On this day on 14th March

On this day in 1879 Albert Einstein was born of Jewish parents in Ulm, Germany, in 1879. He was educated at Munich, Aarau and Zurich. Disapproving of German militarism he took Swiss nationality in 1901 and the following year was appointed examiner at the Swiss Patent Office. While in this post he began publishing original papers on the theoretical aspects of problems in physics.

Influenced by quantum theory developed by Max Planck in Berlin, Einstein explained the photoelectric law that governs the production of electricity from light-sensitive metals.

In 1905 Einstein published his special theory of relativity. Einstein argued that the laws of nature are the same for all observers in unaccelerated motion, and the speed of light is independent in the motion of its source. Einstein postulated that the time interval between two events was longer for an observer in whose frame of reference the events occur in different places than for the observer for whom they occur at the same place.

Einstein took his PhD at Zurich and in 1909 became a lecturer in theoretical physics at the university. He also taught at Prague (1911-12) before Max Planck invited him to become director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute in Berlin in 1914.

In 1915 Einstein published his general theory of relativity where he argued that the properties of space-time were to be conceived as modified locally by the presence of a body with mass. The theory of relativity revolutionized our understanding of matter, space, and time.

Einstein achieved world recognition for his general theory of relativity and won the Nobel prize for physics in 1921. As a Jew, Einstein suffered a great deal of prejudice in Germany and after being involved in a memorial service for the assassinated German politician, Walther Rathenau, he was warned that he was likely to be murdered by the Freikorps.

Einstein became increasingly interested in politics and he toured Europe making speeches on peace and disarmament. Now a pacifist, he told his audiences that: "my pacifism is an instinctive feeling, a feeling that possesses me because the murder of men is disgusting." In 1929 he upset right-wing forces in Weimar Germany by stating: "I would unconditionally refuse all war service, direct or indirect regardless of how I might feel about the causes of any particular war."

When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 Einstein was in California. His house was immediately attacked by the Sturm Abteilung (SA). After being told what had happened Einstein decided not to return home. Instead he toured Europe making speeches explaining what was taking place in Nazi Germany.

In 1934 Einstein emigrated to the United States where he became a professor of mathematics at Princeton. He was no longer a pacifist and argued that democratic nations needed to rearm in order to defend itself against the aggressive foreign policy of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

In 1939 Einstein warned President Franklin D. Roosevelt that German scientists were in a position to develop an atomic bomb. This encouraged Roosevelt to establish the Manhattan Project.

After the war he urged control of atomic weapons and was one of the first people in the United States to protest about McCarthyism and the activities of the House of Un-American Activities Committee.

Albert Einstein, who spent his final years trying to establish a merger between between quantum theory and his general theory of relativity, died in 1955.

On this day in 1883 Karl Marx died. In his best-selling pamphlet, The Civil War in France (1871), Marx admitted that the International Workingmen's Association was heavily involved in the Paris Commune. Jules Favre, the recently reinstated foreign minister in France, asked all European governments to outlaw the IWMA. A French newspaper identified Marx as the "supreme chief" of the conspirators, alleging that he had "organised" the uprising from London. It claimed that the IWMA had seven million members.

Other European governments also urged the punishment of IWMA members. Spain agreed to extradite those involved in the Paris Commune. Giuseppe Mazzini, the leader of the Italian nationalist movement, joined in the calls for the arrest of Marx, who he described as "a man of domineering disposition; jealous of the influence of others; governed by no earnest, philosophical, or religious belief; having, I fear more elements of anger than of love in his nature".

British newspapers also complained about the dangers posed by Karl Marx. The Times warned of the possibility of Marx having an influence on the working-class. It feared that solid English trade unionists who wanted nothing more than "a fair day's wage for a fair day's work" might be corrupted by "strange theories" imported from abroad. Marx wrote to Ludwig Kugelmann that "I have the honour to be this moment the most abused and threatened man in London."

The German ambassador urged Granville Leveson-Gower, the British Foreign Secretary, to treat Marx as a common criminal because of his outrageous "menaces to life and property". After consulting with William Gladstone, the Prime Minister, he replied that "extreme socialist opinions are not believed to have gained any hold upon the working men of this country" and "no practical steps with regard to foreign countries are known to have been taken by the English branch of the Association."

The publication of The Civil War in France (1871) upset several British trade union leaders and George Odger resigned from the General Council of International Workingmen's Association. It has been argued that the passing of the 1867 Reform Act had made the working class less radical. After the Paris Commune, the only areas where the IWMA made progress was in the the strongholds of anarchism: Spain and Italy.

In March 1869 Mikhail Bakunin met Sergi Nechayev. Soon afterwards Bakunin wrote to James Guillaume that: "I have here with me one of those young fanatics who know no doubts, who fear nothing, and who realize that many of them will perish at the hands of the government but who nevertheless have decided that they will not relent until the people rise. They are magnificent, these young fanatics, believers without God, heroes without rhetoric."

Later that year Bakunin and Nechayev co-wrote Catechism of a Revolutionist. It included the famous passage: "The Revolutionist is a doomed man. He has no private interests, no affairs, sentiments, ties, property nor even a name of his own. His entire being is devoured by one purpose, one thought, one passion - the revolution. Heart and soul, not merely by word but by deed, he has severed every link with the social order and with the entire civilized world; with the laws, good manners, conventions, and morality of that world. He is its merciless enemy and continues to inhabit it with only one purpose - to destroy it."

Nechayev set up a secret terrorist organization, People's Retribution, and claimed he was an agent of the IWMA. Karl Marx was appalled by this and at a special conference held in September 1871, held at a pub off Tottenham Court Road. Marx dominated the proceedings and a motion was passed that pointed out that Nechayev "has fraudulently used the name of the International Working Men's Association in order to make dupes and victims in Russia".

