On This Day in History 3 August 1721 Death of Grinling Gibbons

On This Day in History
3 August 1721
Death of Grinling Gibbons

Grinling Gibbons (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was a Dutch-British sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral and other London churches, Petworth House and other country houses, Trinity College Oxford and Trinity College Cambridge. Gibbons was born and educated in Holland of English parents, his father being a merchant. He was a member of the Drapers' Company of London. He is widely regarded as the finest wood carver working in England, and the only one whose name is widely known among the general public. Most of his work is in lime (tilia) wood, especially decorative Baroque garlands made up of still-life elements at about life size, made to frame mirrors and decorate the walls of churches and palaces, but he also produced furniture and small relief plaques with figurative scenes. He also worked in stone, mostly for churches. By the time he was established he led a large workshop, and the extent to which his personal hand appears in later work varies.

The diarist Evelyn first discovered Gibbons' talent by chance in 1671. Evelyn, from whom Gibbons rented a cottage near Evelyn's home in Sayes Court, Deptford (today part of south-east London), wrote the following: "I saw the young man at his carving, by the light of a candle. I saw him to be engaged on a carved representation of Tintoretto's "Crucifixion", which he had in a frame of his own making." Later that same evening, Evelyn described what he had seen to Sir Christopher Wren. Wren and Evelyn then introduced him to King Charles II who gave him his first commission - still resting in the dining room of Windsor Castle.

On This Day in History 2 August 1892 Birth of Jack Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers.

On This Day in History
2 August 1892
Birth of Jack Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers.

Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner (August 2, 1892 – September 9, 1978), born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian-American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Warner's career spanned some forty-five years, its duration surpassing that of any other of the seminal Hollywood studio moguls.

As co-head of production at Warner Bros. Studios, he worked with his brother, Sam Warner, to procure the technology for the film industry's first talking picture. After Sam's death, Jack clashed with his surviving older brothers, Harry and Albert Warner. He assumed exclusive control of the film production company in the 1950s, when he secretly purchased his brothers' shares in the business after convincing them to participate in a joint sale of stocks.

Although Warner was feared by many of his employees and inspired ridicule with his uneven attempts at humor, he earned respect for his shrewd instincts and tough-mindedness. He recruited many of Warner Bros.' top stars[4] and promoted the hard-edged social dramas for which the studio became known. Given to decisiveness, Warner once commented, "If I'm right fifty-one percent of the time, I'm ahead of the game."

Throughout his career, he was viewed as a contradictory and enigmatic figure. Although he was a staunch Republican, Warner encouraged film projects that promoted the agenda of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. He opposed European fascism and criticized Nazi Germany well before America's involvement in World War II. An opponent of Communism, after the war Warner appeared as a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee, voluntarily naming screenwriters who had been fired as suspected Communists or sympathizers. Despite his controversial public image, Warner remained a force in the motion picture industry until his retirement in the early 1970s.

On This Day in History - 1 August 1966 - Discovery of Lindow Man

On This Day in History - 1 August 1966 - Discovery of Lindow Man

Lindow Man, also known as Lindow II and (in jest) as Pete Marsh, is the preserved bog body of a man discovered in a peat bog at Lindow Moss near Wilmslow in Cheshire, North West England. The body was found on 1 August 1984 by commercial peat-cutters. Lindow Man is not the only bog body to have been found in the moss; Lindow Woman was discovered the year before, and other body parts have also been recovered. The find, described as "one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 1980s", caused a media sensation. It helped invigorate study of British bog bodies, which had previously been neglected in comparison to those found in the rest of Europe.

At the time of death, Lindow Man was a healthy male in his mid-20s, and he may have been someone of high status, as his body shows little evidence of heavy or rough work. There has been debate over the reason for Lindow Man's death, for the nature of his demise was violent, perhaps ritualistic; after a last meal of charred bread, Lindow Man was strangled, hit on the head, and his throat cut. Dating the body has proven problematic, but it is thought that Lindow Man was deposited into Lindow Moss, face down, some time between 2 BC and AD119, in either the Iron Age or Romano-British period. The body has been preserved by freeze-drying and is on permanent display at the British Museum, although it occasionally travels to other venues such as Manchester Museum.

On this day in history 29 July 2005 Discovery of dwarf planet, Eris

On this day in history
29 July 2005
Discovery of dwarf planet, Eris

Eris (minor-planet designation 136199 Eris) is the most massive and second-largest dwarf planet known in the Solar System. It is also the ninth-most-massive known body directly orbiting the Sun, and the largest known body in the Solar System not visited by a spacecraft. It is measured to be 2,326 ± 12 kilometers (1,445.3 ± 7.5 mi) in diameter. Eris is 27% more massive than dwarf planet Pluto, though Pluto is slightly larger by volume. Eris's mass is about 0.27% of the Earth's mass.[10][17]

Eris was discovered in January 2005 by a Palomar Observatory–based team led by Mike Brown, and its identity was verified later that year. It is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) and a member of a high-eccentricity population known as the scattered disk. It has one known moon, Dysnomia. As of February 2016, its distance from the Sun is 96.3 astronomical units (1.441×1010 km; 8.95×109 mi), roughly three times that of Pluto. With the exception of some comets, Eris and Dysnomia are currently the second-most-distant known natural objects in the Solar System, the farthest object being V774104 discovered in November 2

