10 Things You May Not Know About London’s Underground

From This Day in History

www.history.com ~video ~ london landmarks

 

On January 10, 1863, after nearly 20 years of failed attempts at alleviating crowding on London’s busy city streets, the world’s first underground railway roared into action beneath the British capital. What began with a 4-mile-long stretch of rail connecting the stations of Farringdon and Paddington soon became the world’s first mass-transit system, transporting millions of passengers annually—decades before cities like Paris or New York were able to do so. On the anniversary of that initial triumph, here are 10 things you may not know about London’s Underground.

 

 

Images Daily Telegraph

 

1. The first Underground trains ran on steam.
Recent studies have found that London’s air quality below ground is 70 times worse than it is above, and that, due to exhaust and poor ventilation, a 40-minute ride on the system is equivalent to smoking two cigarettes. This may shock modern sensibilities, but the earliest riders would hardly have been surprised. While steam locomotives, fed by coal, had been traversing the British countryside for decades, few were prepared for what awaited them in the smoky, sooty confines of the enclosed Underground system. For nearly 30 years, the entire Underground was steam-powered. The first electrical powered lines opened in 1890, but a few steam-powered trains remained in regular use until 1961. However, this year, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the system, a series of steam-powered trains will once again travel throughout parts of the system.

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Episode #10: M.C.V. Egan Talks Historical Fiction

January 8, 2013 by Luke

What do you do when all the files needed for researching your book are under embargo for the next few years because of international security? I don’t know. But Maria Egan decided the best way was to research a mysterous plane crash in Denmark over 70 years ago for her book, The Bridge of Deaths, was via Psychic. Houdini would shudder in his grave.

Here’s one of the news clips about the 1939 crash of a British Airway’s Lockheed 10A Electra, en route to Stockholm, that ended in five deaths and is the subject of Egan’s book. Egan claims to have made contact with some of the deceased and says she used the experiences to write her book. Check out her book at The Bridge of Deaths.

Egan talks about never giving up on publishing your book, being flexible in your writing process and finding an audience of fans that you may have never imagined reaching.

To watch interview click HERE

 

JANUARY 8th 1877 from THIS DAY IN HISTORY

On this day in 1877, Crazy Horse and his warriors–outnumbered, low on ammunition and forced to use outdated weapons to defend themselves–fight their final losing battle against the U.S. Cavalry in Montana.

Six months earlier, in the Battle of Little Bighorn, Crazy Horse and his ally, Chief Sitting Bull, led their combined forces of Sioux and Cheyenne to a stunning victory over Lieutenant Colonel George Custer (1839-76) and his men. The Indians were resisting the U.S. government’s efforts to force them back to their reservations. After Custer and over 200 of his soldiers were killed in the conflict, later dubbed “Custer’s Last Stand,” the American public wanted revenge. As a result, the U.S. Army launched a winter campaign in 1876-77, led by General Nelson Miles (1839-1925), against the remaining hostile Indians on the Northern Plains.  READ MORE....

 

 

 

ALSO on January 8th in History

President George Washington ~ First State of the Union

FROM UPWORTHY ~ 15 badass women of World War II you didn't learn about in history class.

The women of World War II were stone-cold warriors.

By Eric March 

Much like their male counterparts, women in the Allied countries were clamoring to get in the game from the moment war broke out. For the most part, the men in charge were like, "We're, uh, not exactly sure what to do with you." And the women were like, "Too bad. We're doing it anyway. Kthxbye!"
These are just a few of them — some famous, some obscure, all ridiculously courageous.

 

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

2. Jacqueline Cochran: Aviator

 

Photo via the U.S. Air Force.

Before the Untied States entered World War II, aviator Jacqueline Cochran — who had already proven that she could fly a plane faster than any woman or man alive — politely asked Gen. Hap Arnold to let women fly in the U.S. military, to which he replied, "Ehhhhh, no. Nope. No thanks."
Then the war started. And Arnold was like, "Um ... about that..."
For the next three years, Cochran trained female pilots — who came to be known as WASPs — to pilot American military aircraft. She became the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean. She supervised the training program, which spanned 120 bases, until 1944 when it was discontinued by the military because of, like, cooties or whatever.
That didn't stop Cochran, however. After the war, she became the first woman to break the sound barrier. And, according to the National WASP World War II Museum, she "holds more international speed, distance and altitude records than any other pilot, male or female," to this day.

UPWORTHY NOV 15, 2014

 

The Humble beginings of the BLACK EYED PEA New Year's Day TRADITIONS

Smneedham/Photolibrary/Getty Images     

                      Updated December 31, 2015. 

 

 

 

 

Black-eyed Peas
Do you know why black-eyed peas are lucky on New Year's Day? As with most superstitions, there are several answers to the question. Typically, the belief that black-eyed peas are a lucky New Year's meal is especially popular in the south, so it has to do with our history, right? Maybe.

Most Southerners will tell you that it dates back to the Civil War. Black-eyed peas were considered animal food (like purple hull peas).

The peas were not worthy of General Sherman's Union troops. When Union soldiers raided the Confederates food supplies, legend says they took everything except the peas and salted pork. The Confederates considered themselves lucky to be left with those meager supplies, and survived the winter. Peas became symbolic of luck.

 

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DECEMBER 31st 1999

On this day in 1999, the United States, in accordance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, officially hands over control of the Panama Canal, putting the strategic waterway into Panamanian hands for the first time. Crowds of Panamanians celebrated the transfer of the 50-mile canal, which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and officially opened when the SS Arcon sailed through on August 15, 1914. Since then, over 922,000 ships have used the canal.

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INDIAN MASSACRE @ WOUNDED KNEE DECEMBER 29, 1890

As time passes we seem to understand events better.... Historical perspectives ...

 

 

FROM THIS DAY IN HISTORY  DECEMBER 29 1890
  

U.S. Army massacres Indians at Wounded Knee

On this day in 1890, in the final chapter of America’s long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry kills 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.
Throughout 1890, the U.S. government worried about the increasing influence at Pine Ridge of the Ghost Dance spiritual movement, which taught that Indians had been defeated and confined to reservations because they had angered the gods by abandoning their traditional customs. Many Sioux believed that if they practiced the Ghost Dance and rejected the ways of the white man, the gods would create the world anew and destroy all non-believers, including non-Indians. On December 15, 1890, reservation police tried to arrest Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux chief, who they mistakenly believed was a Ghost Dancer, and killed him in the process, increasing the tensions at Pine Ridge.

READ MORE @ THIS DAY IN HISTORY