Moorgate Tube Day

28th February 1975

This day in history...at least 43 killed in London Underground after the train speeds past its final stop

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Dealing with the aftermath.

The Moorgate Tube Crash was the worst Tube disaster in London's history, killing 43 passengers, including the driver, ad injuring approximately 70 people. It was the 8:37am Train from Drayton Park to Moorgate, packed full of London commuters. The train blundered past the platform, ploughed through a sand barrier and crashed into a brick wall at 30-40mph. On impact, the first three carriages crumpled together and the collision sent the station into total darkness and caused clouds of soot and dust. The rescue team were soon on the scene including police, underground staff, fire departments, doctors and nurses. Daily Telegraph's journalist Gerard Kemp was also on scene; the only press allowed down into the station. He described the ordeal as a "horrible mess of limbs and mangled iron," as the rescue team attempted to free the dead and injured from the tangled mess of the metalwork. Kemp also described the environment as "almost 120 degrees...like opening the door of the oven."

To show the intensity of the crash, it wasn't until 12 hours after the tragedy that a policewoman was brought out of the front carriage after having her foot amputated, and the last known survivor removed from the wreckage was not freed until 10pm. 

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Bringing survivors out of the station.

Things to consider:

• Cause of the crash remains a mystery 
• The driver, 55 year old Leslie Newson, was in good health, had not taken any alcohol or drugs and was not considered to be suicidal (Worked for the underground since 1969 and was known to be a conscientious driver)
• Post-mortem suggests it may have been a Petit mal seizure causing a staring or absence spell. Whilst this only lasts a few seconds, it can make all the difference - the medical report, however, finalised the incident as an accidental death
• Investigations into the crash had confirmed that the brakes had not been applied during its acceleration and Newson had not even raised his hands to protect his face at the moment of impact
• There were no problems with the train, `signalling equipment or the track
• Passengers standing on Moorgate Platform said they saw the train suddenly accelerate when approaching the station and the driver was seen sitting upright in his chair looking ahead
• New safety measures were introduced following the tragedy - Moorgate Protection System now automatically stops trains if the brakes fail on dead-end Underground stations

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Passengers being freed and treated on site.

There has since been a memorial erected in Finsbury Square, 2013, commemorating the 43 people who died. 

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Unveiling the memorial.

What are your thoughts surrounding the Moorgate mystery? Leave your comments below. 

Holst's "The Planets"

27th February 1919

This day in history...First public performance of Gustav Holst's "The Planets"

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The Queen's Hall, London 1919

The Planets is one of the most famous suites of orchestral music in the history of the world. They were first written by Gustav Holst between 1914 - 1916, after Holst's interest in astronomy and astrology lead him to read Alan Leo's book "What is a Horoscope?" which was divided into chapters in which Holst used when naming his compositions:

• Mars, the Bringer of War
• Venus, the Bringer of Peace
• Mercury, the Winged Messenger
• Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
• Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age    (Holst's personal favourite)
• Uranus, the Magician
• Neptune, the Mystic

Earth is not included as it was considered a reference point when looking at the Solar System. In Modern performances of The Planets there have been several additions; Pluto and a four piece suite on the asteroids in the Solar System. The physical planet of Pluto was discovered four years before Holst's death, he however did not want to write a new movement, which will be explained in a bit.

Whilst there is some confusion over when The Planets were first performed, for the sake of this blog we can assume it was this day in 1919. The performance was conducted by Adrian Boult (on request by Holst), in the last weeks of the First World War, to an intimate audience of around 250 people at The Queen's Hall, London. Boult only played five pieces of the suite as he believed that as The Planets was a new concept and language for people to listen to, half an hour was more  than enough to initially take in. In fact, it wasn't until November 1920 when all The Planets were performed at once in public. 

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The image above shows a rare autograph from Holst to Boult that was found on top of Boult's copy of The Planets: "This copy is the property of Adrian Boult who first caused The Planets to shine in public and thereby earned the gratitude of Gustav Holst." This is considered rare as Holst refused to give out autographs and interviews due to his distaste in the popularity of The Planets. Normally, receiving the up most praise, respect and popularity for work would greatly please people, however, Holst hated The Planets' attention. He felt that the suite drew attention away from his previous and following work and that anything he wrote after The Planets was deemed a disappointment to the public. He also disliked the way that the public had manipulated the way he had written the suite. For instance, Holst was encouraged to write a 'happy ending' to Jupiter, despite his beliefs that 'in the real world the end is not happy at all'. His pessimistic view of The Planets also caused him to turn down awards and honours. It is ironic how the piece that made him so famous, brought him the most discontent. 

You can listen to The Planets by clicking on each bullet point above. 

