The List

Sunday 09 January 1994 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

REVOLTING PEASANTS: 1330: The 'Jacquerie' revolt against French nobility; 1381: Wat Tyler led agricultural labourers to London to protest against Richard II's poll tax; 1789: French peasants supported the revolution by burning landowners' chateaux; 1853: the Taiping declared a celestial kingdom in Nanking and redistributed farmland; 1994: insurrection of Zapatistas of Mexico in Chiapas; 1994: 'back to basics' revolt of Suffolk Conservative Party workers.

TOO BASIC: basic industries (coal, steel, shipbuilding); basic wage (European Union proposals for); basic necessities (work, housing, heating); Basic Instinct (1992 sex-murder thriller); Basic English (850 most commonly used words).

TODAY is the feast day of Saint Marciana, virgin and martyr of Mauritania. She refused to denounce her Christianity and was subjected to a public attempt at gang rape by gladiators. Miraculously, she remained a virgin, and one of the gladiators converted to Christianity in response. She fared worse in the amphitheatre at Caesarea, where a wild bull and a leopard tore her to pieces.

9 January, 1799: Pitt the Younger introduced income tax at two shillings per pound to fund the Army.

1816: Sir Humphry Davy's safety lamp first used in a coal mine.

1848: Death aged 97 of Caroline Lucretia Herschel (above), astronomer and sister of the more famous William, whom she worked with when George III appointed him as his private astronomer. She executed many of his calculations and discovered eight comets and several nebulae. In 1798 she produced a star catalogue listing 560 omissions in the Royal Society's catalogue. In 1828 she received the Astronomical Society's gold medal.

1878: Death of Victor Emmanuel, first King of Italy.

1969: First trial flight of Concorde at Bristol.

BIRTHDAYS: Graham Fletcher, showjumper, 43; Susannah York, actress, 52; Joan Baez, singer, 53; Richard Nixon, 81.

DEATHS: Zviad Gamsakhurdia, aged 54, former president of Georgia; Virginia Kelley, Bill Clinton's mother, aged 70; Tip O'Neill, speaker of the House of Representatives.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in