12th May: Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti was born on this date in 1828. Here are some facts about him you may not have known.

1. Rossetti was born in London, the son of Italian immigrants. He was the brother of poet Christina Rossetti, critic William Michael Rossetti, and author Maria Francesca Rossetti.
2. He was a painter and a poet. He often wrote sonnets to go along with his paintings, and illustrated his sister Christina's poems.
3. He was a founder member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais.
4. He didn't react well to criticism. After critics panned his second major painting in 1850, he switched to watercolours which he could sell privately and only rarely exhibited after that. Later in his life, the unfavourable reaction of critics to his first published poetry collection contributed to a mental breakdown during which he became addicted to chloral and Whiskey.
5. He married one of his models, Elizabeth Siddal, in 1860. She died in 1862 after giving birth to a stillborn child. When she died, Rossetti, who was suffering from depression at the time, buried most of his unpublished poems with her. He later had the poems dug up and published them in a collection in 1870.
6. Aside from his wife, Rossetti used several models, many of whom he was also romantically involved with, including Fanny Comforth, Jane Morris (wife of his friend William Morris), and Alexa Wilding, a dressmaker and aspiring actress who he approached after spotting her in the street. They became lifelong friends and she would later regularly leave flowers on his grave, but little is known about her because they weren't romantically involved.
7. Rossetti contributed designs for stained glass and other decorative objects made by the decorative arts firm, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co, of which he was a founding partner. He was fired in 1874 when Morris reorganised the firm.
8. Dinner at Rossetti's place would have been somewhat surreal. Rossetti was fascinated by exotic animals, Wombats in particular. He spent hours watching them at London Zoo, and went on to have two of them as pets. He let his pet wombat sleep in the middle of the dinner table during meals. As well as the wombats, he bought a llama and a toucan. He dressed the toucan in a cowboy hat and trained it to ride the llama round the dining-table.
9. He died of Bright's Disease, a disease of the kidneys, on Easter Sunday, 1882. He'd been housebound and addicted to chloral and alcohol for years (he drank whisky to take away the taste of the chloral), and had gone to the country to try and improve his health.
10. On screen, Rossetti has been portrayed by Oliver Reed, Ben Kingsley and Aidan Turner.

11th May Luxembourg

Today, Luxembourg celebrates the Reaffirmation of Independence Treaty of London dated 11 May 1867. 10 things you might not know about the Grand Duchy:

1. It's officially known as the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and is the only Grand Duchy in the world. The current Grand Duke is Henri Albert Gabriel Félix Marie Guillaume, reigning since 7 October 2000.
2. Luxembourg was founded in 963AD as the County of Luxembourg by Sigefroid, Count of the Ardennes, who built a fort there and gave it the ancient Saxon name Lucilinburhuc (‘little fortress’).
3. Luxembourg's strategic position led to a history of being passed around from one major power to another. It has been French, Spanish, Austrian, and French again. It became an independent state in 1815, but even after that, Vienna gave it to the King of the Netherlands as a gift! It was occupied by Germany in both world wars, despite declaring neutrality. Luxembourg’s motto is 'mir wëllebleiwewatmirsinn' meaning ‘we want to remain what we are’.
4. After World War II, Luxembourg was keen for France and Germany, both of which border it, to get along. Their work at mediation between the two countries eventually led to the European Union, of which it is a founding member. Its capital Luxembourg City is, together with Brussels and Strasbourg, one of the three official capitals of the European Union and the seat of the European Court of Justice.
5. Luxembourg covers an area of 2,586 square kilometres (998 sq mi), making it slightly smaller than Oxfordshire and about the same size as Northamptonshire or the US state of Rhode Island. Its population is around 562,958 (2015 estimate). It may be one of the smallest states in Europe, but it it is the second richest country in the world in terms of Gross Domestic Product per capita - only Qatar is richer.
6. It also sells the most alcohol in Europe per capita - but that doesn't mean Luxembourg is a nation of alcoholics, since most of the booze is sold to customers in neighbouring countries. Some of it, too, is no doubt sold in the Restaurant Chiggeri in the city of Luxembourg. It has a very extensive Wine list, including more than 2,200 different wines - the world's largest wine list.
7. According to a UN survey, you have less chance of being shot in Luxembourg than in any other country in the world.
8. There are three official languages: French, German, and Luxembourgish. Luxembourgish belongs to the High German family of languages, but more than 5,000 words in the language are of French origin. Luxembourgish is the language that Luxembourgers generally use to speak to each other, but it is not often used as the written language. In fact, it didn't even appear in print until 1821, in a weekly journal, the 'Luxemburger Wochenblatt'. However, since the 1980s there have been a few novels written in it. Around 346,000 people around the world speak Luxembourgish. Most official (written) business is carried out in French. German is the language used in the media and the church.
9. Luxembourg was the first city to be named European Capital of Culture twice. The country has also won the Eurovision song contest five times. Only Ireland has won more often.
10. On Whit Tuesday, an unusual sight can be witnessed in the city of Echertnach, when around 10,000 people take part in Europe’s largest traditional dancing procession. Wearing white shirts and dark trousers or skirts and holding handkerchiefs, they perform a synchronised hopping procession around the city, accompanied by a polka marching band. This event has been awarded UNESCO World heritage status.

