May 11th in History
May 11th
1685 The death of 18 year old Margaret Wilson, executed by drowning for refusing to swear an oath declaring James VII (James II of England) as head of the church. She died along with Margaret McLachlan. Known as the Wigtown Martyrs they are buried in Wigtown Churchyard.
On May 11, 1713, Finnish residents of Helsinki burned their own capital city to the ground rather than allow the Russian invaders to possess their city during the Great Northern War.
1964 Interior designer and businessman Terence Conran opened his first Habitat Shop in London's Fulham Road.
1967 Britain Ireland and Denmark officially applied to join the EEC.
1971The Daily Sketch newspaper, which was founded in 1909, was published for the last time. It was Britain's oldest 'tabloid' newspaper.
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On this day in 1963, Welshman Greville Wynne, an MI5 agent, was found guilty by a Moscow tribunal of spying for the West. He was sentenced to three years in prison and five in a labour camp. His co-accused, 43-year-old Soviet official Oleg Penkovsky, was given the death sentence and executed by firing squad one week after the trial. This came at the height of the Cold War when relations between the superpowers were particularly strained.
Wynne, from Ystrad Mynach, had acted as a go-between passing on information about Soviet rockets' provided for him by Penkovsky during secret meetings in London, Paris and Moscow. 17 months into his sentence he was exchanged for Soviet spy Gordon Lonsdale. On his release, Wynne was in a poor state of health. He had lost a lot of weight and doctors said his time in prison had left him "emotionally and mentally exhausted".
Wynne went on to write about his time as a spy in a book entitled The Man from Odessa, which was one of the early examples of a book being published about secret work that the government never expected to be made public.
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1964: The Rolling Stones are refused lunch at The Grand Hotel, Bristol, where they were staying because are not wearing jackets and ties.
1974
Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin meet Elvis Presley backstage after The King's performance at the Forum in Los Angeles. After hearing that the trio was in the audience, Presley was overheard telling his band, "Wait a minute... if we can start together, fellas, because we've got Led Zeppelin out there... Let's try to look like we know what we're doing, whether we do or not."
1685 The death of 18 year old Margaret Wilson, executed by drowning for refusing to swear an oath declaring James VII (James II of England) as head of the church. She died along with Margaret McLachlan. Known as the Wigtown Martyrs they are buried in Wigtown Churchyard.
On May 11, 1713, Finnish residents of Helsinki burned their own capital city to the ground rather than allow the Russian invaders to possess their city during the Great Northern War.
1964 Interior designer and businessman Terence Conran opened his first Habitat Shop in London's Fulham Road.
1967 Britain Ireland and Denmark officially applied to join the EEC.
1971The Daily Sketch newspaper, which was founded in 1909, was published for the last time. It was Britain's oldest 'tabloid' newspaper.
..
On this day in 1963, Welshman Greville Wynne, an MI5 agent, was found guilty by a Moscow tribunal of spying for the West. He was sentenced to three years in prison and five in a labour camp. His co-accused, 43-year-old Soviet official Oleg Penkovsky, was given the death sentence and executed by firing squad one week after the trial. This came at the height of the Cold War when relations between the superpowers were particularly strained.
Wynne, from Ystrad Mynach, had acted as a go-between passing on information about Soviet rockets' provided for him by Penkovsky during secret meetings in London, Paris and Moscow. 17 months into his sentence he was exchanged for Soviet spy Gordon Lonsdale. On his release, Wynne was in a poor state of health. He had lost a lot of weight and doctors said his time in prison had left him "emotionally and mentally exhausted".
Wynne went on to write about his time as a spy in a book entitled The Man from Odessa, which was one of the early examples of a book being published about secret work that the government never expected to be made public.
..
1964: The Rolling Stones are refused lunch at The Grand Hotel, Bristol, where they were staying because are not wearing jackets and ties.
1974
Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin meet Elvis Presley backstage after The King's performance at the Forum in Los Angeles. After hearing that the trio was in the audience, Presley was overheard telling his band, "Wait a minute... if we can start together, fellas, because we've got Led Zeppelin out there... Let's try to look like we know what we're doing, whether we do or not."
61-69, M
