On this day in history – Page 77

On this day in history….8th March 1859

On this day in history : 8th March 1859 – The birth of Kenneth Grahame, the Scottish author who brought us tales of Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger in ‘The Wind in the Willows’….

Kenneth was born in Edinburgh; his mother died when he was just 5-years-old. His father, an alcoholic, gave up the care of his children to their grandmother…. Kenneth, his brother, sister and a new baby went to live with ‘Granny Ingles’ near to Cookham, Berkshire….

It was a large tumble-down house – in a certain state of neglect – but it had a big rambling garden and was near to a river…. The children’s uncle, David Ingles – curate of the village church – introduced them to the delights of the riverbank and boating…. It was an idyllic place for a childhood and believed to be the setting for ‘The Wind in the Willows’…. Eventually though the family had to move, as the chimney stack of the dilapidated old house collapsed….

Kenneth had wanted to go to Oxford University – but because of finances this was not possible…. Instead he started work in 1879 at the Bank of England…. He worked his way up and by the time he retired (due to ill-health) in 1908 he had risen to the position of Secretary of the Bank of England….

In 1899 Kenneth married Elspeth Thomson – and the following year they had a son…. Alastair was born premature, he was blind in one eye and suffered from health problems throughout his life….

On retirement Kenneth took his family back to live where he had spent his childhood – Berkshire…. At his son’s bedtime he would tell the boy stories and it was then that the characters of ‘The Wind in the Willows’ were created…. Toad was based on Alastair himself – whilst Ratty was influenced by Kenneth’s good friend and fellow writer, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch…. Kenneth frequently went on boating holidays – without his family – but when he was away he would write home to Alastair with more tales of Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger…. Later he was to use theses stories as a basis for his book, which was first published in 1908….

Ratty and Mole – Image credit : Amber Case via Flickr

Tragically, on the 7th of May 1920 Alastair committed suicide on a railway line…. It was five days before his 20th birthday – he was an undergraduate at Oxford University…. Out of a mark of respect to his parents the death was recorded as accidental….

Kenneth himself died in 1932 in Pangbourne, Berkshire. English novelist and playwright Anthony Hope – who happened to be Kenneth’s cousin – wrote his epitaph….

‘To the beautiful memory of Kenneth Grahame, husband of Elspeth and father of Alastair, who passed the river on the 6th of July, 1932, leaving childhood and literature through him the more blest for all time’….

Kenneth Grahame – Public domain

Image credit : Paul K via Flickr

On this day in history….7th March 1876

On this day in history – 7th March 1876 – Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone….

An early telephone transmitter invented by Alexander Graham Bell around 1876. An improvement over Bell’s ‘gallows’ type instrument of 1875, it was Bell’s first device that could transmit intelligible speech – Public domain

Bell had worked with his father in London, who had developed a system to teach deaf people to speak. He in turn was most likely influenced by his own father, who had studied elocution and speech impediments…. It was an area that affected the Bell family in many ways….Bell’s own mother was almost totally deaf….

The Bells moved to the United States – Boston, Massachusetts – during the 1870s…. At first Bell worked as a teacher at the Pemberton Avenue School for the Deaf….it was here he met his wife, Mabel Hubbard – she was one of his students….

Alexander Graham Bell and his family – Public domain

Bell began to explore the idea of transmitting speech over wires…. The downside of the telegraph system being the final message still had to be physically delivered after it had arrived at the receiving telegraph office…. With the help of electrician Thomas A. Watson, a prototype telephone was developed, which used electrical current and sound waves….

Unbeknown to Bell somebody else was working on a similar system….Elisha Gray had kept his work secret – Bell found out on the 11th February 1876, a Friday, that Gray intended to apply for a patent – and rushed to get the documentation completed for his own…. Both men applied for a patent on Monday the 14th of February….Bell’s solicitor obviously managed to file the paperwork first – records show his application was the 5th received at the Patent Office that day….whereas Gray’s was the 39th. Bell was granted US Patent No. 174,465 Improvement on Telegraphy on the 7th of March – Gray was left disappointed….

Three days later Bell made his first telephone call…. “Mr Watson….come here, I want you”…. Bell later wrote in his journal “To my delight he came and declared that he had heard and understood what I had said”….

Watson in his later years, holding Bell’s original telephone – Public domain

There has long been controversy as to whether Bell ‘stole’ the patent…. It is indeed unusual for a patent to be issued before a device is fully working…. Three others all claimed to have invented the telephone first – Elisha Gray, Thomas Edison and Antonio Meucci – and said they had working devices…. There were more than 600 patent lawsuits brought against Bell – but each time the courts ruled in his favour….

Bell was never particularly interested in the commercial side of things – he was a scientist and inventor…. Among his other inventions were metal detectors, the Hydrofoil and Tetrahedral Kite…. His work also consisted of designs for aircraft, including helicopters…. Ironically he considered the telephone an intrusion….and refused to have one in his office….

British History

On this day in history….6th March 1917

On this day in history : 6th March 1917 – The birth of Francis Alick Howard – who was better known to us as comedian and comic actor Frankie Howerd….

The son of a soldier, Howerd was born in York – and was educated at Shooter’s Hill Grammar School, London…. His first stage appearance was at the age of 13…. However, after failing to get into RADA a career in serious acting was not to be…. It was whilst serving in the army during WWII that he began to entertain….and it was also at this time that he changed his name to Howerd – apparently ‘just to be different’….

He began his professional entertainment career in 1946, in the touring show ‘For the Fun of It’…. He made his radio debut in December of the same year and his first screen role was in the film ‘The Runaway Bus’ in 1954, in which he starred opposite Petula Clark….