Bakunin continued to work closely with Nechayev and Marx was appalled when he discovered that a publisher who had decided to publish a Russian edition of Das Kapital had received death threats from the young Russian. Bakunin had been paid an advance of 300 roubles to translate the book into Russian. He began the task but then decided against finishing the project. When the publisher asked for his money back Nechayev wrote to him suggesting that if he did not withdraw his demands he would have to be killed.

Marx attempted to infuse English workers with "internationalism and the revolutionary spirit". He was unsuccessful in this task and criticised the trade unions being an "aristocratic minority" and not involving "lower-paid workers, to whom, together with the Irish, Marx increasingly looked for support." However, the followers of Victoria Woodhull in America, and the IWA sections in France, Spain and Italy, complained about Marx was dominating the organization. The opposition issued a circular denouncing "authoritarianism and hierarchy" in the IWMA. There was now a split between the "anti-authoritarians" and the groups that adhered to the General Council.

Karl Marx attended the IWMA National Congress at the Hague, in September, 1872. According to newspaper reports, local people were warned "not to go into the streets with articles of value upon them" as the "International is coming and will steal them". Vast crowds followed the delegates from the railway station to the hotel, "the figure of Karl Marx attracting special attention". Marx dominating the proceedings "his black broadcloth suit contrasted with his white hair and beard and he would screw a monocle into his eye when he wanted to scrutinise his audience."

At the congress a report was presented that showed Mikhail Bakunin had tried to establish a secret society within the IWMA and was also guilty of fraud. It also revealed details of the letter sent by Sergi Nechayev to Marx's publisher in Russia. The delegates voted twenty-seven votes to seven, that Bakunin should be expelled from the association.

Marx had decided to retire from the IWMA and concentrate on the second volume of Das Kapital. Marx decided that the General Council of the IWMA should be moved to America. Engels proposed at the congress that the organisation should be transferred to New York City. The vote was very close with twenty-six for, twenty-three against and 9 abstentions.

The rival anarchists held a rival congress immediately following the IWMA congress. In 1873 they had another congress that was attended by anarchists from England, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands. The General Council in New York attempted to organise a congress in Geneva in 1873, but it was poor attended after Marx instructed his followers not to attend. Marx wrote in 1874 that "in England the International is for the time being as good as dead". However, it was not until 1876 that the IWMA was officially dissolved.

This failure depressed Karl Marx and after this date his energy began to diminish. He continued to work on the second volume of Das Kapital but progress was slow, especially after Eleanor Marx left home to become a schoolteacher in Brighton.

Eleanor returned to the family home in 1881 to nurse her parents who were both very ill. Marx, who had a swollen liver, survived, but Jenny Marx died on 2nd December, 1881. Karl Marx was also devastated by the death of his eldest daughter in January 1883 from cancer of the bladder. Karl Marx died two months later on the 14th March, 1883.

On this day in 1893 Jessie Alice Spink (Vera Wentworth), the daughter of Harry Laing Spink and Rachel Amanda Goode, was born in Westminster, London. Her father was according to Census returns a "Chemist & Druggist". Her mother died when she was a child and her father married Louisa Hawkins.

Jessie seems to have rebelled against her father and became close to her brother Wilfred William Spink, who became a member of the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and a devoted follower of Keir Hardie. Spink introduced Jessie to Fenner Brockway, a socialist, pacifist and a campaigner for women's rights.

Brockway later argued: "The women's suffrage movement... had my enthusiasm hardly less than the Socialist movement. When the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies threw in its lot with the Labour Party, and particularly with the ILP, I spoke at their meetings frequently and took part in a number of their by-election campaigns."

After leaving school she found work in a shop. She was an active trade unionist and her brother, who was only 18 years old and working as a journalist, was the leader of an unsuccessful unofficial strike of women workers in the East End of London. Brockway described "Wilfie Spinks" as his "explosive friend."

Jessie joined the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1906. The following year she changed her name to Vera Wentworth. Possibly because her father, a successful businessman, did not want her to use the family name. She now became an avid supporter of Christabel Pankhurst. She showed this by wearing a badge with her portrait on her chest.

Wentworth was first arrested after taking part in a demonstration outside the House of Commons in February 1908. She was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment. On her release she met fellow suffragettes, including Mary Blathwayt at the Eustace Miles Restaurant. At another demonstration on 30th June, 1908, she was arrested and sentenced to three-months' imprisonment. On her release from Holloway Prison she published an article, "Should Christian Women Demand the Vote", for the September edition of the Christian Commonwealth. She also published an article, "Three Months in Holloway" on her experiences in prison.

In December 1908 Wentworth became a WSPU organiser and joined Minnie Baldock, Jessie Kenney, Charlotte Marsh, and Mary Phillips in their work in London. Wentworth was based in Brixton and according to Votes for Women she organised open-air meetings outside the Kennington Theatre and in local shopping districts.

In January 1909 Wentworth moved to Bristol where she helped Clara Codd organise the WSPU in the city. One of their main targets was Augustine Birrell, the Liberal MP for Bristol North. It was reported: "On Tuesday Miss Vera Wentworth and Miss Clara Codd had a good meeting at the Horse Fair. On Wednesday we had a fine meeting for women in Mr. Birrell's constituency (Bristol North) most of those present being of the hard-working class; their response to our explanation for the vote was most encouraging… Miss Vera Wentworth and Miss Clara Codd took the Stokes Croft At Home this week, and Miss Wentworth has organised a "Votes Corps," which goes out on Monday evening…. Helpers who can give some time to this excellent propaganda work please write to Miss Vera Wentworth, 33 Queen Road, Clifton. Miss Wentworth is also organising chalking parties for advertising our open-air meetings."

Around this time Vera Wentworth volunteered to join a secret group called Young Hot Bloods to carry out acts that would probably result in them being sent to prison. No married women were eligible for membership and they had to pledge to "danger duty". It has been argued that this group included Helen Craggs, Olive Hockin, Kitty Marion, Lilian Lenton, Miriam Pratt, Norah Smyth, Clara Giveen, Eileen Casey, Hilda Burkitt, Mary Leigh, Gladys Evans, Olive Wharry, Jessie Kenney, Elsie Howey, Mary Phillips and Florence Tunks.

