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164 CE A dragon more than 100 metres long was found dead on Yehwang Mountain in Henan province and was seen as a bad omen for Emperor Huan, who ignored it and died at age 35 in 167 CE.  Xiang Kai, who had warned him of the omen, was released from the prison the emperor had placed him in, lionised as a hero.

711 Moslem forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeated the Visigoths led by their king Roderic. The Spanish still haven't forgiven the Moroccans. Vice versa.

Morocco seeks dialogue in island row

1061 Death of Pope Nicholas II (or July 27).

1333 Battle of Halidon Hill: the final battle of the Wars of Scottish Independence.

The young Edward III had laid siege to Berwick, and a large Scottish regiment came to relieve the town. A huge Scottish soldier named Turnbull came between the armies and challenged the English to battle him alone. Robert Venale, a knight of Norfolk, strode forth to meet the Scot but was met by his mastiff, which Venale struck with his sword. This frightened Turnbull, and Venale easily defeated him, cutting off his left hand and head. Similarly, in the ensuing battle, the English were victorious, killing more than 36,000 Scots.

1374 (Some sources say July 18): The Italian poet, Petrarch, died in Arquà in the Euganean Hills, Tuscany, a day before his 70^th birthday.

"Many writers of his life tell us that he expired in the arms of Lombardo da Serigo, whom Philip Villani and Gianozzo Manetti make their authority for an absurd tradition connected with his death. They pretend that when he breathed his last several persons saw a white cloud, like the smoke of incense, rise to the roof of his chamber, where it stopped for some time and then vanished, a miracle, they add, clearly proving that his soul was acceptable to God, and ascended to heaven. Giovanni Manzini gives a different account. He says that Petrarch's people found him in his library, sitting with his head reclining on a book. Having often seen him in this attitude, they were not alarmed at first; but, soon finding that he exhibited no signs of life, they gave way to their sorrow. According to Domenico Aretino, who was much attached to Petrarch, and was at that time at Padua, so that he may be regarded as good authority, his death was occasioned by apoplexy."   Source

1415 Death of Philippa of Lancaster, consort queen of Portugal (of the plague).

1500 A hailstorm brought down the ceilings of the Papal Palace, Rome.

1545 King Henry VIII's battleship Mary Rose sank before the king's eyes, with the loss of 700 lives.

1553 Mary I of England ('Bloody Mary' because of her persecution of Protestants) was proclaimed Queen of England, and Lady Jane Grey, a convicted Protestant, was sent to the Tower.

1588 The Spanish Armada was sighted from Halzephron cliff at The Lizard, Cornwall's most southerly point.

A sequence of beacons had been constructed along the south coast of England, so the news was known in London within two days. Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540 - 1596), confident that the British could defeat Spain nonchalantly finished the game of bowls he was playing on Plymouth Hoe before heading for the fleet at Plymouth. Or, so it is said.

There is no evidence that Drake was playing bowls when the Armada was sighted. However, if he was, there was no rush anyway, as a wind was blowing from the south-west and the tide was coming in, trapping the English ships in the harbour for several hours, allowing the naval commanders time to round up crew members from the taverns of Plymouth. Neither was Sir Francis in command, technically: the English were under the command of Lord Howard of Effingham (later Earl of Nottingham), but he had acknowledged Drake, technically his subordinate, as the more experienced naval commander and given him effective control.

Drake died, probably of dysentery, in 1596 while commanding a ship off the coast of Panama.

More    Big Drake webpage

Hero or villain? Sir Francis Drake : The Queen's Pirate

1663 Samuel Pepys entered in his Diary: "read over my vowes, and encreased them by a vow against all strong drink till November next ..."

1692 Five women were executed for practising witchcraft, Massachusetts.

What evil spirit have you familiarity with?
None.
Have you made no contract with the devil?
No.
Why do you hurt these children?
I do not hurt them. I scorn it.
Who do you imploy then to do it?
I imploy no body.
What creature do you imploy then?
No creature. I am falsely accused.

Dialogue based on the examination of Sarah Good by Judges Hathorne and Corwin, from The Salem Witchcraft Papers, Book II, p.355

More on the Salem Witch Trials

1799 The Rosetta Stone was found near Alexandria, Egypt.

1821 George IV was crowned King of England, but his estranged wife, Caroline of Brunswick, was denied access when she tried to enter Westminster Abbey.

1825 The Times of London reported that some hundreds of townsfolk of Wickham-Skeith, Suffolk, had put Isaac Stebbings to the ancient witchcraft test of "swimming", and he would have been drowned by the ignorant crowd had not the local parson intervened.

1826 Australia's first recorded use of gaslight was commenced in a Sydney shop.

1843 Britain's Prince Albert launched the world's largest ship at the time, the 98 metre-long Atlantic liner, Great Britain.

