27 MAY Thought for the day : " When forced to choose between two evils, try the new one. " Spring Bank Holiday (UK) Memorial Day (USA) 1626: William II, Prince of Orange born. 1679: The Habeas Corpus Act, which demands that the prisoner must be brought before the courts, not unlawfully detained, was passed in Britain. 1703: Tsar Peter the Great proclaimed St Petersburg the new Russian capital. 1815: Birth of Sir Henry Parkes, Australian statesman, in England. He emigrated in 1839 and became a leading Sydney journalist and a member of the colonial parliament in 1884 before becoming Prime Minister from 1872, an office he held a number of times. 1818: Amelia (Jenks) Bloomer was born. This US woman’s rights campaigner designed, in 1849, the knee-length skirt and trousers called ‘bloomers’, as part of her attempts at dress reform. 1819: Julia Ward Howe was born, US suffragette who is best known for ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ (1861) sung to the tune of ‘John Brown’s Body’. 1833: Liverpool's Zoological Gardens opened at West Derby, thousands queued to see the gorilla. 1837: James Butler ‘Wild Bill’ Hickock, US frontiersman, sharpshooter and scout during the Civil War for the Union army. He became a US marshal and is credited with the deaths of a number of outlaws. 1851: The first Chess International Masters tournament was held in London and was won by Adolf Anderssen of Germany. 1878: ‘Demon bowler’ Frederick Spofforth of Australia took 11 wickets for 20 runs against the MCC. 1895: British inventor Birt Acres patents film camera/projector. 1900: Belgium became the first country to elect a government by proportional representation. 1903: The Bishop of Sydney Australia, unveiled Memorial window of St Mary's, Birkenhead. 1905: Japan’s Admiral Togo led his fleet to a victory at Tsushima Straits, destroying 32 Russian vessels. Only three escaped. 1919: The first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic from New York to Lisbon arrived after 44 hours and several stops. 1921: After 84 years of British control, Afghánistán achieves sovereignty. 1923: Birth of Dr Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State, in Germany. He emigrated to the US in 1938. He set up the visits of Nixon to both Russia and China and shared the Nobel Peace prize in 1973 with Le Duc Tho for helping to negotiate an end to the Vietnam War. 1930: Richard Drew invents masking tape. 1931: Auguste Piccard and Charles Kipfer reached the stratosphere (52,462 feet) in a special aluminium gondola before landing safely on an Austrian glacier. 1936: The first open prison in Britain was opened at New Hall, Yorkshire. 1936: The Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage from Southampton via Cherbourg to New York. 1937: The world’s longest suspension bridge, the 4,200 ft Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, was opened. 1938 Bradman scores his 1000th cricket run of England season, earliest to do so. 1940 British & French continue evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo). 1941: The German battleship, Bismarck, was sunk by aircraft from the Ark Royal, and HMS Rodney, Prince of Wales and King George V. 1942: Hitler orders 10,000 Czechoslovakians murdered. 1943: Born today, Cilla Black Liverpool England, rock vocalist (You're My World) 1963: Jomo Kenyatta was elected Kenya’s first Prime Minister, and in 1974, Jacques Chirac became Premier of France. 1981: Liverpool wins 26th Europe Cup 1 at Paris France. 1985: Britain agrees to return Hong Kong to China in 1997. 1997: 1st all female (20 British women) team reaches North Pole. 1988: In Canada, a man was acquitted of murdering his mother after he said he had been sleepwalking when he drove 14 miles to her home, hit her with an iron bar and then stabbed her. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.365 / Virus Database: 202 - Release Date: 24/05/02