In February 1909, Jessie Kenney and Minnie Baldock moved to Bristol with the intentions of increasing militant actions in the city. Meetings were held regularly in the open-air on the Downs, the Horse Fair, on Horfield Common, as well as outside factories. In May 1909, Wentworth and Elsie Howey hid in Colston Hall's organ in order to interrupt, with the cry of "votes for women", a meeting being held by Augustine Birrell, the Liberal MP for Bristol North.

In July 1909 Vera Wentworth, Elsie Howey and Mary Phillips volunteered to take part in a militant demonstration in Exeter at a meeting being held by Charles Robert Wynn-Carington, 3rd Baron Carrington, a member of the Liberal government. The three women were arrested and after refusing to pay the fine imposed on them they were sent to prison. While in prison they all went on hunger strike.

Vera Wentworth was a regular visitor to the home of Colonel Linley Blathwayt. His wife, Emily Blathwayt, and his daughter, Mary Blathwayt, held progressive political views and were both advocates of women's suffrage. Colonel Blathwayt was sympathetic to the WSPU cause and Eagle House, on the outskirts of Bath, that was called the "Suffragette Rest". Colonel Blathwayt photographed the WSPU visitors. These were then signed and sold at WSPU bazaars. Members of the WSPU who endured hunger strikes went to stay with the family. Colonel Blathwayt also designed an arboretum which was planted with trees by suffragette ex-prisoners. Eventually, fifty-four trees with their accompanying plagwere established there.

Mary Blathwayt recorded in her diary that Annie Kenney had intimate relationships with at least ten members of the WSPU at Batheaston. Blathwayt records in her diary that she slept with Annie in July 1908. Soon afterwards she illustrated jealousy with the comments that "Miss Browne is sleeping in Annie's room now." The diary suggests that Annie was sexually involved with both Christabel Pankhurst and Clara Codd. Blathwayt wrote in her diary that "Miss Codd has come to stay, she is sleeping with Annie." Codd's autobiography, So Rich a Life (1951) confirms this account.

During this period Vera Wentworth developed an intimate relationship with Mary Blathwayt. The historian, Martin Pugh, points out that "Mary writes matter-of-fact lines such as, Annie slept with someone else again last night, or There was someone else in Annie's bed this morning. But it is all done with no moral opprobrium for the act itself. In the diary Kenney appears frequently and with different women. Almost day by day Mary says she is sleeping with someone else."

A team of suffragetts led by Jessie Kenney and including Vera Wentworth, Mary Phillips and Elsie Howey, decided to target the prime minister, Herbert Asquith. There first incident took place in August 1909. Howey said in court: "We wish to say we don't think we are the guilty parties. We did obstruct the police, but we were only performing our duty. The Liberal Government is directly responsible for this. We have tried again and again to get Mr Asquith to see a deputation and explain what we want, but he will not see our deputations. Therefore, we must go to work differently. We have warned him that other things may happen if he will not listen to us. If we do not worse things it is not because we are afraid, but because we do not want to hurt anyone."

The level of violence used by the women shocked Mary Blathwayt. She wrote in her diary: "We hear of terrible things by the two Hooligans we know, Vera and Elsie and there is a Kenney in it. They made a regular raid on Mr. Asquith breaking a window and using personal violence. Then missiles have been thrown lately through windows during Cabinet Members meetings which might injure or kill innocent persons."

The following month they decided to visit Asquith when he was spending the weekend with Herbert Gladstone, his home secretary, at Lympne Castle. Kenney wrote about this in Votes for Women: "Vera Wentworth, Elsie Howey an I arranged our plans accordingly, and we decided to go down, too, and remind Mr. Asquith... that he would not have much peace until he did his duty to the women of the country. On Sunday morning we disguised ourselves ready for the occasion. Miss Vera Wentworth disguise as a nurse being especially successful. We took a boat up the Military Canal, which runs just below the Castle grounds, and moored it almost facing the Castle."

It was decided to accost Asquith when he went to church on Sunday morning. "We then went up to the churchyard, whence we could command a good view of both of the Castle gates and the entrance of the church. We had not been there very long when we saw Mr Asquith making his way into church, so we waited until the service was over. As he was going from the church to the little door which led to the Castle we hastened up towards him, and he began to run. He was just slipping through the door when we caught him. He got wedged in the door, and a struggle ensued, in which his hat was knocked off. He tried to recover both his hat and his dignity, but looked extremely afraid. Mr Asquith, I think, quite understood the position as we had warned him at Clovelly that the women were not going to tolerate his attitude to them much longer. It was a real "Deeds not words" affair. Not a word was spoken on either side. Mr Asquith managed to squeeze through by the aid of someone who came to his help, and the door was shut."

Herbert Asquith later recalled: "The contest was very evenly balanced... The women outside obviously meant business; they succeeded in prising the doors a short distance apart and while he stood spread-eagled in front of them with a hand on each door, one of them inserted herself in the crevice between and began butting him in the diaphragm with her head." Herbert Asquith junior got hold of her wrist and she fought with "a strange demonic frenzy which I had never met and hope never to see again."

That afternoon they decided to attack Asquith when he played golf with Gladstone at Littlestone-on-Sea. "We saw him quietly descending the steps, and making his way down the footpath to the motor- Miss Howey then made a dash up the path, and as soon as he saw her coming, he turned round and ran back again, and was almost on the top step when she caught him. He then said to Miss Howey, 'I shall have you locked up,' but she promptly returned, 'I don't care what you do, Mr. Asquith!' Vera Wentworth, and I then followed, and his hat was thrown off again in the scrimmage. When we arrived on the scene, Mr. Asquith was calling for help and trying to push Miss Howey out of the porch. At the call of Mr. Asquith, Mr. Gladstone came on the scene, and a real fight ensued. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Asquith tried to push us down the steps, but we pushed back as hard as they pushed forward. Mr Gladstone fought like a prize fighter, and struck out left and right. I must say he is a better fighter than he is a politician!"

