Show Notes
Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life. 25th July 1978: Louise Joy Brown, the world's first successful IVF baby, is born at Oldham General Hospital. 24th July 1851: The Window Tax, based on the number of windows on a house, is abolished in the UK. 21st July 365 AD: A tsunami devastates the Egyptian city of Alexandria.
More from This Week in History
24 October 1945: The Charter of a new international organisation, the United Nations, comes into effect. 23 October 1642: King Charles I beats English Parliamentarian forces at the Battle of Edgehill in Warwickshire. 20 October 1960: Penguin Books fights for the right to publish DH Lawrence’s novel 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' in a landmark trial at the Old Bailey.
Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life. 16th October 1793: Marie Antoinette is executed in Paris. 17th October 1814: A flood of beer courses through the streets of London. 13th October 1963: The Beatles perform on 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium', marking the beginning of Beatlemania.
Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life. 5th October 1910 - The centuries-old Portuguese monarchy was overthrown in a coup d'état organized by the Portuguese Republican Party. 10th October 1881 - The Savoy Theatre - the first public building to be lit by electricity - opens with a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience. 11th October 1440 - King Henry the Sixth founds Eton College. It was established as a charity school to provide free education to 70 poor boys who would then go on to King's College, Cambridge.
28th September 1985: The shooting of Cherry Groce in her own home during a mishandled police raid, leads to clashes between the police and the black community in Brixton. 28th September 48 BC: Pompey the Great is assassinated on the order of King Ptolemy of Egypt. 28th September 1865: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson becomes the first woman to qualify as a doctor in Britain.
Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life. 23rd September 1846: Through applying maths and physics, the planet Neptune is officially observed and identified by the German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle. 22nd September 1735: The man regarded as the first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, moves into Number 10 Downing Street. 26th September 1968: Theatre censorship is abolished in the UK, ending restrictions which had existed for over 200 years.