Investigating Gunpowder Plot

By Mark Nicholls (1991)

This book attempts to examine the ways in which the government of James I set about discovering the details and ramifications of the Gunpowder Plot. The book also has broader aims, to expand our knowledge of the way this administration adapted itself to emergencies, and to elucidate the means by which the Privy Council and its agents enforced their will within the realm.

Fact of the Day

Black Monday was the name for rent day in 1880s, when belongings were pawned to pay the landlord.

Quote of the Day

"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. "

~ Friedrich Engels

On This Day

1579 Thomas Gresham, merchant, financier, and founder of the Royal Exchange, died suddenly, apparently of apoplexy. He bequeathed his estate, after the death of his wife, to the Corporation of London and the Mercers' Company to set up a college to provide free lectures to the public; Gresham College thus became London's first institution of higher education.

1916 The hospital ship Britannic, sister-ship of Titanic, hit a mine and sank, killing 30.

1918 Ten days after the Armistice, the German navy surrendered to the British in the Firth of Forth.

1920 The assassinations of British intelligence officers ordered by Michael Collins in the Irish War of Independence led to thirty-one dead (from both sides) in what became known as 'Bloody Sunday'.

1974 21 people were killed and 182 injured when bombs exploded in two Birmingham pubs. The IRA was probably responsible, but the real culprits have never been found. The Birmingham Six, originally convicted of the bombings, were released because of dodgy police practices.

1981 The proceedings of the House of Commons were televised live for the first time.