Guernsey and Jersey consider merging
Guernsey's itchy visitors + Guernsey plane crashes on landing
Britain’s first Commando
Guernsey-born Hubert Nicolle was Britain’s first Commando. He was landed by kayak at Le Jaonnet Bay on 8 July 1940 and spent the next two days roaming Guernsey, collecting information about the occupation that would be vital to the Allies, should they choose to try and take back the Channel Islands. A second information-gathering mission in September saw him captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp. He died this week in 1998 and is remembered by a large granite stone on the headland overlooking the bay where he landed.
Read more about Hubert Nicolle
Guernsey and Jersey consider merging
Guernsey and Jersey considered merging this week in 2013, and the idea made a lot of sense. One police force split between them, one government, just one gender in each island’s prison and more would save a lot of money. Eleven years on it’s still not happened - yet - but it could…
Read more about the proposed merger
Guernsey plane crashes on landing
An Islander aircraft crashed in Guernsey this week in 1981 when its working fuel tanks ran dry. The pilot aimed for a field as his engines cut out, bounced over a wall and came to a halt in the driveway of a guesthouse. Everyone escaped, but the plane was written off.
Guernsey’s itchy holidaymakers
Guernsey holidaymakers were arriving home this week in September 1967 to discover they were carrying a few souvenirs that they would rather have left behind. The island was suffering a serious infestation of fleas, which was so bad it was at risk of putting people off visiting at all.
First Baron de Saumarez
The first Baron de Saumarez was given his title this week in 1831. James Saumarez (originally Sausmarez) had served alongside Nelson and became commander in chief of the navy at Plymouth. Despite the family’s Guernsey roots, it was based for many years not in the island itself, but outside Ipswich, in Suffolk.
Read more about James Saumarez
Guernsey’s porpoise grave
Archaeologists found a strange grave in Guernsey this week in 2017. Containing not a person but a porpoise, it was aligned east to west like most human graves and appeared to have been dug with a specific purpose in mind. What it was, nobody knows…