On This Day In History
31.12.1964 - Donald Campbell set new world water speed record of 276.33 mph
30.12.1947 - Abdication of King Michael of Romania
29.12.1720 - Opening of London’s Haymarket Theatre
28.12.1984 - Death of film director Sam Peckinpah
27.12.1947 - 26 inches of snow fell on New York City
26.12.1865 - Coffee-brewing device, the percolator, introduced by James Nason
25.12.AD800 - Charlemange crowned Emperor of the Romans
24.12.1818 - Christmas carol, ‘Silent Night’, first performed
23.12.1986 - ‘Voyager’ aircraft flew non-stop around the world without refuelling
22.12.1960 - Millionth Morris Minor came off the production line
21.12.1879 - Birth of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
20.12.1924 - Adolf Hitler released from prison
19.12.1989 - Survey revealed that 80% of children under 12 believe in Father Christmas
18.12.1912 - ‘Piltdown Man’ discovered on Sussex Downs
17.12.1967 - Alec Rose completed 14,500 mile lone voyage to Australia
16.12.1809 - Napoleon divorced his wife Josephine
15.12.1979 - Canadians Chris Haney and Scott Abbott devised ‘Trivial Pursuit’
14.12.1911 - Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole
13.12.1878 - First electric street lighting in London, at Holborn Viaduct
12.12.1913 - Stolen ‘Mona Lisa’ found in Florence
11.12.1769 - Venetian blinds patented in England by Edwin Beran
10.12.1902 - Completion of Aswan Dam
09.12.2005 - Final revenue-earning run of London’s red Routemaster bus
08.12.1542 - Birth of Mary, Queen of Scots
07.12.1984 - Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ released in the UK
06.12.1492 - Christopher Columbus discovered Haiti
05.12.1872 - ‘Mary Celeste’ found abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean
04.12.AD771 - Karel the Great became King of France
03.12.1621 - Galileo perfected his telescope
02.12.1805 - Battle of Austerlitz
01.12.1982 - Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ album was released in the USA
30.11.1936 - Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire
29.11.1989 - Communist rule ended in Czechoslovakia
28.11.1948 - Polaroid cameras went on sale
27.11.1701 - Birth of Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius
26.11.1703 - The ‘Great Storm’ raged across southern England
25.11.1865 - Publication of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’
24.11.1642 - Abel Tasman sighted Van Dieman’s Land, later named Tasmania
23.11.1963 - Screening of first episode of ‘Doctor Who’ on BBC TV
22.11.1963 - Assassination of President John F Kennedy in Dallas
21.11.1783 - First hot-air balloon flight, in Paris
20.11.1947 - Wedding of Princess Elizabeth & Prince Phillip
19.11.1828 - Death of composer Franz Schubert
18.11.1987 - 1963 Ferrari 250GTO sold at auction for $1.6 million
17.11.1992 - Sony unveiled the MiniDisc
16.11.1988 - Mortgage granted to Leicester boy to build home for pet mice
15.11.1976 - New species of giant shark discovered near Oahu
14.11.1964 - Roy Orbison reached No. 1 with ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’
13.11.1940 - Walt Disney’s ‘Fantasia’ premiered, in New York
12.11.1035 - Death of King Canute
11.11.1936 - Weather charts appeared on BBC TV
10.11.1928 - Hirohito crowned Emperor of Japan
09.11.1980 - Jimmy White became the youngest amateur world snooker champion
08.11.1967 - Launch of first local radio station in the UK – Radio Leicester
07.11.1885 - Completion of Canadian Pacific Railway
06.11.1861 - Birth of James A Naismith, the inventor of basketball
05.11.1912 - British Board of Film Censors established
04.11.1879 - Mechanical cash register patented by James Ritter
03.11.1903 - Panama declared indenpendence from Colombia
02.11.2000 - Vladimir Kramnik won world chess title, in London
01.11.1848 - First WH Smith bookstall opened at Euston Station
31.10.1983 - Ron Grant completed 10,364-mile run around Australia
30.10.1959 - Ronnie Scott’s jazz club opened in London
29.10.1787 - Mozart’s ‘Don Giovani’ first performed, in Prague
28.10.4004 BC - Adam and Eve were born on a Friday, according to Archbishop Ussher
27.10.1986 - Australian soap ‘Neighbours’ first shown on British TV
26.10.1957 - The Crickets reached No. 1 with ‘That’ll Be The Day’
