|
Year
|
Hint
|
Answer
|
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1899
|
This orchestral work by Edward Elgar premieres in London.
|
Enigma Variations
|
|
1898
|
This science fiction novel by H. G. Wells is published for the first time in book form.
|
The War of the Worlds
|
|
1897
|
Ronald Ross discovers the means of transmission for this tropical disease. He later becomes the first Scot to win a Nobel prize for this work.
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Malaria
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|
1896
|
A railway commences public operation.to the summit of this mountain.
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Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)
|
|
1895
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This organisation is founded to look after places of historic interest or natural beauty permanently for the benefit of the nation.
|
National Trust
|
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1894
|
This popular tourist attraction opens to the public at a Lancashire coastal town.
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Blackpool Tower
|
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1893
|
W.E. Johns is born. He goes on to write about adventure stories about this fictional pilot.
|
Biggles
|
|
1892
|
This prestigious football club in the north-west of England plays its first match.
|
Liverpool FC
|
|
1891
|
Rachel Beer becomes the first woman to edit a national newspaper when she takes over this long running Sunday publication.
|
The Observer
|
|
1890
|
This link between North and South Queensferry near Edinburgh opens to rail traffic. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
|
Forth Bridge
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|
1889
|
This luxury hotel opens in the Strand in central London.
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Savoy
|
|
1888
|
London's Whitechapel area is terrorised by this serial killer.
|
Jack the Ripper
|
|
1887
|
This book is published, to become Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel.
|
A Study in Scarlet
|
|
1886
|
The Great Western Railway opens a railway tunnel under this major river.
|
Severn
|
|
1885
|
Artist and poet Jeanette Pickersgill becomes the first legal recipient of this type of human body disposal.
|
Cremation
|
|
1884
|
This prominent department store chain starts life as a market stall in Leeds.
|
Marks & Spencer
|
|
1883
|
This adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson is published for the first time.
|
Treasure Island
|
|
1882
|
London Zoo sells this famous elephant to the American showman P. T. Barnum.
|
Jumbo
|
|
1881
|
This large museum opens in South Kensington, London.
|
Natural History Museum
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|
1880
|
This English land agent is ostracised by his local community in Ireland resulting in his name becoming part of the English language to signify what happened to him.
|
Charles Boycott
|
|
1879
|
A major rail bridge over this Scottish river collapses during a violent storm.
|
Tay
|
|
1878
|
Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates this device to Queen Victoria.
|
Telephone
|
|
1877
|
Anna Sewell lives just long enough to see publication of this book, her only novel.
|
Black Beauty
|
|
1876
|
The Royal Titles Act is passed which grants Queen Victoria this title.
|
Empress of India
|
|
1875
|
This football club is founded by Irishmen in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh.
|
Hibernian F.C.
|
|
1874
|
This rural Wessex based novel by Thomas Hardy is published.
|
Far from the Madding Crowd
|
|
1873
|
Now the oldest such club in the world, this canine society is formed.
|
The Kennel Club
|
|
1872
|
The first ever final for this trophy is held, the world's oldest football competition.
|
FA Cup
|
|
1871
|
Parliament passes an act to allow four of these annual national public holidays.
|
Bank holidays
|
|
1870
|
This society for aid to the sick and wounded is established.
|
British Red Cross
|
|
1869
|
This ship is launched in Dumbarton, the only clipper to still survive in the UK.
|
Cutty Sark
|
|
1868
|
The Earl of Derby resigns as Prime Minister and is succeeded by this person.
|
Benjamin Disraeli
|
|
1867
|
Joseph Lister's paper on this method of preventing infection after surgery leads to its widespread use.
|
Antiseptic
|
|
1866
|
This company starts selling cocoa suitable for drinking for the first time.
|
Cadbury's
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|
1865
|
This future author, known for 'The Jungle Book', is born.
|
Rudyard Kipling
|
|
1864
|
This long running Cricketers' Almanack is published for the first time.
|
Wisden
|
|
1863
|
The first section of this London transportation system opens between Paddington and Farringdon.
|
Underground
|
|
1862
|
This well known Geordie folk song is written and performed for the first time.
|
Blaydon Races
|
|
1861
|
The firing of the One o’Clock Gun occurs for the first time at this Scottish castle.
|
Edinburgh
|
|
1860
|
The first professional tournament for this sport is held at Prestwick.
|
Golf
|
|
1859
|
A lighthouse is illuminated for the first time on these rocks off the Isle of Wight.
|
The Needles
|
|
1858
|
The Lutine bell is salvaged and later hung in the offices of this London insurer.
|
Lloyd's
|
|
1857
|
The Indian Rebellion begins, a major uprising against the rule of this British company.
|
East India Company
|
|
1856
|
This art gallery in London opens for the first time.
|
National Portrait Gallery
|
|
1855
|
This Scottish scientist unifies electricity and magnetism into a single theory and shows that light is an electromagnetic wave.
|
James Clerk Maxwell
|
|
1854
|
This nurse leaves England for Scutari to care for troops during the Crimean War.
|
Florence Nightingale
|
|
1853
|
A new Vaccination Act is passed, which requires all children to be inoculated against this disease during their first 3 months of life.
|
Smallpox
|
|
1852
|
The last fatal encounter of this type of arranged combat takes place in England between two French refugees.
|
Duel
|
|
1851
|
The Great Exhibition opens at this dedicated venue in Hyde Park in London.
|
Crystal Palace
|
|
1850
|
Sir Robert Peel dies. He is perhaps best remembered as the founder of this force.
|
Metropolitan Police
|
|
1849
|
This distinctive felt headware is created by, and named after, two London hatmakers.
