On this day

1776 - The American Congress voted for independence from Britain.

1840 - The Cunard Shipping Line began its first Atlantic crossing with the paddle steamer Britannia, the voyage took 14 days.

1862 - Lewis Carroll created Alice in Wonderland.

(04-07-2010 10:03 )skully Wrote:  1776 - The American Congress voted for independence from Britain.
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From wikipedia :-
From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.

1817 - The first gold coin sovereigns were issued in Britain.

1841 - Thomas Cook, a Baptist cabinet maker, founded the first travel agency.

1948 - Britain's National Health Service came into operation.

1954 - The BBC broadcast its first daily television news programme.

1553 - Mary I acceded to the throne, becoming the first queen to rule England in her own right.

1685 - James II defeated the Duke of Monmouth, claimant to the throne, at the Battle of Sedgemoor, the last major battle to be fought on English soil.

1892 - Britain's first non-white MP was elected when Dadabhai Naoraji won the Central Finsbury seat.

1919 - The first airship to cross the Atlantic, the British-built R34, arrived in New York.

1924 - The first photo was sent experimentally across Atlantic by radio, from the US to England.

1988 - An explosion aboard the North Sea oil rig Piper Alpha resulted in the loss of 166 lives.

2005 - The International Olympic Committee announced that the 2012 Olympic Games would be held in London.

1307 - England's King Edward I, conqueror of Wales and 'Hammer of the Scots' died on the way to Scotland to fight Robert the Bruce.

1981 - The Church of England decided that divorcees would be allowed to re-marry in a church ceremony.

2005 - A series of bomb attacks on London's transport network killed 52 people and injured 700 others. It was the largest and deadliest terrorist attack in London's history.

1884 - The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) was founded in London.

1941 - Twenty B-17s flew on their first mission with the RAF over Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

1965 - Ronnie Biggs who was serving a 30-year prison sentence for his part in the Great Train Robbery escaped from Wandsworth prison.

2000 - J. K. Rowling's fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire went on sale, breaking all publishing records.

1540 - England's King Henry VIII had his six-month marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled.

1553 - Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen of England in succession to Edward VI. Her reign lasted only nine days. Her successor was Mary I.

1877 - The first Wimbledon Lawn Tennis championship was held at its original site at Worple Road.

1938 - In anticipation of World War II, 35 million gas masks were issued to Britain's civilian population.

1982 - Queen Elizabeth II woke to find an intruder (Michael Fagan) sitting at the end of her bed, raising further concerns about poor Palace security

138 - The death of the Roman Emperor Hadrian who ordered the building of a wall across northern England to keep out the 'barbarian Scottish tribes'...yep that's us

1040 - Lady Godiva rode naked on horseback through the streets of Coventry to force her husband, the Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes.

1940 - World War II: The first in a long series of German bombing raids against Great Britain, as the Battle of Britain, which lasted three and a half months, began.

1958 - Britain's first parking meters were installed, in Mayfair, London.

1997 - More than 100,000 people packed Hyde Park in London for a countryside rally to protest against Government proposals to ban fox hunting.

1274 - Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland was born.

1776 - Captain Cook sailed from Plymouth in the Resolution, accompanied by the Discovery, on his last expedition.

1859 - A Tale Of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, was published.

1859 - Big Ben, in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament, tolled for the first time.

1987 - War veterans returned to the scene of the bloodiest battle of World War I to commemorate its 70th anniversary. The fields of Passchendaele in Belgium claimed the lives of 250,000 troops of the British Commonwealth between July and November 1917.

1794 - British admiral Horatio Nelson lost his right eye at the siege of Calvi, in Corsica.

1969 - Tony Jacklin became the first British golfer since 1951 to win the Open Championship.

1989 - Judy Leden became the first woman to cross the English Channel by hang glider. She was launched from a hot air balloon 13,500 ft above Dover and completed the flight in less than 30 minutes.