Day: April 20, 2020

Milltown Cemetery – Belfast, Northern Ireland

Ivan

We are in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast, Ireland. Milltown cemetery is a sprawling graveyard full of history, conflict and tragedy. It has seen some of the largest funeral processions in all of Ireland and is the final resting place of more than 200,000 souls. It was opened in 1869 as part of the broader provision of services for the city of Belfast’s expanding Catholic population, when the historic Friar’s Bush Cemetery was becoming overcrowded, and only families with burial rights were allowed to be interred there. Although the Milltown…

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#April 20, 1887: in Paris, world’s first motor race!

Robin

Historic records show that on this day, April 29, 1887, Georges Bouton “won the world’s first motor race”. But it was a hollow victory and there was no champagne celebration. The reason? Bouton and his co-driver were the only ones taking part. And, to be exact, it wasn’t even a car, but a steam-powered quadricycle. The curious event was a test organised by the newspaper “Le Velocipede” to see if Bouton’s machine, which had boasted speeds of 60kmph, could make the 29-kilometre distance between Neuilly Bridge in Paris and the…

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#TodayInHistory – April 20

randomcollabs

April 20 – Some important events on this day 1611 👉🏼 First known performance of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth at the Globe Theatre, London, recorded by Simon Forman 1736 👉🏼 French mathematician Pierre Louis Maupertuis begins Lapland expedition to measure latitude and shape of the earth, joined by fellow scientists Anders Celsius, Charles Etienne Louis Camus, Alexis Clairaut, and Pierre-Charles Le Monnier. 1759 👉🏼 George Frideric Handel is buried in Westminster Abbey, London. As a young man the German born Handel travelled and lived in Italy, its operatic tradition becoming very…

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