In 1968 Martin Luther’s assassin, James Earl Ray, was captured at Heathrow.
On the 4th of April 1968 Martin Luther King was shot dead by a sniper as he stood on the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis, US. A rifle was recovered and fingerprints found along with eyewitness reports implicated one suspect, escaped convict James Earl Ray. He was caught at Heathrow airport in England trying to use a forged passport and carrying a gun. He was sent to the United States to face trial. He pleaded guilty to murdering Mr King on the understanding that he would not get the electric chair. On the 10th of March 1969 James Earl Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison for the crime and died in prison on the 23rd of April 1998.
In 1948 George Orwell’s classic novel Nineteen Eighty-four was first published.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is the story of a totalitarian future, where the oppression of the population resembles that of the people under Stalin and Franco’s regimes but to a greater extent. This work has given the English language many additional words and phrases including Room 101, Thought Police, Big Brother, double think and thoughtcrime. It has been seen as a warning as to what can happen in a society without freedom of speech and with oppression of peoples ideas or points of view.
In 1042 Edward the Confessor becomes King of England.
His father Ætherald II (or Etherald the unready) was exiled in Normandy after the Danish invaded in 1013 but returned to be reinstated as King in 1014. Upon Ætheralds death in 1016 the Danish took control again and Edward was forced into exile once more with his mother in Normandy. In 1041 the Danish King Sweyn died and Edward returned to England to claim his thrown. Edward the Confessor died on the 5th of January 1066 and named Harold Godwinson (Edward’s brother-in-law) King of England. But soon after Edward’s cousin arrived in England from Normandy to take the throne he claims was promised to him by Edward. On the 14th of October1066 Williams forces met with those of Harold in Hastings and Harold was killed. William then became King of England and later became known as William the Conqueror.
William became the first Norman King of England while also remaining the Duke of Normandy and controlling the lands in the North of France. The title and lands in Normandy was passed down the line of succession of the Kings of England and meant that they had to pay homage to the reigning King of France. In 1337 Edward III of England was meant to pay homage to King Philip VI of France without a sword, as was tradition. When Edward III arrived to pay homage still with his sword at his side the French King was furious and inconsolable. He then took the French lands from Edward and in retaliation Edward laid claim to the French crown using the line of succession to William the conqueror. This was the start of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453).
