On this day: an Air Display in London

The British Empire Exhibition ran at Wembley Park in London over 1924 and 1925, showcasing Britain’s might to any world leaders who thought to overpower them.

One of the displays was an air display simulating battle-like conditions, and featuring No. 32 Squadron in a show titled “London Defended”. The display was first shown on the 9th of May, 1925 and continued until the 1st of June. Part of the show involved blank ammunition being fired into the arena.

This display was a precursor to today’s Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force’s aerial display team that was founded in the 1960s and today still performs.

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On this day: the death of Winnipeg the bear

Winnie in 1914 X

Winnipeg (or Winnie), a female black bear from Canada and the inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh, died in London Zoo on the 12^th of May, 1934. She was twenty at the time.

Winnie and Harry Colebourn X

Winnie was purchased as an orphaned cub at a train stop in Ontario in 1914. She was bought for $20 by Harry Colebourn, a twenty-seven year old veterinarian who had volunteered for World War One and was on his way to report for duty. He named her after his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Winnie plays with Canadian soldiers during WW1.

Winnie, who became a military mascot, was kept in London for the years Colebourn served in the war, and he eventually donated her to the zoo.

Winnie-the-Pooh makes a debut on Christmas Eve, 1925. X

The inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh came after creator A. A. Milne’s son Christopher Robin visited the bear at the zoo and changed the name of his toy bear from “Edward Bear” to “Winnie the Pooh”.

On this day: the Butler Act is enacted

On the 21st of March, 1925, the Butler Act, a Tennessee law banning the teaching of evolution, and forcing public school teachers to acknowledge the Biblical account of the origin of humankind, came into effect.

Austin Peay

Signed into law by Austin Peay, the Governor of Tennessee, it was infamously challenged in court a few weeks afterwards.

The Scopes Trial.

The law stayed in effect until 1967.

 

On this day: a debut for Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh made his debut in London’s The Evening News in a commissioned Christmas story on the 24^th of December, 1925.

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This is also posted on Sonya’s Stuff.

On this day: the Charlevoix-Kamouraska Earthquake

The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake took place in north-eastern North America on the 28th of February, 1925.

The epicentre of the quake was in the Charlevoix-Kamouraska area along the Saint Lawrence River.

Damage in Shawinigan, Quebec.

Reaching 6.2 on the Moment magnitude scale, the worst of the damage occurred in three separate areas of Quebec, Canada.

 

Boxing Day

Gathering honey on Boxing Day in Queensland, Australia in 1925.

Source

On this day: the St Nedelya Church assault in 1925

On the 16th of April, 1925, members of the Communist Party bombed the St Nedelya Church in Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria during a funeral service. 150 people were killed, most of them Bulgaria’s political and military heavyweights, and 500 others were injured.

Involvement from Moscow was suspected in the attack.

The church with the roof blown off.