On This Day

[Altobelli]

30 OCTOBER

1340 Battle of Rio Salado Battle (or Tarifa): King Afonso IV of Portugal and King Alfonso XI of Castile defeat Sultan Abu al-Hasan 'Ali of Morocco and Yusuf I of Granada, last Marīnids invasion of Iberian Peninsula

1470 Henry VI returned to the English throne after the Earl of Warwick (known as Warwick the Kingmaker) defeated the Yorkists in battle.

1485 The coronation of Henry VII of England. He founded the Yeoman of the Guard - 'Beefeaters' - to guard Royal Palaces in London.

1534 English Parliament passes Act of Supremacy, making King Henry VIII head of the Church in England - a role formerly held by the Pope

1580 English explorer Sir Francis Drake completed his circumnavigation of the world when his ship, the 'Golden Hind', arrived back at Plymouth on the south coast of England.

1899 Battle of Ladysmith, Natal: Boers defeat the British, leading to the Siege of Ladysmith

1905 "October Manifesto" Russian Tsar Nicholas II grants civil liberties and accepts the first Duma (Parliament)

1917 British government gives final approval to Balfour Declaration

1922 Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy.

1925 In his workshop in London, Scotsman John Logie Baird achieved the transmission of the first television pictures using the head of a dummy as his image source.. He then persuaded a 15 year old office boy, William Taynton, to sit in front of a camera, becoming the first live person captured on camera.

1935 The birth of Michael Winner, former film director, producer, and food critic for the Sunday Times until his death in 2013. An active proponent of law enforcement issues he established the Police Memorial Trust after WPC Yvonne Fletcher was murdered in 1984.

1938 Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States

1941 World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves U.S. $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allied nations

1942 Three British Royal Navy personel - Lt. Tony Fasson, Able Seaman Colin Grazier and canteen assistant Tommy Brown from HMS Petard boarded the sinking German submarine U-559, and retrieved ***** instruments and documentation which would later lead the Bletchley Park codebreakers to crack the German Enigma code. Brown was the only one of the three to survive when the submarine sank. All three received the George Cross Medal and Tommy Brown (aged 16 and too young to be at sea at the time ) is the youngest person to have ever received that award.

1944 Anne and Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they die the following year, shortly before the end of WWII

1957 The Government revealed details of plans to reform the House of Lords, which included creating the first women life peerages.

1960 English surgeon Michael Woodruff performed Britain's first successful kidney transplant, at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

1961 Because of "violations of Vladimir Lenin's precepts", it is decreed that Joseph Stalin's body be removed from its place of honour inside Lenin's tomb

1965 English model Jean Shrimpton wore a miniskirt to the first day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival in Australia. The event became a milestone in the advancement of the mini as the defining fashion of the 1960s.

1973 The Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time

1974 The Rumble in the Jungle: Muhammad Ali KOs George Foreman in the 8th round in Kinshasa, Zaire

1974 As a member of the California Angels, Major League Baseball player Nolan Ryan throws the fastest recorded pitch, at 100.9 miles per hour

1979 Barnes Wallis, British aeronautical engineer and inventor of the wartime dam busting 'bouncing bomb' died. The pilots of 617 squadron used Derwent Reservoir in Derbyshire to practice their low level flying. There is a memorial to them at Derwent Dam.

1984 The 3 surviving members of the 'Beatles' Pop group were given the freedom of the City of Liverpool. Harrison refused to attend.

1990 English and French tunnellers met for the first time underneath the English Channel during the construction of the Channel Tunnel.

1995 At Winchester Crown Court, Rosemary West, the wife of serial killer Frederick West, broke her 20 month silence to plead her innocence over her husband's murders.

2001 Farmer Tony Martin, the loner who shot dead a teenage burglar, was cleared of murder but told he must spend at least another year in jail.

