Gough Whitlam (1916–2014) was Prime Minister of Australia from 1972
until his controversial dismissal in 1975 by Governor-General Sir John
Kerr. Whitlam was first elected to Parliament in 1952 and became leader
of the Labor Party in 1967. He won the 1972 election, forming the first
Labor government since 1949. His government ended conscription, and
introduced universal health care, free university education, and legal
aid. With the Opposition-controlled Senate obstructing his agenda,
Whitlam called a double dissolution election in 1974 and kept a majority
in the House of Representatives. The Senate, still controlled by the
Opposition, obstructed the passage of government funding bills in 1975.
Whitlam refused to back down, arguing that his elected Government should
not be held to ransom. The deadlock was broken on 11 November, when Kerr
dismissed Whitlam and commissioned Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser in
his place. Labor lost the subsequent election in a landslide. Whitlam
stepped down as Labor leader after losing the 1977 election, retired
from Parliament in 1978 and later became Ambassador to UNESCO. His
dismissal, and his government's legacy, remain a large part of
Australian political discourse.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Whitlam>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1605:
The arrest of Guy Fawkes (pictured), found during a search of
the Palace of Westminster, foiled Robert Catesby's plot to destroy the
House of Lords and all within it.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot>
1838:
The collapse of the Federal Republic of Central America began
with Nicaragua seceding from the union.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Republic_of_Central_America>
1967:
A train derailed near Hither Green maintenance depot in London,
killing 49 people and injuring 78 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hither_Green_rail_crash>
1984:
Morning Ireland, Ireland's highest rated radio programme, was
broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 for the first time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_Ireland>
2009:
Major Nidal Malik Hasan of the United States Army went on a
shooting rampage at Fort Hood, the worst shooting ever to take place on
an American military base.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Fort_Hood_shooting>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
unit:
1. An organized group comprising people and/or equipment.
2. (sciences) A standard measure of a quantity.
3. (commerce) An item which may be sold singly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unit>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
T'his darkness will not last forever. There will some day come a
Fifth of November — or another date, it doesn't matter — when fires
will burn in a chain of brightness from Land's End to John O' Groats.
The children will dance and leap about them as they did in the times
before. They will take each other by the hand and watch the rockets
breaking, and afterwards they will go home singing to the houses full of
light…
--P. L. Travers
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._L._Travers>