On this Day: 31st December 1992 – Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia

The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, was an event that saw the self-determined separation of the federal state of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, entities which had arisen in 1969 within the framework of Czechoslovak federalisation, became immediate subjects of the international law in 1993.

It is sometimes known as the Velvet Divorce, a reference to the bloodless Velvet Revolution of 1989 that led to the end of the rule of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the formation of a democratic government.

By the 1990s, the Czech Republic's GDP per capita was some 20% higher than Slovakia's, but its long-run GDP growth was lower. Transfer payments from the Czech budget to Slovakia, which had been the rule in the past, were stopped in January 1991.

Many Czechs and Slovaks desired the continued existence of a federal Czechoslovakia. Some major Slovak parties, however, advocated a looser form of co-existence and the Slovak National Party complete independence and sovereignty. In the next years, political parties re-emerged, but Czech parties had little or no presence in Slovakia, and vice versa. In order to have a functional state, the government demanded continued control from Prague, while Slovaks continued to ask for decentralization.

In 1992, the Czech Republic elected Václav Klaus and others who demanded either an even tighter federation ("viable federation") or two independent states. Vladimír Mečiar and other leading Slovak politicians of the day wanted a kind of confederation. The two sides opened frequent and intense negotiations in June. On 17 July, the Slovak parliament adopted the Declaration of independence of the Slovak nation. Six days later, Klaus and Meciar agreed to dissolve Czechoslovakia at a meeting in Bratislava. Czechoslovak president Václav Havel resigned rather than oversee the dissolution which he had opposed; in a September 1992 poll, only 37% of Slovaks and 36% of Czechs favoured dissolution.

The goal of negotiations switched to achieving a peaceful division. On 13 November, the Federal Assembly passed Constitution Act 541 which settled the division of property between the Czech lands and Slovakia. With Constitution Act 542, passed on 25 November, they agreed to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia as of 31 December 1992.

The separation occurred without violence, and was thus said to be "velvet", much like the "Velvet revolution" which preceded it, which was accomplished through massive peaceful demonstrations and actions. In contrast, other post-communist break-ups (such as the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia) involved violent conflict.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever http://www.photolegacy.com

http://www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_Czechoslovakia

Images courtesy of the Swedish National Heritage Board under The Commons Agreement

http://www.flickr.com/photos/swedish_heritage_board/4553783333/

On this Day: 31st December 1992 – Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia

On this Day: 28th December 1908 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily killing over 75,000.

On December 28, 1908 from about 05:20 to 05:21 an earthquake of 7.1 on the moment magnitude scale occurred centered on the of city Messina, in Sicily. Reggio on the Italian mainland also suffered heavy damage. The ground shook for some 30 to 40 seconds, and the destruction was felt within a 300-kilometer (186-mile) radius. Moments after the earthquake, a 12-meter (39-foot) tsunami struck nearby coasts, causing even more devastation; 91% of structures in Messina were destroyed and some 70,000 residents were killed. Rescuers searched through the rubble for weeks, and whole families were still being pulled out alive days later, but thousands remained buried there. Buildings in the area had not been constructed for earthquake resistance, having heavy roofs and vulnerable foundations.

In the years following 1908, precautions were taken when reconstruction began, building architecture that would be able to withstand earthquakes of variable magnitude, if one should strike again. In the midst of reconstruction many of the Italian residents were relocated to various parts of Italy. Others were forced to emigrate to America. In 1909 the cargo ship Florida carried 850 such passengers away from Naples. Lost in a dense fog, the Florida collided with the Republic, a luxury passenger liner. Three people aboard the Florida were killed instantly. Within minutes, pandemonium broke out on the ship. The captain of the Florida, Angelo Ruspini, used extreme measures to regain control of the desperate passengers, including firing gunshots into the air. Eventually the survivors were rescued at sea and brought into the New York harbor where they would start a new life.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever http://www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1908_Messina_earthquake

Images courtesy of Wikimedia under The Commons Agreement on Flickr

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Underwood_%26_Underwood_%C2%A9_1906_No._10495_-_Messina_-_The_once_beautiful_Water-front_after_the_earthquake_dett.jpg

On this Day: 28th December 1908 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily killing over 75,000.