Famous Birthday's

Christopher Columbus
(1451 - 1506)

John Adams
(1735 - 1826)

Ezra Pound
(1885 - 1972)

Fyodor Dostoevsky
(1821 - 1881)

Michael Winner
(1935 - 2013)

Otis Williams
76th Birthday

Henry Winkler
72nd Birthday

Diego Maradona
57th Birthday

Courtney Walsh
55th Birthday

Ivanka Trump
36th Birthday

Ashley Barnes
28th Birthday

Famous Deaths

Charles Tupper
(1821 - 1915)

Bonar Law
(1858 - 1923)

Steve Allen
(1921 - 2000)

William Cavendish-Bentinck
(1738 - 1809)

Sir Barnes Wallis
(1887 - 1979)

Famous Weddings

1943 Italian director Federico Fellini marries actress Giulietta Masina

1991 Singer Clint Black (34) weds actress Lisa Hartman (29)

2004 Blink-182 pop punk band drummer Travis Barker (28) weds actress and First Runner Up Miss USA 1995 Shanna Moakler (29) at the Bacara Resort & Spa in Santa Barbara, California

2012 Actress Evan Rachel Wood (25) weds "Billy Elliott" actor Jamie Bell (26) in California

[Altobelli]

31 OCTOBER

1517 Martin Luther posts 95 theses on Wittenberg church - precipitates the Protestant Reformation

1541 Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes painting "The Last Judgement" in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City

1795 The birth of John Keats, English romantic poet.

1828 The birth of Sir Joseph Swan, English chemist and inventor. Both he and Edison were separately credited with the invention of the electric lamp. Edison was first, but his had a much shorter life and was therefore not practical.

1863 The Maori Wars resumed as British forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan Cameron began their Invasion of the Waikato in North Island. In 1995 the Waikato Tainui tribe completed negotiations with the New Zealand government and accepted a settlement package worth approximately 1 percent of the value of the lands confiscated in 1863.

1864 Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S. state

1876 Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 ravages British India (Modern-day Bangladesh), over 200,000 killed

1888 Scottish inventor John Boyd Dunlop patented pneumatic bicycle tyres.

1903 Hampden Park football ground - Glasgow, was opened.

1913 Dedication of the Lincoln Highway, the first automobile highway across United States

1915 For the first time during World War I, British troops wore steel helmets.

1917 World War I: Battle of Beersheba in southern Palestine - "last successful cavalry charge in history" performed by the 4th Australian Light Horse

1918 Spanish flu-virus kills 21,000 in US in 1 week

1923 The first of 160 consecutive days of 100º Fahrenheit at Marble Bar, Western Australia

1926 Jimmy Savile, radio and TV entertainer was born. In October 2012 numerous allegations were made that Savile had ***ually abused up to 200 young people, dating back to 1958. In the aftermath, his gravestone at Scarborough was removed at the request of Savile's family and plaques and statues of him in other locations were removed to prevent further defacement.

1926 Magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis that develops after his appendix ruptures

1940 World War II: The Battle of Britain ended. Britain had successfully avoided a possible German invasion.

1941 A fire in a clothing factory in Huddersfield, Yorkshire killed 49.

1941 After 14 years of work, Mount Rushmore is completed

1951 Zebra crossings came into use for the first time in Britain.

1955 Princess Margaret called off her plans to marry divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend.

1956 Britain and France bombed Egypt in retaliation for the barring of their ships from the Suez Canal.

1963 An explosion at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum kills 74 people and injures another 400 during an ice skating show. A faulty propane tank connection iis blamed

1964 The Windmill Theatre off London’s Piccadilly Circus finally closed after 32 years. Their slogan ‘We Never Closed’ was a tribute to them staying open to troops during the war.

1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam."

1971 A terrorist bomb exploded at the top of the Post Office Tower in London. The building has been closed to the public ever since.

1973 Three Provisional IRA members escaped from Mountjoy Prison, Dublin aboard a hijacked helicopter that briefly landed in the prison's exercise yard. As the helicopter took off, one officer, in the confusion shouted 'Close the gates, close the ******* gates.' The escape resulted in all IRA prisoners held at Mountjoy Prison being transferred to the maximum security Portlaoise Prison.

1982 The Thames barrier, part of London's flood defences, was raised for the first time.

1988 Coventry became Britain's first city to introduce a by-law banning the drinking of alcohol in public places. Coventry was made famous much earlier by Lady Godiva who, in 1678, clothed only in her long hair, rode through the city after her husband agreed to repeal the taxes if she would strip naked and ride through the streets.

1997 A 19 year old British au pair Louise Woodward, was found guilty by a court in America of murdering 8 month old Matthew Eappen.

2002 A federal grand jury in Houston, Texas indicts former Enron CEO Andrew Fastow on 78 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice


2008 Officials asked for the Welsh translation of a bilingual road sign which in English read - "No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only." When the automatic e-mail came back from Swansea council it read "Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch unrhyw waith i'w gyfieithu" and this was duly printed on the road sign. Only later was it discovered that the Welsh part of the sign said "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated."

