Add Your Piece of History… 30th June

• On this day in 1953.  The first all fibreglass bodied American sports car, the Corvette was produced on this day.

• On this day in 1936.  Margaret Mitchell’s book, “Gone with the Wind,” was published in New York City.  In 1939 “ Gone With The Wind” was made into the Oscar Winning Film.

• On this day in 1971.  A Russian space mission ends in tragedy when 3 cosmonauts are found dead in their space capsule, despite a perfect landing.  The Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 11 returned to Earth. The 3 cosmonauts who had spent 23 days orbiting the earth began re-entry procedures and when they fired the explosive bolts to separate the Soyuz 11 , a critical valve was jerked open and the capsule was suddenly exposed to the nearly pressure less environment of space seconds later, the cosmonauts were dead.

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1953 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Soviet postal stamp commemorating the crew of Soyuz 11 spaceship that died in a spaceflight accident. The line says: “The deed of the heroes will live forever. Dobrovolsky, Volkov, Patsayev. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Add Your Piece of History… 29th June

• On this day in 2007.  The first Apple iPhones went on sale in stores for the first time as people lined up and waited outside shops for days. The long anticipated phone featured a touch-screen with no keyboard, wi-fi access, a camera, and the ability to browse the web.

 

• On this day in 1613.  London’s Globe Theatre burned down during a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII.  The Globe Theatre was built in 1599 in Southwark on the south bank of the Thames.  It is where most of William Shakespeare’s plays were first presented.  The Globe burned down when a cannon shot during the first performance Shakespeare’s “Henry VIII” ignited the thatched roof of the gallery.

 

• On this day in 1995.  For the first time, a U.S. space shuttle (“Atlantis”) linked up with a Russian space station (“Mir”). They remained docked until July 4. The joined craft were visible from earth as a fast-moving, shiny, star and carried a record 10 people (6 Americans and 4 Russians). 

 

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Globe Theatre, London, Great Britain – in London, Southwark, at the Thames.(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Space Shuttle Atlantis docked to Mir on STS-71 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Add Your Piece of History… 28th June

• On this day in 2011.  Our handsome little son was born.  He turns 2 today!  Our first personal piece of history added.

• On this day in 1997.  Mike Tyson was disqualified after biting off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear during their heavyweight title fight, earning a 16-month suspension.

• On this day in 1491.  Henry VIII, King of England, is born.  He was born at the Palace of Placentia, Greenwich, England.

• On this day in 1914.   Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot dead by a Bosnian Serb nationalist during
  an  official visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. The deaths set off a chain of events that led to the outbreak of World War I by
  early August. On 28 June 1919, five years to the day after Franz Ferdinand’s death, Germany and the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of
  Versailles, officially marking the end of World War I.

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Poster publicizing the June 28, 1997, Holyfield–Tyson II fight, dubbed The Sound and The Fury (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Add Your Piece of History… 27th June

• On this day in 1880.  Bush ranger Ned Kelly’s siege of Glenrowan begins.  Glenrowan is a small town located approx. 180km north east of Melbourne.  Following the murder of police informer Aaron Sherritt yesterday, Ned Kelly’s gang expected a large number of police to travel to Glenrowan by train.  They attempted to get some of the townsfolk to help them lift the rail tracks, which would cause the train to crash and kill a large number of the expected police.  Few people were willing to assist, and people were gradually rounded up and held in the Glenrowan Inn so that they could not warn the train.  After entertaining the hostages for hours with games and dancing, the Kelly gang allowed the more trusted hostages to go home at nightfall, as the train was running late.  Thomas Curnow, the local school teacher was on of those released.  When he heard the train approaching he ran to warn of the danger ahead.  This gave the police time to prepare.  Wearing their famous armour, the Kelly brothers held a shoot out with police.  Gang member Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne were killed and Ned was shot 28 times in the legs, which were unprotected by the armour.  Ned survived to stand trial, and was sentenced to death by hanging by Judge Redmond Barry on the 29th October 1880.  Ned Kelly was hanged in Melbourne on the 11th November 1880.