On this Day: 27th December 1978 – Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship

The death of Franco elevated Don Juan Carlos de Borbón to the throne. Until Franco’s death, Juan Carlos had remained in the background and seemed to follow the dictator’s plans of appointing him his successor as head of state with the title of King of Spain. Once in power as king, Juan Carlos facilitated the development of the current political system, as his father, Don Juan de Borbón, had advocated since 1946.

The transition was an ambitious plan that counted on ample support both within and outside of Spain. Western governments, headed by the United States, now favored a Spanish constitutional monarchy, as did many Spanish and international liberal capitalists.

Nevertheless, the transition proved challenging, as the spectre of the Civil War (1936–1939) still haunted Spain. Francoists on the far right enjoyed considerable support within the Spanish Army, and people of the left distrusted a king who owed his position to Franco.

The realization of the democratic project required that the leftist opposition restrain its own most radical elements from provocation, and that the army refrain from intervening in the political process on behalf of Francoist elements within the existing government.

Juan Carlos began his reign without leaving the confines of Franco's legal system. As such, he swore fidelity to the Principles of the Movimiento Nacional, the sole legal party of the Franco era; took possession of the crown before the Francoist Cortes Generales; and respected the Ley Orgánica del Estado (Organic Law of the State) for the appointment of his first head of government. Only in his speech before the Cortes did he indicate his support for a transformation of the Spanish political system.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever http://www.photolegacy.com

http://www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain#Post_Franco

Images courtesy of The US National Archives under The Commons Agreement on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/6176188044/sizes/o/

Photograph of President William J. Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain, 04/29/1993

On this Day: 27th December 1978 – Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship

On this Day: 24th December 1968 The crew of Apollo 8 become the first to orbit around the Moon

On December 24, 1968, in what was the most watched television broadcast at the time, the crew of Apollo 8 read in turn from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the moon. Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman recited verses 1 through 10, using the King James Version text.

Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the United States Apollo space program, was launched on December 21, 1968 and became the first manned space craft to leave Earth orbit, reach the Earth's Moon, orbit it and return safely to Earth. The three-astronaut crew — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders — became the first humans to travel beyond low Earth orbit, the first to see Earth as a whole planet, and then the first to directly see the far side of the Moon. The 1968 mission, the third flight of the Saturn V rocket and the first manned launch of the Saturn V, was also the first manned launch from the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida, located adjacent to Cape Canaveral.

Originally planned as a second Lunar Module/Command Module test in an elliptical medium Earth orbit in early 1969, the mission profile was changed in August 1968 to a more ambitious Command Module-only lunar orbital flight to be flown in December, because the Lunar Module was not yet ready to make its first flight. This meant Borman's crew was scheduled to fly two to three months sooner than originally planned, leaving them a shorter time for training and preparation, thus placing more demands than usual on their time and discipline.

Apollo 8 took three days to travel to the Moon. It orbited ten times over the course of 20 hours, during which the crew made a Christmas Eve television broadcast in which they read the first 10 verses from the Book of Genesis. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever. Apollo 8's successful mission paved the way for Apollo 11 to fulfill U.S. President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s. The Apollo 8 astronauts returned to Earth on December 27, 1968, when their space craft splashed down in the Northern Pacific Ocean. 

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever http://www.photolegacy.com

http://www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8

Images courtesy of NASA under The Commons Agreement of Flickr

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg

On this Day: 24th December 1968 The crew of Apollo 8 become the first to orbit around the Moon

On this Day: 21st of December 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theater

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on the German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, it is the first full-length cel animated feature film in history, the first produced in full color, the first to be produced by Walt Disney Productions, and the first in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The story was adapted by storyboard artists Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears and Webb Smith. David Hand was the supervising director, while William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen directed the film's individual sequences.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre on December 21, 1937, followed by a nationwide release on February 4, 1938. It went on to gross a total of $8 million in international receipts in its opening release. The film was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 1989. It was one of two animated films to rank in the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films of all time in 1997 (the other being Disney's Fantasia), ranking number 49. It reached number 34 in the list's 2007 revision, this time being the only traditionally-animated film on the list. The AFI named the film as the greatest American animated film of all time in 2008.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever http://www.photolegacy.com

http://www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Seven_Dwarfs_(1937_film)

Images courtesy of Wikimedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Snow_White_1937_poster.jpg

On this Day: 21st of December 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theater

On this Day: 20th December 1973 – Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid

Don Luis Carrero Blanco, 1st Duke of Carrero Blanco, Grandee of Spain (4 March 1904 – 20 December 1973) was a Spanish admiral and long-time confidant of leader Francisco Franco.