2011 The world population reaches 7 billion inhabitants according to the United Nations

2013 TV cameras were allowed to record proceedings at the Court of Appeal in England and Wales for the first time. Senior judges and major broadcasters welcomed the move, which the head of BBC News said was a "landmark moment".

Famous Birthday's

John Keats
(1795 - 1821)

Chiang Kai-shek
(1887 - 1975)

Jimmy Savile
(1926 - 2011)

Eddie Charlton
(1929 - 2004)

Michael Landon
(1936 - 1991

John Candy
(1950 - 1994)

John Evelyn
(1620 - 1706)

Tom O'Connor
78th Birthday

Vanilla Ice
50th Birthday

Matt Dawson
45th Birthday

Famous Deaths

Harry Houdini
(1874 - 1926)

Brian Cobby
(1929 - 2012)

Indira Gandhi
(1917 - 1984)

River Phoenix
(1970 - 1993)

Famous Weddings

1968 Singer Davy Jones (22) weds actress Linda Haines

1970 "Easy Rider" director and actor Dennis Hopper (34) weds singer Michelle Phillips (26) in Mexico

1980 Baptist minister Al Sharpton (26) weds back up singer Kathy Jordan

Famous Divorces

1976 NBA legend Larry Bird (19) divorces highschool sweetheart Janet Condra only 11 months after getting married

2011 Socialite and model Kim Kardashian (31) divorces basketball player Kris Humphries (26) due to irreconcilable differences only 72 days after getting married

[Altobelli]

01 NOVEMBER

1512 The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time

1604 William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello was presented for the first time, at The Palace of Whitehall in London. The palace was the main residence of the English monarchs in London from 1530 until 1698. Seven years to the day, Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest was also presented for the first time, and also at the Palace of Whitehall.

1611 William Shakespeare's play The Tempest is performed for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London

1688 William III of Orange set out from the Netherlands to invade England and to overthrow James II of England during the Glorious Revolution. William's successful invasion led to him ascending the English throne as William III of England jointly with his wife Mary II.

1755 Lisbon earthquake kills more than 50,000 in Portugal

1762 The birth of Spencer Perceval who was later assassinated in the House of Commons. To date he is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated.

1765 Parliament enacted the Stamp Act on the 13 American colonies to help pay for British military operations there. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp.

1870 In the United States, the Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast

1800 John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House).

1814 Congress of Vienna opens to re-draw the European political map after the defeat of France, in the Napoleonic Wars.

1848 WH Smith opened its first railway bookstall, at Euston Station in London.

1858 Following the bloody events of the Indian Mutiny, Queen Victoria was proclaimed ruler of India, replacing the reign of the East India Company.

1887 The birth of L.S Lowry, English artist, famous for his matchstick figures. The Lowry theatre and art gallery is at Salford Quays. Lowry spent many holidays at Berwick-upon-Tweed and painted many scenes such as Bridge End and Berwick Harbour.

1894 Vaccine for diphtheria announced by Dr Roux of Paris

1896 A picture showing the bare breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time

1911 The first Woman's Weekly magazine was published in Britain.

1914 World War I: The Royal Navy suffered its first defeat of the war with Germany at the Battle of Coronel, fought off the western coast of Chile. HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth were both sunk, with a combined loss of 1,570 lives and no survivors from either ship.

1916 Paul Miliukov delivers in the Russian State Duma the famous "stupidity or treason" speech, precipitating the downfall of the Boris Stürmer government.

1922 The first radio licences went on sale in Britain at a cost of ten shillings (50p).

1927 Betting tax was first levied in Britain. Two days later the bookies went on strike at Windsor in protest.

1939 The first rabbit born after artificial insemination is exhibited to the world

1941 Ansel Adams takes a picture of a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico that would become one of the most famous images in the history of photography

1944 Britain's Home Guard, formed in 1939 to fight the expected German invasion, was ordered to disband.

1945 It was announced that all available evidence supported the theory that German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler had committed suicide in Berlin.

1951 6,500 American soldiers are exposed to 'Desert Rock' atomic explosions for training purposes in Nevada. Participation is not voluntary

1952 "Ivy Mike", the first thermonuclear weapon to utilize the H-bomb design of Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam, is detonated in the Marshall Islands, Pacific Ocean

1956 Premium Bonds first went on sale in Britain with the winning numbers picked at random by a machine with the acronym 'ERNIE'. The first Premium Bond was bought by the then Lord Mayor of London, Sir Cuthbert Ackroyd.

