The last shot in the American War of Independence 25 November 1783 (230 years ago)
This was the last events of the American War of Independence when the British finally withdrew from Manhattan. The last shot was fired by a British seaman at some Americans on Staten Island but it fell short.
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln on 19 November 2013 (150 years ago)
This was one of the shortest addresses by a politician but one of the most quoted.
Here is the text of the Gettysburg Address as it appears on the Lincoln Memorial.
This is a video of an actor reciting the Gettysburg Address.
Benjamin Britten’s centenary – he was born on 22 November 1913
This great British composer was famous for his operas and for his music for children and an example of the later is “the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”.
Here is a YouTube video of the WDR Orchestra playing this:
More information can be obtained on Benjamin Britten can be found on Wikipedia.
The Assassination of John F Kennedy on 22 November 1963 in Dallas (50 years ago)
Some of us could remember where we were when Kennedy was assassinated at 12:30 (UTC 18:30) in Dallas Texas.
The wikipedia article on the assassination of John F Kennedy is very full.
Kennedy visited Germany and is very famous for his speech in Berlin where he said Ich bin ein Berliner
The first showing of Doctor Who on 23 November 1963 (50 years ago)
Doctor Who, a science fiction children’s series, has been shown on the BBC for fifty years and twelve actors have played the part of the Doctor and he travels in a vehicle called the Tardis.
The theme tune is famous as it was one of the first pieces of electronic music produced for a theme tune.
The original theme music created before the advent of modern synthesizers was composed by Ron Grainer and realized by Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Famous as the one of the Doctor’s enemies are the Daleks who famously had a weakness of not being able to climb stairs. This led Punch to publish a cartoon about this point.