Within six months of being named prime minister, Carrero Blanco was assassinated in Madrid by four Basque members of ETA, who carried out a bombing while he returned from Mass in a Dodge 3700. Since Carrero Blanco could have become the most powerful figure in Spain upon Franco's passing, his death was perhaps instrumental in the transition toward a democratic government in that country.

In his first speech to the Cortes on 12 February 1974, Carrero Blanco's successor, the new prime minister Carlos Arias Navarro, promised liberalizing reforms including the right to form political associations. Though he was denounced by hardliners within the regime, the transition had begun.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever http://www.photolegacy.com

http://www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Carrero_Blanco

Images courtesy of Wikimedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Luis_Carrero_Blanco.jpg

On this Day: 20th December 1973 – Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid

On this Day: 19th December 1972 – Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17 returns to Earth.

Apollo 17 was the final mission of the United States' Apollo lunar landing program, and was the sixth landing of humans on the Moon. Launched at 12:33 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on December 7, 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 remains the most recent manned Moon landing and the most recent crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit. After Apollo 17, extra Apollo spacecraft were used in the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project programs.

Apollo 17 was the sixth Apollo lunar landing, the first night launch of a U.S. human spaceflight and the final crewed launch of a Saturn V rocket. It was a "J-type mission", missions including three-day lunar surface stays, extended scientific capability, and the third Lunar Roving Vehicle. While Evans remained in lunar orbit above in the Command/Service Module, Cernan and Schmitt spent just over three days on the lunar surface in the Taurus-Littrow valley, conducting three periods of extra-vehicular activity, or moonwalks, during which they collected lunar samples and deployed scientific instruments. Cernan, Evans, and Schmitt returned to Earth on December 19 after an approximately 12-day mission.

The decision to land in the Taurus-Littrow valley was made with the primary objectives for Apollo 17 in mind: to sample lunar highland material older than the impact that formed Mare Imbrium and investigating the possibility of relatively young volcanic activity in the same vicinity. Taurus-Littrow was selected with the prospects of finding highland material in the valley's north and south walls and the possibility that several craters in the valley surrounded by dark material could be linked to volcanic activity.

Apollo 17 also broke several records set by previous flights, including the longest manned lunar landing flight; the longest total lunar surface extravehicular activities; the largest lunar sample return, and the longest time in lunar orbit.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever http://www.photolegacy.com

http://www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17

Images courtesy of State Library and Archives of Florida under the Creative Commons on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/floridamemory/8251502117/sizes/o/

On this Day: 19th December 1972 – Apollo program: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17 returns to Earth.

On this Day: 17th December 1903 – The Wright Brothers make their first in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

On December 17, 1903, at 10:30 am at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, this airplane arose for a few seconds to make the first powered, heavier-than-air controlled flight in history. The first flight lasted 12 seconds and flew a distance of 120 feet. Orville Wright piloted the historic flight while his brother, Wilbur, observed. The brothers took three other flights that day, each flight lasting longer than the other with the final flight going a distance of 852 feet in 59 seconds. This flight was the culmination of a number of years of research on gliders.

Orville and Wilbur Wright's curiosity with flight began in 1878 when their father, Milton, gave them a rubber band powered toy helicopter. Although they were never formally educated, the self-taught engineers constantly experimented with kites and gliders. Bicycle shop owners by occupation, the brothers spent years designing, testing and redesigning their gliders and planes. After the successful flights of December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur continued to perfect their plane. In 1909 the Army Signal Corps purchased a Wright Flyer, creating the first military airplane. Although Wilbur passed away May 30, 1912, from typhoid fever, Orville remained an active promoter of aviation until his death on January 30, 1948.