1959 The first stretch of the M1 motorway linking London with the North of England was opened.

1982 Honda becomes the first Asian automobile company to produce cars in the United States with the opening of its factory in Marysville, Ohio

1990 The UK's deputy Prime Minister, Sir Geoffrey Howe, resigned after disagreements over the government's European policy.

2012 Scientists detect evidence of light from the universe's first stars, predicted to have formed 500 million years after the big bang

2014 A pilot was killed and another injured as Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo space tourism craft crashed in the California desert. Richard Branson said - "Space is hard - but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together."

Famous Birthday's

Spencer Perceval
(1762 - 1812)

L. S. Lowry
(1887 -1976)

Ted Lowe
(1920 - 2011)

Alfred Wegener
(1880 - 1930)

Gary Player
82nd Birthday

Larry Flynt
75th Birthday

Sharron Davies
55th Birthday

Mark Hughes
54th Birthday

V V S Laxman
43rd Birthday

Famous Deaths

Ezra Pound
(1885 - 1972)

Walter Payton
(1954 - 1999)

Man o' War
(1917 - 1947)

Famous Weddings

1940 Theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer (36) weds biologist Katherine Harrison Puening

1954 Actor John Wayne (47) weds actress Pilar Pallete in Kona, Hawaii

1986 MLB player Kirby Puckett (24) weds Tonya Hudson (20)

1988 US Actors Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis marry in Las Vegas

2003 "Showgirls" actress Elizabeth Berkley (31) weds artist Greg Lauren (33) at Esperanza Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Famous Divorces

1947 Film director D. W. Griffith (72) divorces actress Evelyn Baldwin (37) after 11 years of marriage

1954 Actor John Wayne (47) divorces actress Esperanza Baur due to drunken violence after 7 years of marriage

1982 Director Martin Scorsese (39) divorces Isabella Rossellini (30) after 3 years of marriage

2010 Film actor Charlie Sheen (45) divorces socialite Brooke Mueller (33) due to irreconcilable differences after two-and-a-half years of marriage

[Altobelli]

02 NOVEMBER

1470 The birth of King Edward V of England, one of the two 'princes in the Tower'. Along with his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, Edward 'disappeared' after being sent (allegedly for safety reasons) to the Tower of London. Responsibility for their deaths is widely attributed to his uncle, Richard III, but the actual events have remained controversial for centuries.

1636 The birth of Edward Colston, Bristol-born merchant and Member of Parliament. Much of his wealth, although used often for philanthropic purposes, was acquired through the trade and exploitation of slaves. He endowed schools and almshouses and his name is commemorated in several Bristol landmarks, two schools and the Colston bun (a yeast dough flavoured with dried fruit and spices).

1871 British police began their Rogues' Gallery, taking photographs of all convicted prisoners.

1875 Verney Cameroon reaches Benguela in Angola, from Africa's east coast, 1st European to cross equatorial Africa

1896 The first motor insurance policies were issued in Britain, but they excluded damage caused by frightened horses.

1898 Cheerleading is started at the University of Minnesota with Johnny Campbell leading the crowd in cheering on the football team

1899 Boer War: The start of the Siege of Ladysmith in Natal when Boers encircled British troops and civilians inside the town. The siege lasted for 118 days.

1917 British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour submitted a declaration of intent to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The British government hoped that the formal declaration would help garner Jewish support for the Allied effort in World War I.

1920 Adam Martin Wyant became the first former professional American football player to be elected to the United States Congress

1920 In the US, KDKA of Pittsburgh starts broadcasting as the first commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the result of the 1920 presidential election

1924 Almost 11 years after its appearance in America, the first crossword puzzle was published in a British newspaper, sold to the Sunday Express by C.W. Shepherd.

1930 Coronation of Ras Tafari Makonnen as Haile Selassie I, 225th Emperor of Ethopian Solmonic Dynasty

1936 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaims the Rome-Berlin Axis, establishing the alliance of the Axis powers

1936 The world's first regular TV service was started by the British Broadcasting Corporation at Alexandra Palace at 3:00 p.m. It was defined as 'high-definition' (with 200 lines of resolution) and was renamed BBC1 in 1964. An estimated 100 TV owners tuned in.

1947 In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Spruce Goose or H-4 The Hercules; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built

1950 George Bernard Shaw, the renowned playwright died, aged 94.

1951 The final phase of the largest troop airlift since the war brought in British reinforcements to quell unrest in the Canal Zone, Egypt.

