In 1961 Fidel Castro becomes a socialist dictator.
Fidel Castro led Cuba in a communist revolution against a corrupt tyrant Fulgencio Batista. On the 16th of February 1959 Fidel Castro became Cuban’s youngest Prime Minister Aged 32 and Under Castro life began to improve for the Cuban people. Batista would horde money from trade leaving very little for the people but Castro Nationalised companies providing more for Cubans and he introduced free health care. But on this day in 1961 Castro announces an end to democracy in Cuba. He proclaimed Cuba a socialist nation and said that "The revolution has no time for elections. There is no more democratic government in Latin America than the revolutionary government." He also criticised the fear of socialism in America saying “We have as much right to complain about the existence of a capitalist imperialist regime 90 miles from our coast as he has to complain about a socialist regime 90 miles from his coast”. Castro turned to trade with Russia and the increased relations between Communist Russia and Cuba caused a growing rift between Cuba and the United States. On the 22nd of October 1962 the announcement of the ‘Cuban Missile Crises’ caused panic across the world almost starting Global Nuclear War.
In 1930 the dwarf planet Pluto was officially named.
Pluto was first predicted by astronomer Percival Lowell but it was not actually discovered until the 18th of February 1930 by astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh working at the Lowell observatory which was set up to find the illusive planet.. Percival always referred to the predicted planet as “Planet X”. The discovery was made public to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Lowell’s birth on the 13th of March 1930. On the 14th of March the story was being read around the breakfast table in Oxford, England to a young 11-year-old girl called Venetia Burney by her granddad. They were discussing possible names and due to Venetia’s current interest in Roman and Greek gods as well as an understanding of the planets and their distance from the Sun, she suggested Pluto. This was because Pluto was the god of the underworld, who could make himself invisible and lived where sunlight didn’t reach. Venetia’s granddad was Falconer Madan, a retired head librarian from Oxford University and friend of the professor of astronomy there, Herbert Hall Turner. The Percival Observatory were very impressed with the name, in part because the first two letters were the initials of its founder Percival Lowell. On this day it was officially named Pluto.
In 1707 The Kingdom of Great Britain was formed when Scottish and English parliaments passed the “Act of Union” in 1707.
After the Norman conquest of 1066 the Normans took control of parts of Wales and in 1283 Prince Edward conquered the remainder of Wales making it a Principality. But it was not until the “Laws in Wales act of 1535” that Wales followed the same laws as England and was officially consolidated with Welch administration under English Government. Continued -->
Then on the 24th of March 1603 Queen Elizabeth I of England died and left no son to take the throne. Her closest male heir was her cousin King James VI of Scotland and on that day he became King of England and Scotland uniting the two kingdoms under one king. King James VI of Scotland was known as King James I of England and he wanted to be known as King of a united state of the two Kingdoms. He put it to Scottish and English MP’s to come up with a way of uniting the two parliaments but they were unsuccessful. In October 1604 he decreed that in future he should be known as King of Great Britain. He gave orders for a new flag that incorporated both the Saint George’s cross and the cross of Saint Andrew. On the 12th of April 1606 the Union Jack was created and was named Jack short for Jacobus, the Latin version of James. When the ‘Act of Union 1707’ came into effect on this day in 1707 the Kingdom of England, Scotland and the Principality of Wales were governed under one parliament which was based in London and so was created Great Britain.
Great Britain is the largest part of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island is its full title and although King James also inherited the Irish throne from Elizabeth, Ireland was not governed by the Great British government until a further “Act of Union” was passed in 1800 which included Ireland and came into effect in 1801, that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created. The red cross of Saint Patrick was added to the Union Jack slightly overlapping the white Saint Andrews cross. Then when Ireland became a republic on the 6th of December 1922 and on the 8th Northern Ireland chose to re-unite with Great Britain, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was created (UK or United Kingdom for short).