The Air Age truly began with that historic flight on December 17, 1903. In 1908 the Wright Brothers designed the first military aircraft for the Army Signal Corps. Seven years later, in 1915, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) became the nations leading aviation research organization, of which Orville was a member for 28 years. As the airplane became more aerodynamic and technically advanced, its uses expanded into many different directions. Military aircraft played significant roles in both World War I and World War II. The airplane made worldwide travel and exploration possible. Spaceflight would never have been realized without the pioneering achievements of the Wright Brothers.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever http://www.photolegacy.com

http://www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers

Images courtesy of NASA under The Commons Agreement of Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons/7605918566/

On this Day: 17th December 1903 – The Wright Brothers make their first in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

On this Day: 14th of December 1918 : Women Vote in UK General Election for First Time

The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Although polling was held on 14 December 1918, the count did not begin until 28 December. The election was won by a coalition of the Conservatives under Andrew Bonar Law, the pro-coalition Liberals under David Lloyd George, and a few independent and former Labour MPs including the anti-socialist National Democratic and Labour Party. It resulted in a government which retained Lloyd George as Prime Minister.

It is considered the first and the only largely democratic and universal elections on the whole United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in which for the first time the majority of poorer British and Catholic Irish adult people were allowed to vote for Parliament.The Representation of the People Act 1918 widened suffrage by abolishing practically all property qualifications for men and by enfranchising women over 30 who met minimum property qualifications. The enfranchisement of this latter group was accepted as recognition of the contribution made by women defence workers. However, women were still not politically equal to men (who could vote from the age of 21); full electoral equality wouldn't occur until the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928.

The terms of the act were:

1. All adult males gain the vote, as long as they are 21 years old or over and are resident in the constituency

2. Women over 30 years old receive the vote but they have to be either a member or married to a member of the Local Government Register

The size of the electorate tripled from the 7.7 million who had been entitled to in 1912 to 21.4 million by the end of 1918. Women now accounted for about 43% of the electorate- had women been enfranchised based upon the same requirements as men, they would have been in the majority because of the loss of men in the war. 

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever http://www.photolegacy.com

http://www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_the_People_Act_1918

Images courtesy of Eastman House under The Commons Agreement of Flickr

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_the_People_Act_1918

On this Day: 14th of December 1918 : Women Vote in UK General Election for First Time

On this Day: 12th of December 1901 : Marconi sends 1st transatlantic wireless message

The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that existed from 1897 until 2006, undergoing numerous changes, mergers and acquisitions during that time. The company was founded by the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi and was originally known as The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company. The company was a pioneer of wireless long distance communication and mass media broadcasting, eventually becoming one of the UKs most successful manufacturing companies.

Marconi's "Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company" was formed on 20 July 1897 after the granting of a British patent for wireless in March of that year. The company opened the world's first radio factory on Hall Street in Chelmsford in 1898 and was responsible for some of the most important advances in radio and television.

At the turn of the 20th century, Marconi began investigating the means to signal completely across the Atlantic, in order to compete with the transatlantic telegraph cables. Marconi established a wireless transmitting station at Marconi House, Rosslare Strand, Co. Wexford in 1901 to act as a link between Poldhu in Cornwall and Clifden in Co. Galway. He soon made the announcement that on 12 December 1901, using a 152.4-metre (500 ft) kite-supported antenna for reception, the message was received at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland (now part of Canada) signals transmitted by the company's new high-power station at Poldhu, Cornwall. The distance between the two points was about 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi).

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever http://www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marconi_Company

Images courtesy of The Smithsonian Institute under The Commons Agreement of Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2551824648/

On this Day: 12th of December 1901 : Marconi sends 1st transatlantic wireless message 


On this Day: 11th of December 1946 – The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established

UNICEF was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II. In 1954, UNICEF became a permanent part of the United Nations System and its name was shortened from the original United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund but it has continued to be known by the popular acronym based on this old name.

