1199King Richard I was wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on 6th April. Richard spent very little time in England and lived in his Duchy of Aquitaine in the southwest of France, preferring to use his kingdom as a source of revenue to support his armies. He produced no legitimate heirs and acknowledged only one illegitimate son, Philip of Cognac. As a result, he was succeeded by his brother John as King of England.
Flat Holm Light House became operational on 25th March 1738. Flat Holm is a limestone island lying in the Bristol Channel and contains Wales' most southerly point. I've sailed around it on Balmoral and Waverley. See below for more about Flatholm. IMG_1740.jpeg
First passenger railway line begins operations On this day in 1807, the first fee-paying passenger railway began operating in Wales. It was eventually known as Mumbles Railway, and it became the longest-running locomotive line in the world. Passengers, however, were an afterthought; the train was designed with industry in mind. By 1823 a 16-person horse-drawn carriage made a trip twice a day along the railway line. After electricity arrived in 1928, double-decker trams began running, and millions of passengers were riding the line annually by the 1940s. After World War II, however, plunging passenger demand could no longer justify costs of operating the line. A funeral (featuring an empty coffin) was held for the line on January 4th 1960. IMG_1739.jpeg
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On 25th March 1811 Joseph Bailey took over the ironworks at Nantyglo and was instrumental in making it one of the great iron-works of the world. Bailey, from Wakefield in Yorkshire, went to work with his uncle Richard Crawshay, the owner of Cyfarthfa ironworks in Merthyr. After Richard Crawshay's death in 1810 Bailey inherited a quarter share of Cyfarthfa, which he sold to purchase the old ironworks at Nantyglo. Bailey became a very wealthy man and purchased estates in Breconshire, Radnorshire, Herefordshire and Glamorganshire. He also became MP for Worcester City and Breconshire. IMG_1741.jpeg
1807The Slave Trade Act received the royal assent, eventually bringing an end to the slave trade . British merchants transported nearly three million black Africans across the Atlantic between 1700 and the early 19th century. The 1833 Slavery Abolition Act outlawed slavery itself throughout the British Empire but slaves did not gain their final freedom until 1838.
The Proud Valley starring Paul Robeson and filmed on location in South Wales was premiered on 25th March 1940. The film tells the story of how a Black American gets work as a miner when he comes to live in Wales and shares the hard way of life experienced in the aftermath of the Great Depression. IMG_1742.jpeg
1957Six European nations signed the Treaty of Rome thus establishing the Common Market. They were Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Holland and Luxembourg.
1965 - It was announced that Jeff Beck would take Eric Clapton's place in the Yardbirds.
1969John Lennon and new wife Yoko Ono staged their 'Beds in Peace' at the Amsterdam Hilton. It lasted until 31st March and each day they invited the world's press into their hotel room, between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. It was Yoko's idea to get over their peace message while on honeymoon. Although the press were expecting them to be having sex, the couple were sitting in bed, in John's words 'like angels', talking about peace, with signs over their bed reading 'Hair Peace' and 'Bed Peace'.…… ….. Flatholm
A timeline history for Flat Holm; * The island has a long history of occupation from Anglo-Saxon and Viking times. * It was visited by disciples of Saint Cadog in the 6th century. * In 1835 it was the site of the foundation of the Bristol Channel Mission, which later became the Mission to Seafarers. * A sanitorium for cholera patients was built in 1896 as the isolation hospital for the port of Cardiff. * Marconi used Flat Holm to transmit the first wireless signal over open sea to Lavernock in 1897. * A series of gun emplacements was built in the 1860s to defend the entrances to Cardiff and Bristol ports. * On the outbreak of World War II the island was rearmed. * It is now designated as a Local Nature Reserve, Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Protection Area, because of its rare grasslands and plants. It also has significant breeding colonies of the Great Black-backed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Herring Gull.[/b] [media=https://youtu.be/j2KGkrVcd90]
