History Challenge & Journal

[Dannie Boy]

Regarding Nellie Bly above, it was actually the book by Jules Verne who prompted her to undertake the challenge. Her real name was Elizabeth Jane Cochran and she was a pioneering American journalist employed by Joseph Pulitzer to write for his magazine, New York World. She first came to fame when she elected to write about the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. She revealed the appalling conditions and the terrible treatment of the women held within its walls, by going undercover herself as a patient admitted to the asylum. She became famous for investigative reporting, not shying away from difficult issues, many of them in support of women’s lives. She exposed the prejudice and oppression that many suffered and was a true pioneer in her field.
But undoubtedly her most famous assignment was more light-hearted and entertaining – Nellie took on the challenge to beat Phileas Fogg by travelling around the world faster than Verne could imagine.
In 1889, she left America and sailed to London in just seven days, undaunted by seasickness on the way. She carried on by train to Paris, where she took valuable time out to meet Jules Verne himself in Amiens. She carried on through Europe, Egypt and through the Suez Canal, through Asia and onwards to Japan. The final stint was to sail across the Pacific to San Francisco, where she was greeted by an applauding crowd.
She had successfully beaten Fogg by completing the journey in seventy-two days – a new world record.

[Jimbob]

on the next day (26th ) Sydney was founded by the British as a packaged penal trip destination

[PeteC]

on the next day (26th ) Sydney was founded by the British as a packaged penal trip destination

Yes, 1788. Here it is at the below link:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2023/01/26 ... 674742791/

[Dannie Boy]

Another discovery of an untouched mummy has been made in Egypt that goes back some 4,300 years!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-64415816

[pharvey]

Another discovery of an untouched mummy has been made in Egypt that goes back some 4,300 years!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-64415816

Quite incredible.

[Lost]

Quite an interesting one today, just copy pasted stuff.

January 30th

1948: Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. Nathuram Vinayak Godse (19 May 1910 – 15 November 1949) was the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi. He was a Hindu nationalist from Maharashtra who shot Gandhi in the chest three times at point blank range at a multi-faith prayer meeting in Birla House in New Delhi on 30 January 1948.

1965: State funeral for Winston Churchill at St. Paul's Cathedral. At the time the world's largest ever state funeral.

1972: Bloody Sunday: 27 unarmed civilians are shot (14 are killed) by the British Army during a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland; this is the highest death toll from a single shooting incident during 'the Troubles'

[Lost]

Great interview this I thought. Only 6 odd minutes long but a first hand account of what went on that night is quite something. Maybe many of you may have seen this already.

[dtaai-maai]

Maybe many of you may have seen this already.

Seriously? Some of our members were on the ship!!

[Lost]

Maybe many of you may have seen this already.

Seriously? Some of our members were on the ship!!

Now, now DM.

[dtaai-maai]

It is indeed an extraordinary interview, especially when you consider he was into his 90s by then.

[pharvey]

This (British) clock has two "Minute Hands" - when and why did this come about?
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Clock.jpg (167.96 KiB) Viewed 450 times

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[dtaai-maai]

Well I'm guessing here, but is this before Greenwich Mean Time, when the time was slightly different from one part of the country to another? So perhaps, local time in bold pink, with London time in pale?

[Dannie Boy]

Or, the first one was to tell you what time to put the kettle on to make a cup of tea, and the second one was to tell you when the tea had brewed and was ready to pour?

[Nereus]

It is British Railway Time.

[Big Boy]

Looking at the stonework above the clock, does the additional hand denote when a disaster (maybe mining, looking at the tools) struck?