In 1965 Canada adopts the maple leaf flag we know today. Since 1867 Canada became a self governing body of the British Empire, changing from the Union Flag (the union jack is the same flag but called this when flown at sea) to the Canadian Red Ensign. This was a red flag with the union flag in the upper left hand side and an emblem on the right hand side. On this day in 1965 Canada’s new maple leaf flag was hoisted above Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
In 1956 King George VI was buried at St. George’s chapel, in the Windsor Castle Estate. He ascended to the throne after the abdication of his brother King Edward VIII in 1936 and became King of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. King George VIII died peacefully in his sleep on the 6th of February, aged 56, leaving his daughter Queen Elizabeth II his throne when she was 25. Big Ben chimed 56 times (for each year of his life) marking the beginning of the funeral procession.
In 1942 Britain surrenders Singapore to the Japanese forces after months of fighting. 24,000 Japanese troops landed in the Malayan Peninsula on the 6th of December 1941 (the day before Pearl Harbour) ready to take Singapore. They attacked Singapore from the air before landing 5,000 troops on the island on the 8th of February 1942. By the 15th of February the British had no choice but to surrender. It is considered Britain’s biggest defeat of World War II.
In 1564 Physicist and Astronomer Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy. He would go on to change the world of science and would be known as the “father of modern science” (Stephen Hawking) and the first to use a telescope to look into space, discovering the craters on the moon, four of Jupiter’s moons (the Galilean moon) and Saturn’s rings to name a few. His work on the movement of objects on the Earth changed our understanding of Dynamics and was the bases for much of Newton’s work.