UNICEF relies on contributions from governments and private donors and UNICEF's total income for 2008 was $3,372,540,239. Governments contribute two thirds of the organization's resources; private groups and some 6 million individuals contribute the rest through the National Committees. It is estimated that 91.8% of their revenue is distributed to Program Services. UNICEF's programs emphasize developing community-level services to promote the health and well-being of children. UNICEF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965 and the Prince of Asturias Award of Concord in 2006.

Most of UNICEF's work is in the field, with staff in over 190 countries and territories. More than 200 country offices carry out UNICEF's mission through a program developed with host governments. Seventeen regional offices provide technical assistance to country offices as needed.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever http://www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNICEF

Images courtesy of Antonio Abrignani / Shutterstock.com

On this Day: 11th of December 1946 – The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established

On this Day: 10th of December 1936 : Edward VIII abdicates

Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; later The Duke of Windsor; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.

Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay. As a young man, he served in the British Armed Forces during the First World War and undertook several foreign tours on behalf of his father, George V. He was associated with a succession of older, married women but remained unmarried until after his abdication as king.

On 16 November 1936, Edward invited British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace and expressed his desire to marry Wallis Simpson when she became free to re-marry. Baldwin informed him that his subjects would deem the marriage morally unacceptable, largely because remarriage after divorce was opposed by the Church of England, and the people would not tolerate Wallis as queen. As king, Edward held the role of Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and the clergy expected him to support the Church's teachings.

Edward informed Baldwin that he would abdicate if he could not marry Simpson. Baldwin then presented Edward with three choices: give up the idea of marriage; marry against his ministers' wishes; or abdicate. It was clear that Edward was not prepared to give up Simpson, and he knew that if he married against the advice of his ministers, he would cause the government to resign, prompting a constitutional crisis. He chose to abdicate.

Edward duly signed the instruments of abdication at Fort Belvedere on 10 December 1936 in the presence of his younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York, next in line for the throne; Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester; and Prince George, Duke of Kent. The next day, the last act of his reign was the royal assent to His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936. As required by the Statute of Westminster, all the Dominions consented to the abdication, though the Irish Free State did not pass the External Relations Act, which included the abdication in its schedule, until 12 December.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII

Images courtesy of the Wikipedia under The Commons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A030596.jpg

On this Day: 10th of December 1936 : Edward VIII abdicates

On this Day: 7th of December 1916- Lloyd George becomes British Prime Minister

David Lloyd George is best known as the highly energetic British Prime Minister (1916–22) who guided the Empire through the First World War to victory over Germany and its allies. He became Prime Minister after then PM Herbert Asquith, who was increasingly seen as weak in his planning of the war effort refused to agree to Lloyd George's demand that he be allowed to chair a small committee to manage the war. On the 5th December 1916, Asquith was forced out and on the 7th December Lloyd George became Prime Minister, with the nation demanding he take vigorous charge of the war.

He was a major player at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that reordered Europe after the Great War. As an icon of 20th-century liberalism, he is regarded as the founder of the British welfare state. He made a greater impact on British public life than any other 20th-century leader, thanks to his leadership of the war, his postwar role in reshaping Europe, and his introduction of Britain's social welfare system before the war.

During a long tenure of office, mainly as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was a key figure in the introduction of many reforms which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state. He was the last Liberal to serve as Prime Minister, his coalition premiership being supported more by Conservatives than by his own Liberals, and the subsequent split was a key factor in the decline of the Liberal Party as a serious political force thereafter. After 1922 he was a marginalised and widely mistrusted figure.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lloyd_George

Images courtesy of the National Library of Scotland on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlscotland/4699171279/

On this Day: 7th of December 1916- Lloyd George becomes British Prime Minister

On this Day: 5th December 1955 - Rosa Parks goes on trial as historic bus boycott begins in Montgomery Alabama

After working all day, Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus around 6 p.m. on Thursday, December 1, 1955, in downtown Montgomery. She paid her fare and sat in an empty seat in the first row of back seats reserved for blacks in the "colored" section.  As the bus traveled along its regular route, all of the white-only seats in the bus filled up. The bus reached the third stop in front of the Empire Theater, and several white passengers boarded. At this point the bus driver moved the "colored" section sign behind Parks and demanded that four black people give up their seats in the middle section so that the white passengers could sit. Parks moved, but toward the window seat; she did not get up to move to the redesignated colored section which prompted the bus driver to call the police who arrested Parks.

