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| Title: Date of the Day - Science and Industry | |
| Generalhistory > General > General Discussion | Go to subcategory： |
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MarkUK
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Date Posted：2026-01-01 08:42:52Copy HTML 1 January 1781 - The World's First Iron Bridge Opened. In 1776 a proposal to construct a wholly metal bridge across the Severn Gorge between the Shropshire villages of Benthall and Madeley was put before Parliament. The necessary Act was passed with the the work for the design going to Thomas Pritchard and the actual casting and construction to Abraham Darby of the Coalbrookdale Ironworks, Shropshire. Work began in 1777 and although the river was spanned as early as July 1779 the bridge was not formally opened to traffic until New Year's Day 1781. It is 100 ft long weighing 378 tons. Such was the fame of the construction that the town that grew up around the two villages was renamed Ironbridge. Closed to road traffic in 1934 it remains in use for pedestrians.
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning.
Arnold Bennett
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MarkUK
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#276
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Re：Date of the Day - Science and Industry Date Posted：2026-03-23 08:56:13Copy HTML It was a planned mission of well over a year. He was earmarked as one of the cosmonauts to land on the Moon, but the Yanks got there first. You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning.
Arnold Bennett
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MarkUK
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#277
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Re：Date of the Day - Science and Industry Date Posted：2026-03-23 09:08:30Copy HTML 23 March 1912 - Wernher von Braun born. German rocket engineer who later worked in the USA on the space programme. At the age of just 25 von Braun was put in charge of the NAZI missile programme tasked with developing a missile with a greater range than conventional artillery plus able to carry a large payload. However the outbreak of war saw resources directed to the Luftwaffe and it was only through his pleadings that in 1943 he was allowed to press on with his project. The result was the V-2 rocket which was first fired against England in September 1944. Captured by the Americans in May 1945 von Braun he was granted an amnesty and employed on the US missile programme and later on their efforts to get into space. You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning.
Arnold Bennett
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majorshrapnel
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#278
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Re：Date of the Day - Science and Industry Date Posted：2026-03-23 10:30:13Copy HTML It was a planned mission of well over a year. He was earmarked as one of the cosmonauts to land on the Moon, but the Yanks got there first. There was no race for the moon, a fact we found out following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Scientists having access to Russia’s moon program were shocked at the backward state of it, considering their expertise in their space program |
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MarkUK
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#279
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Re：Date of the Day - Science and Industry Date Posted：2026-03-23 06:55:50Copy HTML I'm going to Hay-on-Wye and Brecon for a few days (just as the weather in Wales is turning decidedly wintry). Brecon of course is the home of the Royal Welsh Regimental Museum and its excellent Zulu War exhibition. You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning.
Arnold Bennett
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majorshrapnel
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#280
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Re：Date of the Day - Science and Industry Date Posted：2026-03-23 08:01:55Copy HTML I'm afraid that the perception of the fact that the Welsh, South Wales Borders, were the regiment defending Rorke's Drift during the Zulu War is wrong. They did not sing Men of Harlech as most of them were English and it was not a Welsh regiment defending the farm, it was an English one, the Warwickshire Regiment, one of my grandad's old regiments. Due to their overwhelming recruitment from Wales, because they were based at Brecon on the Welsh border, they did eventually become the South Wales Borderers. As the Warwickshires they did fight in the American war of independence too. |
