On 21st March…

On 22nd March

871 - King Aethelred, the Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex, fought Viking invaders at the Battle of Marton or Meretun. The outcome is unclear: some reports say the Vikings won; others say King Aethelred won. It was still only March and the battle was the fourth of the year against the Vikings. Aethelred died about a month later, possibly from battle wounds. Who do you think won? Would you rather be a Viking invading the land or an Anglo-Saxon defending your king and country?

On 23rd March…

1929 - Roger Bannister the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes was born in Harrow, Greater London. In 1954 he completed the race in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. At the time it was thought to be impossible to run that far in less than 4 minutes, but today top athletes regularly beat the 4-minute mile. Hicham El Guerrouj from Morocco is the current record holder, his time stands at 3 minutes 43.13 seconds (3:43.13) and hasn’t been beaten since 1999.

2020 - Following the worldwide pandemic outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, the first Lockdown in the UK began. The government hoped it would stop the spread of the virus and save lives. People were told to stay at home; schools, shops, offices, bars and restaurants were all closed. How did the lockdown make you feel? Were you scared or worried for relatives? Or did you enjoy being at home with your family and having on-line school lessons?

Did you know that schools closed during the outbreak of Spanish flu in 1918? My grandmother used to tell me how she had to stay at home and how everyone was told to wear a handkerchief over their face to stop them from catching the flu?

On 24th March…

On 25th March…

1306 - Robert the Bruce became King Robert I of Scotland. At his lowest point he hid out in a cave after being defeated in battle, he was about to give up when he watched a spider try and fail and try again to build a web. This inspired him to regroup his troops and march into battle once more with the now famous phrase, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.”

1807 - The slave trade was abolished in the UK. This meant that anybody transporting or selling slaves was breaking British law. Slavery itself wasn’t abolished in the UK until 1834.

On 26th March…

1945 - David Lloyd George, the politician who was Prime Minister of Britain during World War I died of cancer.

 On 27th March…

1968 - Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, crashed and died whilst on a training flight.