Richard Cavendish

February 6th, 1651

Australian prospectors struck gold on 12 February 1851.

After a failed coup d'état against Elizabeth I, Robert Devereux was beheaded at the Tower of London on 25 February 1601

The Prussian Kingdom was founded on January 18th, 1701, when the Elector Frederick III had himself crowned Frederick I at Konigsberg.

Guiseppe Verdi, described by the Italian parliament as 'one of the highest expressions of the national genius' died on January 27th, 1901, aged 87.

Started in 1947, to grow peanuts in Tanganyika as a contribution to both the African and British economies, the Groundnuts Scheme was abandoned four years later on January 9th, 1951.

The most gifted, vivid and extraordinary of the medieval Holy Roman Emperors died on December 13th, 1250.

The brilliant inventor and engineer William George Armstrong died on December 27th, 1900, aged ninety.

Joseph Needham, one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable scholars, was born on December 9th, 1900.

The Exposition Universelle in Paris ended on November 12th, 1900. In seven months, the Exposition drew over 50 million visitors.