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Today in History 04/12/17

Britain supporters with the Union Jack painted on their face pose during the athletics event held at the Olympic Stadium at the London 2012 Olympic Games (© JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GettyImages)(1606) The Union Jack unites the flags of England and Scotland
By royal decree of England’s King James I, the English St. George’s Cross, and Scotland’s St. Andrew’s Cross, are brought together in one design to symbolize the new unity of their two nations.

The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the national flag of the United Kingdom. The flag also has an official or semi-official status in some other Commonwealth realms; for example, it is, by parliamentary resolution, an official flag in Canada and known there as the Royal Union Flag. Further, it is used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas territories. The Union Jack also appears in the canton (upper left-hand quarter) of the flags of several nations and territories that are former British possessions or dominions.

The claim that the term Union Jack properly refers only to naval usage has been disputed, following historical investigations by the Flag Institute in 2013.

The origins of the earlier flag of Great Britain date back to 1606. James VI of Scotland had inherited the English and Irish thrones in 1603 as James I, thereby uniting the crowns of England, Scotland, and Ireland in a personal union, although the three kingdoms remained separate states. On 12 April 1606, a new flag to represent this regal union between England and Scotland was specified in a royal decree, according to which the flag of England (a red cross on a white background, known as St George’s Cross), and the flag of Scotland (a white saltire on a blue background, known as the Saltire or St Andrew’s Cross), would be joined together, forming the flag of England and Scotland for maritime purposes. King James also began to refer to a “Kingdom of Great Britaine”, although the union remained a personal one.

The present design of the Union Flag dates from a Royal proclamation following the union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. The flag combines aspects of three older national flags: the red cross of St George of the Kingdom of England, the white saltire of St Andrew for Scotland (which two were united in the first Union Flag), and the red saltire of St Patrick to represent Ireland.

Notably, the home country of Wales is not represented separately in the Union Jack, being only indirectly represented through the cross of St George, which represents the former Kingdom of England (which included Wales).


wiki/Union_Flag
Union soldiers firing cannons during the bombardment of Fort Sumter, the opening act of the American Civil War, April 12, 1861 (© MPI/Getty Images)(1861) America’s Civil War begins at Fort Sumter
In the opening salvo of the Civil War, Confederate forces fire upon the Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Bay. General P.G.T. Beauregard’s shore batteries bombard Major Anderson’s federal troops.
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the Confederate States Army, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the United States Army that started the American Civil War. Following declarations of secession by seven Southern states, South Carolina demanded that the U.S. Army abandon its facilities in Charleston Harbor. On 26 December 1860, Major Robert Anderson of the U.S. Army surreptitiously moved his small command from the vulnerable Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island to Fort Sumter, a substantial fortress built on an island controlling the entrance of Charleston Harbor. An attempt by U.S. President James Buchanan to reinforce and resupply Anderson using the unarmed merchant ship Star of the West failed when it was fired upon by shore batteries on 9 January 1861. South Carolina authorities then seized all Federal property in the Charleston area except for Fort Sumter.
Start date: Apr 12, 1861
End date: Apr 13, 1861

wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, first man in space, in the capsule of Vostok 1, April 12, 1961 (© Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images)(1961) Soviets triumph with first manned space flight
To the dismay of many in the West, a Soviet cosmonaut becomes humankind’s first space traveller. Yuri Gagarin, taking his Vostok spacecraft on a single orbit of Earth, spends 108 minutes on his mission.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Russian Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961.
Lived: Mar 09, 1934 – Mar 27, 1968 (age 34)
Height: 5′ 2″ (1.57 m)
Spouse: Valentina Goryacheva (m. 1957 – 1968)
Movies: First Orbit · Tank on the Moon
Space missions: Vostok 1
Children: Yelena Yurievna Gagarina (Daughter) · Galina Gagarina (Daughter)
Highlights
  • 1957: Yuri Gagarin married Valentina Goryacheva on November 07, 1957.

