My Historic Map

29/12/2018

in 1809 four-time English PM William Gladstone was born! Liverpool-born William Gladstone is the only PM to have served four times between 1868 and 1894. He first entered the House of Commons in 1868 initially as a Conservative, before forming the Liberal Party with a breakaway faction of the Tories.

Gladstone's reforms included increasing the franchise, introducing secret voting and granting more rights to Irish farmers. His foreign policy legacy is more complicated; the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Eastern Question (the question of how the failing Ottoman Empire would be partitioned) dominated his ministries, and his foreign legacy is confused at best...

25/12/2018

every year the Serpentine Swimming club in London do a winter swim in the Serpentine river in Hyde Park! Since 1904, the winner is presented with the Peter Pan Cup, first donated and awarded by Peter Pan author J.M Barrie!
This mad tradition dates back to 1864, and our closest map dates back to 1866, so let's take a peek...

23/12/2018

in 1922 the first entertainment broadcast was transmitted from the Alexandra Palace by the British Broadcasting Corporation!

21/12/2018

in 1804 English PM was born on Theobald's Road in London. He was the first and so far only British PM to have been Jewish by birth and was the first person of an ethnic minority to hold one of the Great Offices of State.

14/12/2018

in 1894 was born at Sandringham House, in Norfolk, here pictured in 1884.
George VI, known to friends and family as Albert, ascended to the throne in 1936 following the abdication of his older brother Edward VIII. As the younger brother of a healthy and charismatic man, he was not expected to inherit the throne but is widely regarded to have risen to the challenge immensely. He is remembered favourably as a strong paternal figure, defined by his steadfast resolve during WW2 and willingness to innovate and change with the times.

11/12/2018

in 1936 Edward VIII abdicated the throne of England, leaving it to his younger brother Albert (later George VI). His chief reason for abdicating was to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson; as the head of the Church of England in 1936, the King was forbidden to marry someone who had divorced - and Simpson had divorced twice. With the government threatening to resign and the Church in open revolt, Edward had to choose between the Crown and love, causing a constitutional crisis that threatened the very existence of the monarchy.

Although a shock to the nation, many people close to the Crown had actually hoped that something would happen that would allow the crown to pass to his younger brother (Albert) and in turn to Albert's daughters. Edward VIII reportedly held N**i sympathies (he was forcibly moved from France to the Bahamas during WW2) and had long shown impatience with the intricacies of Court life...

11/12/2018

Ever wondered how the streets of your home town looked 150 years ago?

08/12/2018

in 1980, Beatles frontman John Lennon was murdered on the streets of New York by Mark Chapman. Born in Liverpool in 1940, Lennon formed the Beatles with George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, which then went on to be the most commercially successful band in history.

No one is sure why exactly Chapman did this, and he has recently been denied parole for the 10th time. He has at various times claimed that 'God' told him to do it, and that the novel 'The Catcher in the Rye' was his inspiration and settlement, and that he had murdered Lennon to promote the reading of the book. He pleaded guilty on the basis that God had told him to (instead of pleading not guilty by reason of insanity).

07/12/2018

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05/12/2018

in 1830 English poet and national treasure Christine Rosetti was born. Best known for poems such as 'Goblin Market' and 'In The Bleak Midwinter', she was a huge fan of Dante and Keats. She passed away in 1894 in a house at Torrington Square, London, which looked like this.

04/12/2018

29/11/2018

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