Portal:United Kingdom/Did you know/2005

9 February 2005

 * that Mary Seacole has been described as the black Florence Nightingale?
 * that AEJ Collins scored the highest-ever recorded score in cricket, 628 not out, over four afternoons in June 1899 as a 13-year-old schoolboy?
 * that Satyendra Prasanno Sinha, 1st Baron Sinha became the first Indian member of the House of Lords in 1919?
 * that The Duke of Wellington's Regiment is the only regiment in the British Army to carry four colours on parade?
 * that the St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury, Kent, is one of the two grounds used regularly for first-class cricket that has a tree within the boundary?

14 February 2005

 * ...that Hamilton Palace in Scotland was lent for use as a naval hospital during World War I, by Alfred, the 13th Duke of Hamilton?
 * ... that the Saladin tithe was levied in England in 1188 to help finance the Third Crusade?
 * ... that Reginald Hill's novel A Clubbable Woman was his first story about Dalziel and Pascoe?

29 March 2005

 * ...that King George V was a member of the Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping Car Porters George?
 * ... that Double Gloucester cheese is made from a mixture of milk taken in the morning and evening?
 * ...that although Admiral Robert Calder arguably saved Britain from invasion in the battle of Cape Finisterre, he was court-martialled for his failure to win a more decisive victory?
 * ...that the BBC coat of arms was adopted in 1927 and uses heraldic symbols to depict the various qualities of broadcasting?

15 June 2005

 * ...that the FTSE 100-listed company Hays plc dates back to the 1600s, when they owned warehouses and wharves on the River Thames?
 * ...that the History of Swansea includes an epidemic of yellow fever in 1865, the only outbreak of that disease on the British mainland?
 * ...that Elsie Tanner was a core character on the British soap opera Coronation Street for over twenty years?
 * ...that although England centre forward Geoff Hurst had scored a hat-trick and was therefore entitled to keep the match ball, it was German striker Helmut Haller who took it home after the 1966 World Cup final?
 * ...that Arthur Owens, codenamed SNOW, was a vital double agent who supplied information to German intelligence under the direction of British MI5 during the early years of World War II?