1953 The foundation of the Samaritans, (the world's first crisis hotline organisation), by the Anglican priest Chad Varah, who was born in Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire.

1954 The comedy series 'Hancock's Half Hour' was first broadcast on BBC Radio.

1959 The opening of Watford Gap Services, the oldest motorway services in Britain. The M1 - between Junction 5 (Watford) and Junction 18 (Crick/Rugby) opened on the same day. Watford Gap has long been hailed as the unofficial cut-off point between the two parts of the country, with 'southerners' sometimes criticised for not venturing north of it.

1959 Twenty One game show contestant Charles Van Doren admits to a Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.

1960 Penguin publishers were cleared of obscenity for printing the D.H. Lawrence novel 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'. The first edition was printed privately in Florence in 1928 but the unexpurgated edition could not be published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960. The book was notorious at the time for its story of the physical relationship between a working-class man and an upper-class woman, with explicit descriptions of ***, and its use of then-unprintable words.

1963 Gerry & the Pacemakers reached the number one spot with 'You'll Never Walk Alone'.

1964 The first episode of the television soap opera 'Crossroads' was broadcast on ITV.

1966 The Cuban Adjustment Act comes into force, allowing 123,000 Cubans opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the US

1981 Citizens Band radio (CB radio) was legally allowed in Britain

1982 The first edition of 'Countdown' the British TV game show involving word and number puzzles. It was hosted by Richard Whiteley and Carol Vorderman and was also the first programme to be aired on Channel 4.

1983 U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

1988 The Morris worm, the first Internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT

2000 The controversial chief inspector of schools in England, Chris Woodhead, stepped down, to the delight of teachers' unions.

2012 It was announced that more than 100 post boxes, painted gold to celebrate the success of Britain's Olympic and Paralympic athletes, would remain gold on a permanent basis. This one, at Leek in Staffordshire commemorates the Olympic rower Anna Watkin.

2012 66 year old billionaire Sean Quinn, once Ireland's richest man and the 12th richest in the UK, was taken to prison to begin a nine-week sentence for contempt of court.

2014 The death, aged 85, of Acker Bilk, the legendary jazz clarinettist. He was the first UK act to top the US charts in the 1960s and was known for performing in a flamboyant waistcoat and bowler hat.

Famous Birthday's

Marie Antoinette
(1755 - 1793)

Warren G. Harding
(1865 - 1923)

Burt Lancaster
(1913 - 1994)

Keith Emerson
(1944 - 2016)

Stefanie Powers
75th Birthday

Ken Rosewall
83rd Birthday

Famous Deaths

George Bernard Shaw
(1856 - 1950)

Willie Sutton
(1901 - 1980)

Toni Stone
(1921 - 1996)

Famous Weddings

1887 Baseball legend Connie Mack (24) weds Margaret Hogan

1896 Nizari Imam Aga Khan III (19) weds first cousin Shahzadi Begum in Pune, India

2005 Irish TV and radio presenter Sile Seoige (26) weds Glen Mulcahy at St. Brendan's Church in County Offaly

2009 "*** and the City" actor Ron Livingston (41) weds actress Rosemarie DeWitt (34) in San Francisco

2012 BMX icon TJ Lavin weds longtime fiancee Roxanne Siordia (32) in Las Vegas

Famous Divorces

2006 Rocker Rod Stewart (58) divorces model Rachel Hunter (33) due to irreconcilable differences

[Altobelli]

05 NOVEMBER

1492 Christopher Columbus learns of maize (corn) from Indians of Cuba

1556 Battle at Panipat: Mogollegers beat hindu leader Hemu

1605 Guy Fawkes, born here in York was arrested when around 30 barrels of gunpowder, camouflaged with coal, were discovered in the cellar under Parliament. Robert Catesby’s small band of Catholic zealots who planned to blow up James I and Parliament were only arrested after Fawkes revealed their names when tortured on the rack. Conspirators met at the Old Lion Inn, Dunchurch, Warwickshire and plaque on 5th November to await news of the destruction of Westminster.

1854 Nineteen Victoria Crosses were won in the defeat of the Russians at the Battle of Inkerman.

1872 Women's suffrage in the United States: In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time, and is later fined $100

1895 George B. Selden is granted the first U.S. patent for an automobile

1909 Woolworths opened its first British store, in Liverpool. Almost 100 years later, (at the end of the first week in January 2009) the last remaining stores closed for the last time.

