Gday...

1215  -     King John of England puts his seal to the Magna Carta

The Magna Carta, Latin for "Great Charter", set down rights that became a part of English law. These rights are now the foundation of the constitution of every English-speaking nation, and included the right of a jury trial, protection of private property, limits on taxation and certain religious freedom. The Magna Carta is the most significant early influence on the long historical process that has led to the rule of constitutional law today.

King John, who became king in 1199 when his brother King Richard I died, was a tyrannical king. His reign began with defeats he lost Normandy to Philippe Auguste of France in his first five years on the throne and ended with England torn by civil war and himself on the verge of being forced out of power. By 1215, the nobility of England had enough of paying extra taxation. Members of this nobility rebelled and captured London. In June, the King met these barons at Runnymede on the Thames River to try and reach a peaceful settlement. The King reluctantly agreed to their demands by signing the Magna Carta on 15 June 1215.

1844  -     Vulcanised rubber is patented by Charles Goodyear.

Vulcanisation, or curing, of rubber is a chemical process in which rubber molecules become locked together to a greater or lesser extent, making the bulk material harder, more durable and more resistant to chemical attack. The process also alters the surface of the material from a stickiness that adheres to other materials, to a smooth soft surface.

Prior to the mid-19th century, natural or India rubber had limited usefulness because it melted in hot weather, froze and cracked in cold weather, and tended to stick to virtually everything. Charles Goodyear, a businessman who experimented with the properties of gum elastic, accidentally discovered the process of vulcanisation of rubber when he dropped some rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove. He received US Patent No. 3,633 on 15 June 1844 for his invention.

Goodyear did not benefit from his invention as Englishman Thomas Han**** copied his idea and attained a British patent for the process before Goodyear applied for a British patent. However, vulcanised rubber was later made into tyres emblazoned with Goodyear's name. The Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company adopted the Goodyear name because of its activities in the rubber industry, but it has no other links to Charles Goodyear and his family.  

1862  -     Australia's largest ever gold robbery is carried out by bushranger Frank Gardiner near Forbes, New South Wales.

Frank Gardiner was born Francis Christie in 1829, in Rosshire, Scotland. He was first convicted of horse stealing in Victoria in 1850, and sentenced to five years hard labour in Pentridge Gaol. After escaping a year later, he took up bushranging in the district around Goulburn, New South Wales. He was arrested again for horse stealing in 1854, and sent to Sydney's infamous ****atoo Island. He was released five years later on a ticket-of-leave, on condition that he remain in the Carcoar district and regularly report to the police. He broke parole by heading straight to the Kiandra gold diggings in the New South Wales high country. After a brief stint as a butcher near Lambing Flat (now Young, NSW) he gradually fell back into a life of crime, progressing from horse and cattle stealing, to highway robberies under arms, violent assaults, and the attempted murder of two police officers.

On 15 June 1862, together with Ben Hall and Johnny Gilbert, Gardiner bailed up the Lachlan Gold Escort in Eugowra Rock, near Forbes. This hold up is still considered to be the largest ever gold robbery in Australia's history. The total value of the 2,700 ounces of gold taken was estimated at £14,000 (approximately AUD$2 million in 2006 terms). Almost half of the gold was recovered by mounted police following a raid on one of the Gardiner hideouts in the Weddin Mountains near Forbes in NSW.

After initially disappearing from the scene, Gardiner was later recognised at Apis Creek near Rockhampton, Queensland. He served ten years of a thirty year sentence before heading off to California. There has been much speculation about two Californians who arrived in Wheogo in 1912, posing as mining prospectors. After digging up the area around Gardiner's former camp and departing with their specimen bags full, it has been speculated that they were Gardiner's sons returning for the remaining gold. 

1996  -     200 people are injured as a bomb explodes in Manchester.

Manchester is a city in the northwest of England, particularly famous for its sport, and a centre for the arts, media and big business. At 11:20am on Saturday, 15 June 1996, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) detonated a large bomb in the city centre. Whilst the bomb caused over 200 injuries, it caused no deaths, and could have led to real tragedy were it not for a telephone warning to a local television station at around 10:00am. Police were kept busy clearing people from central Manchester for the next hour and twenty minutes, although they were unable to evacuate all citizens by the time the bomb detonated. The main damage was to the physical infrastructure of nearby buildings. It was the seventh attack by the IRA since it broke its ceasefire earlier in February, and the second largest attack to occur on the British mainland.

Cheers - John