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On this day in history

The British Evel Kenevel

10 Dec 1979
Twenty year old stuntman Eddie Kidd accomplished a "death-defying" motorcycle leap when he crossed an 80ft gap over a 50ft sheer drop above a viaduct at Maldon, Essex. He jumped the Great Wall of China in 1993, but his career ended after he suffered serious head injuries in 1996 at a Hell's Angels rally in Warwickshire.
 
12 Dec 1988
Clapham Rail disaster up to 35 people die and 100 others are injured after three trains are involved in a collision during morning rush hour in south London.
 
Rule Britannia :flags-wavegreatbri::flags-wavegreatbri:

12 Dec 1781
American Revolutionary War: Second Battle of Ushant – A British fleet led by HMS Victory defeats a French fleet
 
12 Dec 1901
Guglielmo Marconi sends the first transatlantic radio signal, (the letter "S" [***] in Morse Code), from Poldhu in Cornwall to Newfoundland, Canada
 
Only ever had one ride/ flight ? in one, the school took us when it was operating out of Ramsgate (early 60s), just around Pegwell Bay and back

12 Dec 1955 Christopher Cockerell patented his prototype of the hovercraft. He had tested his theories using a hair-dryer and tin cans and found his work to have potential, but the idea took some years to develop, and he was forced to sell personal possessions in order to finance his research. Hovertravel is the only scheduled passenger hovercraft service (see -
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picture) in Europe and it operates between Southsea, Portsmouth and Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
 
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This ended before I was old enough, and when I tried to join up, was turned down on medical grounds (Asthma)

12 Dec 1948
Britain introduced National Service for all men aged between 18 and 26. It extended the British conscription of World War II into peacetime.
 
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Shaken, not stirred Mr Bond :wtf: :lol:

12 Dec 2013
Doctors in Derby and Nottingham analysing the Ian Fleming novels showed that James Bond drank the equivalent of one and a half bottles of wine every day. They said that he was not the man to trust to deactivate a nuclear bomb and that his love of the bottle would have left him impotent and at death’s door. Excluding the 36 days that Bond was in prison, hospital or rehab, the spy downed 1,150 units of alcohol in 88 days, four times the recommended maximum intake for men in the UK.
 
13 Dec 1577
Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England on a circumnavigation of the world

Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth with his flagship Pelican, plus 4 other ships and 160 men, on an expedition to the Pacific. His other ships were lost or returned home shortly after the voyage began but the Pelican, renamed the Golden Hind, pushed on alone up the coast of Chile and Peru. Continuing northwards, the California coast was claimed in the name of Queen Elizabeth. He crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and eventually returned to Plymouth on September 26th 1580 with treasure worth £500,000. He became the first Englishmen to sail around the world and the Queen knighted him aboard his ship at Deptford, on the river Thames.
 
13 Dec 1904
The first electric train came into service on London's Metropolitan Railway.
 
13 Dec 1909
The British Polar explorer Ernest Shackleton was knighted by King Edward VII.
 
I am humbled by these guys
These men and women have massive cojones and guts and determination to match

13 Dec 2013
Prince Harry and his 'Walking With the Wounded' team reached the South Pole. Among those was Sgt Duncan Slater who lost both his legs in a blast in Afghanistan in 2009. The expedition's director said 'We came down here, determined to get 12 men and women, all injured in conflict, to the South Pole, and this is what we have done. The feeling is incredible.'
 
I am humbled by these guys
These men and women have massive cojones and guts and determination to match

13 Dec 2013
Prince Harry and his 'Walking With the Wounded' team reached the South Pole. Among those was Sgt Duncan Slater who lost both his legs in a blast in Afghanistan in 2009. The expedition's director said 'We came down here, determined to get 12 men and women, all injured in conflict, to the South Pole, and this is what we have done. The feeling is incredible.'
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Respect.jpg
 
And less than 75 years later man was on the moon and we had supersonic flight

14 Dec 1903

The Wright Brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk North Carolina
 
And less than 75 years later man was on the moon and we had supersonic flight

14 Dec 1903

The Wright Brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk North Carolina
And three days later?
 
At 2pm on 15th december 1967
I was born in Norwich. Dad was an electrical engineer, mum worked in a birds eye factory.
I had a pet tortoise called sam apparently. But cant remember much about norwich as we moved to oulton broad when i was 3.
By the age of 5 i remember “helping” dad in the garage or garden and descovered that engineering was my thing.
Moved 21 times before i was 20. Started my dairy career then as a pasteuriser operator in cardiff. Moved to wooten bassett then down to Totnes in devon and became factory manager in 2000. Closed that site and then ran the site in fenstanton before moving to Taw Valley in mid devon before ending my dairy career in 2013 after 25 years.
Didnt get chance to do anything engineeringwise but dabble at weekends refurbing hifi gear and motorcycle and cruiser mechanicing. But now dont have a garage and the cruiser is my only car so only quickish jobs can be done.
Last 4 years I have been working for a Leading Pasty company in cornwall.
Im a big rugby union (exeter) and cricket fan but the cruiser dominates most waking thoughts!! (You’re not talking about that f***ing cruiser again is a common phrase in this house). Fortunately of 5 kids, one is hilux mad and adpires to 80 ownership. And after a 4 year apprenticeship in a cruiser specialist, is now a fully fleged light vehicle mechanic.
So we can talk freely with just eye rolls!!
Big party tonight so better get the lights up and lager in the fridge.
 
On this day 1982

Spain reopens its border with Gibraltar to pedestrians, 13 years after it was closed by General Franco's government.
 
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