On This Day ... July July 1 1997 Sony’s “Walkman” goes on sale for the first time.
in 110 nations and raised more than $125 million in famine relief for Africa.
July 2 1937 Amelia Earhart and navigator Frederick Noonan are reported missing near Howland Island in the Pacific. The pair were attempting to fly around the world when they disappeared during the most challenging leg of the global journey.
July 16 1945 At 05:29:45 the Manhattan Project comes to an explosive conclusion as the first atomic bomb is successfully tested in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
July 5 1946 French designer Louis Réard unveils a daring two-piece swimsuit in Paris. Réard dubbed his creation “bikini,” inspired by a news-making U.S. atomic test that took place off the Bikini Atoll earlier that week. July 7 1917 British Army Council Instruction Number 1069 formally establishes the British Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), authorizing female volunteers to serve alongside their male counterparts in France during World War I. July 8 1776 The 2,000-pound copperand-tin bell now known as the “Liberty Bell” rings out from the tower of the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, summoning citizens to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. July 10 1940 The Germans begin the first in a long series of bombing raids against Great Britain, beginning the Battle of Britain, which would last three and a half months. July 13 1985 Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia host Live Aid, a worldwide rock concert organized to raise money for the relief of famine-stricken Africans. The 16-hour “superconcert” was seen by more than a billion viewers
July 19 1799 A French soldier discovers a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient writings near the town of Rosetta in Egypt. The irregularly shaped stone contained fragments of passages written in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic. The Greek passage announced that the three scripts were all of identical meaning. The artifact thus held the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphics, a written language that had been “dead” for nearly 2,000 years. July 21 1969 Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on another planetary body when they landed on the moon - a feat managed by just 10 others since. July 27 1921 Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolate insulin—a hormone they believe could prevent diabetes. Within a year, the first human sufferers of diabetes were receiving insulin treatments, and countless lives were saved from what was previously regarded as a fatal disease.
Letter From Blighty
by Beryl Brennan
July 2021
A
fter spending weeks driving around a 100 mile diameter of our rental base viewing dozens of properties, we finally settled on one…not our first choice though. First choice – a flooding risk given rising sea levels. Second choice – occupied and the couple hadn’t even started packing up 40 years of belongings! So we settled on our third choice in a town we hadn’t originally considered. With criteria of a bus stop, local shop within walking distance, small manageable garden – bliss after 7 hectares to maintain! – and no stairs, life should be much easier. Our cheeky offer was quickly accepted, as we are cash buyers and the property is empty. Then began the fun!! Talk about being made to feel like a money-laundering criminal in the country of our birth! Proof of identity – the estate agents were the first to ask for that, followed by the legal beagle. Certified photocopy of passport – banks can no longer do that! The solicitor will charge to do it – rip off Britain again. Utility bills and bank statements … all from our French addresses and of course we’re in rental in the UK. We even had to show originals of bank statements to prove we had the cash…then the question was asked ‘what was the source? Know what? We sold a house to buy another one! What a palaver! It took about 3 weeks for us to prove we are who we say. Then there’s the paperwork – legal beagles do everything in triplicate now with reams of pages of Terms and Conditions mainly to cover their backs if they make a mistake and we sue! We didn’t actually sign and return ours as one condition was that we supplied 3 months’ bank statements. Well, what we do with our money other than buy a property is our business, not theirs to go on file! With lockdown you don’t meet face to face, not even Zooming. The secretary used WhatsApp to check our faces against our passport photos but that was the limit of any contact other than emails and post. We asked for completion before the end of June and the Stamp Duty holiday, only to learn that we needed to be permanently resident in the UK for a minimum of 183 days – 6 months near enough – to qualify. So we would get slammed with 2% Stamp Duty. The tax specialist at the Legal firm could claim it back for us after 6 months for a minimum charge of £300. Blow that, we’ll do it ourselves with one of us a retired accountant! Our legal beagle said she’ll do her best to complete before our rental term expires and with just us and the vendors, there shouldn’t be any complications. So fingers crossed, we might actually be property owners again! Will be in touch again.
July 29 1588 Off the coast of Gravelines, France, Spain’s “Invincible Armada” is defeated by an English naval force under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake. After eight hours of furious fighting, a change in wind direction prompted the Spanish to break off from the battle and retreat. The Deux-Sèvres Monthly, July 2021 | 9