This Day in History - 10th August
991
At the Battle of Maldon (Essex) the English were defeated by a band of inland-raiding Vikings. After the battle, Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury and aldermen advised King Aethelred to buy off the Vikings rather than continue the armed struggle. The result was a payment of 10,000 Roman pounds (3,300 kg) of silver.
1675King Charles II laid the foundation stone of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London. The observatory was built to provide English navigators with accurate tables of the positions of the moon and stars.
1842Britain passed the Mines Act - forbidding women and children from working underground.
1856The birth of William Willett, English builder and a tireless promoter of British Summer Time. Using his own financial resources, he published a pamphlet 'The Waste of Daylight'. Willett campaigned vigorously but did not live to see the fruits of his labours become law, as he died of influenza in 1915 at the age of 58. He is commemorated in Petts Wood, Bromley, by a memorial sundial which is set to British Summer Time.
1889The screw bottle top was patented by Dan Rylands of Hope Glass Works, Yorkshire.
1895The first Promenade Concert (The Proms) was held at the Queen's Hall, London, conducted by Henry Wood.
1897The founding the the RAC - the Royal Automobile Club - originally known as the Automobile Club of Great Britain.
1911British MPs voted to receive salaries for the first time.
1933The birth in Blackburn, Lancashire of Keith Duckworth an English mechanical engineer most most famous for designing the Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) engine that revolutionised the sport of Formula One motor racing.
1954Sir Gordon Richards announced his retirement as a racing jockey to become a trainer. Sir Gordon rode 4,870 winners in his 34-year racing career.
1961Britain applied for membership of the EEC - the European Economic Community.
1966Charlie Dimmock, TV gardener was born.
1977The Queen visited Northern Ireland for the first time in 11 years as part of her Silver Jubilee tour.
1986English cricketer Ian Botham scored a record 175 in a one day Sunday League match - including 13 sixes.
1988Scientists feared that a disease which killed more than 6,000 seals in the North Sea and the Baltic had reached British waters.
1998English football club Manchester United became the first club in the world to have its own TV channel - MUTV.
2003The temperature in Britain exceeded 100° F for the first time when 101.3 °F (38.5 °C) was recorded in the hamlet of Brogdale near Faversham, Kent.
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