Chronicle of Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall
The Chronicle of Abbot Ralph of Coggeshall (Chronicon Anglicanum) is an indispensable medieval history that brings to life centuries of English and European affairs through the eyes of a learned Cistercian monk. Ralph of Coggeshall, abbot of the Abbey of Coggeshall in Essex in the early 13th century, continued and expanded his community’s chronicle, documenting events from the Norman Conquest of 1066 into the tumultuous reign of King Henry III. Blending eyewitness testimony, careful compilation, and the monastic commitment to record-keeping, this chronicle offers a rare narrative of political intrigue, royal power struggles, and social upheaval in England and beyond. Ralph’s work captures the reigns of pivotal figures such as Richard I and King John, providing invaluable insights into their characters, decisions, and the forces that shaped medieval rule. More than a simple annal, Chronicon Anglicanum conveys the texture of medieval life and governance, making it a rich source for scholars and readers fascinated by English history, monastic authorship, and the shaping of the medieval world.
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1950-Present is in 20th Century Events.
On 6th February 1952 King George VI of the United Kingdom [aged 56] died at Sandringham Estate, Norfolk. He was buried at King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle [Map]. His daughter Elizabeth [aged 25] succeeded II Queen of the United Kingdom; she was at her Kenyan home Sagana Lodge.
On 2nd June 1953 Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom [aged 27] was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom by Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher [aged 66] at Westminster Abbey [Map].
Her ladies in waiting were:
Mistress of the Robes: Mary Alice Gascoyne-Cecil Duchess Devonshire [aged 57]
Maids of Honour:
Mary Baillie-Hamilton [aged 19]
Jane Antonia Frances Vane-Tempest-Stewart [aged 20]
Nancy Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby [aged 18]
Anne Veronica Coke Baroness Glenconner [aged 20]
Moyra Kathleen Hamilton [aged 23]
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On 9th December 1960 the soap opera Coronation Street was first broadcast.
On 12th April 1961 Russian astronaunt Yuri Gagarin completed the first manned space flight.
On 10th December 1962 Lawrence of Arabia received its premiere in London at the Odeon Cinema Leicester Square. The event was attended by Philip Mountbatten Duke Edinburgh [aged 41] and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom [aged 36]. Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, David Lean (Director), Sam Spiegel (Producer) and Freddie Young (cameraman) attended. In the audience were Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Attenborough, his wife and son. Noël Coward attended the after-party.
On 16th December 1962 Lawrence of Arabia received its premiere in New York at the Criterion Cinema New York. Alec Guiness, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, David Lean (Director) and Sam Spiegel (Producer) attended.
On 23rd November 1963 the first episode of the British science fiction television series Dr Who was first broadcast.
On 25th November 1963 the funeral of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy [deceased] was held.
On 8th April 1968 BOAC Flight 712 suffered an engine failure on takeoff that quickly led to a major fire; the engine detached from the aircraft in flight. After the aircraft had made a successful emergency landing, confusion contributed to the deaths of 5 of the 127 on board. The direct cause of the fire was the failure of a compressor wheel, due to metal fatigue.
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough
A canon regular of the Augustinian Guisborough Priory, Yorkshire, formerly known as The Chronicle of Walter of Hemingburgh, describes the period from 1066 to 1346. Before 1274 the Chronicle is based on other works. Thereafter, the Chronicle is original, and a remarkable source for the events of the time. This book provides a translation of the Chronicle from that date. The Latin source for our translation is the 1849 work edited by Hans Claude Hamilton. Hamilton, in his preface, says: 'In the present work we behold perhaps one of the finest samples of our early chronicles, both as regards the value of the events recorded, and the correctness with which they are detailed; Nor will the pleasing style of composition be lightly passed over by those capable of seeing reflected from it the tokens of a vigorous and cultivated mind, and a favourable specimen of the learning and taste of the age in which it was framed.'
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On 31st January 1971 Apollo 14 launched from the Kennedy Space Center. The astronauts were Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell.
Shepard and Mitchell made their lunar landing on February 5 in the Fra Mauro formation.
From left to right they are: Command Module pilot, Stuart A. Roosa, Commander, Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Lunar Module pilot Edgar D. Mitchell. The Apollo 14 mission emblem is in the background.
Antares lifted off from the Moon on February 6, 1971.
The command module Kitty Hawk splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean on February 9, 1971 approximately 1,400 km south of American Samoa.
On 4th February 1974 a bomb planted by Judith Ward of the Provisional Irish Republican Army hidden inside the luggage locker of a coach carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel and their family members exploded killing twelve people (nine soldiers and three civilians) and injuring thirty-eight others aboard the vehicle.
On 8th August 1974 American President Richard Nixon made a televised speech to the American people announcing his decision to resign the following day as a consequence of the "long and difficult period of Watergate".
On 9th August 1974 Preseident Nixon sent his resignation letter to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; he remains the only American president to resign from office.
