Museum of Women in the Arts

On 7 April 1987, the National Museum of Women in the Arts opened in Washington DC, USA.

Life on the Moon

 In 1835 a newspaper called the New York Sun claimed that, using a new powerful telescope people could see plants and animals on the Moon. They could also see 'people' who were half man and half bat. I always think it's a pity it was a hoax. It would be nice if there was life on the Moon.

Bermondsey

I wrote a history of Bermondsey. For centuries it was a village before it became a district of London. 

Warnford

 I wrote a history of the tiny village of Warnford in Hampshire 

The last woman to be sentenced to death in Britain

 Most people know that the last woman to be hanged in Britain was Ruth Ellis in 1955. However, the last woman to be sentenced to death in Britain was Mary Wilson in 1958. 

Wilson was convicted of poisoning two of her husbands with phosphorous. She was sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. The remains of two other husbands were exhumed and found to contain poison but it was felt there was no point in having another trial. Wilson died in prison in 1963.

Did Brides Carry Bouquets to Hide Their BO?

 You sometimes read that people got married in May because they only had a bath once a year - in May. The bridge carried bouquets to hide her BO. This is complete nonsense. People sometimes got married in May because they believed it was good luck to get married in that month. Brides did not carry bouquets to hide their smell. Flowers were once fertility symbols or charms. They were carried to ensure the fertility of the bride. Bouquets also often included certain herbs that people believed would drive away evil spirits or bad luck, in the way that garlic was supposed to repel vampires. 

In the 1800s it became the custom for the bride to throw her bouquet into the air. Whoever caught it would have good luck. That soon changed into the idea that whoever caught it would be the next to get married. Today it’s a bit of fun but once people took these superstitions seriously.

Emmeline Pankhurst

 On 3 April 1913 suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst was sentenced to 3 years in prison for 'inciting to malicious damage to property' ( she incited others to plant a bomb in the home of David Lloyd George the Chancellor of the Exchequer).