Explore Orlando

Here, you’ll find randomized material from across the textbase’s author profiles and timelines. To jump to the content of your choice, click on its image card.

10 January 1645: William Laud, Charles I's unpopular High...

National or international item

10 January 1645

William Laud , Charles I 's unpopular High Church Archbishop of Canterbury, impeached the previous autumn, was executed.
Cope, Esther S. Handmaid of the Holy Spirit: Dame Eleanor Davies, Never Soe Mad a Ladie. University of Michigan Press, 1992.
121-2
Purkiss, Diane. The English Civil War, A People’s History. Harper Perennial, 2007.
374
Lady Eleanor Douglas had both prophesied this event and called for it to be done.

1733: The Lord Chancellor Charles Talbot handed...

Building and people item

1733

The Lord Chancellor Charles Talbot handed down a judgement (Chaplin v. Chaplin) making it harder for a widow to secure dower (traditional entitlement to one-third of her husband's property).
Stoyan, Sydney Lyn. The Widow’s Might: Law and the Widow in British Fiction, 1689-1791. University of Ottawa, 2002.
20-1

24 August 1939: The day after the German-Russian non-aggression...

National or international item

24 August 1939

The day after the German-Russian non-aggression pact was signed, the British government prepared for war with the Emergency Powers Act. The Act put the full authority of the law behind defence regulations issued by the...

1882: Dutch physician Aletta Jacobs opened the...

Building and people item

1882

Dutch physician Aletta Jacobs opened the world's first contraceptive clinic in Amsterdam.
Trager, James. The Women’s Chronology: A Year-by-Year Record, from Prehistory to the Present. Henry Holt, 1994.
321
Fryer, Peter. The Birth Controllers. Secker and Warburg, 1965.
208, 318n24

1968: US feminist Valerie Solanas published her...

Writer or writing item

1968

US feminist Valerie Solanas published her feminist SCUM Manifesto, titled from SCUM, the Society for Cutting Up Men (which seems to have existed in name only).
Solanas, Valerie. The SCUM Manifesto. http://replay.web.archive.org/20030308095814/http://www.reactor-core.org/scum.html.

April 1756: Thomas Neale published a treatise on venereal...

Building and people item

April 1756

Thomas Neale published a treatise on venereal disease.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
1 (1756): 303-9
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

27 October 1931: In the general election, the National Coalition...

National or international item

27 October 1931

In the general election, the National Coalition Government won a landslide victory (a majority of nearly five hundred seats over the combined opposition) but became much more Conservative in tone than it had been. Most...

1970: The Women's Street Theatre Company was founded...

Women writers item

1970

The Women's Street Theatre Company was founded in London by Alison Fell , Buzz Goodbody , and Susan Todd as a feminist and socialist performance group.
“Records of The Monstrous Regiment Theatre Company”. AIM25: London Metropolitan University: Women’s Library.
Roberts, Michèle. Paper Houses. Virago, 2007.
34

Christine Brooke-Rose

CBR 's literary output includes five books of criticism and literary theory, sixteen novels, a collection of short stories, poetry, and an autobiography. She was an influential twentieth-century critic and theorist, and she is a...

24-29 April 1916: In what became known as the Easter Rising,...

National or international item

24-29 April 1916

In what became known as the Easter Rising, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army took control of Dublin.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
303
Foster, Robert Fitzroy. Modern Ireland 1600-1972. Allen Lane, 1988.
613

1853: Charles Watt and Hugh Burgess obtained a...

Writer or writing item

1853

Charles Watt and Hugh Burgess obtained a UK patent for the use of wood-pulp in manufacturing paper.
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
150
Baker, Nicholson. Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper. Random House, 2001.
56-7, 61-2

1820: David Jones of the Methodist London Missionary...

National or international item

1820

David Jones of the Methodist London Missionary Society travelled to Antananarivo in Madagascar, to spread the word of Christianity.
Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. 2nd ed., Penguin, 1990.
269

27 July 1689: John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee,...

National or international item

27 July 1689

John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee , led a force of Scottish Highlanders loyal to James II against William ite English soldiers in the pass of Killiecrankie.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2025, 22 vols. plus supplements.

20 March 2016: A startling report by the World Meteorological...

National or international item

20 March 2016

A startling report by the World Meteorological Organization noted (and attributed unequivocally to human activity) unprecedentedly high worldwide temperatures, disappearance of polar ice, and rising sea levels.
Carrington, Damian. “Record-breaking climate change pushes world into ’uncharted territory’”. theguardian.com, 21 Mar. 2017.

About 1950: A post-war period of prosperity and unprecedented...

National or international item

About 1950

A post-war period of prosperity and unprecedented growth rates settled in throughout the developed world. In Britain the transformation from postwar austerity was gradual but marked. These conditions lasted until the crisis over oil prices...

1865: The Dudley Gallery was founded; it featured...

Building and people item

1865

The Dudley Gallery was founded; it featured the works of many female artists.
Marsh, Jan, and Pamela Gerrish Nunn. Women Artists and the Pre-Raphaelite Movement. Virago, 1989.
77

11 July 1921: Fighting in Ireland between British forces...

National or international item

11 July 1921

Fighting in Ireland between British forces and the Irish Republican Army ended in a truce: the next step was to negotiate a new constitutional status for Ireland.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Michael Collins

10 March 1722: Parliament was dissolved: elections followed...

National or international item

10 March 1722

Parliament was dissolved: elections followed before the new parliament was summoned for 10 May.
Sedgwick, Romney. The House of Commons, 1715-1754. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1970.
1: 132

Annie Besant

AB is known primarily for two streams of non-fiction writing, one concerning birth control and the other the Theosophist movement. However, this omits much of the remarkable output whose topics ranged from women's rights and...

July 1898: The Pioneer, the organ of the Social Purity...

Building and people item

July 1898

The Pioneer, the organ of the Social Purity Alliance and the Moral Reform Union , ended publication in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
11

1945: Dropmore Press was founded by Lord Kemsley...

Writer or writing item

1945

Dropmore Press was founded by Lord Kemsley as a private press under the direction of Edward Shanks , for experimental work in book production.
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
185
Cave, Roderick. The Private Press. Faber and Faber, 1971.
231

About 1400: An important manuscript book in Welsh, compiled...

Writer or writing item

About 1400

An important manuscript book in Welsh, compiled this year, is now known as the Llyfr Coch o Hergest or Red Book of Hergest. It survives in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Hopcyn ap Tomas ab Einion

27 January 1913: The Cabinet decided to withdraw the Franchise...

National or international item

27 January 1913

The Cabinet decided to withdraw the Franchise Bill which had been introduced in the House of Commons three days previously.
Hume, Leslie Parker. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, 1897-1914. Garland, 1982.
186-7

1636: England experienced another outbreak of the...

National or international item

1636

England experienced another outbreak of the bubonic plague: this time 10,500 died in London and 5,500 in the northern area of Tyneside.
Hill, Christopher. The Century of Revolution, 1603-1714. Sphere Books, 1969.
278