Thursday 4th November 2021
04-Nov-22 Howard Carter discovers Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt. After his death in 1939, he was found to have removed 18 items from the tomb without authorisation. They were eventually returned to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
DIVALI / DIWALI / DEEPAVALI Hindu / Jain
For Hindus this is a New Year festival lasting from one to five days, during which fireworks are set off and lights are hung out. It is a festival of light, coinciding with the darkest night of the lunar month. It is generally associated with Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity, or with the victorious return of Rama and Sita after their exile. Divali marks the beginning of the Indian financial year.
DIVALI / BANDI CHHOR DIVAS Sikh
Sikhs also celebrate Divali since Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru, was released from Gwalior prison on this day. The Golden Temple in Amritsar is illuminated and firework displays take place there. It is a time for new clothes, presents and sweets.
International Day Against Violence and Bullying at School, including Cyberbullying
"Although this violence is not limited to school premises, the education system has an important role to play in teaching students how to navigate safely in the digital sphere. Formal education should provide children and young people with certain knowledge and skills: how to behave with civility online, to develop coping mechanisms, to identify and report online violence and, most importantly, to protect themselves and others from different forms of cyberbullying, whether perpetrated by peers or adults."
Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director General, on the occasion of the International Day against Violence and Bullying at School, including Cyberbullying
A Selection of Birthdays
1631 Mary, 1st British Princess Royal and the Princess of Orange, born in St James's Palace, London (d. 1660)
1740 Augustus Montague Toplady, English hymn writer (Rock of Ages), born in Farnham, Surrey (d. 1778)
1787 Edmund Kean, British Shakespearean actor (Edmund Kean's Masonic Career), born in London (d. 1833)
1845 Vasudeo Balwant Phadke, Indian independence activist and revolutionary, born in Shirdhon village, Panvel taluka, Raigad district, British India (d. 1883)
1862 Eden Phillpotts, English novelist, poet and playwright (Red Madymaynes), born in Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India (d. 1960)
1863 William Faulkes, English organist, transcriber and composer, born in Liverpool (d. 1933)
1867 Tomasz Arciszewski, 31st Prime Minister of Poland, 3rd Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile in London (1944-47), born in Sierzchowy, Piotrków Governorate, Congress Poland (d. 1955)
1872 Herman Finck, British composer (In The Shadows), born in London (d. 1939)
1873 G. E. Moore, English philosopher (systematic approach to ethical problems), born in London (d. 1958)
1881 Milton Rosmer, British director (Murder in the Red Barn), born in Southport, Lancashire (d. 1971)
1884 Henry George "Harry" Ferguson, Irish aviator, engineer and inventor (Modern tractor), born in County Down (d. 1960)
1906 Arnold Cooke, British composer, born in Gomersal, West Yorkshire (d. 2005)
1929 Shakuntala Devi, Indian writer and mental calculator known as the "Human Computer", born in Bangalore, Mysore, British India (d. 2013)
1930 Kate Reid, British actress (The Andromeda Strain, Heaven Help US), born in London (d. 1993)
1932 David Shipman, English film historian, born in Norwich, Norfolk (d. 1996)
1935 Elgar Howarth, English conductor and composer, born in Cannock, Staffordshire
1954 Chris Difford, British lyricist, guitarist and vocalist (Squeeze - "Black Coffee In Bed"; "Tempted"), born in Greenwich, London
1956 James Honeyman-Scott, English rock guitarist and vocalist (Pretenders), born in Hereford, Herefordshire (d. 1982)
1961 Nigel Worthington, Irish soccer midfielder and manager (66 caps NI; Sheffield Wednesday; Norwich City), born in Ballymena
1965 Malandra Burrows, English actress (Emmerdale), born in Woolton, Liverpool
1974 Louise Redknapp, English singer-songwriter and TV personality, born in London
1977 Tonicha Jeronimo, British actress (Emmerdale), born in Jersey
On this day in British History
1529 English cardinal Thomas Wolsey arrested on charges of treason
1839 The Newport Rising is the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain
1890 Great Britain proclaims Zanzibar as a protectorate
1890 Prince of Wales opens first underground station at Stockwell, South London
1922 Howard Carter discovers the intact tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt
1924 Stanley Baldwin becomes Britain's Prime Minister for a second time after a landslide victory over Ramsay MacDonald's Labour Party
1948 American-born British poet T. S. Eliot wins Nobel Prize for literature
1960 Archaeologist and Paleoanthropologist Mary & Louis Leakey discover first Homo habilis jaw fragments (OH 7) at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
Northern Ireland
1968 Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O'Neill meets British Prime Minister Harold Wilson for talks on Northern Ireland; Wilson states no change of constitutional position of Northern Ireland possible without consent of the its people
Scotland
2017 Scottish champions Celtic sets new all-time British record (63) for matches undefeated in all domestic football competitions beating St. Johnstone, 4-0 at McDiarmid Park
Deaths in History
1702 John Benbow, English vice-admiral (Santa Marta), dies
1869 George Peabody, American-British entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Peabody Trust and Institute, dies at 74
2003 Richard Wollheim, British philosopher (deeply engaged with issues that were central to the visual arts), dies at 89