Because Eris appeared to be larger than Pluto, NASA initially described it as the Solar System's tenth planet. This, along with the prospect of other objects of similar size being discovered in the future, motivated the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term planet for the first time. Under the IAU definition approved on August 24, 2006, Eris is a "dwarf planet", along with objects such as Pluto, Ceres, Haumea and Makemake,[22] thereby reducing the number of known planets in the Solar System to eight, the same as before Pluto's discovery in 1930. Observations of a stellar occultation by Eris in 2010 showed that its diameter was 2,326 ± 12 kilometers (1,445.3 ± 7.5 mi), not significantly different from that of Pluto.[23][24] After New Horizons measured Pluto's diameter as 2372±4 km in July 2015, it was determined that Eris is slightly smaller in diameter than Pluto.

015 at 103 AU.

On this day in history 28 July 1655 Death of Cyrano de Bergerac, French poet

On this day in history
28 July 1655
Death of Cyrano de Bergerac, French poet

Cyrano de Bergerac (6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian and duelist.

A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the seventeenth century. Today he is best known as the inspiration for Edmond Rostand's most noted drama Cyrano de Bergerac which, although it includes elements of his life, also contains invention and myth.

Since the 1970s, there has been a resurgence in the study of Cyrano, demonstrated in the abundance of theses, essays, articles and biographies published in France and elsewhere in recent decades.

On this day in history 27 July 1945 Birth of Geoffrey de Havilland, British aircraft engineer

On this day in history
27 July 1945
Birth of Geoffrey de Havilland, British aircraft engineer

Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland OM CBE AFC RDI FRAeS (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was a British aviation pioneer and aircraft engineer. His Mosquito has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built, and his Comet was the first jet airliner to go into production.

Built with money borrowed from his maternal grandfather,[1] de Havilland's first aircraft took two years to build before he crashed it during its first very short flight at Seven Barrows near Litchfield, Hampshire in December 1909.[2] He built a fresh biplane, making his first flight in it from a meadow near Newbury in September 1910.[3] A memorial plaque presently marks the event. Subsequent designs were even more successful: in 1912 he established a new British altitude record of 10,500 feet (3.2 km) in an aircraft of his design, the B.E.2. Geoffrey was the designer and his brother Hereward was the test pilot.

In December 1910, de Havilland joined HM Balloon Factory at Farnborough, which was to become the Royal Aircraft Factory. He sold his second aeroplane (which he had used to teach himself to fly) to his new employer for £400. It became the F.E.1, the first aircraft to bear an official Royal Aircraft Factory designation. For the next three years de Havilland designed, or participated in the design of, a number of experimental types at the "Factory".

In January 1914, de Havilland was appointed an inspector of aircraft for the Aeronautical Inspection Directorate. Unhappy at leaving design work, in May he was recruited to become the chief designer at Airco, in Hendon. He designed many aircraft for Airco, all designated by his initials, DH. Large numbers of de Havilland-designed aircraft were used during the First World War, flown by the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force.

Airco was bought by the BSA Company, but BSA was interested only in using the company factories for car production. Raising £20,000, de Havilland bought the relevant assets and in 1920 formed the de Havilland Aircraft Company at Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware, where he and his company designed and built a large number of aircraft, including the Moth family. In 1933 the company moved to Hatfield Aerodrome, in Hertfordshire. One of his roles was as test pilot for the company's aircraft. He was believed to have said "we could have had jets" in reference to the ignoring of jet engine possibilities prior to the start of the 1939–45 world war. His company's aircraft, particularly the Mosquito, played a formidable role in that war. In 1944 he bought out his friend and engine designer Frank Halfords engine design consultancy company, forming the de Havilland Engine Company with Halford as head. Halford had previously designed a number of engines for de Havilland, including the de Havilland Gipsy and de Havilland Gipsy Major. Halford's first gas turbine design entered production as the de Havilland Goblin powering de Havilland's first jet, the Vampire.

De Havilland controlled the company until it was bought by the Hawker Siddeley Company in 1960.
Retirement and death.

On this day in history 26 July 1945 HMS Vestal is last British ship sunk in World War 2

On this day in history
26 July 1945
HMS Vestal is last British ship sunk in World War 2

HMS Vestal was an Algerine-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1943 and saw service in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan. She was critically damaged by Japanese kamikaze aircraft in 1945 and was subsequently scuttled in waters close to Thailand.

Vestal was deployed as a part of the East Indies Fleet, along with Pincher, Plucky, Recruit, Pickle, Rifleman, and Chameleon. On 24 July, Squirrel hit a mine, which killed seven men. The ship was scuttled by Rotherham, and the survivors were rescued by Vestal, and taken to the battleship Nelson.

Vestal was sunk on 26 July 1945 whilst participating in Operation Livery. At around 18:25, an alarm was sounded as three unidentified planes had been spotted coming over Phuket Island, and were soon followed by several more. Vestal was hit by a kamikaze, sustaining critical damage. She was the last Royal Navy ship to be sunk in the Second World War. As the ship was hit close to Thailand, which was a Japanese held territory, the crew were taken off and the ship was scuttled.