Portrait by Allan Warren 1978 – CC BY-SA 3.0

With a mixture of jokes, impressions, comical songs and monologues Howerd hosted his own series of TV shows in the 1950s…. Known for his risqué double entendres he came across as a larger than life figure – however, this couldn’t be further from the truth in reality….

Howerd suffered from acute stage fright – (his close friend Cilla Black once said of him – ‘that it made him physically ill’)…. He was a painfully shy man, lacking in self confidence and prone to severe depression…. He was also terrified of his sexuality becoming common knowledge…. At a time when homosexuality between men was illegal (until 1967 in England and Wales and 1981 in Scotland) it would have ruined his career….

He met his partner, Dennis Heymer – 12 years his junior – in 1958. Heymer also became his manager and helped him to revive his flagging career during the 1960s…. The couple were together for over 30 years – until Howerd’s death on the 19th of April 1992, after suffering heart failure due to a respiratory illness…. Always their relationship remained discreet outside of their immediate circle…. Howerd is buried at St. Gregory’s Church, Weare, Somerset – Heymer, who died in May 2009, is buried close by….

Frankie Howerd Blue Plaque, York – Image credit: Peter Hughes via Flickr

British History

On this day in history….5th March 1936

On this day in history : 5th March 1936 – Iconic British fighter plane of the Battle of Britain, the ‘Spitfire’, makes its first test flight from Eastleigh Aerodrome, Hampshire….

The Spitfire was the creation of Reginald J Mitchell – who had been asked by Sir Robert McLean, Chairman of Vickers-Armstrongs, to design a fast and manoeuvrable fighter aircraft…. The intention being to replace the outdated models which were then currently in service with the Royal Air Force….

Piloted by Captain Joseph ‘Mutt’ Summers, Vickers-Armstrongs Chief Test Pilot, Type 300 K5054, powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine took off from Eastleigh Aerodrome (now Southampton Airport)…. On landing after the 8 minute flight Summers told the ground crew “I don’t want anything touched”….

Supermarine Spitfire Prototype K5054 Replica

Three months later the Air Ministry put in an order for 310 Spitfires – an order worth £1.25 million…. The aircraft went into service with the RAF in 1938…. It was the only British fighter plane to be in continuous production before, during and after WWII. It remained in service until 1954 – the last ones being used for photo reconnaissance work….

Spitfire P7350, flies alongside Hurricane LF363. — Spitfire P7350 (front) flies alongside Hurricane LF363 (back). P7350 (Mk IIa) is the oldest airworthy Spitfire in the world and the only Spitfire still flying to have actually fought in the Battle of Britain. LF363 (Mk IIC) was the last Hurricane to enter service with the RAF. The aircraft currently wears the colours of Hurricane Mk 1 P3878 ‘YB-W’, the aircraft of Flying Officer Harold Bird-Wilson of No 17 Sqn during the Battle of Britain. This image is available for non-commercial, high resolution download at http://www.defenceimages.mod.uk subject to terms and conditions. Search for image number **45151794.jpg** —————————————————————————- Photographer: SAC Neil Chapman Image 45151794.jpg from http://www.defenceimages.mod.uk

‘Spitfire’ – an old English word meaning of strong and fiery character…. Mitchell was less than impressed with the name chosen for his aircraft…. He is reputed to have said “just the sort of bloody silly name they would think of”…. Mitchell died in 1937 – he was never to know how successful the aircraft would become…. As for the prototype K5054 it crashed at Farnborough in 1939….killing the pilot. It was scrapped instead of being repaired….

A Supermarine Spitfire Mk1 of No.19 Squadron RAF being re-armed between sorties of Fowlmere, near Duxford, September 1940. From the collections of the Imperial War Museums – Photo CH 1367

Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVI Photo credit : Chowells via Wikipedia CC BY-SA 2.5

British History

On this day in history….3rd March 1982

On this day in history : 3rd March 1982 – The opening of the Barbican Centre in London, by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II…. It is Western Europe’s largest arts centre ….

‘Barbican’ was the name of one of the streets in a busy commercial part of the Cripplegate ward…. At the end of the 19th Century it was the centre of London’s rag trade – bustling with fabric and leather merchants, furriers, glove makers and milliners….

It was during the Blitz that the area was to become completely destroyed…. On the 29th of December 1940 it was flattened by German bombers….fire swept through the warehouses…. By the end of World War II only a few buildings remained….one of which, although badly damaged, was the Church of St. Giles’ Cripplegate….

After the war plans were made to rebuild the stricken area – The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 gave local authorities the power to buy up large areas of land for redevelopment….

In 1955 the first proposals for the Barbican Centre were submitted to the Corporation of London – the regeneration of five and a half acres of land in Cripplegate…. Four years later a design by architects Chamberlain, Powell & Bon was accepted…. The following year the Royal Shakespeare Company and the London Symphony Orchestra became involved in the planning as the centre was to become their new home….

Construction began in 1971 – with a proposed cost of £17m and an estimated six-year completion time…. It was finally finished in 1982 and had cost £153m to build…. With a concert hall to accommodate 2,000 people, 2 theatres, a cinema, library, conference centre and several galleries it was to become the largest cultural centre for the arts in Western Europe. By its 20th anniversary the Barbican had received more than 27 million visitors. It is a leading venue for classical music – and was home to the Royal Shakespeare Company until May 2001….

On unveiling the commemorative plaque when opening the centre in 1982 the Queen remarked – “What has been created here must be one of the wonders of the modern world”….

In 2003 a survey commissioned by the advertising agency Grey London named the Barbican as London’s ugliest building….