• On this day in 1871.   The yen became the new form of currency in Japan.

• On this day in 1880.   Helen Keller, the first blind and deaf person to communicate effectively with the sighted and hearing world, is born.  She was born near Tuscumbia, Alabama, USA.  Though normal at birth, Keller lost her senses of sight and hearing as a result of a fever, possibly scarlet fever or  meningitis, in February 1882 when she was 19 months old.

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Ned Kelly armour, located at the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ned Kelly the day before his execution. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

Add Your Piece of History… 26th June

• On this day in 1880.  Bushrangers, the Kelly Gang, execute police informer Aaron Sherritt, shortly before they themselves are captured.  Ned Kelly, Australia’s most famous bush ranger had a gang consisting of himself, his brother Dan, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart  Aaron Sherritt was an associate of the Kelly’s, and was close to the Byrne family,  He was engaged to Byrne’s sister for a while.  After the gang was outlawed following the murder of 3 policemen at Stringybark Creek in 1878, Sherritt turned police informant for money.  Sherritt advised the police to camp out in a cave near Byrne’s family home in the hopes of capturing Byrne as he visited his mother.  Sherritt’s presence was noted, and Byrne’s sister broke off her engagement to him.  On the night of 26th June 1880, Sherritt was at home with his new wife, mother-in-law and 4 policemen.  Sherritt answered a knock at the door, he was shot dead by Byrne.  Within a couple of days, Byrne was killed in a shoot out between the Kelly gang and the police.  Ned Kelly was the only one to survive to stand trial, after which he was hanged.

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Joe Byrne’s grave in the Benalla Cemetery. Joe was a member of the Ned Kelly’s gang and was killed by police during the siege at Glenrowan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The site of the Glenrown Inn. This was where the bushrangers, Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne and Steve Hart had their final shoot out with the police in 1880, at Glenrowan, Victoria, Australia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Add Your Piece of History… 25th June

• On this day in 1950.  North Korea invades South Korea, sparking the Korean War, which lasted for 3 years.

• On this day in 1951.  The first commercial colour television show was transmitted by the Columbia Broadcasting System CBS . While colour television sets were generally not available it was estimated that about 40,000 people saw the first colour program.

• On this day in 1993.  Kim Campbell is sworn in as Canada’s 19th prime minister, becoming the first woman to hold the country’s highest office.

• On this day in 2009.  Michael Jackson (the King of Pop) dies.  On August 28th, the Los Angeles County Coroner reported its conclusion that Jackson’s death was a homicide caused by the combination of drugs in his body.  At the time of his death Michael Jackson was rehearsing for “This Is It” a planned series of fifty concerts by Michael Jackson to be held at The O2 arena in London.

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Michael Jackson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Add Your Piece of History… 24th June

• On this day in 2010.  Julia Gillard, Australia’s first female Prime Minister, is sworn in.  Kevin Rudd was sworn in as the 26th Prime Minister of Australia in December 2007.  Before Rudd could finish his first term as Prime Minister, there was a push to replace him.  On the evening of 23 June 2010, then Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, called for a leadership ballot.  When it became clear that Ms Gillard had the support of the Caucus, Kevin Rudd was forced to stand aside as leader of the Australian Labor Party.

 

• On this day in 1314.  Battle of Bannockburn, Scotland regains independence from England.    I found that there was too much information to sum it up in a paragraph so if you are interested to learn more, check out this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/articles/battle_of_bannockburn/

 

• On this day in 1967.  The Beatles recorded “All You Need Is Love”  

 

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The Bannockburn Monument near Bannockburn in Scotland. The monument commemorates the Battle of Bannockburn of 1314. The monument, which consists of two hemicircular concrete walls surrounding a flagpost, symbolises the camps of the two antagonists on the night before the battle. A mounted statue of Scottish king Robert the Bruce stands nearby. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Add Your Piece of History… 23rd June