25.10.1854 - ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ at Balaklava
24.10.1945 - United Nations came into existence
23.10.1915 - Death of English doctor and cricketer WG Grace
22.10.1962 - Start of the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’
21.10.1805 - Battle of Trafalgar
20.10.1991 - Nigel Mansell’s brakes failed on 10th lap of the Japenese Grand Prix
19.10.1872 - 472lb nugget of gold discovered in Australia
18.10.1969 - Rod Stewart joined The Faces
17.10.1895 - John Knight and James Pullinger charged with motoring offences
16.10.1834 - Houses of Parliament burned down
15.10.1839 - Queen Victoria proposed to Prince Albert
14.10.1969 - 50p coin introduced in Britain
13.10.54AD - Emperor Claudius I poisoned wih mushrooms
12.10.2003 - Michael Schumacher clinched his sixth Formula 1 title
11.10.1727 - Coronation of King George II in Westminster Abbey
10.10.1975 - Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor re-married, in Botswana
09.10.1987 - $1.1 million paid by Japanese bank for rare 1852 postage stamp
08.10.1085 - Consecration of St Mark’s Cathedral in Venice
07.10.1959 - Far side of the Moon photographed by Russian spacecraft Luna 3
06.10.1829 - George Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ won the Rainhill Trials
05.10.1936 - Start of ‘Jarrow March’ to London
04.10.1535 - English translation of entire Bible published in Zurich
03.10.1889 - JS Thurman patented motor-driven vacuum cleaner
02.10.1909 - First rugby football match at Twickenham, Harlequins v Richmond
01.10.1843 - The ‘News of the World’ first published
30.09.1980 - Shekel replaced the pound in Israel
29.09.1758 - Birth of English admiral Lord Horatio Nelson
28.09.1066 - William the Conqueror invaded England
27.09.1991 - First Scrabble Championship held in London
26.09.1907 - New Zealand became a Dominion
25.09.2005 - 80 year-old crocodile found swimming down street in New Orleans
24.09.1930 - Premiere of Noel Coward’s ‘Private Lives’, in London
23.09.1973 - Juan Peron re-elected as President of Argentina
22.09.1955 - Juan Peron deposed as President of Argentina
21.09.1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie defeated English army at Battle of Prestonpans
20.09.1967 - ‘QE2′ launched at Clydebank
19.09.1975 - First episode of ‘Fawlty Towers’ broadcast by BBC
18.09.1905 - Birth of actress Greta Garbo
17.09.1944 - Airbourne ivasion of Arnhem began
16.09.1620 - ‘Mayflower’ set sail from Plymouth
15.09.1985 - Europe won the Ryder Cup, for the first time since 1957
14.09.1974 - Giant pandas ‘Chia Chia’ and ‘Ching Ching’ arrived at London Zoo
13.09.1943 - General Chiang Kai-shek became President of China
12.09.1624 - World’s first submarine successfully tested in the Thames
11.09.1697 - Battle of Zenta
10.09.1846 - Sewing machine patented by Elias Howe
09.09.1950 - End of soap rationing in Britain
08.09.1975 - Rod Stewart’s ‘Sailing’ reached No. 1
07.09.1997 - Elton John returned as Chairman of Watford Football Club
06.09.1666 - Great Fire of London finally extinguished
05.09.1698 - Russian tsar Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards
04.09.1964 - Forth Road Bridge opened to the public
03.09.1658 - Death of Oliver Cromwell
02.09.1930 - First commercial non-stop transatlantic flight
01.09.1928 - Launch of Morris Minor car
31.08.1928 - Berlin premiere of ‘The Threepenny Opera’
30.08.2001 - European Central Bank revealed design of Euor banknotes
29.08.1929 - ‘Graf Zeppelin’ completed its circumnavigation of the world
28.08.1906 - Birth of English poet Sir John Betjeman
27.08.1859 - First commercial oil well drilled, in Western Pennsylvania
26.08.1946 - ‘Animal Farm’ published by George Orwell
25.08.1958 - Midland Bank announced that it would offer personal loans
24.08.1892 - Opening of Everton Football Club’s Goodison Park
23.08.1940 - Start of the ‘Blitz’ on London
22.08.1901 - Cadilac Car Company founded in Detroit
21.08.1841 - Venetian blind patented by John Hampson
20.08.1913 - Stainless steel cast, in Sheffield
19.08.1970 - ‘Coronation Street’ screened its 1000th episode
18.08.1967 - Luxury liner ‘Queen Mary’ sold to Long Beach, California
