James VI of Scotland 12 April

James VI of Scotland became James I of England in 1603, thereby uniting the two kingdoms of England and Scotland and on April 12, 1606, a "Grand Union" flag was created to represent this ‘grand union’. This flag, although similar to the current ‘Union Jack’ did not include the red diagonal cross, which was added on January 1, 1801 with the 1801 Act of Union with Ireland. Unlike the flags of most other nations, the Union Flag is a royal flag, rather than a national flag. In fact, no law has ever been passed making it a national flag. This technicality would only become an issue, of course, if the Monarchy were to be disbanded. Also on this day in 1937 Sir Frank Whittle ground-tested the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England. The RAF, always notable in the area of foresight, said it was ‘impracticable’. As if this wasn’t exciting enough, to top off the events of 12 April, in 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space and (in no way suggesting a downhill slide into banality) in 1992 EuroDisney was opened in Marne-la-Vallee, France.