On 27th May 1975, a coach carrying elderly passengers crashed at the bottom of a steep hill at Dibbles Bridge, North Yorkshire [Map], over the River Dibb, near Hebden. Thirty-three people on board were killed, including the driver, and thirteen others injured. It was the worst-ever road accident in the United Kingdom by number of fatalities. An inquest at Skipton Town Hall, in July 1975, recorded a verdict of accidental death on the victims. Jury foreman John Mitchell said the accident was caused by the inability of the driver to negotiate the bend, owing to deficient brakes on the coach, due to possible lack of care in the maintenance of the braking system.
On 16th August 1977 Elvis Presley [aged 42] died at his Graceland estate at the age of 42. He was scheduled on an evening flight out of Memphis to Portland, Maine, to begin another tour. That afternoon, however, his fiancée Ginger Alden discovered him unresponsive on the bathroom floor of his Graceland mansion. Attempts to revive him failed, and he was pronounced dead by his personal doctor Dr. George Nichopoulos at Baptist Memorial Hospital at 3:30 p.m.
On 18th August 1977 Elvis Presely's [deceased] funeral was held at Graceland. Outside the gates, a car plowed into a group of fans, killing two young women and critically injuring a third. About 80,000 people lined the processional route to Forest Hill Cemetery, where Presley was buried next to his mother.
On 27th August 1979 Louis Mountbatten 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma [aged 79] was killed by an IRA bomb aboard his fishing boat in Mullaghmore, County Sligo. His daughter Patricia [aged 55] succeeded 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma. John Knatchbull 7th Baron Brabourne [aged 54] by marriage Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
Nicholas Timothy Knatchbull [aged 14] was killed.
Pauk Maxwell, a local boy, was killed.
On 28th August 1979 Doreen Browne Baroness Brabourne [aged 83] died from wounds in hospital the day after the bombing.
On 8th December 1980 at around ten to eleven in the evening John Lennon [aged 40] was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman outside of The Dakota, Upper West Side, Manhattan where he lived. Lennon was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital Midtown West Manhattan where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
19th December 1981. The Penlee lifeboat disaster occurred off the coast of Cornwall, England when RNLI lifeboat Solomon Browne, from Penlee Lifeboat Station near Mousehole, went to the aid of the vessel Union Star after its engines failed in heavy seas. After the lifeboat had rescued four people, both vessels were lost with all hands. Sixteen people died, including eight volunteer lifeboatmen.
On 11th May 1985 a fire broke out during a game at Bradford Football Club. Fifty-six people were killed and more than three hundred injured.
After 11th May 1985. Memorial at Bradford Cathedral [Map] to the Bradford City Football Ground Disaster.
On 13th July 1985 Live Aid was two Concerts held in London and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which raised around £150 million for famine relief.
Adam Murimuth's Continuation and Robert of Avesbury’s 'The Wonderful Deeds of King Edward III'
This volume brings together two of the most important contemporary chronicles for the reign of Edward III and the opening phases of the Hundred Years’ War. Written in Latin by English clerical observers, these texts provide a vivid and authoritative window into the political, diplomatic, and military history of fourteenth-century England and its continental ambitions. Adam Murimuth Continuatio's Chronicarum continues an earlier chronicle into the mid-fourteenth century, offering concise but valuable notices on royal policy, foreign relations, and ecclesiastical affairs. Its annalistic structure makes it especially useful for establishing chronology and tracing the development of events year by year. Complementing it, Robert of Avesbury’s De gestis mirabilibus regis Edwardi tertii is a rich documentary chronicle preserving letters, treaties, and official records alongside narrative passages. It is an indispensable source for understanding Edward III’s claim to the French crown, the conduct of war, and the mechanisms of medieval diplomacy. Together, these works offer scholars, students, and enthusiasts a reliable and unembellished account of a transformative period in English and European history. Essential for anyone interested in medieval chronicles, the Hundred Years’ War, or the reign of Edward III.
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In the morning of 12th December 1988 the Clapham Junction rail crash occurred when a crowded British Rail passenger train crashed into the rear of another train that had stopped at a signal just south of Clapham Junction railway station in London, England, and subsequently hit an empty train travelling in the opposite direction. A total of 35 people died in the collision, while 484 were injured.
The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on 15th April 1989 that occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the two standing-only central pens within the Leppings Lane stand allocated to Liverpool supporters.
On 31st August 1997 Diana Spencer Princess Wales [aged 36] died at Pitié-Salpetrière Hospital. She was buried at Althorp House, Northamptonshire [Map].
On 6th May 2023 Prince Charles [aged 74] was crowned King Charles III of the United Kingdom. Queen Consort Camilla Shand [aged 75] was crowned Queen Consort of the United Kingdom.
On 7th June 2024 Hugh Grosvenor 7th Duke of Westminster [aged 33] and Olivia Henson were married at Chester Cathedral [Map]. He the son of Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor 6th Duke Westminster and Natalia Phillips Duchess of Westminster [aged 65].
William Prince of Wales [aged 41] attended.
Guests included Edwina Grosvenor [aged 42] and her husband Dan Snow.
The city's annual Summer Flowers project has been funded by the couple, with 100,000 flowers planted as part of the wedding celebrations and they have also paid for free ice cream and sorbet from three local independent businesses to be given to visitors to Chester city centre through the day. BBC.