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One hundred years ago, on 18th October 1922, the BBC was officially founded as the British Broadcasting Company (now the British Broadcasting Corporation). It was originally a private company, in which only British manufacturers were permitted to hold shares. But three years later it was liquidated and in 1927 replaced by a public corporation –...

Who needs a poem? Apparently, many people feel much better for them – either in writing them or in reading them. That is the reason for the National Day of Poetry, which wants to see “an explosion of activity nationwide,” from kitchen tables to gardens and public spaces, “all celebrating poetry’s power to bring people...

All in the month of SEPTEMBER Hadrian’s Wall now 1900 years old When the Church first agreed that the Earth went around the Sun Highest temperatures ever recorded Remembering Mother Teresa, 25 years on Join in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning for MacMillan Cancer Support ** Editor:  We continue our column that looks at memorable...

It was: 1900 years ago, from 13th September 122 to 128 that Hadrian’s Wall was built in northern England. It ran for 80 miles from coast to coast and marked the northern limit of the Roman Empire. The Roman Emperor, Hadrian, wanted to separate the Romans from ‘the barbarians.’ 200 years ago, on 11th September...

It was 1900 years ago, from 13th September 122 to 128, that Hadrian’s Wall was built in northern England. It ran for nearly 80 miles from coast to coast and marked the northern limit of the Roman Empire. The Roman Emperor, Hadrian, wanted to separate the Romans from ‘the barbarians’. In pre-Christian England the Picts...

It was only 200 years ago, on 11th September 1822, that the Roman Catholic Church admitted that the 16th century astronomer Galileo Galilei might have been right about the Earth orbiting the Sun.  The College of Cardinals reversed the Church’s condemnation of his ideas. Galileo had spent the last nine years of his life under...

One hundred years ago, on 13th September 1922, the highest temperature ever recorded in the world was reported to be 57.7 Centigrade (136 Fahrenheit) in Al’Aziziyah in Libya. This stood for nearly a century but was challenged at various times and eventually decertified by the World Meteorological Organisation in 2012, which believed there was a...

Some 25 years ago, on 5th September 1997, Mother Teresa died. She was an Albanian nun who was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in what is now Skopje, North Macedonia, and spent most of her life in India, founding and running the Missionaries of Charity. She was winner of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. Mother Teresa,...

The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning is Macmillan Cancer Support’s biggest annual fundraising event, held to support people living with cancer. People all over the UK either host or attend a Coffee Morning to raise money for Macmillan. The official date is Friday 30th September, but a coffee morning to support MacMillan can be held at any time....

All in the month of AUGUST 25 years since the death of Princess Diana Philip Larkin – the ‘other Poet Laureate’ Remembering Enid Blyton Edinburgh Festival – 5th – 28th August National Allotment Week ** Editor:  We continue our column that looks at memorable dates in the month (this time, AUGUST) down the years. Here...

It was: 200 years ago, on 25th August 1822 that William Herschel, German-born British astronomer died. He discovered the planet Uranus and infrared radiation, conducted the first deep sky surveys, and was the first president of the Royal Astronomical Society. 125 years ago, on 11th August 1897 that Enid Blyton was born. This enormously popular...

Just 25 years ago, on 31st August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, her close companion Dodi Fayed and their driver, Henri Paul, died after a car crash in the Place de l’Alma underpass in Paris. Fayed and Paul died instantly, but Princess Diana survived for nearly five hours. She was conscious shortly after the crash,...