The women were arrested and appeared in court accused of assaulting Asquith and Gladstone. Emily Blathwayt sent a letter to the WSPU headquarters: "Dear Madam, with great reluctance I am writing to ask that my name may be taken off the list as a Member of the W.S.P.U. Society. When I signed the membership paper, I thoroughly approved of the methods then used. Since then there has been personal violence and stone throwing which might injure innocent people. When asked by acquaintances what I think of these things I am unable to say that I approve, and people of my village who have hitherto been full of admiration for the Suffragettes are now feeling very differently."

Colonel Linley Blathwayt wrote to Christabel Pankhurst complaining about the behaviour of Vera Wentworth and Elsie Howey and suggested that they would no longer be welcome at Eagle House. Colonel Blathwayt also wrote letters to Wentworth and Howley about their behaviour. He said that "an attack on one undefended man by three women was an act I did not expect from the Society". According to Emily Blathwayt, they received a "long letter from Vera Wentworth who is very sorry we are grieved but if Mr. Asquith will not receive deputation they will pummel him again."

Mary Blathwayt wrote in her diary: "Vera Wentworth sent Linley a tardy acknowledgement of the photo he sent and hopes he was not shocked at their punching Asquith's head. I am writing back coldly, saying how grieved he is at the late actions and the stone throwing; telling how I was obliged to leave as I could no longer 'approve the methods' and finishing 'An attack on one undefended man by three women was an act I did not expect from the Society'. Last time Vera and Elsie left here I promised myself they should never come again if it were only on account of the reckless destruction of other people's property."

Colonel Blathwayt also wrote letters to Wentworth and Howley about their behaviour. He said that "an attack on one undefended man by three women was an act I did not expect from the Society". Emily Blathwayt, received a "long letter from Vera Wentworth who is very sorry we are grieved but if Mr. Asquith will not receive deputation they will pummel him again." Wentworth added "the authorities knew nothing of the raid for which they alone are responsible. They are driven nearly mad by the unjust treatment all their dear women have received and she points out they did no serious harm to Asquith whereas Herbert Gladstone gave Jessie a nasty blow in the chest."

On their release were met at the gates of Holloway Prison and then drawn by 50 women on a carriage to Queen's Hall. On their arrival they were presented with bouquets in the suffragette colours and with illuminated scrolls designed by Sylvia Pankhurst to commemorate their imprisonment. Wentworth was again arrested in November 1909 for breaking windows of the Liberal Club in Bristol where Winston Churchill had a speaking engagement. She went on hunger strike and was forcibly fed.

Emmeline Pankhurst was furious at what she saw as Asquith's betrayal and on 18th November, 1910, arranged to lead 300 women from a pre-arranged meeting at the Caxton Hall to the House of Commons. Pankhurst and a small group of WSPU members, were allowed into the building but Asquith refused to see them. Women, in "detachments of twelve" marched forward but were attacked by the police.

Votes for Women reported that 159 women and three men were arrested during this demonstration. (6) This included Vera Wentworth, Cecilia Wolseley Haig, Ada Wright, Catherine Marshall, Eveline Haverfield, Anne Cobden Sanderson, Mary Leigh, Vera Holme, Louisa Garrett Anderson, Kitty Marion, Gladys Evans, Maud Arncliffe Sennett, Clara Giveen, Eileen Casey, Patricia Woodcock, Mary Clarke, Lilian Dove-Wilcox, Minnie Turner, Lucy Burns, Grace Roe and Henria Williams.

Sylvia Pankhurst later described what happened on what became known as Black Friday: "As, one after the other, small deputations of twelve women appeared in sight they were set upon by the police and hurled aside. Mrs Cobden Sanderson, who had been in the first deputation, was rudely seized and pressed against the wall by the police, who held her there by both arms for a considerable time, sneering and jeering at her meanwhile.... Just as this had been done, I saw Miss Ada Wright close to the entrance. Several police seized her, lifted her from the ground and flung her back into the crowd. A moment afterwards she appeared again, and I saw her running as fast as she could towards the House of Commons. A policeman struck her with all his force and she fell to the ground. For a moment there was a group of struggling men round the place where she lay, then she rose up, only to be flung down again immediately. Then a tall, grey-headed man with a silk hat was seen fighting to protect her; but three or four police seized hold of him and bundled him away. Then again, I saw Miss Ada Wright's tall, grey-clad figure, but over and over again she was flung to the ground, how often I cannot say. It was a painful and degrading sight. At last, she was lying against the wall of the House of Lords, close to the Strangers' Entrance, and a number of women, with pale and distressed faces were kneeling down round her. She was in a state of collapse."

Several women reported that the police dragged women down the side streets. "We knew this always meant greater ill-usage.... The police snatched the flags, tore them to shreds, and smashed the sticks, struck the women with fists and knees, knocked them down, some even kicked them, then dragged them up, carried them a few paces and flung them into the crowd of sightseers."

After her release from prison Vera Wentworth began attending classes in General Modern History and General Political Economy at St Andrews University. She also wrote An Allegory, that was published in by the Actresses' Franchise League. In March 1913 the play was directed by Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and performed by WSPU prisoners in Holloway Prison. During her time in the Women's Social and Political Union she went to prison ten times.

The British government declared war on Germany on 4th August 1914. Two days later, Millicent Fawcett, the leader of the NUWSS declared that the organization was suspending all political activity until the conflict was over. Fawcett supported the war effort but she refused to become involved in persuading young men to join the armed forces. This WSPU took a different view to the war. It was a spent force with very few active members. According to Martin Pugh, the WSPU were aware "that their campaign had been no more successful in winning the vote than that of the non-militants whom they so freely derided".

