Did you know?
England has a long and eventful history. One of the outstanding events in the Tudor reign was the great fire of London. It occurred in the early hours of the second of September 1666. In a baker's shop situated in an aptly named pudding lane a small fire started but with a combination of a strong wind and wooden houses crowded together one third of London would perish in the inferno that ensued.
It took fifty years to rebuild London in amongst this time an individual called Sir Christopher Wren designed St Paul's Cathedral as well as fifty one other churches. Five different churches have been built on the site of St Paul's Cathedral of which the first was in six hundred and four. Other notable buildings designed by Sir Christopher Wren are the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and the façade of Hampton Court.
In between the years 1910 to 1913 Captain Robert Falcon Scott led his second attempt at an expedition to arrive at the South Pole, he had aimed to be the first to achieve this and while his trip was to serve as an important historical event it was not in the way one would expect. It was Roald Amundsen and his team who had the distinction of being the fist to arrive at the South Pole. On the return journey Captain Scott and two of his companions succumbed to the cold and lack of food. They left diaries accounting the conditions and the emotional drama which moved the public to consider Captain Scott and his men to be fallen heroes and in a way they have forever made their mark in history. Captain Scott and his men did make interesting discoveries of vegetation and plants that proved the South Pole has moved and was once a warm place. The public gave generously to a collection for their surviving relatives.
The Suez canal is 101 miles long and connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, it was opened in
1869 after taking ten years to construct. It is an important way of reducing travel time and had a significant effect on trade in the following years of its construction. Unfortunately it has been
a centre of controversy over its use and ownership, a company called the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company at a cost of 100 million dollars had originally financed it but Egypt the country in where it is situated felt the income should go to building the Aswan high dam. Shortly after the canal was built Egypt in 1875 under pressure of debt was forced to sell shares in the company to the United Kingdom. After several years of dispute the canal now can be used by all vessels and it is notable as a vitally situated travel means for many people.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the milestones in medicine such as Dr Edward Jenner who if he had not developed vaccination a great many people would not have survived the virulent diseases that raged all over the world.
In 1928 while working in his lab the then to become Sir Alexander Fleming noticed in a Petri dish a green substance that had appeared from a contaminated test, this he named Penicillin and it was to become the first Antibiotic.
On the 17th December 1903 the Wright brothers made the first powered flight for humans. The Wright brothers approached the problem facing early attempts at flight by concentrating on
control of the craft and using a small engine. They used a wind tunnel and practised controlling the craft before risking an attempt at real flying.
As a young boy I remember my older brother's launch of a model jet powered plane that at first soared uncontrollably up into the sky only to hurtle down with significant damage. At that time
I didn't know about the Wright brothers but thinking about it they definitely had a point.
It took fifty years to rebuild London in amongst this time an individual called Sir Christopher Wren designed St Paul's Cathedral as well as fifty one other churches. Five different churches have been built on the site of St Paul's Cathedral of which the first was in six hundred and four. Other notable buildings designed by Sir Christopher Wren are the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and the façade of Hampton Court.
In between the years 1910 to 1913 Captain Robert Falcon Scott led his second attempt at an expedition to arrive at the South Pole, he had aimed to be the first to achieve this and while his trip was to serve as an important historical event it was not in the way one would expect. It was Roald Amundsen and his team who had the distinction of being the fist to arrive at the South Pole. On the return journey Captain Scott and two of his companions succumbed to the cold and lack of food. They left diaries accounting the conditions and the emotional drama which moved the public to consider Captain Scott and his men to be fallen heroes and in a way they have forever made their mark in history. Captain Scott and his men did make interesting discoveries of vegetation and plants that proved the South Pole has moved and was once a warm place. The public gave generously to a collection for their surviving relatives.
The Suez canal is 101 miles long and connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, it was opened in
1869 after taking ten years to construct. It is an important way of reducing travel time and had a significant effect on trade in the following years of its construction. Unfortunately it has been
a centre of controversy over its use and ownership, a company called the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company at a cost of 100 million dollars had originally financed it but Egypt the country in where it is situated felt the income should go to building the Aswan high dam. Shortly after the canal was built Egypt in 1875 under pressure of debt was forced to sell shares in the company to the United Kingdom. After several years of dispute the canal now can be used by all vessels and it is notable as a vitally situated travel means for many people.
It would be remiss of me not to mention the milestones in medicine such as Dr Edward Jenner who if he had not developed vaccination a great many people would not have survived the virulent diseases that raged all over the world.
In 1928 while working in his lab the then to become Sir Alexander Fleming noticed in a Petri dish a green substance that had appeared from a contaminated test, this he named Penicillin and it was to become the first Antibiotic.
On the 17th December 1903 the Wright brothers made the first powered flight for humans. The Wright brothers approached the problem facing early attempts at flight by concentrating on
control of the craft and using a small engine. They used a wind tunnel and practised controlling the craft before risking an attempt at real flying.
As a young boy I remember my older brother's launch of a model jet powered plane that at first soared uncontrollably up into the sky only to hurtle down with significant damage. At that time
I didn't know about the Wright brothers but thinking about it they definitely had a point.
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