11/04/2026
ON THIS DAY
11 April 1755.
Pioneering doctor James Parkinson was born in London. Heās best known for his 1817 essay on the āShaking Palsyā in which he was the 1st to describe a medical condition that would later be renamed Parkinsonās disease.
11 April 1814.
Napoleon Bonaparte was forced to abdicate as French Emperor and under the Treaty of Fontainebleau was banished to exile on island of Elba. He escaped in 1815 and returned to power for his last ā100 Daysā which ended in defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.
11 April 1855.
Londonās 1st 6 post boxes were installed. They were rectangular and originally painted green (right). They were removed within 2 years after the council received complaints they were unattractive. The 1st post box in UK was installed in Carlisle (left) in 1853.
11 April 1908.
Dan Maskell, the BBC commentator known as the āVoice of Tennisā was born in London. He let the pictures tell the story during his commentaries, and offered minimal comments. The most frequent phrase he used was: āOh I say.ā
11 April 1945.
6th Armoured Division of the US Army liberated the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp, making its inmates the 1st on German soil to be freed. Soldiers were shocked at their condition. The death toll at the camp was estimated at 56,000.
11 April 1946.
Bob Harris was born in Northampton. Heās best known as the āWhisperingā host of BBC2 rock show The Old Grey Whistle Test. Heās still broadcasting on BBC Radio 2 on The Country Show and Sounds of 70s (clip is of Eric Idle impersonating him).
11 April 1951.
Stone of Scone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned was found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been seized by Scottish nationalist students from Westminster Abbey.
11 April 1960.
Jeremy Clarkson was born in Doncaster. Heās best known for presenting the motoring shows Top Gear and The Grand Tour. He currently writes columns for The Sunday Times, presents the ITV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Amazon farming show Clarkson's Farm
11 April 1961.
Trial began in Israel of leading Gestapo-SS official Adolf Eichmann. He was a key figure in organising the transportation of Jews and other N**i victims to the death camps during the Holocaust. He epitomised what Hannah Arendt called the ābanality of evilā.
11 April 1968.
US President Lyndon B Johnson signed the historic 1968 Civil Rights Act just a week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jnr. Johnson had a passion for redressing inequality and he wanted to go down in history as a champion of civil rights.
11 April 1970.
Apollo 13 blasted off for the moon, but the lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module failed 2 days into the mission. The mission was commanded by Jim Lovell with Jack Swigert as Command module pilot and Fred Haise as Lunar Module pilot.
11 April 1981.
A riot took place in Brixton, London, following what was seen as an unjust arrest of a black man. Youths hurled petrol bombs at police, burnt cars, looted shops and set fire to a school and two pubs. The riot came as unemployment had risen to over 3 million.
11 April 1983.
Biopic Gandhi, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, won 8 Oscars including Best Actor for Ben Kingsley (Krishna Pandit Bhanji) in the title role. It was the most Academy awards won at a single ceremony by any British film.
11 April 1987.
Primo Levi died (aged 67). His death was ruled as su***de. He was the most well known Holocaust survivor due to his harrowing book If This is a Man which describes the year he spent as a prisoner in the notorious German Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
11 April 2001.
Popular Welsh-born singer and comedian Harry Secombe died (aged 79). He rose to fame as part of 1950s BBC radio anarchic comedy group The Goons along with Michael Bentine, Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers. He was born on the same day as fellow Goon Peter Sellers.
11 April 2007.
American-born novelist Kurt Vonnegut died (aged 84). His best-selling novel was Slaughterhouse-Five which follows the life and experiences of American soldier Billy Pilgrim who survives WW1 and the bombing of Dresden in WW2 while a Prisoner of War.
11 April 2021.
Leading Liberal Democrat Shirley Williams (Shirley Caitlin) died (aged 90). Originally a Labour MP and Cabinet Minister she left Labour as one of the āGang of Fourā rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981.
PHOTO OF THE DAY.
Jimi Hendrix in Montagu Place, London. š· David Magnus (1967).
ā Prof Frank McDonough