1847 The Choctaw nation of American Indians gave $750 for Irish famine relief.

1848 Women's rights: The two day Women's Rights Convention opened in Seneca Falls, New York, USA, and 'bloomers' were introduced at the feminist convention. They were named after Amelia Jenks Bloomer.

A world chronology of women's suffrage    US chronology    Louisa Lawson, Australian suffragette

1849 Siyyid `Alí Muhammad (Báb), founder of the Baha'i faith, was put to death by the Shah of Iran.

1862 American Civil War: Morgan's Raid – At Buffington Island in Ohio, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan's raid into the north was mostly thwarted when a large group of his men were captured while trying to escape across the Ohio River.

1870 Franco-Prussian War: France under Napoleon III declared war on Prussia.

The remarkable pebble

1873 Botanist and explorer William Gosse became the first European to discover Ayers Rock (Uluru) and named it in honour of South Australian Premier Sir Henry Ayers.

It is sacred to the Aborigines and has many springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. In March, 1983 it was leased from the traditional owners by the Australian Government on a 99-year lease for $100,000 a year. 

"In all probability, the first non-Aboriginal to stand on top of Uluru (Ayer's Rock) was not the European explorer, Gosse, but his Afghan guide and companion, Kamran. Gosse's diary states that on 20 July 1873, after reaching the summit, he envied Kamran's tough feet: 'He seemed to enjoy the walking about with bare feet, while mine were all in blisters, and it was as much as I could do to stand.'"   Source

Nomads: the Aboriginal descendants of the Afghan camel drivers

Uluru, with Michelangelo's Bacchus
See Flash animation

1879 Legendary American Wild West character Doc Holliday killed for the first time after a man shot up Holliday's New Mexico saloon.

1931 New South Wales, Australia, Premier Jack Lang went to Canberra to seek funds for his depression-struck state which could no longer pay public servants their salaries.

Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson

1936 Spain: The fascists, under Francisco Franco, attempted to overthrow the elected government in Spain, triggering the Spanish Civil War and Revolution. On this day, the rebellious military officers held most of the garrisons in Barcelona. The workers of the anarcho-syndicalist CNT and socialist POUM attacked the barracks, joined by soldiers, civil guards and policemen faithful to the republic.

1941 Winston Churchill launched his "V for Victory" campaign in Europe.

1942 World War II: Battle of the Atlantic – German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz ordered the last U-boats to withdraw from their United States Atlantic coast postions in response to the an effective American convoy system.

1943 World War II: The Allies bombed Rome for the first time in the war.

1954 Elvis Presley's hit record That's All Right Mama was released.

1957 British runner Derek Ibbotson broke the world record for the mile, running it in 3 minutes 57.2 seconds. The record was held by Australian John Landy.

1958 The last tram ran in Perth, Western Australia.

1964 Vietnam War: At a rally in Saigon, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh called for expanding the war into North Vietnam.

1966 Frank Sinatra married Mia Farrow.

1969 John Fairfax arrived at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, having rowed for 180 days across the Atlantic Ocean in the 22-foot Britannia.

1971 British comedian Marty Feldman appeared for the defence in the OZ Trial at the sombre London criminal court, the Old Bailey, calling the judge "a boring old fart". 

The OZ case was the longest obscenity trial in British legal history. The original sentences of up to 15 months for Richard Neville and the other defendants sparked a wave of protest from many, including John Lennon. With Yoko Ono, Lennon joined the protest march against the prosecution and organised the recording of 'God Save OZ' by the Elastic Oz Band, released on Apple Records.

At the time in Britain, conspiracy to pervert the course of public morals carried a life sentence and the defence of the OZ magazine defendants was an important libertarian cause. The fuss and hilarious court case were all about Edition 28, 'The Schoolkids Issue', which was worked on by school students as well as the staff. More specifically, a sexualised cartoon of the popular children's book character Rupert Bear was the culprit.

OZ magazine was an underground magazine launched on April 1, 1963, in Sydney, Australia, where its editors – Richard Neville, Richard Walsh, and Martin Sharp – were charged under obscenity laws. In 1971, after the magazine shifted to England in 1966, Neville, Felix Dennis, and Jim Anderson were put on trial for corrupting public morals. OZ finally ceased publication in 1973.

Where did they go from there?

Felix Dennis, who was given a lesser sentence because the court viewed him as "very much less intelligent" than Neville and Anderson, went on to become one of Britain's wealthiest and most prominent publishers. OZ co-founder Richard Walsh became one of Australia's most prominent conservative publishers. Richard Neville is one of Australia's best selling authors and a prominent media figure. Martin Sharp is one of Australia's best-known visual artists.

