A Millennia of 55s Trivia Quiz

The death of Earl Siward of Northumbria caused political instability in the north of England. The previous year Earl Siward had supported an invasion of Scotland, defeating King Macbeth, the same person who was later to suffer at the hands of Shakespeare's pen. Edward the Confessor was King of England at this time and oversaw much infighting amongst his barons.

He appointed Tostig Godwinson as the new Earl but he ruled with a heavy hand, which caused problems. When Edward died in 1066, Harold (Tostig's brother) became king. Tostig had been exiled by this time and he died facing his brother at the Battle of Stamford Bridge shortly before Harold lost to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings.

Nicholas Breakspear, an Englishman, become Pope Adrian IV in December 1154. Less than three weeks later, England acquired a new king in the form the 21-year-old Henry II. In response to petitions, Adrian IV is said to have issued a decree in 1155 granting King Henry II the right to invade and govern Ireland with a view to enforcing the Gregorian Reforms.

There are however questions over the authenticity of the decree. Henry II's mother Empress Matilda spoke against an invasion in 1155 so Henry II initially gave priority to domestic issues.

It was during the period 1169-71, two years after his mother's death in 1167, that Henry II acted against Ireland.

This all started when Edward Balliol attempted to claim the Scottish throne, to follow in his father's footsteps. Balliol did this by leading an English-backed invasion of Scotland in 1332. Eight-year-old David II was on the throne at the time. A back and forth went on for some time with the French attempting to broker peace. Instead the Hundred Years' War between England and France was sparked off with the Anglo-Scottish war becoming a subsidiary theatre of war.

In 1346, under the terms of the Auld Alliance (an alliance between Scotland and France against England signed in 1295), David II invaded from the north to try and draw Edward III's army from the French but was beaten at Neville's Cross and captured. Negotiations for his return stalled and, on the ending of a truce, the English raided Scotland burning the lands of the Earl of March. In retaliation, the Earl of March took a force supplement by 60 French knights and sprung a trap on the garrison at Norham Castle in Northumberland in what is known as the Battle of Nesbit Moor. There was another battle there in 1402.

The Hundred Years' War more or less ended with French victory at the Battle of Castillon in 1453. The War of the Roses intervened before the earlier war was formally ended by the Treaty of Picquigny in 1475. The first battle in the War of the Roses was at St Albans in 1455. Also known as the Cousins' War, the conflict was between the Houses of York and Lancaster for control of the English throne.

It lasted until 1487.

Mary was the first queen of England to rule in her own right rather than through being married to a king. She came to the throne in 1553 as Queen of England and Ireland. She became Queen of Spain in 1556 through her marriage to King Philip II. A major focus of her reign was to reverse the Protestant reforms started by her father King Henry VIII.

More than 280 Protestants were burnt at the stake during her five-year rule as a result of her policies, giving rise to her nickname Bloody Mary.

This princess was half-sister of Mary Tudor rather than the 20th century princess who became Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Mary I decided to put the princess in the Tower of London in 1554 due to her suspicions that Elizabeth was involved in the Wyatt Rebellion.

The rebellion was sparked by Mary's insistence on marrying Philip, son of King Charles V of Spain, which she believed would confer various political advantages as well as an heir. Wyatt's rebellion was an attempt to depose Mary and took its name from one of the four men who led the uprising and lost his head as a result. Elizabeth was imprisoned for around two months then placed under house arrest for nearly a year.

She became queen at the age of 25 in 1558 on the death of the childless Mary at 42 years of age.

The Third Civil War had ended with Oliver Cromwell in power. This was the Anglo-Scottish War of 1650-52, kicked off by a pre-emptive strike by Cromwell's New Model Army to try and avoid Charles II invading with a Scottish army. A period of direct military government started in August 1655 when Cromwell divided England and Wales into ten regions and ordered the army to govern each region through a major-general directly answerable to him.

This was not backed by any legislation from Parliament. His reasons were three-fold: to weaken the Royalists, to fund the army and to impose some morality on the population.

The Second Protectorate Parliament effectively brought this period to an end in 1657.

This was the century during which English writer Dr Samuel Johnson made his many contributions in the field of literature. These included biography, editing, essays, lexicography, literary criticism, plays, poetry and sermonising. He was contracted by a group of booksellers in 1746 to write the dictionary.

He effectively wrote it single-handedly and took seven years to complete it. Until the Oxford English Dictionary was completed nearly 175 years later, it was for many the most important English dictionary.

It was widely influential both in Britain and America.

British newspaper history starts in the 17th century with its growth strongly influenced by government censorship. This was initially through control of printing and then by imposing a stamp duty on each paper printed early in the 18th century. The tax was finally abolished in 1855 and "The Daily Telegraph" newspaper was launched two weeks later.

Innovations in printing technology, removal of the tax and mass education all helped to create a boom in newspaper publishing.

It might be surprising to learn that the country of Wales did not have a capital before 1955. Arguably so, at any rate. After the Roman times to its conquest by Edward I (or Edward Longshanks) in the late 13th century, Wales consisted mostly of four kingdoms whose rulers preferred an itinerant court rather than a fixed capital. In the early 20th century local authorities debated this matter with most opting for Cardiff. Nothing happened until the 1950s.

In December 1955 the then Minister for Welsh Affairs, Gwylym Lloyd-George proclaimed Cardiff to be the capital in response to a Parliamentary question, stating no formal process to give effect to the decision was required. The government's Welsh Office was established in Cardiff in 1965. Various other national bodies followed, including in 1999 the National Assembly for Wales (known since 2020 as the Senedd).