Dates You Really Should Know: I Quiz

Answer: 1066

The Battle of Hastings was fought in October 1066 between the invading Norman army led by William The Conqueror and the English (Anglo-Saxons) led by King Harold. The armies were pretty well matched in terms of numbers, though the Normans with their archers and crossbowmen had an advantage over the English infantry. Tradition has it that King Harold died when struck in the eye by an arrow.

It was to be the last successful invasion of the English mainland by a foreign foe.

Answer: 1665

London suffered two disasters in the 1660s, the plague and the great fire. The menomic that many people have been taught to remember the dates was "In 1665 hardly a person was left alive/In 1666 the fire went out for lack of sticks". Bubonic plague killed, probably, about 100 million people in Europe from the 1300s to the 1600s.

The plague arrived in Britain in about 1348, but the Great Plague of London in 1665 in most remembered. It probably killed about 100,000 people. [Source: www.britainexpress.com/History/plague.htm]

Answer: 1745

Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart) laid claim to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. Raised in France, the Prince landed in Scotland by ship in 1745, and raised an army from among the Highland clans. They swept all opponents before them and invaded England, reaching as far south as Derby, before returning to Scotland. Success was short-lived, for the English responded vigourously and the Scottish rebels were defeated at Culloden in April 1746.
The Prince's departure from Scotland was immortalized in the 'Skye Boat Song':
"Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry;
Carry the lad that's born to be King
Over the sea to Skye."

Answer: 1690

Now often portrayed as a simply a battle between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, the Battle of the Boyne changed the face of European politics for ever. The Catholic King James II had been deposed by the British Parliament, which invited the Dutch Protestant, William Prince of Orange, to rule as king (alongside Queen Mary). William won the Battle on the River Boyne, ending for ever James's chances of regaining the throne.

The battle was fought on July 1 1690, but is celebrated on July 12 "The Twelfth". (Blame the Gregorian calendar for that oddity)

Answer: 1773

It's probably best filed under the "how things could have been different" heading. In the early 1770s, the colonists of North America protested about being taxed on tea imports at a time when they had no representation in the British Parliament. "No taxation without representation" was one of the calls. On December 16, 1773 the 'Sons of Liberty' disguised themselves as Indian tribesmen, boarded ships in Boston Harbour and dumped their loads of tea in the water.

Answer: 1789

The Bastille was a notorious prison in France and on 14th July 1789 it contained a number - just seven - of prisoners. Its storming by the peasant classes became regarded as one of the key moments of the French Revolution. The guillotine was the favoured way of executing the previous ruling classes and traitors to the revolution - an estimated 40,000 died [www.napoleonguide.com/guillotine.htm] It was said that many approving women sat and knitted as they watched the executions take place.

Answer: 1805

Admiral Lord Nelson was perhaps the most brilliant Royal Navy officer in the Napoleonic Wars. His tactics were frequently considered unorthodox, but they won many battles for the British over the French. On 21st October 1805 he met his Waterloo (sorry for that terrible joke) when he was shot and fatally wounded on the deck of his flagship, HMS Victory, at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Much speculation has been made of his last words. Some claimed they were "kismet (fate), Hardy", or even "kiss me, Hardy".

Answer: 1876

It was one of the most famous of all battles between the native people of America and the settlers, though despite the heavy losses imposed on the US Army, not the bloodiest. The battle was fought on June 25 and June 26 in what became the state of Montana. Too many controversies emerged from the battle to allow any reasoned analysis here.

The actions of the various parties have been revisited and revised many times in the intervening years.

Answer: 1775

"Washington at Valley Forge
Freezing cold but up spoke George
Said vo-doe-de-o, vo-doe-de-o, doe
Vo-doe-de-o doe"
['Crazy Words, Crazy Tune' lyrics by Jack Yellen and music by
Milton Ager.]

The American War of Independence, as it was also known, threw up a number of key dates, though historians trace its inception to the creation of the Second Continental Congress and formation of a Continental Army among the 13 States. In a war that was to last until 1783, more men died by disease than on the battlefield. It is estimated that the Americans lost 8,000 killed in battle and 17,000 to disease. The British had about 1,200 killed in action and lost 18,000 to disease. George Washington led the revolutionaries to victory and became the first president of the new United States of America.

Answer: 1969

History records that Neil Armstrong said "Just one small step for man..." but he maintained he actually said "just one small stop for a man" and people did not hear the 'a'. On July 20th 1969, Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission.

Some conspiracy theorists maintained the landing did not actually take place, but was 'mocked up' in a studio hangar.

Answer: 1963

On November 22nd, John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the USA, was shot and killed as his motorcade drove through the centre of Dallas, Texas. One man, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested but was himself shot dead the following day, by Jack Ruby, before he could go on trial. Many conspiracy theories abounded, the truth may be simpler, but again may never be perfectly known. When Kennedy was elected, three years earlier, a new period of glory - a Camelot - had been predicted.

Answer: 2008

Not since John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960, had there been such excitement about a US Presidential election as that which led to the victory of the Democrat Barack Obama over the Republican John McCain. After eight years of Republican rule, and two unpopular wars, many Americans wanted change.

Many commentators saw in Obama the youthful enthusiasm and potential of Kennedy. Obama was also the first man of African ethnicity to be elected President of the USA.

Answer: 1937

On May 6th 1937, the airship Hindenburg caught fire and crashed as it came in to moor at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester, New Jersey. Thirty-five of the passengers and crew died, and one man on the ground was also killed. Hindenburg had been the pride of Germany, showing off the technological prowess of Hitler's evolving state.

As the airship appeared in sight, a radio announcer, Herbert Morrison, was giving a live broadcast. His tearful commentary, allied to newsreel pictures of the tragedy, formed one of the most iconic news reports of the 20th century.

Answer: 1606

Although indigenous peoples had lived in Australia and Tasmania for around 40,000 years, it is claimed that the first Europeans to discover the southern land-mass were Dutch explorers in 1606. After Willem Janszoon sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606, the Dutch charted most of the coastline and named the new land-mass 'New Holland'.

The Dutch did not settle in their new discovery, though, and it was not until more than a century later that Captain James Cook mapped the east coast and claimed the country for Britain (in 1770).

Answer: 1848

"In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner, forty-niner
And his daughter, Clementine..."
This, now considered traditional song, was written by Percy Montrose in about 1884.

In January 1848, gold was discovered at at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California. By the time the news reached the eastern shores of the USA - and far overseas - it was 1849 and the adventurers who flooded there to try to make their fortune became known as 'forty-niners'. It was estimated that 300,000 people flocked to the state, but the gold rush was over by 1855.