21 January

1648 In Annapolis Maryland the first woman lawyer in the American colonies, Margaret Brent, was denied a vote the Maryland Assembly. God said woman should not vote.

1863 John Stuart returned to Adelaide. He had been determined to cross Australia from south to north and succeeded on the fifth attempt; from and to Adelaide it was a total of 3,400 kilometres. Scurvy and the sun blinded him nor could any longer ride on the return journey and was carried on a horse drawn stretcher to Adelaide. He died three years later at 51. My trips to Adelaide have been more comfortable.

1878 Cleopatra’s Needle arrived in England. That is a popular name but the obelisk pre-dates Cleopatra by millennia. Mehmet Ali, viceroy of Egypt, presented it to England in thanks for Lord Nelson’s victory at the Battle of the Nile. The transportation cost prohibited sending it to England until Sir William Wilson sponsored its transportation to London at a cost of around £10,000. On one estimate that amount today is £1,131,473.68. Engineer John Dixon designed a special iron cylinder in which the obelisk would be towed. However, the cylinder became separated from the ship towing it during a gale in the Bay of Biscay and was nearly lost. After drifting for many days, it was recovered. The obelisk arrived in Gravesend on 21 January 1878, and was erected on the Embankment on 12 September 1878. Walked by it more than once.

1957 Patsy Cline appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts. She stole the show.

1976 The first scheduled flight of the Concordes. Two of them. One from London to Paris and one from Paris to London. Commercial flights ended in 2003. In 2004 we saw one take off at Heathrow in a cloud of smoke on its way to an air museum. Never been on one.