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When the WHO (World Health Organisation) decided to make 2020 the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, they based it on the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth on 12th May 1820. But with the arrival of the coronavirus, it is a remarkably apt year to celebrate all that nurses do for us. As the...

Florence Nightingale was born 200 years ago, on 12th May 1820. Best known as the Lady with the Lamp who saved many lives in the hospitals of the Crimean War, she was also a social reformer, a statistician and the founder of modern nursing. She was named after the Italian city of her birth, but...

This year’s Tokyo Olympic Games have been postponed for a year because of coronavirus. But 80 years ago, the Tokyo Games scheduled for May 1940 were cancelled completely, because of World War II. Originally rescheduled for Helsinki, they were eventually abandoned, and the Olympic cycle did not restart until 1948 in London. The cancellation proved...

I was 15 in May 1945, when Britain celebrated VE Day. It stood for Victory in Europe and followed an agreement by the Allied powers following the German surrender. Needless to say, although the war with Japan was not over, it was a noticeable moment. No more bombs, missiles and blitz – and the ‘boys’...

VE Day (Victory in Europe) – was celebrated 75 years ago this month, on 8th May 1945, marking the end of World War II in Europe. It was marked with a public holiday. The previous day the formal act of military surrender had been signed by Germany, and celebrations broke out when the news was...

Two hundred years ago, on 11th May 1820, the British Royal Navy sloop HMS Beagle was launched. It was the ship that took Charles Darwin on the voyage around the world between 1831 and 1836 that led to his putting forward the theory of Evolution. HMS Beagle was one of 100 ships of its class,...

All in the month of APRIL The spread of Coronavirus The great Raphael William Wordsworth – the ‘Church of England pantheist’ The Hubble Space Telescope Gen Z ** Editor:  We continue our column that looks at memorable dates in the month (this time, APRIL) down the years. Here is a range from which to pick...

It was: 500 years ago, on 6th April 1520 that Raphael, Italian Renaissance artist and architect, died, aged 37. (Unknown illness.) 250 years ago, on 7th April 1770 that William Wordsworth, British Romantic poet, was born. He was Poet Laureatte 1843-50. 200 years ago, on 8th April 1820 that the famous Ancient Greek statue of...

Thorough and frequent hand washing with soap and water is recommended by the World Health Organisation as the first step to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. I don’t know who first said, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”, but you won’t find that phrase in the Bible. Ritual washings are practised by many religions, but...

Five hundred years ago, on 6th April 1520, Italian Renaissance artist and architect Raphael died in Rome of an unknown illness. He was 37. Born Raffaello Sanzio at Urbino, he was orphaned at the age of 11 and led something of a nomadic life. He was immersed in neoplatonic philosophy, as was the pre-Reformation Church of...

William Wordsworth, the Romantic poet always associated with the Lake District, was born 250 years ago, on 7th April 1770. He was Poet Laureate from 1843 to 1850, though he produced no new poetry during that period. In his youth Wordsworth travelled in France and came to share the radical politics of the French Revolution. He also...

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched 30 years ago, on 24th April 1990. It was named after Edwin Hubble, an outstanding expert on extragalactic astronomy in the 1920s and 1930s. The launch, originally scheduled for 1983, had been delayed by technical and budget problems and by the Challenger disaster. Ironically the NASA error that caused the...