Pete

"Do not go gentle into that good night; Rage, rage against the dying of the light." The Welsh poet, , wrote those words in 1951. A few years earlier, on 19th April 1943, Jewish Poles in the Warsaw Ghetto lived them.

170 years ago today, on Kennington Common in Lambeth, South London (now known as Kennington Park), 25,000 '' met to make their demands for democratic reforms including universal suffrage.

On 6th April 1320, thirty-nine Scottish nobles signed the – a letter to Pope John XXII calling him to support Scotland's claim to sovereignty against King Edward II of England. If you've seen Mel Gibson's Braveheart, you know the story.

Today (31st March) is the 120th anniversary of Eleanor Marx's death in 1898. After learning that her partner, the English socialist Edward Aveling, had been having an affair, Eleanor tragically committed suicide by poison. She was just 43.

Around this time of year back in 1871, Parisians were getting ready to vote. These weren’t normal elections. They were voting in a ne w, revolutionary body: . You're going to need some background.

George Loveless, James Loveless, Thomas Standfield, John Standfield, James Brine, James Hammett. Listed like that, you probably haven't heard of these men. But they have another name you will know – the .

First things first: Happy ! Secondly: it's worth noting that I'm not a woman… Which might lead some to ask why I'm the one writing today's blog.

On 27th February in 1900 at the Congregational Memorial Hall on Farringdon Street, not far from St Paul's Cathedral, the Labour Representation Committee was created.

Today we're thinking about the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which gave (some, but not all) women in the UK the right to vote for the first time. It was a .

One of our newer tea towel characters is . We chose him for what he has come to symbolise – in 19th century America.