April 6th
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1199King Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) died from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder, after being wounded by a crossbow bolt during a siege in France.
1580An earth tremor damaged several London churches, including the old St. Paul's Cathedral.
1812British forces, under the command of the Duke of Wellington, assaulted the fortress of Badajoz in Spain. It was the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
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Edward Morgan was tried and hanged at Monmouth Jail on 6th April 1835; he was a member of the Tarw Scotch or the Welsh Cattle movement.
The movement was formed in the 1820s by discontented coal miners of the Monmouthshire valleys. Their aim was to improve the pay and working conditions of local workers, with direct action being taken against any person or group who opposed their cause. They were a secret society, with members swearing allegiance under pain of death
. Each town and village had its own group, with the leader usually being a person respected and feared for his aggressiveness and physical strength, known as the 'Bull' or in Welsh 'Tarw'. Their meetings were always clandestine, being held at night in secret locations.
Victims were usually workers who refused to join strike action or workers who were prepared to work for less money. A warning would be issued, with failure to comply resulting in offenders being 'scotched'. This involved a visit by the Cattle from another area dressed in animal skins and their faces blackened. The 'Tarw' would wear a headdress bearing a bull's horns. The punishment dealt out was physical attack and the ransacking of property; however, the Cattle's code dictated that any foodstuffs found in the household would always be left intact.
Despite attempts by the authorities to penetrate the movement, their activities continued for many years mainly due to the secrecy of their organisation and the reluctance of the general population to speak against their actions. The movement declined after the hanging of Edward Morgan in 1835.
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The Snowdon Mountain Railway (Rheilffordd yr Wyddfa) opened this day in 1896.
* The railway runs from Llanberis to the summit of Snowdon.
* A railway to the summit was first proposed in 1869 when Llanberis was linked to Caernarfon by the London & North Western Railway.
* The total cost of the railway was £63,800 (£5,474,000 equivalent in 2013)
* On the official opening one of the locomotives ran out of control and fell down the mountain. A passenger died from loss of blood after jumping from the carriage.
* After the Second World War the shortage of coal led to the railway attempting to burn old army boots as fuel.
* A new visitor centre, 'Hafod Eryri', was officially opened by First Minister Rhodri Morgan on 12 June 2009.
* The journey takes an hour to reach the summit and an hour to descend again with an average speed of five miles an hour.
* Swiss engineers were employed as advisors in the planning, as they were the only ones who had significant experience in building this type of railway.
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1968: Pink Floyd announce their founder Syd Barrett had officially left the group. The musician had been suffering from psychiatric disorders compounded by drug use and would attempt a failed solo career before dropping out from music for good in 1974. He would die of pancreatic cancer in 2006 aged 60.
1971: The Rolling Stones launch their own record label, 'Rolling Stones Records'. Its iconic 'Tongue and Lip Design' logo, designed by John Pasche, would be first seen on the Stones single "Brown Sugar" from their
Sticky Fingers album.
1974Swedish pop group ABBA won the 19th annual Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, Sussex, with 'Waterloo'. The Swedish version single was coupled with 'Honey, Honey', while the English version featured 'Watch Out' as the B-side.
