The Battle of Montgomery took place on 17th September 1644, during the First English Civil War of 1642–1646. It was the first battle of this conflict to take place on Welsh soil. A Parliamentarian force commanded by Sir John Meldrum engaged a Royalist army led by Lord Byron which was besieging Montgomery Castle which controlled the access into Mid-Wales. The result was a victory for the Parliamentarians.
1789 William Herschel discovers Saturn's moon Mimas using his 40-foot reflector telescope.
The man-made sea wall at Porthmadog known as 'The Cob' was opened on 17th September 1811. It was built by William Alexander Madocks and was instrumental in the emergence of the towns of Porthmadog and Tremadog.
Crossing the sands had always been very dangerous, with people using guides to cross safely. Madocks had begun building the town of Tremadog in 1798 and when the Act of Union, combining the Kingdoms of Britain and Ireland came into force in 1800, it was anticipated that traffic in North Wales would increase as links with Ireland were developed.
Maddocks saw an opportunity to increase the accessibility of Tremadog and to reclaim thousands of acres of land by building the Cob across the River Glaslyn estuary. The project began in March 1805 and employed approximately 400 people. The Cob was opened on 17 September 1811, with a four-day celebration including an Eisteddfod.
1859 Joshua Abraham Norton, an English-born resident of San Francisco, proclaims himself His Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, Emperor of the United States of America.
1916 World War I flying ace, the Red Baron of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.
On 17th September 1944, the wartime 'blackout' was lifted over much of Wales. Most Luftwaffe air raids were undertaken at night, thousands of feet above ground level, which made it hard for them to identify their targets. To aid their difficulty a total blackout was imposed in built-up areas by the British Government during the war. All house owners were expected to use thick black curtains or to paint their windows with blackout paint.
1954 "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding is published by Faber and Faber in London. Furry has read this.
1954 "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding is published by Faber and Faber in London
1934 RCA Victor releases the first 33 1/3 rpm recording: Beethoven's Fifth Symphony performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Leopold Stokowski at the Philadelphia Academy of Music.
1967: The Doors are banned from The Ed Sullivan Show after Jim Morrison sings ‘Girl, we couldn’t get much higher’ during the band's performance of 'Light My Fire' on live TV. Morrison had previously agreed to change the then controversial lyric.
@ninalanyon BTW, the Byrons never actually owned or occupied Montgomery Castle. It was surrounded and besieged for a couple weeks in 1644 by Lord John Byron for his famous battle. After his defeat, the English Parliament ordered the fortress to be demolished in June 1649.
Lord Byron the poet, after spending his first 10 years in Scotland, inherited Newstead Abbey (about 100 miles from Montgomery Castle) in 1798 at age 10 and kept it about 20 years; then sold it to settle debts and lived abroad.
Herschel discovers Saturn's moon Mimas using his 40-foot reflector telescope.
That gives a misleading impression. Reflecting telescope sizes usually relate the the mirror diameter which in this case was four feet. Herschel's telescope was forty feet long. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40-foot_telescope
Herschel's younger sister Caroline was paid 50 pounds a year to act as his assistant making her the first professional woman astronomer, just one of many achievements:
She was the first known professional female astronomer, and the first woman to receive a salary as a scientist, and the first woman in England to hold a government position.[5][6] She was also the first woman to publish scientific findings in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society,[7] to be awarded a Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1828), and to be named an honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society (1835, with Mary Somerville). She was named an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy (1838). The King of Prussia presented her with a gold medal for Science on the occasion of her 96th birthday (1846).[8]
@ninalanyon Exactly. We rate and compare telescopes largely by amount of light collected. The area of the light collector -- mirror diameter or front lens diameter squared -- is proportional to the collecting power. Resolving power, also significant, is directly proportional to diameter.