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Don't forget to leave your comments below and check out the Twitter Account @Ydaysnews which has even more historical events 

Irish Supreme Court and abortions

26th February 1992

This day in history...The Irish Supreme Court allows 14 year old rape victim to get an abortion 

Ireland's heavily catholic views and lack of separation of church and state has often caught many people, especially women, in a tangled web.
The 'X' case: When a 14 year old girl became pregnant from statuary rape by a neighbour, she was told she could not leave the country to abort the baby. She was encouraged by the courts and Ireland's Minister of health to give birth and have the baby adopted. The girl was essentially a prisoner in her own country and was experiencing suicidal thoughts due to her ordeal and unwanted pregnancy. Approaching the 12 weeks mark of her pregnancy, something needed to be done. Human Rights were very much behind the case, stating that "citizens must be able to leave Ireland to obtain services legally available in another community nation." The courts finally allowed the girl to freely travel to England to have the abortion, but this showed the hypocrisy in the view on abortion; instead of addressing it directly, Ireland willingly exported its problems.

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 It is estimated, around the 1990s, that 4,000 women a year travel from Ireland to England to obtain an abortion and approximately 180,000 legal abortions were recorded in England and Wales in 1992.  The case sparked some controversy and some members of the court, anti-abortion groups and the media argued that pro-abortion groups had exploited the girls case in order to change Irish law. Controversy and issues with abortions still continue in Ireland today with many cases being used by both sides of the argument. 

The questions to ask here is; Is church and state better off in separate spheres? And, What are your thoughts on the abortion argument in Ireland? Please leave your comments below.

Hyperinflation in Berlin

25th February 1923

This day in history...The price of bread in Berlin rises to 2,000 Marks 

Following the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles named Germany as the 'war guilt' and had damaging effects on the country. The Treaty's terms were: 

• An army of only 100,000 soldiers, six battleships, and no airforce
• 132 billion gold marks to be paid in reparations (approx £55 billion)
• The return of Posen, the Polish corridor, Alsace-Lorraine, and all over-seas colonies
• The return of Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania

By 1921 Wiemar Germany had just managed to repay the first installment of 2 billion marks, most being paid in coal, iron and wood. With money scarce and Germany's richest economic area under attack from the French, Germany decided to print more money to cover costs of the reparations and to provide for its country. This was obviously a bad idea. This made Germany look weak and any money that was being invested in the country was quickly removed by foreign investors. This led to inflation, and as the prices rose quicker than people could spend their money, hyperinflation became inevitable.

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Wheelbarrow of money to buy necessities at the grocers

The impacts of Hyperinflation were shocking. The price of bread was 2,000 marks (approx. £844) in February, but this rose to a staggering 200,000,000,000 marks (approx. £84 billion) by November. To put it into perspective; people were paid by the hour and had to rush to pass their wages onto their families so that it could be spent before its value was worthless. Even restaurants didn't print menus because by the time the food arrived, the price had gone up. 

Image retrieved from Google. Will be removed at owner's request.

Image retrieved from Google. Will be removed at owner's request.

The image above (left) shows children playing with money like building blocks: It was cheaper for children to play with the money than to buy toys. The other photograph shows a woman burning hyper-inflated marks: It was cheaper to burn the money that to use it to buy firewood. Lets hope history doesn't repeat itself!

Canada win Olympic Gold

24th February 2002

This day in history...Canada's Men's Ice Hockey team defeat USA 5-2 for Winter Olympics Gold Medal

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The 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City, Utah, was an eventful one. The Canada-USA final was one of the most anticipated games and even contributed to the highest TV ratings in Olympic history at the time. Despite an unfortunate start of loosing 5-2 to Sweden, Canada did relatively well throughout the tournament. They managed to defeat Germany 3-2, Finland 2-1, Belarus 7-1 in the semi-final, and drew with Czech Republic. Canada's win was of some importance as it was the first Olympic gold medal in Ice Hockey that they had won since 1952. It was also the second time in 70 years that the US Hockey team had lost a game on home soil. Fans in Canada flooded the streets in their hundreds of thousands in celebration of the victory. It wasn't just the end of the 50-year drought without a Gold Medal, it was the defeat of their worthy neighbours; the USA. 

Scorers: 

Canada: Paul Kariya (14:50), Jarome Iginla (18:33, 56:01), Joe Sakic (38:19, 58:40)

US: Tony Amonte (8:49), Brian Rafalski (35:30)

	Quarter-finals					Semifinals					Gold medal game
		Czech Republic	0
		Russia	1
							Russia	2
							United States	3
		United States	5
		Germany	0
												United States	2
												Canada	5
		Finland	1
		Canada	2
							Canada	7		Bronze medal game
							Belarus	1
		Sweden	3									Belarus	2
		Belarus	4									Russia	7

Quarter-finals

Semifinals

Gold medal game

  Czech Republic

0

  Russia

1

  Russia

2

  United States

3

  United States

5

  Germany

0

  United States

2

  Canada

5

  Finland

1

  Canada

2

  Canada

7

Bronze medal game

  Belarus

1

  Sweden

3

  Belarus

2

  Belarus

4

  Russia

7