Guernsey landslide buries pensioner
Guernsey's Bailiff laid the foundation stone of Hanois Lighthouse this week in 1860. Peter Carey had been taken to the reef with his wife and several Jurats in a small boat from Portelet Harbour. Once they'd laid it, they drank champagne and explored the rarely-accessible outcrop on which construction had only just begun. The actual rock on which the tower stands is called Le Bisseau, and it had taken Trinity House, the lighthouse authority, a long time to agree to building it there. Les Hanois lighthouse was the first to be built with all of the stones forming the floors and walls dovetailed into one another. Once completed, they formed a single solid mass. The technique proved so successful that it became the standard construction method for all rock-mounted lighthouses that were built from that point on.
Charlie Chaplin played in St Peter Port this week in 1912. Surprisingly, considering his later success, he was a flop, but his boss consoled him, saying this was only because the people of Guernsey were "half French". Ultimately, the experience was good for Chaplin's career, for altogether surprising reasons, and he had much to thank Guernseys residents for.
Up to 150 locals a night were lining St Peter Port’s Castle Breakwater this week in 1893, when fish were practically jumping out, and into their nets. Those who were fishing with rods were catching up to 50 fish in a short sitting, and one man hooked four horse mackerel on a single cast, leading to a run on fishing gear in the town.
The Royal Family had a habit of turning up in Guernsey unannounced during Queen Victoria’s reign and, this week in 1894, her yacht, the Victoria and Albert, was spotted just off the coast once again. It wasn’t the Queen this time around, but her offspring, who chose to inspect the island from a distance.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was first published this week in 2008 and ended up being the most talked-about book about Guernsey since Toilers of the Sea. Author Mary Ann Shaffer had visited Guernsey only once, 20 years before starting work on the book, and had spent most of her time reading history books at the fog-bound airport.
Police found a bomb in Guernsey's Bluebell Wood week in 2013. It had laid there undiscovered since the war, but was carefully dug out and transported to Fermain where they detonated it at sea. Anyone within 300m of its route to the bay was told to evacuate their homes.
The Rolling Stones played St Peter Port this week in 1964, appearing on three nights at the New Theatre Ballroom. That was one night longer than they spent in Jersey. The Stones wasn’t the only big-name group to headline in Guernsey. Just a year earlier, the Beatles had played at Candie Gardens.
Archeologist Crystal Bennet was born in Alderney this week in 1918 and spent much of her life in the Middle East, exploring Jericho, Petra, Palestine and Jerusalem. She discovered the first ever tablet found in Jordan bearing cuneiform writing and founded the British Institute, in her own flat.
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