Looking back in time

Now and again I enjoy look back and reminding myself of the important events which occurred in 1936 when I was born. To herald  my arrival into the world, both King George V and Rudyard Kipling died, Edward V111 abdicated, the Spanish Civil War began and four years later WW11 began. Apart from the BBC opening its first TV channel, there was not too much to look forward to.

Curiosity getting the better of me and with time on my hands this week, I looked up to see what going on in 1873, the year my father was born in 1873. Queen Victoria had already been monarch 36 years, the Suez canal had just been opened and the depression of that year caused many banks to fail. The British steamer RMS Atlantic sank off Nova Scotia killing 547 and in 1876 Custer made his last stand at Little Big Horn. December 1879 the Second Anglo-Afghan War began. Singer massed produced his sewing machines, cigars were being replaced by “measly cartridges (cigarettes) that burned down in a minute, destroying every pleasure for the smoker.” Soldiers were now eating meat conserved in metal tins and barbed wire was conceived to keep people in or out. Talk about history repeating itself?

But it was not all gloom and doom. The first Type Writer was produced by the gun makers  Remington  in 1874. In 1876 the first electric street lighting was installed in London and in the same year Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone was introduced and child prostitution was outlawed. An efficient can opener was invented. Flushing toilets were becoming the norm and it was said that, “the only interesting invention in those times has been a porce¬lain contraption that enables you to defecate while seated.” In  September 1880, the first cricket Test match held in Britain. On May 6, 1889 Eifel tower was opened to the public and in 1899 Aspirin was conceived - all of which we must be eternally grateful for.