On 20th February…

1986 - Britain and France announced that they would build the Channel Tunnel. Work didn’t begin until 1988 and it finally opened in 1994. At its lowest point the tunnel is 75m below the seabed, it is nearly 38 kilometres long and cost £9 billion to build. Did you know that it is the longest undersea tunnel in the world? Did you also know that the Victorians began to excavate a tunnel between England and France? Parts of that tunnel still exist today.

On 21st February…

On 22nd February…

1371 - Following the death of King David II, son of Robert the Bruce, King Robert II became King of Scotland starting the Stewart (or Stuart) Dynasty. Initially they were only rulers of Scotland, but in 1603 upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I, her cousin, the Scottish King James VI also became king of England and the Stuart Dynasty ruled over the two countries.

On 23rd February…

On 24th February…

616 - King Aethelbert the Anglo-Saxon king of Kent died. He is thought to have been the first Anglo-Saxon king to welcome Christianity. Before then most Anglo-Saxons believed in similar gods to the Vikings: Woden, Thunor, Frige and Tiw. Some of our days of the week have been named after these gods, can you work out which days they are? (Woden’s day = Wednesday / Thunor’s day = Thursday / Frige’s day = Friday / Tiw’s day = Tuesday)

1303 - The Battle of Roslin took place in Scotland between English and Scottish troops. The Scottish forces, who by most accounts were outnumbered by 30,000 to 8,000 defeated the English and sent them packing in a series of three bloody battles. This was a major victory for the Scottish forces who were led by John Comyn and Simon Fraser as Scotland had not beaten England in battle since the Battle of Falkirk in 1298. With only around 2,000 English soldiers still alive at the end it showed King Edward I that Scotland was still a force to be reckoned with.

On 25th February…

On 26th February…

1797 - The Bank of England issued the very first £1 note. The last English £1 note was printed by the Bank of England on 31st December 1984 and was withdrawn from circulation in 1988 in favour of the £1 coin. (Scotland continues to issue £1 notes which can be used anywhere in the U.K.)