17.08.1896 - Bridget Driscoll killed by car driving at 4mph
16.08.1825 - Republic of Bolivia proclaimed
15.08.1969 - The three-day Woodstock Festival began
14.08.1893 - Driving test and licence introduced in France
13.08.1899 - Birth of English film-maker Sir Alfred Hitchcock
12.08.1853 - Florence Nightingale began nursing career
11.08.1977 - Geoff Boycott scored his 100th century, at Headingley
10.08.1994 - Half of average August London rainfall fell in three hours
09.08.1974 - Gerarld Ford sworn in as 38th President of the USA
08.08.1588 - Spanish Armada vanquished by British fleet, at Calais
07.08.1957 - Death of comic actor Oliver Hardy
06.08.1762 - Earl of Sandwich invented the sandwich – at 5am
05.08.1980 - The Osmonds disbanded
04.08.1693 - Champagne invented by Frenchman Dom Perignan
03.08.1926 - Britain’s first traffic lights installed at Piccadilly Circus
02.08.1784 - First British mail coach service left Bristol for London, at 4pm
01.08.1932 - ‘Mars Bar’ went on sale
31.07.1886 - Death of Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt
30.07.1935 - Publication of first Penguin paperback books
29.07.1948 - The 14th Olympic Games were opened at London’s Wembley Stadium
28.07.1933 - First singing telegram, deliverd to Rudy Vallee by Lucille Lipps
27.07.1967 - Britain’s pirate radio stations declared illegal
26.07.1845 - Brunel’s ‘Great Britain’ set out on maiden voyage across the Atlantic
25.07.1959 - First hovercraft crossing of the English Channel
24.07.1534 - Explorer Jacques Cartier landed in Canada
23.07.1982 - Diet Coke introduced by Coca Cola
22.07.1933 - Wiley Post completed solo round-the-world flight in seven days 18 hours
21.07.1961 - ‘Well I Ask You’, by Eden Kane, topped the charts
20.07.2003 - In India, elephants began wearing reflectors to avoid cars at night
19.07.1843 - Launch of Brunel’s ‘Great Britain’ in Bristol
18.07.1955 - 27.94 cm of rain fell on Martinstown in Dorset in 24 hours
17.07.1761 - Opening of Bridgwater Canal, linking Worsley and Manchester
16.07.1935 - World’s first parking meters installed, in Oklahoma City
15.07.1916 - Founding of Boeing Company, to manufacture flying machines
14.07.1867 - Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel demonstrated dynamite
13.07.1568 - Method of bottling beer perfected by Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral
12.07.1191 - Richard the Lionheart defeated the Saracens in Palestine
11.07.1991 - Total solar eclipse
10.07.2002 - Rubens ‘Massacre of the Innocents’ sold for £49.5 million at Sotheby’s
09.07.68BC - Death of Roman Emperor Nero
08.07.1065 - ‘Great Train Robber’ Ronald Biggs escaped from Wandsworth prison
07.07.1965 - ‘Tomorrows World’ first shown on BBC
06.07.1989 - Time reached perfect numerical order at 12.34 and 56 secs on 6/7/89
05.07.1811 - Venezuela declared independence from Spain
04.07.1982 - Longest men’s singles final at Wimbledon – Connors v McEnroe
03.07.1928 - John Logie Baird demonstrated colour television transmission
02.07.2000 - France beat Italy in the final of Euro 2000 in Rotterdam
01.07.1937 - 999 telephone emergency service began in the UK
30.06.1894 - Official opening of Tower Bridge
29.06.48BC - Julius Caesar defeated Pompey at Pharsalia
28.08.1914 - Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo
27.06.1787 - Edward Gibbons completed ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’
26.06.1284 - Pied Piper led 130 children out of Hamelin
25.06.1932 - First England – India Test match began at Lords cricket ground
24.06.1314 - Robert the Bruce routed the English forces at the Battle of Bannockburn
23.06.1992 - New York Mafia boss John Gotti sentenced to life imprisonment
22.06.1894 - Escapologist Harry Houdini married Bessie Rahner
21.06.1675 - Christopher Wren laid foundation stone of new St Paul’s Cathedral
20.06.1837 - Queen Victoria acceded to the British throne
19.06.1992 - 42 year old Larry Holmes outpointed Evander Holyfield
18.06.1583 - First life insurance policy issued in London, for William Gybbons
17.06.1944 - Iceland became an independent republic
16.06.1935 - Board game ‘Monopoly’ introduced
15.06.1887 - Carlisle D Graham went over Niagara Falls in a barrel, for the third time!
