1817 Governor Lachlan Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office in distant England the use of the name ‘Australia’ instead of New Holland for the continent. Much of Australia still bears the imprint of Lachlan Macquarie, a humanitarian and visionary. In Latin ‘australis’ means southern, and from the second century there were legends of an “unknown southern land” (terra australis incognita).
1844 The Rochdale Pioneers began business at a cooperative in England, starting the Cooperative movement. The principals included: Open membership, democratic control (one person, one vote), distribution of surplus in proportion to trade, payment of limited interest on capital, political and religious neutrality, cash trading (no credit extended), and promotion of education.
1898 French scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered radium. It made them famous and it killed them. She was the first woman in Europe to earn a PhD. They coined the term ‘radioactivity.’
1913 First crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) was printed in New York World. It was created by Arthur Wynne, a Liverpool journalist. We have done a few of these.
1933 Fox Films signed Shirley Temple at five-years of age to a studio contract. By that time she had been in films for two years. She retired from Tinsel Town at twenty-two and had a career in business and then another in diplomacy.
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