The lawyers

The OZ defence barrister, John Mortimer, is one of Britain's best-selling authors and creator of the acclaimed Rumpole of the Bailey books and TV series, and Brideshead Revisited. His assisting counsel, Geoffrey Robertson, is a prominent Queen's Counsel as well as a well-known Australian media identity. He has argued many landmark cases in the European Court of Human Rights, the House of Lords, the Privy Council and Commonwealth courts. He has conducted a number of missions on behalf of Amnesty International. He is the author of numerous books, and a play, The Trials of Oz, which won a BAFTA 'Best Play' nomination, and the recipient of a 1993 Freedom of Information Award. He was recently appointed to the Appeals Chamber of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, and is a Visiting Professor in Law at several universities.

"Oz magazine started in Australia in 1963 and, almost by chance, came to London in 1966. Its radical content of libertarianism, obscenity, pornography and anti-establishment free thinking constantly pushed at the limits of permissiveness. Much of its psychedelically inspired artwork was by Martin Sharp.

"Tolerance of the magazine ended in 1970 with the 'school kids' issue, and the proprietors were prosecuted for obscenity. Oz won but other underground papers such as IT (International Times ) launched in 1966, did not survive the costs of litigation."   Source

"Martin [Sharp]'s contributions were noticed by Richard Neville, Editor of the University of NSW 'Thuranka', and by Richard Walsh. Editor of Sydney University magazine 'Honi Soit'. Both editors wanted to publish their own magazine and asked Sharp and Shead to become contributors. Australian 'Oz' magazine hit the streets on April Fool's Day, 1963. The popularity of 'Oz' magazine with its lampooning and social satire continued to increase during the few years it was published. and gained Martin sufficient following to prompt his first one man exhibition at the Clune Galleries in Sydney in 1965. 'Art for Mart's Sake' was virtually sold out on the opening night, broadening the artist's horizon. At that time the obvious destination for young artists was London."   Source

"Issue 28, otherwise known as 'Schoolkids OZ' became a cause celebre during and following the prosecution of its editors Richard Neville, Jim Anderson and Felix Dennis for obscenity in 1973. This prosecution brought the magazine to the attention of a far wider public than would have been the case had it simply been ignored. John Lennon and Yoko Ono joined the protest march against the prosecution and organised the recording of 'God Save Oz' by the Elastic Oz Band, released on Apple Records, to raise funds and get publicity."   Source

"Audience Question: What's your favourite legal case that you've attended?

"John Mortimer: Well, I suppose the longest, funniest one was the Oz trial, which was the Australian editors of a little magazine called Oz. And that had really every funny thing about it, which drove the judge absolutely insane. The three Oz editors appeared dressed as schoolgirls at the beginning of the thing. We called the most extraordinary witnesses. We called George Melly. He have his evidence about oral sex. And I said, 'Is oral sex all right?' and he said, 'Yes. When I was in the navy we called it, "yodelling in the canyon, by the way."' And the judge said, 'For those of us who haven't had a classical education, what do you mean by 'cunnilinctus?' as though it was a sort of cough mixture.

"And then I called a comedian called Marty Feldman, who had rolling eyes. I don't know why we called him. Geoffrey thought I should call him. And he gave evidence, he called the judge a 'boring old fart.' Strictly true, but not the sort of thing you're meant to say in the witness box. And the judge affected not to notice this boring old fart business. And then Marty Feldman came across the court and he put his hand on my arm and said, 'Great to be working with you at last.'"   Source

British Oz magazine covers    I'm looking for info    Oz mags at R Neville's site

1973 Clarence White, guitarist with American folk-rock group The Byrds, died after a car accident.

1975 A two-day US-USSR astronaut-cosmonaut linkup in space was completed.

1976 Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal was opened.

1978 "In 1978 11-year-old Julie Ford of Hucknall in Nottinghamshire went into hospital to have a screw removed from her nose. It had been found by chance on a dentist's X-ray. Her mother thought she must have pushed it up there when she was a baby. Two years later, Ruth Clarkes, 23, of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, went into hospital with breathing problem and a tiddlywink which had been stuck up her nose for 20 years was removed. Do noses in Nottinghamshire have a special retentive talent?"   Source

1979 The Sandinista Communists overthrew the US-backed dictatorship of the Anastasio Somoza family in Nicaragua.

1980 The Games of the XXII Olympiad began in Moscow and were boycotted by more than 30 nations as an international protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

1985 US Vice President George HW Bush announced that New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe would become the first schoolteacher to ride aboard the Space Shuttle (see Space Shuttle Challenger).

1987 After thirteen years on Australian TV, Countdown made its last appearance.

1989 General Wojciech Jaruzelski, who imposed martial law in 1981, was elected Poland's first president.

Tomorrow: Margaret and the dragon

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