Plans for the Montgomery Bus Boycott on Monday the 5th of December to coincide with the trial of Rosa Parks were announced at black churches in the area, and a front-page article in The Montgomery Advertiser helped spread the word. At a church rally that night, those attending agreed unanimously to continue the boycott until they were treated with the level of courtesy they expected, until black drivers were hired, and until seating in the middle of the bus was handled on a first-come basis.

Parks was tried on charges of disorderly conduct and violating a local ordinance during a trial that lasted just 30 minutes. She was found guilty and fined $10, plus $4 in court costs.

Outside it rained that day, but the black community persevered in their boycott. Some rode in carpools, while others travelled in black-operated cabs that charged the same fare as the bus, 10 cents. Most of the remainder of the 40,000 black commuters walked, some as far as 20 miles (30 km).

In the end, black residents of Montgomery continued the boycott for 381 days, at considerable personal sacrifice. Dozens of public buses stood idle for months, severely damaging the bus transit company's finances, until the city repealed its law requiring segregation on public buses following the US Supreme Court ruling that it was unconstitutional.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks

Images courtesy of the U.S. National Archives under the Commons Agreement on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/5553386754/

On this Day: 5th December 1955 - Rosa Parks goes on trial as historic bus boycott begins in Montgomery Alabama

On this Day: 4th of December 1985 - "Les Miserables" opens at Palace Theatre, London

Les Misérables known as Les Mis, is a sung-through musical play based on the novel of the same name by French poet and playwright Victor Hugo.

The first production in English, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, opened on 8 October 1985 (five years after the original production) at the Barbican Arts Centre, London. It was billed in the RSC Barbican Theatre programme as "The Royal Shakespeare Company presentation of the RSC/Cameron Mackintosh production", and played to preview performances beginning on 28 September 1985.

On 4 December 1985, the show transferred to the Palace Theatre on London’s West En and moved again on 3 April 2004, to the much more intimate Queen's Theatre, with some revisions of staging and where it is still playing. It celebrated its ten-thousandth performance on 5 January 2010. The drummer from the original cast album, Peter Boita, stayed with the show for the first 25 years of its history.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Misérables_(musical)

Images courtesy of Wikimedia under the Commons Agreement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Queen%27s_Theatre_by_Day.jpg

On this Day: 4th of December 1985 - "Les Miserables" opens at Palace Theatre, London

On this Day: 3rd of December 1967 - 1st human heart transplant performed by Dr Christian Barnard

Dr Christiaan Barnard had experimented for several years with animal heart transplants, with more than 50 dogs receiving transplanted hearts. With the availability of new breakthroughs introduced by several pioneers, amongst them Norman Shumway, several surgical teams were in a position to prepare for a human heart transplant. Barnard had a patient willing to undergo the procedure, but as with other surgeons, he needed a suitable donor.

He performed the world's first human heart transplant operation on 3 December 1967, in an operation assisted by his brother, Marius Barnard; the operation lasted nine hours and used a team of thirty people. The patient, Louis Washkansky, was a 54-year-old grocer, suffering from diabetes and incurable heart disease. Barnard later wrote, "For a dying man it is not a difficult decision because he knows he is at the end. If a lion chases you to the bank of a river filled with crocodiles, you will leap into the water, convinced you have a chance to swim to the other side." The donor heart came from a young woman, Denise Darvall, who had been rendered brain damaged in an accident on 2 December 1967, while crossing a street in Cape Town.

Washkansky survived the operation and lived for 18 days. However, he succumbed to pneumonia as he was taking Immunosuppressive drugs. Though the first patient with the heart of another human being survived for only a little more than two weeks, Barnard had passed a milestone in a new field of life-extending surgery.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever www.photolegacy.com

Research courtesy of Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Barnard

Images courtesy of Wikimedia under the Commons Agreement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christiaan_Barnard.jpg

On this Day: 3rd of December 1967 - 1st human heart transplant performed by Dr Christian Barnard