• On this day in 1961.  The Antarctic Treaty System comes into force to regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, “all land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude parallel”.   Antarctica is the Earth’s only continent without a native human population.
  The Antarctic Treaty consists of a number of articles agreed by the 12 original signatories Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the USSR, the United Kingdom and the United States.
  The treaty includes the following important rules.                                                                                                                                                            1. Research be used for peaceful purposes only.
  2. Military activity, such as weapons testing, is prohibited.
  3. Free exchange of information and personnel.
  4. The Antarctic Treaty does not recognise, dispute, or establish territorial sovereignty claims .
  5. Prohibits nuclear explosions or disposal of radioactive wastes.                                                                                                                         There are a number of other articles but those above are the most important combined with the mission statement  “The main objective of the “Antarctic Treaty System” ATS is to ensure in the interests of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord.”

• On this day in 2000.  15 people die in a fire at a Backpacker hostel in Childers, Queensland.  In the early hours of the morning, a fire swept through the Palace Backpackers Hostel, killing 15 people.  The first started in a downstairs TV lounge, from where it quickly spread, rushing up the stairwell and destroying the century-old former pub.  Five days after the fire, fruit-picker Robert Long was captured, after his girlfriend named him as a likely suspect.  Long had a history of petty crimes until he tried to burn his girlfriend and her daughter in Darwin.  Long appeared to be seeking revenge after the hostel ousted him for non-payment of rent.  In 2002 Long was jailed for life over the blaze.

• On this day in 1868.  Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called a ”Type-Writer.”

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Emblem of the Antarctic Treaty. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sholes typewriter, 1873. Museum, Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel, Childers, Qld. (Photo credit: jemasmith)

Add Your Piece of History… 22nd June

• On this day in 1992.  Two skeletons excavated in Yekaterinburg, Russia are identified as Czar Nicholas II and his wife.   Czar Nicholas II was the last crowned Emperor of Russia.  He ruled from 1894 until he was forced to abdicate in 1917 amidst civil war.  A year later, on 17 July 1918, he and his wife, together with their 5 children, the family doctor and 3 attendants, were taken to the cellar of a house in Yekaterinburg.  They were told to line up for a family portrait, but instead a detachment of Bolsheviks burst in and began firing, killing the family and servants. 

• On this day in 1949.  Meryl Streep celebrates her birthday today.  Streep was born in Summit, New Jersey.  She has stared in movies such as The Devil Wears Prada (2006),  The River Wild (1994), Death Becomes Her (1992),  Mamma Mia (2008) and It’s Complicated (2009).

 

• On this day in 1772.  Slavery was outlawed in England.  Lord Chief Justice Mansfield rules that English law does not support slavery.
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Nicholas II and family (Photo credit: OlestC)

 

English: Meryl Streep on the 56th International Film Festival in San Sebastian (Spain). Own work by uploader User:PhotoTakeReality (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

Add Your Piece of History… 21st June

• On this day in 1982.  Prince William of Wales is born.  Prince William was born William Arthur Philip Louis Mountbatten-Windsor at 9:03pm in St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London.

• On this day in 1869.  The first telegram is sent in Western Australia.  Australia’s first telegraph line, which ran from Melbourne to Williamstown, opened in 1854.  Each of the other states followed suit within seven years, but Western Australia’s relative isolation delayed the development of the technology.  The first telegraph pole was installed near the Perth jetty by Colonial Secretary, the Honorable Fred Barlee, in 1869, and a 12 mile wire extended to Fremantle.  the first telegram was sent on the 21st of June 1869.  The text of the first telegram read: “To the chairman of the Fremantle Town Trust.  His Excellency Colonel Bruce heartily congratulates the inhabitants of Fremantle on the annihilation of distance between the Port and the Capital and he requests that this the first message may be publicly known.  Government House 21st June 1869.”
  

• On this day in 2003.   The fifth Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” was published by J.K. Rowling. Amazon.com shipped out more than one million copies on this day making the day the largest distribution day of a single item in e-commerce history. The book set sales records around the world with an estimated 5 million copies were sold on the first day.

Please feel free to add your piece of history (something personal or general history)

His Royal
Highness Prince William of Wales. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Photo credit: Wikipedia)