7th July 2004

On this day in history : 7th July 2004 – Bolton born Fred Dibnah, steeple jack, steam enthusiast and TV presenter, goes to Buckingham Palace to receive an MBE from the Queen…

Fred Dibnah at Alder Mill around 1981 – John Harwood via Flickr

Fred had planned to drive Betsy, his beloved traction engine, to the Palace – but was refused permission as the Royal Parks Agency were concerned its weight would cause damage to the surface of The Mall…. Instead he was allowed to drive the engine to Wellington Barracks, which is just a short distance from the Palace….

Fred collected his medal wearing morning dress and a top hat…. When he had initially learned of the honour he had said…. “I’m looking forward to meeting the Queen but I shall probably have to get a new cap”…. He went on to say…. “And I’d like to meet Prince Charles because we share the same views about modern architecture”….

He had received the accolade in the 2004 New Year Honours List for his services to heritage and broadcasting…. Fred had been famous in his home town of Bolton long before his TV days, for toppling many of the area’s landmark chimneys which had served the old mills – and which had dominated the skyline…. He became known nationally in 1979 when the BBC made a documentary entitled ‘Fred Dibnah, Steeple Jack’, earning producer Don Howarth a BAFTA for best documentary….

Fred Dibnah visits the Great Central Railway Works at Loughborough, as part of his final televised tour of Britain’s industrial heritage….

After receiving his MBE Fred said…. “I was slightly nervous shaking hands with the Queen, she asked if I was still climbing chimneys. It beats me how she keeps tabs on everybody. I never thought I would be receiving an MBE”….

Fred Dibnah, June 1985 – trainsandstuff via Flickr

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….6th July 1978

On this day in history : 6th July 1978 – Three bags of horse manure are thrown from the Public Gallery of the House of Commons during a Scottish devolution debate….

It was during points of order; Labour MP Tam Dalyell was on his feet speaking about the Scottish education system when he was pelted with manure…. Dalyell was determined to carry on with his speech regardless….much to the approval of his colleagues…. One MP remarked that he could not sit down ‘because the Bench has been soiled by some offensive matter that has just been thrown from the Public Gallery’….The sitting was suspended for twenty minutes whilst a clean-up operation took place….

Tam Dalyell – Open Media Ltd CC BY-SA 3.0

A number of protesters, including 26-year-old Yana Mintoff, daughter of the Maltese prime minister, had smuggled in the bags of manure hidden under their clothing…. The doorman later said he thought there had been a funny smell but assumed the group just needed a wash…. Yana Mintoff and fellow protester John McSherry were arrested and later fined….

Yana Mintoff Bland (right) in more recent times, receiving a biography about her father, Dom Mintoff – Josgre CC BY-SA 3.0

At the time Dalyell remarked the protest was about Malta rather than Scottish education and said he didn’t take it personally…. In reality it was actually a protest against the presence of British troops in Northern Ireland…. Yana said she had thrown the manure as a protest in support of political prisoners in Ireland…. For her it was about human rights – she believed prisoners were being subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment in the prisons of Northern Ireland….