The WSPU carried out secret negotiations with the government and on the 10th August the government announced it was releasing all suffragettes from prison. In return, the WSPU agreed to end their militant activities and help the war effort. Christabel Pankhurst, arrived back in England after living in exile in Paris. She told the press: "I feel that my duty lies in England now, and I have come back. The British citizenship for which we suffragettes have been fighting is now in jeopardy."

After receiving a £2,000 grant from the government, the WSPU organised a demonstration in London. Members carried banners with slogans such as "We Demand the Right to Serve", "For Men Must Fight and Women Must Work" and "Let None Be Kaiser's Cat's Paws". At the meeting, attended by 30,000 people, Emmeline Pankhurst called on trade unions to let women work in those industries traditionally dominated by men. She told the audience: "What would be the good of a vote without a country to vote in!".

Vera Wentworth appears to have lost interest in politics after the WSPU became the The Women's Party. After the First World War she lived with Daisy E Carden, who received B.A. degree from University of London in 1927. By 1939 they were living at 47 Argyle Square, St Pancras, London. Wentworth described herself as an "Authoress", Carden is recorded as a "Clerk " at "Middlesex Hospital "

During the Second World War she worked in London in the Air Raid Precautions.

Vera Wentworth died in the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital on 5th August 1957. (Home address: 2 White Heather House, Cromer Street, London WC1).

On this day in 1912 Cliff Bastin was born in Exeter, Devon on 14th March, 1912. At the age of 14 he played for England Schoolboys against Wales.

Bastin signed for Exeter City and at the age of 15 made his league debut. Bastin scored six goals in 17 games when Herbert Chapman persuaded him to sign for Arsenal in May 1929 for £2,000. This was considered to be a huge sum to pay for a teenager who had only played in seventeen league games.

Bastin joined a talented team that included players such as Alex James, David Jack, Jimmy Brain, Joe Hulme, Jack Lambert, Bob John, Eddie Hapgood, Herbert Roberts, Alf Baker and Tom Parker.

Bastin made his debut against Everton at Goodison Park on 5th October 1929. Initially he played at inside-right but was later switched to outside left. In his first season he scored seven goals in 21 games. That year Arsenal finished in 14th place in the First Division. They did much better in the FA Cup. Arsenal beat Birmingham City (1-0), Middlesbrough (2-0), West Ham United (3-0) and Hull City (1-0) to reach the final against Chapman's old club, Huddersfield Town. At the age of 18 years and 43 days, Bastin was the youngest player to appear in a FA Cup Final. Arsenal won the game 2-0 with goals from Alex James and Jack Lambert.

The following season Arsenal won their first ever First Division Championship with a record 66 points. The Gunners only lost four games that season. Jack Lambert was top-scorer with 38 goals. Bastin formed a great left flank partnership with Alex James. Bastin played in every league game and contributed 28 goals. This included a hat-trick against Derby County.

Bastin won his first international cap for England against Wales on 18th November 1931. England won the game 3-1. Therefore, at the age of 19 years and 249 days he became the youngest ever player to win an England cap, League Championship and FA Cup Winners Medal.

Alex James was injured for a large part of the 1931-32 season and this was a major factor in Arsenal losing the title by two points to Everton. Arsenal won the First Division by four points in the 1932-33 season. Bastin was the club's top scorer with 33 goals. This was the highest total ever scored by a winger in a league season.

Joe Hulme, the outside right, contributed 20 goals. This illustrates the effectiveness of Chapman's counter-attacking strategy. As the authors of The Official Illustrated History of Arsenal have pointed out: "In 1932-33 Bastin and Hulme scored 53 goals between them, perfect evidence that Arsenal did play the game very differently from their contemporaries, who tended to continue to rely on the wingers making goals for the centre-forward, rather than scoring themselves. By playing the wingers this way, Chapman was able to have one more man in midfield, and thus control the supply of the ball, primarily through Alex James."

Jeff Harris argues in his book, Arsenal Who's Who: "The reason that Bastin was so deadly was that unlike any other winger, he stood at least ten yards in from the touch line so that his alert football brain could thrive on the brilliance of James threading through defence splitting passes with his lethal finishing completing the job."

After a two year gap Bastin regained his England place against Italy on 13th May 1933. Bastin was very good that day and held his place in the side for the next six years. The England team at that time included Wilf Copping, Albert Geldard, Eddie Hapgood, Eric Brook, Willie Hall, Sammy Crooks, Raich Carter, Frank Moss, Tom Cooper, Stanley Matthews, Fred Tilson, Cliff Britton, Ray Westwood and George Male.

Sunderland was their main challengers to Arsenal in the 1933-34 season thanks to a forward line that included Raich Carter, Patsy Gallacher, Bob Gurney and Jimmy Connor. In March 1934 Sunderland went a point ahead. However, the Gunners had games in hand and they clinched the league title with a 2-0 victory over Everton. One of the goals was scored by goalkeeper Frank Moss who suffered a dislocated shoulder and was forced to play on the left-wing for the remainder of the game. Bastin ended the season as joint top-scorer with 13 goals.

The following season Arsenal only finished in 6th place behind Sunderland. Arsenal did much better in the FA Cup that season. Arsenal beat Liverpool (2-0), Newcastle United (3-0), Barnsley (4-1) and Grimsby Town (1-0) to reach the final against Sheffield United. Bastin scored six goals in these games. Ted Drake, who was not fully fit, scored the only goal of the final. Bastin had won his second cup winners' medal.

Some of Arsenal's key players such as Bastin, Alex James, Joe Hulme, Bob John and Herbert Roberts were past their best. Ted Drake and Ray Bowden continued to suffer from injuries, whereas Frank Moss was forced to retire from the game. Given these problems Arsenal did well to finish in 3rd place in the 1936-37 season.