  • 1960: In 1960, after much searching and a selection process, Yuri Gagarin was chosen with 19 other pilots for the Soviet space program.

  • 1961: Yuri Gagarin was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union in 1961.

  • 1961: He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961.

  • 1963: On 20 December 1963, Gagarin had become Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.

  • 1968: On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, he and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died in a MiG-15UTI crash near the town of Kirzhach.

wiki/Yuri_Gagarin
Terry Fox, who lost his right leg to cancer, runs during a cross-Canada marathon to raise funds for cancer research in 1980 (© AP)(1980) Cancer survivor Terry Fox begins cross-country run
Having lost a leg to bone cancer three years earlier, Canadian athlete Terry Fox begins a journey dubbed the Marathon of Hope to raise money for his charity. The Terry Fox Run will become the biggest single-day charitable event in history to benefit cancer research.

Terrance Stanley “Terry” Fox CC OD (July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi), and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy. The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world’s largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$650 million has been raised in his name.

Fox was a distance runner and basketball player for his Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, high school and Simon Fraser University. His right leg was amputated in 1977 after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, though he continued to run using an artificial leg. He also played wheelchair basketball in Vancouver, winning three national championships.

In 1980, he began the Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research. He hoped to raise one dollar from each of Canada’s 24 million people. He began with little fanfare from St. John’s, Newfoundland, in April and ran the equivalent of a full marathon every day. Fox had become a national star by the time he reached Ontario; he made numerous public appearances with businessmen, athletes, and politicians in his efforts to raise money. He was forced to end his run outside Thunder Bay when the cancer spread to his lungs. His hopes of overcoming the disease and completing his marathon ended when he died nine months later.

In addition to being youngest person ever named a Companion of the Order of Canada, Fox won the 1980 Lou Marsh Award as the nation’s top sportsman and was named Canada’s Newsmaker of the Year in both 1980 and 1981. Considered a national hero, he has had many buildings, roads and parks named in his honour across the country.


wiki/Terry_Fox
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Today in History 01/31/17

Illustration of Guy Fawkes (center) preparing to climb a ladder to the gallows on Jan. 31, 1606 (© George Cruikshank/Hulton Archive/Getty Images))(1606) English conspirator Guy Fawkes foils own execution
Guy Fawkes, head of The Gunpowder Plot to blow up the English parliament in London’s Westminster Palace, leaps off a ladder to his death moments before his planned hanging.
Guy Fawkes, also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
Born: Apr 13, 1570 · York, United Kingdom
Died: Jan 31, 1606 · Westminster, England
Spouse: Maria Pulleyn (m. 1590)
Children: Thomas Fawkes (Son)
Education: St Peter’s School, York
Parents: Edith Fawkes (Mother) · Edward Fawkes (Father)
Highlights
  • 1590: Guy Fawkes married Maria Pulleyn in 1590.

  • 1601: Fawkes’s fellow students included John Wright and his brother Christopher (both later involved with Fawkes in the Gunpowder Plot) and Oswald Tesimond, Edward Oldcorne and Robert Middleton, who became priests (the latter executed in 1601).

  • 1604: In 1604 Fawkes became involved with a small group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate the Protestant King James and replace him with his daughter, third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth.

  • 1604: Wintour told Fawkes of their plan to “doe some whatt in Ingland if the pece with Spaine healped us nott”, and thus in April 1604 the two men returned to England.

  • 1605: In an attempt to gain foreign support, in May 1605 Fawkes travelled overseas and informed Hugh Owen of the plotters’ plan.