10th May: Windmill Day

It's Windmill Day. Time for some little known facts about windmills.

1. The country most known for windmills is the Netherlands. They were used to drain Water from the land, and it is said that ‘windmills built the Netherlands’. At one time there were 10,000 fully operational windmills in the Netherlands. 1,200 of them remain today.
2. The oldest remaining mill in the Netherlands is the Zeddam tower mill in the province of Gelderland. It was built before 1451, and belonged to the ducal Van den Bergh family.
3. The tallest classical windmill (ie not a modern wind turbine) in the world is also in the Netherlands. The Molen de Noord in Schiedam is 33.3 metres high and is one of 19 very tall corn windmills which serviced the city’s Gin-making industry.
4. One of the earliest examples of a windmill in the UK was Southtown Windmill in Great Yarmouth – which stood 102 feet high.
5. Despite the Netherlands being known for them, windmills did not catch on in Europe until the 18th and 19th centuries. A Greek engineer named Hero in the 1st century AD is credited as being the inventor of the windmill. The Persians used them too. Their windmills were horizontal.
6. People who design, build or repair windmills are called millwrights. The study of mills is molinology (from Latin: molīna, mill) which includes other mechanical devices which use the energy of moving water or wind.
7. Windmill sails usually consist of a lattice framework on which a sailcloth is spread. The amount of cloth can be adjusted according to the amount of wind available and power needed. In colder climates, they often use wooden slats instead of cloth, because they were easier to handle in freezing conditions.
8. Windmills had an important secondary function in many communities - they were used to send messages. The position of the sails on a windmill was used to convey news such as a death in the family, a wedding, or even a call to come to the mill as quickly as possible. Sail signals also warned of impending Nazi raids during World War II.
9. The phrase ‘tilting at windmills’ is used to describe the act of attacking imaginary enemies or fighting unwinnable or pointless battles. It originates from an incident in Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. The title character is a retired country gentleman who is convinced that he is a knight. He attacks windmills in the mistaken belief they are giants.
10. Today most working windmills are wind turbines. The first of these was built in 1888 by inventor Charles F. Brush in Cleveland, Ohio. It weighed 40 tons, was 60 ft. tall with a 56 ft. diameter. He used it to power his mansion.  

9th May: Gower Peninsula

60 years ago, in 1956, Britain’s first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty was designated: the Gower Peninsula in South Wales.

