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The Royal Astronomical Society was founded 200 years ago, on 10th March 1820. Originally called the Astronomical Society of London, it had been opposed by Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, who persuaded the Duke of Somerset to withdraw his agreement to be the first president. But it survived with William Herschel as...

It was 90 years ago, on 12th March 1930, that Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi led 78 activists and followers on a 23-day “salt march” to protest against a British tax on salt and a ban on Indians collecting or selling it. On 5th April he reached the sea and made salt, breaking...

Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, was shot dead by a gunman as he celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel 40 years ago, on 24th March 1980. The Archbishop was widely known for speaking out against poverty, social injustice, torture and assassinations during a struggle between left-wing and right-wing forces. No-one was ever convicted...

Henry Jones, a baker from Bristol, was granted a patent for his invention of self-raising flour 175 years ago, on 17th March 1845. Jones was born in Monmouth, Wales, but he established a bakery in Broadmead, Bristol. His formula for making self-raising flour – essentially a process of baking without yeast – was granted a patent in...

This year, it is all about water and climate change – and how the two are linked.  There is a website offering good ideas and resources if you would like to join in. Please go to: https://www.worldwaterday.org/

A staggering 1.25 million people in the UK are living with an eating disorder.  And every one of them is affecting other people by that disorder.  In fact, it is reckoned that as many as five million of us in the UK are struggling to help someone whom we care about, who has an eating...

All in the month of FEBRUARY Remembering Anne Frank and her diary Remembering Eric Liddell – Olympic gold medallist and prisoner of war Nelson Mandela – freed 30 years ago Happy 15th birthday, YouTube! When education for ALL children arrived Hedges Flea circus? ** Editor:  We continue our column that looks at memorable dates in...

It was: 150 years ago, on 17th Feb 1870 that the Elementary Education Act (commonly known as Forster’s Education Act) was introduced in England and Wales.  It provided a framework for the education of all children aged between five and 12.  Many people objected to it, including the upper classes who wanted to keep educational...

Anne Frank, the Dutch Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim, died 75 years ago, in February 1945, in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the age of 15 – probably from typhus. She is known for writing The Diary of a Young Girl, an account of how she and seven others were hidden in a secret annex to...

Eric Liddell, the Scottish athlete who became a 400-metre Olympic gold medallist in 1924, died 75 years ago, on 21st February 1945, in a Japanese internment camp in China. He was 43 and had a brain tumour. Because of his Christian convictions he had withdrawn from the 100-metre heats in the 1924 Paris Olympics because...

Nelson Mandela, who led the movement to end South African apartheid, was released from prison 30 years ago this month, on 11th February 1990. He became President of South Africa in 1994. Mandela had been involved with the African National Congress since 1944, advocating non-violent resistance. But after the Sharpeville massacre of peaceful demonstrators in...

The popular video-sharing website YouTube, which for most young people seems to have been around for ever, was in fact founded only 15 years ago, on 14th February 2005. It was launched officially in November that year after more development and testing. It is now one of the most visited sites on the internet. YouTube...