Before the start of the 1937-38 season Herbert Roberts, Bob John and Alex James retired from football. Joe Hulme was out with a long-term back injury and Ray Bowden was sold to Newcastle United. However, a new group of younger players such as Bernard Joy, Alf Kirchen and Leslie Compton, became regulars in the side. George Hunt was also bought from Tottenham Hotspur to provide cover for Ted Drake who was still suffering from a knee injury. Bastin, Eddie Hapgood and George Male were now the only survivors of the team managed by Herbert Chapman.

Wolves were expected to be Arsenal's main rivals in the 1937-38 season. However, it was Brentford who led the table in February. They also beat Arsenal on 18th April, a game in which Ted Drake broke his wrist and suffered a bad head wound. However, it was the only two points they won during a eight game period and gradually dropped out of contention.

On the last day of the season Wolves were away to Sunderland. If Wolves won the game they would be champions, but they drew 1-1. Arsenal beat Bolton Wanderers at Highbury and won their fifth title in eight years. As a result of his many injuries, Ted Drake only played in 28 games but he still ended up the club's top scorer with 17 goals. That year Bastin scored 15 goals in 38 games.

Bastin won his last international cap for England against France on 26th May, 1938. The England team that day also included Frank Broome, Stan Cullis, Ted Drake, Len Goulden, Eddie Hapgood, Stanley Matthews, Bert Sproston, Vic Woodley and Alf Young. Bastin got one of the goals in England's 4-2 victory. Bastin had scored 12 goals in 21 games for his country.

For many years Bastin had suffered from hearing problems and by this stage of his career he was completely deaf. He was also suffering from a reoccurring problem with his right-leg. However, it did not stop him from scoring his 150th Football League goal on 4th February 1939.

During the Second World War Bastin's deafness meant he was exempt from active service and played in 250 friendly games during the conflict.

Bastin returned to the Arsenal team after the war but he only managed six more games before his leg injury forced him into retirement. During his time at the club he scored 176 goals in 392 league and cup games.

After retiring from the game Bastin ran a public house in Exeter. Cliff Bastin died on 4th December 1991.

On this day in 1914 Sylvia Pankhurst publishes the first edition of The Women's Dreadnought. "The name of our paper, The Woman's Dreadnought, is symbolic of the fact that the women who are fighting for freedom must fear nothing... the chief duty of Woman's Dreadnought will be to deal with the franchise question from the working woman's point of view, and to report the activities of the votes for women movement in East London."

Although they printed 20,000 copies of the first edition, by the third issue total sales were only listed as just over 100 copies. During processions and demonstrations, the newspaper was freely distributed as propaganda for the EFF and the wider movement for women's suffrage.

On this day in 1964 Jack Ruby is convicted of killing Lee Harvey Oswald. Jacob Rubenstein (Jack Ruby), the fifth of eight children, was born in Chicago on 25th March, 1911. Both his parents were born in Poland but had emigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. His father, Joseph Rubenstein, a carpenter, was a violent man and was frequently arrested for assault and battery charges.

Jack caused trouble at school and at the age of eleven was sent to the Institute of Juvenile Research for psychiatric treatment. It was decided that Jack was not receiving proper parental care and Chicago's Juvenile Court sent him to a foster home. His mother was eventually diagnosed as suffering from psychoneurosis and admitted to Elgin State Hospital.

After leaving school in 1927 Jack did various odd jobs and is rumoured to have worked for Al Capone. He also spent time in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He eventually returned to Chicago and a friend, Leon Cooke, arranged for him to work for the Scrap Iron and Junk Handlers Union. On 8th December, 1939, Cooke was shot dead by John Martin, the president of the union. As a result of this killing Jack Ruby left this job and found employment as a salesman. This included selling plagues commemorating Pearl Harbor.

In May, 1943, Jack Ruby, was called up into the armed services. He served in the United States Army Air Forces at various airbases in America. His behaviour was fairly good but on a couple of occasions he got into fights after comments were made about him being Jewish. Jack Ruby attained the rank of private first class and was honorably discharged on 21st February, 1946.

Jack Ruby returned to Chicago and found work selling small cedar chests for a company owned by his brother, Earl Ruby. In 1947 Ruby moved to Dallas where he managed the Singapore night-club for his sister, Eva Grant. In October, 1947, he was arrested by the Bureau of Narcotics. Steve Guthrie, the sheriff of Dallas, later claimed that Ruby had been sent to criminals in Chicago to manage illegal gambling activities in the city. However, Jack Ruby was eventually released without charge.

Jack Ruby remained in Dallas and after borrowing money from a friend he purchased the Silver Spur Club. He also acquired the Bob Wills Ranch House, a western-style nightclub. These clubs were not successful and in 1954 he became a part-owner of the Vegas Club. His attempts to establish another nightclub, the Sovereign Club, also ended in failure. Ruby now opened the Carousel Club. He employed a master of ceremonies, a small band and four strippers.

In August 1959 Jack Ruby was invited to visit Cuba by the Dallas nightclub owner, Lewis McWillie. At that time McWillie was supervising gambling activities at Havana's Tropicana Hotel. Later, McWillie was involved in the campaign to have Fidel Castro overthrown after he had taken power from Fulgencio Batista.

Ruby's workers were members of the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA). Ruby had a record of not paying his workers on time and for dismissing them for unreasonable reasons. This behaviour resulted in several disputes with the AGVA. In June 1963 Jack Ruby visited New Orleans where he obtained the services of a stripper known as Jada. After three months she was also dismissed and this caused further union problems. It is claimed that as a result of his problems with the AGVA Ruby made contact with associates of Mafia leaders, Carlos Marcello and Santos Trafficante, during the summer of 1963.

On 22nd November, 1963, President John F. Kennedy arrived in Dallas. It was decided that Kennedy and his party, including his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Governor John Connally and Senator Ralph Yarborough, would travel in a procession of cars through the business district of Dallas. A pilot car and several motorcycles rode ahead of the presidential limousine. As well as Kennedy the limousine included his wife, John Connally, his wife Nellie, Roy Kellerman, head of the Secret Service at the White House and the driver, William Greer. The next car carried eight Secret Service Agents. This was followed by a car containing Lyndon Johnson and Ralph Yarborough.

