Droxford railway station was a rural station on the Meon Valley Railway
in Hampshire, England. In 1944 it was used by Winston Churchill during
preparations for the Normandy landings. Based in an armoured train
parked in its sidings, he met with numerous ministers, military
commanders and leaders of allied nations. On 4 June 1944, shortly before
the landings were due to take place, Free French leader Charles de
Gaulle visited Churchill at Droxford, and was informed of the invasion
plans. Churchill told de Gaulle that if ever forced to choose between
France and the US he would always side with the US, a remark which
instilled in de Gaulle a suspicion of Britain and caused long-term
damage to the relationship between France and the UK. In 1955 the
station closed to passengers and in 1962 to goods, after which the
station and a section of its track were used for demonstrating an
experimental railbus and as a driving school, before becoming a private
residence.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droxford_railway_station>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound in the
Pacific Northwest for Great Britain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_Sound>
1913:
Emily Davison, an activist for women's suffrage in the United
Kingdom, was fatally injured when she was trampled by King George V's
horse at the Epsom Derby.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Davison>
1944:
World War II: A United States Navy task group captured German
submarine U-505.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505>
1989:
The People's Liberation Army suppressed the Tiananmen Square
protests in Beijing, leaving many dead and wounded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
ghrelin:
(biochemistry) A peptide hormone, secreted in the stomach when empty,
that increases appetite and secretion of growth hormone from the
pituitary gland.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ghrelin>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
If every one of those good words — liberty, equality,
fraternity, democracy, human rights — has been called "bourgeois",
what on earth does that leave for us?
--Fang Lizhi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fang_Lizhi>
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