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Blenheim Palace - house of John Churchill, the only non-royal building to be called a palace. See below...

 

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A Personal Note (Archive)

January 27, 2015

It's been fifty years since Winston Churchill's state funeral. In the eighteenth century Winston's ancestor John Churchill had great success as a commander of British forces in the War of Spanish Succession. He was rewarded with Blenheim Palace, the only non-royal building to be termed a "palace". Winston repeated this feat in 1965 when his funeral mimicked that of a monarch.

Best wishes

Martin

The InfoBritain view of history (with thanks to The Simpsons)

 

Historical news for February

Dippy the Diplodocus, who has greeted visitors in the Hintze Hall at the Natural History Museum since the 1970s is to be replaced by the skeleton of a Blue Whale in the act of diving. The complexities of creating the new display mean it will not be ready until 2017.

Nymans Garden near Haywards Heath in West Sussex is transforming its garden with a new light installation by French artist Lola Muance. There is free opening to view the exhibition on Friday evenings. The exhibition runs until 27th February.

The Tate St Ives is currently staging an exhibition on the development of international photography from the 1920s - 1960s. The exhibition runs until 10th May 2015. For more details go to: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-st-ives/exhibition/modern-lens-international-photography-and-tate-collection

 

 

 

Anniversaries for February

5th February 1924: The Royal Observatory Greenwich, begins broadcasting an audio time signal, the Greenwich Time Signal, better known as "the pips". BBC radio stations continue to broadcast the pips today, though now they are generated from an atomic clock in the basement of Broadcasting House.

9th February 1964: The Beatles make their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in America, beginning a period of unusual influence for British music in the American charts.

11th February 1826: University College London is founded as England's first secular university.

12th February 1689: The Convention Parliament declares that the flight of monarch James II the previous year constitutes abdication.

13th February 1970: The British rock band Black Sabbath release their Black Sabbath album, often credited as founding the musical genre known as Heavy Metal.

16th February 1943: A Norwegian commando team trained by the British Special Operations Executive, carry out an attack at Vemork Hydroelectric plant. This denies the German nuclear energy project access to heavy water. This operation was later evaluated by SOE as the most successful sabortage operation of World War II.

26th February 1917: The Original Dixie Land Jazz Band release the first jazz single, Livery Stable Blues.

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Thank you to photo contributors Danielle Davis, Jean Edwards, Vicky Eagle of Portsmouth Dockyard, Kevin Edwards, Derick Fusco, Julian Jones, Richard Jones, Jackie Lewis, Debbie Lowless, Judy Mills of the Corinium Museum, Jane Barron of the World Rugby Museum, and Susan Stuart of Old Spitalfields Market.

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