Author: Nik Rawlinson
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Channel Islands prepare for disaster
It was the week in which the Channel Islands' food and fuel supplies were running so dangerously low that the occupying forces had no choice but to mount a raid on mainland France, Jersey's deputies voted to build Corbiere lighthouse, and, in Guernsey, work began on constructing the current airport. Victor Hugo published Toilers of the Sea, his work of fiction set in an dedicated to Guernsey, and Terence Alexander, who would go on to play Charlie Hungerford in Bergerac, was born. And emergency services from Guernsey, Jersey, and France, teamed up for an ambitious exercise in preparation for a maritime disaster.
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Guernsey's entire police force is arrested, Sark is the star of a Channel 4 drama, and Jersey is brought to a standstill by a hoax bomb threat. The first episode of Puffin's Pla(i)ce is broadcast across the Channel Islands, Guernsey Airport hires a dead man as its new boss, and, when a man slips and falls on the steps to Jersey's Fort Regent, it's only after he dies that the mystery of who he really is emerges.
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Murderous Scot meets his end in the Channel Islands
A gruesome Scottish murder results in a Channel Islands suicide, two Jersey locals face questions over their conduct during the occupation, and Guernsey stars in a BBC comedy pilot. Plans for Guernsey's power station at St Sampson get the thumbs up, and the tunnel under St Helier's Fort Regent finally opens to traffic. Guernsey's first banker dies, and two women find themselves stranded on Jersey's Seymour Tower.
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Channel Islands cut off from the outside world
The Channel Islands are cut off from the outside world when the cable connecting them to the mainland snaps, Aurigny is founded, and the Guernsey Railway runs its last services. Meanwhile, Charles II is declared king in St Helier while still on the run from England, and Jersey's courts were criticised by the Home Office for leaving a man in limbo. St Sampson, Guernsey's patron saint, was ordained a bishop, and the recently deceased Lillie Langtry was brought back to Jersey to lie in her parents' tomb.
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A messy execution and a curious case of smuggling
Guernsey's last execution doesn't go according to plan, despite being conducted in front of 200 ticket-holding spectators. In Jersey, senators vote to flood Queen's Valley to create a new reservoir, and four housewives are jailed for smuggling currency off the island in their underwear. Alderney's first full-time radio station goes on air after years of short-term broadcasts, and a new name appears on Channel Island departure board as Blue Islands takes to the skies.
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Monarch beheaded in Channel Islands knitwear
The Channel Islands lead the way, as the first post boxes in the British Isles are erected in the Bailiwicks, and Mary Queen of Scots climbs the steps to her execution at Fotheringay castle wearing stockings knitted in Guernsey. A boat load of Jersey fishermen have a nasty surprise when they discover a coffin, complete with its corpse, floating in the ocean, and the Channel Islands are hit by the most severe storm they’ve experienced in 35 years, causing damage to buildings and ripping up trees. A Guernsey watchmaker travels to London to help police with their inquiries into the theft of the Stone of Scone, and Jersey has its wrists slapped by the Home Office when it refuses to take part in a survey that being conducted throughout the Empire.
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The Channel Islands’ last witch trial
Amy Lake stands trial for witchcraft and setting a mortal curse on her neighbour in the run-up to the First World War, Alfred Hitchcock has reason to be grateful for a surprising Jersey connection, and an oil rig on its way to South America washes up on Guernsey's coast. Guernsey politicians unveil plans for a new airport, and Jersey Airways offers to cover the cost of construction - but only if it can have a monopoly on landing and taking off there. Politicians in Jersey meet to decide whether they want a commercial or BBC radio station, and Isaac Newton gives a Guernsey inventor's device the once-over... before it's lost for ever.
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Channel Island company’s plan for Europe’s biggest nuclear shelter
ITV's occupation drama Enemy at the Door had its national debut, Sark was designated a dark sky island, making it one of the best places in the world to watch the night sky with the naked eye, and ferry passengers were stranded when rough seas made it too dangerous to dock. The lighthouse keepers at Hanois were cut off for so long food started running short, a Jersey beggar got more than he bargained for, and a Channel Islands company announced plans for the biggest nuclear shelter in Europe. All this and more in the Channel Islands history this week.
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Channel Television disappears
Channel Television disappeared from the airwaves, Guernsey featured in the Channel Four gameshow Treasure Hunt, and Sibyl Beaumont, who would go on to rule Sark for almost five decades, was born. Jersey's Fort Regent was nearly destroyed by a fierce blaze that came close to igniting the arsenal, an 80-year-old murderer died after suffering a heart attack in court, and the man who devised St Helier's sewage system ducked out at a terribly early age.
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Royal jewel theft police target Channel Islands
Scotland Yard detectives flew to the Channel Islands to investigate the theft of valuable royal jewels, Guernsey police appointed its first chief (and moved to new premises), and a Jersey pioneer of self-powered flight flew off into the afterlife. We also look back at the life of Gerald Durrell who established the zoo in Jersey and used it as a base for his ongoing conservation work, France launched the Battle of Jersey, and two American prisoners of war escaped the Channel Islands at the tail end of the occupation.