1912 The appointment of a British Board of Film Censors. They decided on only two classifications - 'Universal' and 'Not Suitable for Children'.

1912 Woodrow Wilson is elected to the presidency of the United States

1913 Vivien Leigh, British actress who won an Oscar for 'Gone With the Wind' was born.

1914 World War I: Britain and France declared war on Turkey.

1925 Secret agent Sidney Reilly, the first "super-spy" of the 20th century, is executed by the OGPU, the secret police of the Soviet Union

1927 Britain’s first automatic traffic lights were installed at Princess Square road junction in Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands.

1932 Gillespie Road London Underground station, which also served Arsenal Football Club’s Highbury ground, had its name changed to Arsenal after representations by the club.

1935 Lester Piggott, champion jockey, was born. Aged 18, he rode his first Derby winner. Piggott had 4,493 career wins, including nine Epsom Derby victories and is one is one of the most well-known English flat racing jockeys of all time. In 1987 he was convicted of tax fraud, jailed for three years and was stripped of his OBE that had been awarded in 1975.

1937 Adolf Hitler informs his military leaders in a secret meeting of his intentions of going to war

1950 Korean War: British and Australian forces from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade successfully halted the advancing Chinese 117th Division during the Battle of Pakchon in North Korea.

1956 Britain and France land airborne forces at Port Said in Egypt, escalating the Suez Crisis

1967 At least 40 people were killed and 80 hurt after a train derailed near Hither Green, south-east London. Survivors included Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees who died on 20th May 2012, at the age of 62, from liver and kidney failure.

1971 Princess Anne was voted ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ by the British Sportswriters' Association.

1979 The trial began in Dublin, of the two men accused of the murder of Lord Mountbatten.

1979 Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini declares US "The Great Satan"

1990 Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel

1991 Millionaire publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell was found dead at sea, several hours after mysteriously disappearing from his yacht off the Canary Islands.

2006 Following the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 by a coalition of countries including Britain and America, Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq was sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial for his role in the massacre of 148 Shi'as in 1982. His execution was carried out on 30th December 2006.

2007 Android mobile operating system is unveiled by Google

2009 U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan murders 13 and wounds 32 at Fort Hood, Texas in the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. military installation

2013 The village of Wool, in the Purbeck district of Dorset, reported that at least 160 sheep had been stolen from nearby fields, sometime between 1st and 3rd November.

Famous Birthday's

Vivien Leigh
(1913 - 1967)

Bill Walton
65th Birthday

Bryan Adams
58th Birthday

Lester Piggott
82nd Birthday

Art Garfunkel
75th Birthday

Peter Noone
69th Birthday

Kasper Schmeichel
31st Birthday

Famous Deaths

Christiaan Eijkman
(1858 - 1930)

George M. Cohan
(1878 - 1942)

René Goscinny
(1926 - 1977)

Eamonn Andrews
(1922 - 1987)

Robert Maxwell
(1923 -1991)

Famous Weddings

1940 American author and journalist "The Old Man and the Sea" Ernest Hemingway marries journalist Martha Gellhorn

1941 Writer and veterinary surgeon James Herriot (25) weds Joan Catherine Danbury

1977 43rd US President George W. Bush (31) weds Laura Welch (31) at The First United Methodist Church in Midland, Texas

2005 2004 Indianapolis 500 racecar driver winner Buddy Rice (29) weds Michelle Noonan in Arizona

[Altobelli]

08 NOVEMBER

November 8th is 'The Feast of the Four Crowned Ones', still marked by some English freemasons. It commemorates four masons martyred by Emperor Diocletian for refusing to sculpt a pagan god.

392 Roman Emperor Theodosius declares Christian religion the state religion

1519 1st meeting of Moctezuma II & Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan, Mexico

1602 The Bodleian Library at Oxford University was opened to the public. It is second in size to the British Library.

1605 Robert Catesby, the ringleader of the Gunpowder Plotters, was killed by gunshot, along with other conspirators at Holbeche House, on the border of Staffordshire. He was buried close by but the bodies of Catesby and fellow conspirator Percy were exhumed and decapitated and Catesby's head was placed on the side of the Parliament House.

1656 The birth of Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician best known for the comet named after him and for his work predicting its orbit. He also produced the first meteorological chart.