1. It is eight miles wide, 15 miles long and about 70 square miles (180 km2) in area.
2. Within that area there are: 21 bays and sheltered coves, many caves, including Paviland Cave and Minchin Hole Cave, 268 miles of public rights of way, 25 Sites of Special Scientific Interest, three National Nature Reserves, one Special Protection Area, a Ramsar site, three Local Nature Reserves, 23 Wildlife Trust Reserves, 67 ancient woodlands, 101 listed buildings.
3. The highest point of Gower is The Beacon at Rhossili Down at 193 metres (633 ft) overlooking Rhossili Bay.
4. Rhossili Bay was voted the UK's number one beach in 2014 by Trip Advisor. It has a 4 mile long beach, popular with surfers; a shipwreck (the Helvetia, which ran aground in Rhossili Bay in November 1887); a pre-medieval village complete with church which was abandoned after "besanding" in the 14th century; the 7th most photographed sunset in the world - overlooking the tidal island Worm's Head, named after a dragon by Viking invaders. Rhossili Bay was a filming location for episodes of Doctor Who and Torchwood, and featured in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, when a youth choir sang Bread of Heaven live on the beach.
5. The first human fossil was found in the Gower Peninsula, the oldest ceremonial burial anywhere in Western Europe, dating back around 35,000 years. The almost complete skeleton was found in 1823. The bones were dyed with red ochre, and it was dubbed the Red Lady of Paviland - but it turned out to be the skeleton of a man.
6. Another popular destination within the Peninsula is Mumbles. It has a pier and two islands, shaped a little like breasts - it's thought these islands are what gave the area its name.
7. The Gower Peninsula had a North-South divide. After the Norman invasion the medieval lordship of Gower was split into Gower Anglicana (English Gower) and Gower Wallicana (Welsh Gower). There was a dividing line above which Welsh was spoken and below which English was spoken. The English spoken there back then sounded like a West Country dialect and was very difficult for outsiders to understand - but hardly anyone speaks it now. The divide is clear today, indicated by the place names, for example English sounding names like Nicholaston and Bishopston in the south and Welsh names like Llanrhidian further north.
8. Around 360 million years ago, at the beginning of the carboniferous period, the Peninsula, like the rest of Wales, was underwater and on the equator. Limestone began to form, and the sand on Gower's coves and beaches was formed due to the grinding action of ice flow and glaciers when the majority of North-West Europe lay under thick ice sheets.
9. Most of the beaches are on the south coast. The north of the peninsula has fewer beaches. In the north is Penclawdd, famous for its local cockle industry which dates back to Roman times.
10. Gower has a population of 10,000 people, and 18 million people live within a four-hour drive of it.

8th May: The Thames Barrier

On this date in 1984 the Thames Barrier, built to stop flooding in London, was opened by the Queen. 10 things you may not know about the Thames Barrier:

1. The idea of a flood defence across the Thames dates back to at least 1953, when there was a serious flood which killed 300 people. However, any barrier had to be able to let ships through. This engineering problem is why it was the 1980s before the barrier was finished.
2. The idea for the rotating gates was devised by (Reginald) Charles Draper in 1969. He got the idea from the design of the taps on his gas cooker.
3. The Thames Barrier is the world's second-largest movable flood barrier, after the Oosterscheldekering in the Netherlands.
4. It spans 520 metres across the Thames at Woolwich Reach. Its northern bank is in Silvertown in the London Borough of Newham and its southern bank is in the New Charlton area of the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
5. When the Thames barrier is raised the main gate stands as high as a 5 storey building. The four large central gates are 20.1 metres (66 ft) high and weigh 3,700 tonnes.
6. The barrier cost £534 million to build, and at the same time £100 million was spent on boosting the banks of the river for 50 miles to prevent flooding elsewhere - because all the water has to go somewhere if the gate is closed. It costs about £16,000 to close the Thames Barrier on each occasion.
7. Up to February 2016, there have been 176 flood defence closures. It is also raised monthly for testing, with a full test closure over high tide once a year. In 2012, this annual test was scheduled to coincide with the Queen's Jubilee, so the boats taking part in the river pageant could enjoy more stable tides that day.
8. The Thames Barrier flood defence closes when a combination of high tides forecast in the North Sea and high river flows at the tidal limit at Teddington weir indicate that water levels would exceed 4.87 metres (16.0 ft) in central London. On 20 August 1989, hours after the Marchioness disaster, the barrier was closed against a spring tide for 16 hours "to assist the diving and salvage operations"
9. When it was built, the barrier was expected to be used 2–3 times per year. It is now being used 6–7 times per year. The threat of flooding in London has increased due to the slow but continuous rise in high water levels over the centuries (20 cm (8 inches) per century) but also because Britain is tilting up in the north and west, and down in the south and east by up to 5 cm (2 inches) per century due to post-glacial rebound, ie land masses that were weighed down by ice in the ice age springing back up.
10. The barrier has survived 15 boat collisions without serious damage, but boats crashing into it could have very serious consequences. On 27 October 1997, the dredger MV Sand Kite, operating in thick fog, hit one of the Thames Barrier's piers. As the ship sank she dumped her 3,300 tonne load, finally sinking by the bow on top of one of the barrier's gates where she lay for several days. This incident meant the gate couldn't close until the mess was cleared up. If there had been a flood at this time it could have caused £13 billion in flood damage, not to mention potential loss of life.