14.06.1777 - ‘Stars & Stripes’ adopted as the official flag of the USA
13.06.1967 - ‘You Only Live Twice’ premiered in London
12.06.1458 - Magdalen College, Oxford, founded
11.06.1952 - Denis Compton hit his 100th first-class century
10.06.1989 - First raven hatched at the Tower of London for nearly 300 years
09.06.1822 - Patent for false teeth awarded to American Charles Graham
08.06.452 - Attila the Hun invaded Italy
07.06.1942 - US Pacific fleet defeated the Japenese in the Battle of Midway
06.06.1949 - Publication of George Orwell’s novel ’1984′
05.06.1876 - Banana introduced to America
04.06.1971 - 250 year old Stradivarius violin sold for $200,000 at Sotheby’s
03.06.1956 - Third-class travel abolished on British Railways
02.06.1857 - Birth of English composer Sir Edward Elgar
01.06.1957 - First Premium Bond prize draw
31.05.1859 - Big Ben began to tell the time!
30.05.1498 - Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain for South America
29.05.1942 - Bing Crosby recorded ‘White Christmas’
28.05.1967 - Francis Chichester arrived in Plymouth in ‘Gypsy Moth IV’
27.05.1703 - St Petersburg founded as the capital of Russia
26.05.1927 - Ford ceased production of the Model T
25.05.1965 - Cassius Clay knocked out Sonny Liston in one minute
24.05.1883 - Opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York
23.05.1533 - Henry VII divorced Catherine of Aragon
22.05.1859 - Birth of writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
21.05.1904 - FIFA founded in Paris
20.05.1927 - Lindbergh left New York on first non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic
19.05.1802 - ‘Legion d’Honneur’, France’s highest decoration, created by Napoleon
18.05.1964 - ‘Mods’ and ‘Rockers’ clashed at seaside resorts around the UK
17.05.1673 - Discovery of Mississippi river
16.05.1943 - ’Dambusters’ raid on the Ruhr Valley dams
15.05.1718 - Machine gun patented by London lawyer James Puckle
14.05.1264 - English Barons triumph over King Henry III at Battle of Lewes
13.05.1961 - Death of Hollywood legend Gary Cooper
12.05.1949 - Berlin blockade lifted after 11 months
11.05.1983 - Australian government figures revealed more kangaroos than people!
10.05.1954 - Bill Haley & The Comets released ‘Rock around the Clock’
09.05.1662 - First ‘Punch & Judy’ show, by Pietro Gimonde, at Covent Garden
08.05.1962 - Final run of a London trolleybus
07.05.1915 - ‘Lusitania’ torpedoed by German U-boat off the coast of Ireland
06.05.1626 - Manhattan Island sold by Indians for $24 worth of knives, beads and cloth
05.05.1961 - Commander Alan Shepard became the first US astronaught, in Freedom 7
04.05.1494 - Christopher Columbus discovered Jamaica
03.05.1810 - Lord Byron swam the Hellespont
02.05.1670 - Founding of the Hudson Bay Company
01.05.1884 - Construction work began on the world’s first skyscraper, in Chicago
30.04.1006 - Chinese and Arab astronomers noted new star, ‘Supernova’
29.04.1913 - Gideon Sundback patented the modern version of the zip
28.04.1991 - Ayrton Senna won San Marino Grand Prix
27.04.1828 - London Zoo opened in Regent’s Park
26.04.1947 - First televising of FA Cup Final
25.04.1988 - Monkey and owner arrested for being drunk in a hotel bar in Israel
24.04.1990 - Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
23.04.1661 - Charles II crowned King of England
22.04.1915 - Poison gas first used, during the Battle of Ypres
21.04.1969 - Great White Shark weighing 2664lbs caught in South Australia
20.04.1974 - Abba entered the UK charts with ‘Waterloo’
19.04.1995 - Rare Slavonian grebe killed by pike in Norfolk
18.04.1980 - Rhodesia became Zimbabwe
17.04.1912 - First million selling record, by Al Jolson
16.04.1705 - Isaac Newton knighted by Queen Anne
15.04.1452 - Birth of Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci
14.04.1929 - First Monaco Grand Prix motor race
13.04.1668 - John Dryden appointed the first Poet Laureate
12.04.2004 - Brian Lara broke record for highest individual Test innings
