by David West | Jan 5, 2026 | News
I have posted about my interest in aviation. On the 5th of January, 1941, Amy Johnson disappeared after bailing out of her aeroplane over the River Thames and was presumed dead. Amy Johnson, born on the 1st of July, 1903, in Kingston upon Hull, was one of Britain’s...
by David West | Jan 4, 2026 | News
On the 4th of January, 1853, after having been kidnapped and sold into slavery, Solomon Northup regained his freedom. His memoir, Twelve Years a Slave, became a bestseller. Northup was born in July 1808 in Minerva, New York, into a free Black family. His father,...
by David West | Jan 3, 2026 | News
Wikipedia tells me that on the 3rd of January, 69CE, the Roman legions on the Rhine refused to swear their allegiance to Galba. Instead they proclaimed their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor. The year 69CE is known as the year of the four emperors, so what was...
by David West | Jan 2, 2026 | News
I am spoilt for choice of events to write about for the 2nd of January. As a chartered civil engineer I really should go for the founding of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1818. Then there is the Reconquista in 1492 when the last Moorish stronghold in Spain,...
by David West | Jan 1, 2026 | News
Happy New Year! But why the 1st of January? It was on the 1st of January, 153BCE that Roman first began their year in office on the 1st of January. In 45BCE the Julian calendar was adopted as the civil calendar of the Roman Republic with the 1st of January as the...
by David West | Dec 31, 2025 | News
I recently posted about Vandals and their defeat by General Belisarius in 533CE. Oddly the first two events that I find for the 31st of December concern the Vandals and General Belisarius again. On this day in 406CE the Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine...
