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Seventy years ago, on 28th August 1955, Emmett Till, an African American teenager, was mutilated and killed in Mississippi after allegedly flirting with a white woman. His death was one of the key events to motivate the Civil Rights Movement. Emmett was only 14, and lived in Chicago, where in an urban context racial tensions...

Eighty years ago, on 6th August 1945, the US Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. The centre of the city was totally destroyed, and about 80,000 people were killed immediately. A further 60,000 died by the end of the year, from injury or radiation. Hiroshima was the...

Ninety years ago, on 21st August 1935, John Hartley, the British tennis player, died. He was the only clergyman ever to win Wimbledon and was World Number One in both 1879 and 1880 – winning Wimbledon both years. The Revd John Thorneycroft Hartley was born in 1849 in Wolverhampton and was well connected: his parents...

The shark that came to Amity Island for dinner – most people aged 60 and over remember him as the scariest fish they ever saw.  As this summer the famous film celebrates its golden anniversary, here are some fun facts about the film which you may not have known… When Jaws was released in the...

Pope Leo has some surprising relatives. For one, he is related to the pop singer Madonna, who has clashed with the Roman Catholic Church over her use of religious imagery. But the Pope is also related to politician Hilary Clinton, actress Angelina Jolie, pop star Justin Bieber, former prime ministers Justin and Pierre Trudeau, and...

If you venture into the countryside this month, be careful and stay vigilant: be wildfire aware. So warns the National Fire Chiefs Council, after a record-breaking season for wildfires. The concern is based on some alarming data. By June (the most recent data on hand) firefighters had responded to more than 500 wildfires across England...

Red squirrels have found a surprising friend in their fight to survive against grey squirrels. It is the elusive pine martin, who is a natural predator of all squirrels. Now a recent study by Queen’s University, Belfast, has found that pine martens are increasing, and that they kill more grey squirrels than red squirrels. This...

All in the month of July The ‘father’ of modern British policing The great flood of China The July 2005 bombings of London Don’t Step on a Bee Day – 10th July The danger of electric cars< Murder World is more violent than ever Rise in older shoplifters ** Editor:  We continue our column that...

 It was: 250 years ago, on 1st July 1775 that the British Parliament brought in the New England Restraining Act. This forbade its North American colonies from trading with anyone other than Britain, Ireland, and the British West Indies. The colonies were also forbidden to fish in the Atlantic without permission. 175 years ago, on...

It was 175 years ago, on 2ndJuly 1850, that Robert Peel, who was Prime Minister from 1834 to 35 and from 1841 to 46, died. He founded the Metropolitan Police Service and is seen as the father of modern British policing. Peel, born in Bury, was one of 11 children of the first Sir Robert...

Ninety years ago, on 6th July 1935, the Yangtze River flooded in China. At least 145,000 people died, millions were displaced and suffered food shortages and famine. The Yangtze River is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and is known as the ‘Long River’ in Mandarin. It stretches 6315 kilometres – not...

Twenty years ago, the 7th July (2005) London bombings took place. A co-ordinated series of four suicide bomb attacks on London’s transport system during the morning rush hour killed 56 people and injured more than 700. It was the worst-ever terrorist attack on Britain, and the country’s first attack by suicide bombers. Three of the...