1674 The death of John Milton, blind English poet of Paradise Lost.

1701 William Penn presents Charter of Priviliges

1734 Vincent la Chapelle, master cook to various nobility and royalty, forms Free Masons Lodge in Netherlands

1745 Charles Edward Stuart invaded England with an army of 5000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden (16th April 1746).

1802 The birth of Sir Benjamin Hall, commissioner of works at the time of Big Ben’s installation in the tower at the Houses of Parliament. The famous 13 ton bell is named after him.

1847 Bram Stoker, Irish author remembered for the classic, 'Dracula', was born. Whitby has associations with the Dracula novel.

1866 Herbert Austin, later Baron Austin, English motor car manufacturer, was born.

1895 German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen produces and detects electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range today known as X-rays or Röntgen rays

1917 The People's Commissars give authority to Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin

1920 Rupert Bear made his first appearance in the Daily Express. Rupert Bear Annuals have been produced since 1936 and are still in production today. The Rupert Annual is still one of the top three Annual titles sold worldwide.

1923 Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government

1933 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million unemployed

1937 The Nazi exhibition Der ewige Jude ("The Eternal Jew") opens in Munich

1957 A report into a fire at Windscale nuclear power plant in Cumbria blamed the accident on human error, poor management and faulty instruments. The fire caused an unspecified amount of radioactive iodine vapour - iodine 131 - to escape into the atmosphere.

1957 Britain conducted its first successful hydrogen bomb test, over Kiritimati in the Pacific.

1958 Melody Maker published the first British album charts.

1960 John F. Kennedy defeats Richard Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the twentieth century to become the 35th president of the United States


1965 The bill abolishing the death penalty became law.

1966 Movie actor Ronald Reagan elected Governor of California

1967 BBC Radio Leicester (the first of the new breed of BBC Local Radio stations) began broadcasting at 12.45 p.m. from a transmitter located on Gorse Hill above the city centre.

1972 HBO launches its programming, with the broadcast of the 1971 movie Sometimes a Great Notion, starring Paul Newman and Henry Fonda

1973 The right ear of John Paul Getty III is delivered to a newspaper together with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay US$2.9 million

1974 Covent Garden ceased to be the location of London’s famous flower and vegetable market as it moved across the Thames, leaving the old warehouses and Floral Hall.

1974 Britiish peer the Earl of Lucan disappears and is never seen again after his nanny is found murdered in London

1987 An IRA bomb exploded shortly before a Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing 11 people.

1990 The Republic of Ireland elected its first woman president, Mary Robinson. The mother-of-three had been a member of the Irish Senate for more than 20 years.

2002 Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council under Resolution 1441 unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences"

2003 The Countess of Wes*** (wife of Prince Edward) gave birth to her first child - Lady Louise Windsor, a month early at Frimley Park hospital in Surrey. The baby weighed just 4lbs 9oz (2 kg).

2016 Republican Donald Trump is elected President of The United States of America, defeating democrat Hillary Clinton despite Clinton receiving 2.9 million more votes

Famous Birthday's

Vlad the Impaler
(1431 - 1476)

Bram Stoker
(1847 - 1912)

Margaret Mitchell
(1900 - 1949)

Edmond Halley
(1656 - 1742)

Herbert Austin
(1866 - 1941)

Minnie Ripperton
(1947 - 1979)

Ken Dodd
90th Birthday



Alain Delon
82nd Birthday

Martin Peters
74th Birthday

Roy Wood
70th Birthday

Alan Curbishley
60th Birthday

Gordon Ramsay
51st Birthday

Famous Deaths



Doc Holliday
(1851 - 1887)

Ramsay MacDonald
(1866 - 1937)

Betty Nuthall
(1911 - 1983)

Eddie Charlton
(1929 - 2004)

Famous Weddings

1766 Future Prime Minister William Cavendish-Bentinck (28) weds Dorothy Cavendish (16)

1975 NBA legend Larry Bird (18) weds highschool sweetheart Janet Condra

1985 Author Ken Follett (36) weds politician Barbara Hubbard (42)

1997 Bluegrass musician Alison Krauss marries Pat Bergeson

2006 Malaysian actress Sazzy Falak (25) weds co-founder of LVG Consultants and LVG MoneySkool Nazril Idrus

Famous Divorces

1968 Cynthia Lennon is granted a divorce from Beatle member John

1970 "Easy Rider" director and actor Dennis Hopper (34) divorces singer Michelle Phillips (26) only 8 days after getting married