March 31st The Poll Tax, introduced on March 31, 1379, was a significant event in English history. This tax was imposed by King Richard II as a means of raising revenue for the crown. The Poll Tax required every adult person, regardless of wealth, to pay a flat-rate tax. This tax was deeply unpopular and led to widespread unrest.The Poll Tax became a major factor in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.
On 31st March 1406 Owain Glyndŵr composed the famous Pennal Letter to the French King, Charles VI, setting out his plans for an independent Wales. Pennal is a village on the north bank of the River Dyfi near Machynlleth. In the letter, Glyndŵr asked for French help in his uprising against English rule and called for recognition of Wales as an independent nation. He also stated his aims for establishing an independent Welsh church and university.
In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued the Alhambra edict, expelling Jews who refused to convert to Christianity.
1862 The opening of Watchet railway station in Somerset. Now part of the West Somerset Railway.
1912Both the Oxford and the Cambridge boats sank in the annual university boat race.
1889: The Eiffel Tower officially opens in Paris as the entrance arch to the 1889 World's Fair. Named after its designer Gustave Eiffel the 324 metres (1,063 ft) tall tower would hold the record as the tallest man-made structure in the world for 41 years, until surpassed by the Chrysler Building in New York City in 1930.
1924The first British national airline, Imperial Airways, was founded at Croydon Airport.
1930: The Motion Picture Production Code (or Hays Code) is instituted, imposing strict moral guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in American films for the next thirty-eight years. It would be replaced by the MPAA film rating system in 1968.
1949Winston Churchill declared that the atomic bomb was the only thing that kept the Soviet Union from taking over Europe.
1966Harold Wilson won a sweeping victory in the general election, with a majority of about 100 seats in the House of Commons.
Music1967: Jimi Hendrix sets fire to his guitar live on stage for the first time during a gig at The Astoria in London as a stunt to gain more media exposure. The part-burned Fender Stratocaster guitar would be sold for £280,000 at a London auction of rock memorabilia in 2008 .
1972The Beatles' Official Fan Club closed down.
This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
611 years later, a succession of violent protests against the Conservative government's proposed flat-rate Community Charge (also known as the "poll tax riots") fatally weakened the administration of Margaret Thatcher.