At about 12.30 p.m. the presidential limousine entered Elm Street. Soon afterwards shots rang out. John Kennedy was hit by bullets that hit him in the head and the left shoulder. Another bullet hit John Connally in the back. Ten seconds after the first shots had been fired the president's car accelerated off at high speed towards Parkland Memorial Hospital. Both men were carried into separate emergency rooms. Connally had wounds to his back, chest, wrist and thigh. Kennedy's injuries were far more serious. He had a massive wound to the head and at 1 p.m. he was declared dead.

Soon afterwards Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested. Oswald worked at the Texas Book Depository. They also discovered his palm print on the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle that was found earlier that day. Other evidence emerged that suggested that Oswald had been involved in the killing of John F. Kennedy. Oswald's hand prints were found on the book cartons and the brown paper bag. Charles Givens, a fellow worker, testified that he saw Oswald on the sixth floor at 11.55 a.m. Another witness, Howard Brennan, claimed he saw Oswald holding a rifle at the sixth floor window.

The police also discovered that the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle was purchased under the name A. Hiddell. When he was arrested, the police found that Oswald was carrying a forged identity card bearing the name Alek Hiddell. The rifle had been sent by the mail order company from Chicago to P.O. Box 2915, Dallas, Texas. The Post Office box belonged to Oswald.

While being interrogated by the Dallas Police, Oswald denied he had been involved in the killing of Kennedy. He claimed that he was a "patsy" (a term used by the Mafia to describe someone set up to take the punishment for a crime they did not commit).

On 24th November, 1963, the Dallas Police decided to transfer to Oswald to the county jail. As Oswald was led through the basement of police headquarters Jack Ruby rushed forward and shot him in the stomach. The gunman was quickly arrested by police officers. Lee Harvey Oswald died soon afterwards.

After the death of John F. Kennedy, his deputy, Lyndon B. Johnson, was appointed president. He immediately set up a commission to "ascertain, evaluate and report upon the facts relating to the assassination of the late President John F. Kennedy." The seven man commission was headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren and included Gerald Ford, Allen W. Dulles, John J. McCloy, Richard B. Russell, John S. Cooper and Thomas H. Boggs.

Larry Craford testified before the Warren Commission that on 23rd November, 1963, he went with Ruby and George Senator to photograph an "Impeach Earl Warren" billboard in Dallas. Ruby said he wanted to photograph the billboard because of its similarity to an anti-Kennedy advert that appeared in newspapers on the day of the assassination. This information created some interest as it had not been mentioned before by either Ruby or Senator.

Nancy Perrin Rich worked for Ruby at his Carousal Club. She told the Warren Commission that Ruby had instructed her to supply free drinks to the Dallas Police Department. Rich added "I don't think there is a cop in Dallas that doesn't know Jack Ruby. He practically lived at that (police) station. They lived in his place."

Ruby told Earl Warren that he would "come clean" if he was moved from Dallas and allowed to testify in Washington. He told Warren "my life is in danger here". He added: "I want to tell the truth, and I can't tell it here." Warren refused to have Ruby moved and so he refused to tell what he knew about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

The journalist Dorothy Kilgallen had a source within the Warren Commission. This person gave her an 102 page segment dealing with Jack Ruby before it was published. She published details of this leak and so therefore ensuring that this section appeared in the final version of the report. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the leak and on 30th September, 1964, Kilgallen reported in the New York Journal American that the FBI "might have been more profitably employed in probing the facts of the case rather than how I got them".

Kilgallen's reporting brought her into contact with Mark Lane who had himself received an amazing story from the journalist Thayer Waldo. He had discovered that Jack Ruby, J. D. Tippet and Bernard Weismann had a meeting at the Carousel Club eight days before the assassination. Waldo, who worked for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, was too scared to publish the story. He had other information about the assassination. However, he believed that if he told Lane or Kilgallen he would be killed. Kilgallen's article on the Tippit, Ruby and Weissman meeting appeared on the front page of the Journal American. Later she was to reveal that the Warren Commission were also tipped off about this gathering. However, their informant added that there was a fourth man at the meeting, an important figure in the Texas oil industry.

During his trial Ruby claimed he had killed Lee Harvey Oswald because he "couldn't bear the idea of the President's widow being subjected to testifying at the trial of Oswald". Later he changed his mind claiming that his lawyer, Tom Howard, had put him up to saying it. He now pleaded guilty by reason of insanity. On March 14, 1964, the jury convicted Jack Ruby of killing Oswald and sentenced him to death.

In October, 1964, the Warren Commission reported that it "found no evidence that either Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby was part of any conspiracy, domestic or foreign, to assassinate President Kennedy". It also stated that there was no "significant link between Ruby and organized crime". This information came from friends of Ruby, including Dave Yarras, a Mafia hit man.

Kilgallen was keen to interview Jack Ruby. She went to see Ruby's lawyer Joe Tonahill and claimed she had a message for his client from a mutual friend. It was only after this message was delivered that Ruby agreed to be interviewed by Kilgallen. Tonahill remembers that the mutual friend was from San Francisco and that he was involved in the music industry. Kennedy researcher, Greg Parker, has suggested that the man was Mike Shore, co-founder of Reprise Records.

The interview with Ruby lasted eight minutes. No one else was there. Even the guards agreed to wait outside. Officially, Kilgallen never told anyone about what Ruby said to her during this interview. Nor did she publish any information she obtained from the interview. There is a reason for this. Kilgallen was in financial difficulties in 1964. This was partly due to some poor business decisions made by her husband, Richard Kollmar. The couple had also lost the lucrative contract for their radio show Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick. Kilgallen also was facing an expensive libel case concerning an article she wrote about Elaine Shepard. Her financial situation was so bad she fully expected to lose her beloved house in New York City.