  • 1605: It is uncertain when Fawkes returned to England, but he was back in London by late August 1605, when he and Wintour discovered that the gunpowder stored in the undercroft had decayed.

wiki/Guy_Fawkes
U.S. Army Private Eddie Slovik, circa 1940s (© Betttmann/Corbis)(1945) US Army Private Eddie Slovik executed for desertion
In the first execution of an American soldier for desertion since the Civil War, and the only one in the whole of WWII, Private Eddie Slovik of the 28th Infantry Division dies by firing squad.
Edward Donald “Eddie” Slovik was a United States Army soldier during World War II and the only American soldier to be court-martialled and executed for desertion since the American Civil War.
Born: Feb 18, 1920 · Detroit, MI
Died: Jan 31, 1945 · Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France
Spouse: Antoinette Wisniewski (m. 1942 – 1945)
Parents: Anna · Josef Slowikowski
Highlights
  • 1942: Eddie Slovik married Antoinette Wisniewski in 1942.

  • 1942: In April 1942, Slovik was paroled once more, and he obtained a job at Montella Plumbing and Heating in Dearborn, Michigan.

  • 1944: Slovik arrived at Camp Wolters in Texas for basic military training on January 24, 1944.

  • 1944: Tankey wrote to their regiment to explain their absence before he and Slovik reported to their unit for duty on October 7, 1944.

  • 1944: Slovik was charged with desertion to avoid hazardous duty and tried by court martial on 11 November 1944.

  • 1945: Eddie Slovik died on January 31, 1945 in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France.

wiki/Eddie_Slovik
Irna Phillips, one of the creators of the first daytime network TV soap opera (© CBS via Getty Images)(1949) First daytime network TV soap opera debuts
‘These Are My Children’ is broadcast live on Chicago’s NBC station. It’s the first in what will become an institution of daytime drama serials, many of which will be sponsored by–yes–soap manufacturers. Television soap operas will begin dying out in the 21st century as tastes change.
These Are My Children is an American television soap opera which ran on NBC from January 31, 1949, to February 25, 1949. The show was broadcast live from Chicago, Illinois, airing fifteen minutes a day, five days a week, at 5:00 p.m. EST. It is widely credited as the first soap opera broadcast on television. It may be more accurately described as the first daytime drama or the first soap opera strip, as it was preceded by DuMont series Faraway Hill in 1946 and Highway to the Stars in 1947, both of which are described as soap operas but aired later in the evenings and broadcast only once a week.
First episode: 1949
Episode duration: 15 minutes
Creator: Irna Phillips
Genre: Soap opera

wiki/These_Are_My_Children
Flood waters nearly up to roof level of houses in Ridderkerk, Netherlands, in 1953 (© Keystone/Getty Images)(1953) Catastrophic European flood kills thousands
Roiling out of the North Sea, a storm bearing 100-mph winds and flooding rain devastates the Netherlands, destroying 50,000 buildings, leaving 300,000 homeless, and killing more than 1,500.
The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm that occurred on the night of Saturday, 31 January 1953 and morning of Sunday, 1 February 1953. The floods struck the Netherlands, Belgium, England and Scotland.
Date: Feb 01, 1953

wiki/North_Sea_flood_of_1953
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A Historical Day

(1606) The Union Jack unites the flags of England and Scotland
1606 By royal decree of England’s King James I, the English St. George’s Cross, and Scotland’s St. Andrew’s Cross, are brought together in one design to symbolize the new unity of their two nations. .
(1861) America’s Civil War begins at Fort Sumter
In the opening salvo of the Civil War, Confederate forces fire upon the Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Bay. General P.G.T. Beauregard’s shore batteries bombard Major Anderson’s federal troops.. 1861
(1961) Soviets triumph with first manned space flight
1961 To the dismay of many in the West, a Soviet cosmonaut becomes humankind’s first space traveller. Yuri Gagarin, taking his Vostok spacecraft on a single orbit of Earth, spends 108 minutes on his mission. .
(1980) Cancer survivor Terry Fox begins cross-country run
Having lost a leg to bone cancer three years earlier, Canadian athlete Terry Fox begins a journey dubbed the Marathon of Hope to raise money for his charity. The Terry Fox Run will become the biggest single-day charitable event in history to benefit cancer research.. 1980