7th May: Robert Browning

The poet Robert Browning was born on this date in 1812. Some poetic quotes from him:

1. Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?
2. But what if I fail of my purpose here? It is but to keep the nerves at strain, to dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall, and baffled, get up and begin again.
3. Perhaps one has to be very old before one learns to be amused rather than shocked.
4. What Youth deemed crystal, age finds out was dew.
5. On a day like today I am stung by the splendour of a sudden thought.
6. God's in His heaven— All's right with the world!
7. A minute's success pays the failure of years.
8. Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be.
9. Our interest's on the dangerous edge of things. The honest thief, the tender murderer, the superstitious atheist.
10. Why stay we on earth except to grow?

6th May: The Channel Tunnel

On this date in 1994, Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand inaugurated the opening of the Chunnel – a tunnel under the English Channel linking England and France for the first time since the end of the Great Ice Age.

1. Linking France and England with a tunnel wasn't solely a late 20th century idea. In 1802, Albert Mathieu, a French mining engineer, put forward a proposal. His plans included illumination from oil lamps, horse-drawn coaches, and an artificial island mid-Channel for changing Horses. It came up several times after that. Fears for national security were an issue. During World War II, it was estimated that Hitler could build a Chunnel in just 18 months using slaves. There was even a rumour he'd already started.
2. Another concern was that England would become “a holiday resort for hordes of more or less undesirable people, who would introduce foreign customs, deface the countryside and otherwise interrupt English habits of living.” In reality, since 85% of the car passengers using the tunnel are British, the French had more to worry about on that score!
3. The tunnel is 50.5-kilometre (31.4 miles) long and 75m (250 ft) deep at the lowest point. 37.9 kilometres (23.5 miles) of it is under the sea, giving it the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world. It takes around 35 minutes to travel the length of the Channel Tunnel.
4. The tunnel took six years to build, from 1988 to 1994 and cost £4.650 billion (£13 billion today), 80% over budget. At the peak of construction 15,000 people were employed costing over £3 million a day. It cost ten workers their lives - ten people were killed, eight of them British, during construction.
5. Eleven boring machines were used, digging from both sides of the Channel. While the English machines were merely numbered, the French gave theirs names - Brigitte, Europa, Catherine, Virginie, Pascaline and Séverine. After construction, one of the British machines was buried under the Channel and used to provide an electrical earth. Another was sold on eBay for £39,999 in 2004.
6. The leftover seven million tons of chalk, rock, and debris that was dislodged to make the tunnel was deposited to create Samphire Hoe Park, a 74-acre nature reserve.
7. On 1 December 1990, Englishman Graham Fagg and Frenchman Phillippe Cozette broke through the service tunnel and met - not quite in the middle as the British had tunnelled slightly further - to great ceremony.
8. For the official opening, four years later, the Queen took a train through the tunnel which stopped nose to nose with a train carrying President Mitterand from Paris. The two of them carried out an opening ceremony in Calais and travelled together through the tunnel for a similar ceremony in England.
9. Up to 400 trains pass through the tunnel each day, carrying an average of 50,000 passengers, 6,000 cars, 180 coaches and 54,000 tonnes of freight. Shuttle trains are 775 metres long - the same as eight Football pitches. The wagons for holding cars are the largest railway wagons in the world.
10. The tunnel consists of two railway tunnels and a service tunnel. The service tunnel allows access to all parts of the tunnel for maintenance and for use in emergencies. There are two types of service vehicle: the Service Tunnel Transport System (STTS) - 24 large vehicles with rubber tyres and a wire guidance system. "Pods" with different purposes, are inserted into the side of the vehicles which cannot turn around in the tunnel, and are designed to be driven from either end; and 15 Light Service Tunnel Vehicles (LADOGS), which are smaller and can turn around if they need to. The convention for maintenance workers is to drive on the left, as in England, so the vehicles are fitted with an alarm in case any of the French workers forget and drive on the right.