Kilgallen was a staff member of Journal American. Any article about the Jack Ruby interview in her newspaper would not have helped her serious financial situation. Therefore she decided to include what she knew about the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Murder One. She fully expected that this book would earn her a fortune. This is why she refused to tell anyone, including Mark Lane, about what Ruby told her in the interview arranged by Tonahill. In October, 1965, told Lane that she had a new important informant in New Orleans.

Kilgallen began to tell friends that she was close to discovering who assassinated Kennedy. According to David Welsh of Ramparts Magazine Kilgallen "vowed she would 'crack this case.' And another New York show biz friend said Dorothy told him in the last days of her life: "In five more days I'm going to bust this case wide open." Aware of what had happened to two other journalists working on the case: Bill Hunter (murdered on 23rd April 1964) and Jim Koethe, (murdered 21st September, 1964), Kilgallen handed a draft copy of her chapter on the assassination to her friend, Florence Smith.

On 8th November, 1965, Kilgallen, was found dead in her New York apartment. She was fully dressed and sitting upright in her bed. The police reported that she had died from taking a cocktail of alcohol and barbiturates. The notes for the chapter she was writing on the case had disappeared. Her friend, Florence Smith, died two days later. The copy of Kilgallen's article were never found.

Jack Ruby's original conviction was later overturned, but he died from cancer on 3rd January, 1967, while waiting for a new trial.

On this day in 1968 George Brown resigned after a dispute Harold Wilson. George Brown was born on 2nd September, 1914. His father was a lorry driver. He was also branch secretary of Transport and General Workers Union and after the General Strike lost his job and was blacklisted.

After leaving school he became a ledger-clerk in London. This was followed by work as a salesman with the John Lewis Partnership. In 1936 Brown became a full-time union official where he worked under Ernest Bevin at the Transport and General Workers Union. His first post involved organizing agricultural workers, brickyard workers, building trade workers and canal boatmen.

Brown joined the Labour Party and as secretary of the St Albans branch attended the Labour Party National Conference in 1939. Brown impressed Clement Attlee with a speech attacking the views of Stafford Cripps and other left-wing members of the party.

Selected as the parliamentary candidate for Belper in Derbyshire, Brown entered the House of Commons following the 1945 General Election. Clement Attlee appointed Brown as parliamentary secretary to Hugh Dalton, Chancellor of the Exchequor.

In 1947 Brown was involved in a plot to replace Clement Attlee as prime minister with Ernest Bevin. Although the conspiracy was discovered by Attlee he did not sack Brown and in May 1951 he was promoted to Minister of Works. Brown lost his position following Attlee's defeat in the 1951 General Election.

When Hugh Gaitskell became leader of the party Brown was appointed shadow spokesman on Agriculture (1955-56), Supply (1955-59), Defence (1956-61) and Home Affairs (1961-64). When Gaitskill died in 1963, Brown was one of the main contenders for the party leadership but Harold Wilson was able to defeat his right-wing rival.

Following the 1964 General Election Brown became Secretary of State for Economic Affairs. He upset many members of the Labour Party by establishing a Prices and Incomes Board. His decision to appoint Aubrey Jones, a Conservative Party MP, as chairman, also created a great deal of controversy.

In August 1966 Brown became Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Over the next two years he led the government's decision to apply for membership of the European Economic Community. He resigned on 14th March 1968 after a dispute with the prime minister, Harold Wilson, concerning government decision-making.

Brown was defeated in the 1970 General Election. He was created Baron George-Brown but was not an active member of the House of Lords and in March 1976 left the Labour Party. He went into business and worked for Courtaulds (1968-73). He was also a director of Commercial Credit and British Northrop. George Brown died on 2nd June 1985.

On this day in 1969 Ben Shahn died. Shahn was born in Kaunas, Lithuania on 12th September, 1898. His family emigrated to America in 1904 and after he completed his schooling, Shahn became a lithographer's apprentice. Shahn continued his studies at night school and eventually attended New York University and the National Academy of Design (1917-21).

In the 1920s Shahn became a Social Realist and his work was often inspired by news reports. Text and lettering formed an integral part of his designs.

Shahn held strong socialist views and his art often referred to cases of social injustice. A good example of this concerns the drawings about the proposed execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. He also played an important role in the campaign against the imprisonment of the trade union leader, Tom Mooney.

Shan's graphic work appeared in the Art Front, Fortune Magazine and Harper's Bazaar. In 1934 he joined the Public Works of Art Project and completed several public murals that dealt with issues such as anti-semitism and poor working conditions.

Shahn also worked as a photographer and in 1935 he was invited by Roy Stryker to join the the federally sponsored Farm Security Administration. This small group of photographers, including Arthur Rothstein, Carl Mydans, Russell Lee,Walker Evans and Dorothy Lange, were employed to publicize the conditions of the rural poor in America.

During the Second World War Shahn produced posters for the Office of War Information and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). His interest in political art continued and his Lucky Dragon series (1960-62) dealt with the story of a Japanese fishing vessel that sailed into an atomic testing area.

On this day in 1977 Fannie Lou Hamer died at Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Fannie Lou Hamer, the youngest of twenty children, was born in Montgomery County, Mississippi, on 6th October, 1936. A sharecropper, Hamer did not know that African Americans could vote until she attended a a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) meeting at a church in Ruleville. When Hamer attempted to register to vote, she was arrested and jailed. The next day her landlord told her that if she did not withdraw her request to vote, she would be forced off her land. Hamer responded by becoming an active member of the SNCC.

After losing her work on the plantation, Hamer was employed as a field secretary of the SNCC and in 1963 she was instrumental in establishing the Delta Ministry, an extensive community development program. During the Freedom Summer campaign she helped form the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Hamer became a national figure when at the Democratic Party national convention she made a passionate speech challenging the seating of the regular all-white Mississippi delegation.

In 1968 Hamer founded the Freedom Farms Corporation (FFC) a non-profit venture designed to help poor farming families. It also provided social services and grants for education. Fannie Lou Hamer died in Mound Bayou, Mississippi on 14th March 1977.