11.04.1979 - Idi Amin deposed as dictator of Uganda
10.04.1829 - Birth of William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army
09.04.1969 - Maiden flight of the first British Concorde
08.04.1990 - Nick Faldo won his second successive US Masters
07.04.1795 - Metric system adopted in France
06.04.1909 - Explorer Robert Peary reached the North Pole
05.04.1614 - Native American princess Pocahontas married colonist John Rolfe
04.04.1959 - The BBC ran a pilot episode of ‘Juke Box Jury’
03.04.1860 - Pony Express began mail service in the USA
02.04.1805 - Birth of Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen
01.04.1957 - ‘Panorama’ showed a Swiss family picking pasta from trees
31.03.1973 - ‘Red Rum’ won the Grand National for this first time
30.03.1858 - Hyman Lipman patented a pencil with an attached eraser
29.03.1871 - Queen Victoria opened the Royal Albert Hall
28.03.1881 - Barnum and Bailey formed ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’
27.03.1625 - King Charles I succeeded his father as King of Great Britain
26.03.1960 - Grand National first televised
25.03.1949 - ‘Hamlet’ became the first British film to win an Oscar
24.03.1877 - The Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race ended in a dead heat
23.03.1989 - A 1000ft diameter asteroid missed Earth by 500,000 miles
22.03.1963 - The Beatles’ debut album ‘Please Please Me’ was released
21.03.1935 - Persia renamed Iran
20.03.1969 - Marriage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono
19.03.1932 - Opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
18.03.1931 - The Schnick Company manufactured the first electric razors
17.03.1845 - Stephen Perry of London patented the rubber band
16.03.1872 - The first English FA Cup Final took place at the Kennington Oval
15.03.1909 - HG Selfridge opened his department store on Oxford Street, London
14.03.1933 - English film actor Sir Michael Caine born today
13.03.1462 - Gutenberg Bible published
12.03.1913 - Australia’s new capital city formally named Canberra
11.03.1965 - Tom Jones reached No. 1 with his first hit ‘It’s Not Unusual’
10.03.1876 - Alexander Graham Bell made the first intelligible telephone call
09.03.1961 - ‘Blackie’ became the first animal to return from space, in Sputnik 9
08.03.1976 - 3902lb meteorite fell to earth near the Chinese city of Kirin
07.03.1987 - Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar passed 10,000 Test runs
06.03.1836 - Ending of ’The Seige of the Alamo’
05.03.1512 - Birth of Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator
04.03.1824 - Founding of RNLI by Sir William Hillary
03.03.1845 - Florida became the 27th state of the USA
02.03.1836 - The first point-to-point meeting organised by the Worcester Hunt
01.03.1980 - Martha & the Muffins entered the British charts with ‘Echo Beach’
29.02.2004 - ‘Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ won 11 Oscars
28.02.1969 - First TV episode of ‘On the Buses’
27.02.1807 - Birth of US poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
26.02.1935 - RADAR demonstrated by Sir Robert Watson-Watt
25.02.1308 - Edward II crowned King of England
24.02.1964 - Henry Cooper beat Brian London to win his second Lonsdale belt
23.02.1893 - Rudolf Diesel patented the diesel engine
22.02.1879 - F W Woolworth opened his first store in New York
21.02.1858 - Edwin T Holmes installed the world’s first burglar alarm
20.02.1982 - Bacteriologist Rene Jules Dubos died on his birthday
19.02.1897 - The Women’s Institute came into existence
18.02.1967 - Oil tanker ‘Torrey Canyon’ ran aground off Lands End
17.02.1924 - The chimes of Big Ben first used as a time signal by the BBC
16.02.1959 - Fidel Castro became Prime Minister of Cuba
15.02.1942 - Japanese captured Singapore
14.02.2003 - Tobacco advertising was banned in the UK
13.02.1974 - Novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn expelled from the USSR
12.02.1912 - Ch’ing dynasty ended
11.02. 660 BC - Japanese Empire founded by Emperor Jimmu