|
Bowler hat
|
|
1848
|
A military conflict breaks out in the Punjab between the British and this Empire.
|
Sikh
|
|
1847
|
This Act of Parliament restricts the working hours of women and young persons (13-18) in textile mills to 10 hours per day.
|
Factories Act
|
|
1846
|
This complex of dock buildings and warehouses is officially opened in Liverpool.
|
Royal Albert Dock
|
|
1845
|
Stephen Perry is granted a patent for this stretchy item, used to hold multiple objects together.
|
Rubber band
|
|
1844
|
Considered the start of the cooperative movement, this group of people open a store in the north of England.
|
Rochdale Pioneers
|
|
1843
|
This ship, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is launched. She later becomes the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
|
SS Great Britain
|
|
1842
|
This British Army officer and inventor dies; his name has entered the English language as being synonymous with an anti-personnel fragmentation weapon.
|
Henry Shrapnel
|
|
1841
|
This survey is held, the first to record names and ages of every person in the UK.
|
Census
|
|
1840
|
This public space in London is laid out along with the base of Nelson's Column.
|
Trafalgar Square
|
|
1839
|
This Anglo-Chinese War begins between Britain and the Qing dynasty.
|
First Opium War
|
|
1838
|
This iconic painting of an old ship on the Thames is completed by J.M.W. Turner.
|
The Fighting Temeraire
|
|
1837
|
This station is opened to become London's first mainline railway terminus.
|
Euston
|
|
1836
|
Charles Dickens has this novel published, the first of 15 books.
|
The Pickwick Papers
|
|
1835
|
Henry Fox Talbot produces a picture titled 'Latticed window at Lacock Abbey', perhaps the earliest example of this method of reproduction.
|
Photograph
|
|
1834
|
These six Dorset farm workers are sentenced to be transported to a penal colony for forming a trade union.
|
Tolpuddle Martyrs
|
|
1833
|
Campaigner William Wilberforce dies, just one month before an act is passed abolishing this practice in most parts of the British Empire.
|
Slavery
|
|
1832
|
This act permits unclaimed bodies from public institutions to be available for dissection.
|
Anatomy Act
|
|
1831
|
This scientist demonstrates electromagnetic induction and makes the first dynamo.
|
Michael Faraday
|
|
1830
|
This Whig succeeds the Duke of Wellington as Prime Minister. Legend says that he later had a tea named after him.
|
Earl Grey
|
|
1829
|
William Booth, future founder of this church charitable organisation, is born.
|
Salvation Army
|
|
1828
|
The Offences Against the Person Act replaces Clause XXVI of this ancient charter.
|
Magna Carta
|
|
1827
|
This military leader becomes Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.
|
Arthur Wellesley
|
|
1826
|
Felicia Heman's poem 'Casablanca', starting with this line, is first published.
|
The Boy stood on the Burning Deck
|
|
1825
|
This rail line opens for the first time, the world's first public railway to use steam locomotives.
|
Stockton and Darlington
|
|
1824
|
This distillery in Moray is established and begins to produce single malt whisky. |
Glenlivet
|
|
1823
|
A monument to this 'national poet of Scotland' is opened in Alloway.
|
Robert Burns
|
|
1822
|
William Reading is the last person to be hanged for shoplifting at this notorious prison.
|
Newgate
|
|
1821
|
John Constable completes this now famous painting.
|
The Hay Wain
|
|
1820
|
This ship is launched, it will later take Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage.
|
HMS Beagle
|
|
1819
|
The streets of Birmingham are lit by this fuel for the first time.
|
Gas
|
|
1818
|
The first successful instance of this life-saving human to human procedure is performed by James Blundell
|
Blood transfusion
|
|
1817
|
This Thames crossing opens and is named to commemorate a battle of 1815.
|
Waterloo Bridge
|
|
1816
|
This Romantic poet flees Britain to escape a scandal and rising debts.
|
Lord Byron
|
|
1815
|
The novel by Jane Austen becomes the last one published during her lifetime.
|
Emma
|
|
1814
|
The first match is played at this cricket ground in St John's Wood, London.
|
Lord's
|
|
1813
|
USS Chesapeake is captured in Boston Harbor by the Royal Navy during this conflict.
|
War of 1812
|
|
1812
|
The 'Frame Breaking Act' makes it a capital offence to destroy mechanised looms in a move designed to stop the actions of this group of disgruntled textile workers.
|
Luddites
|
|
1811
|
The first complete fossil of this 'fish lizard' is found by Mary Anning at Lyme Regis.
|
Ichthyosaur
|
|
1810
|
Chemist Humphrey Davy proposes that this halogen is an element and gives it its name.
|
Chlorine
|
|
1809
|
This prominent prison opens in Devon to house French prisoners of war.
|
Dartmoor
|
|
1808
|
This future travel agency and 'package tour' pioneer is born in Derbyshire.
|
Thomas Cook
|
|
1807
|
The first occurrence of this major horse race is held at Ascot race course.
|
Gold Cup
|
|
1806
|
Ralph Wedgwood obtains a patent for this method of creating duplicate documents.
|
Carbon paper
|
|
1805
|
At the Battle of Trafalgar, this naval leader is fatally wounded and dies soon after.
|
Horatio Nelson
|
|
1804
|
William Blake writes the first part of this epic poem.
|
Milton
|
|
1803
|
An act is passed authorising construction of this waterway along the Great Glen.
|
Caledonian Canal
|
|
1802
|
This woman first exhibits her wax sculptures in London.
|
Marie Tussaud
|
|
1801
|
The first one-inch-to-the-mile map is published by this national institution.
|
Ordnance Survey
|
|
1800
|
This reigning monarch survives two assassination attempts in London.
|
George III
|
