On This Day

[Altobelli]

07 JANUARY

1536 Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII of England and mother of Mary I, died, at Kimbolton Castle in Cambridgeshire where she had lived since Henry annulled their marriage. The Pope had declined the request for an annulment, but Henry married his mistress Anne Boleyn regardless, a chain of events that led to England's break with the Roman Catholic Church.

1805 The famous pugilist Tom Cribb had his first public fight. It was against Tom Maddox at Wood Green. Cribb was declared the winner after an incredible 76 rounds.

1927 A telephone service began operating between London and New York. A three-minute call cost £15. Nevertheless 31 different people made a call on the first day.

1945 Second World War - General Montgomery held a press conference in which he claimed credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge (also known as the Ardennes Offensive). The defeat left many German units severely depleted of men and equipment. America suffered 89,000 casualties, their bloodiest battle of World War II

1965 Identical twin brothers Ronald and Reginald Kray were in custody, charged in connection with running a protection racket. When they died (1995 and 2000 respectively) their funerals were like those of royals, rather than those of notorious criminals.




1970 Farmers sue Max Yasgur for $35,000 in damages caused by "Woodstock"

1990 Tower of Pisa closed to the public after leaning too far

2000 Former Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken was released from jail after serving less than half of his 18-month sentence. He had been imprisoned for perjury and perverting the course of justice after his libel case against the Guardian Newspaper and Granada Television collapsed.

2014 Figures from 'Care for the Wild' showed that pilot culls of badgers in Somerset and Gloucestershire had cost more than £7m - equivalent to more than £4,000 per badger killed. The government scheme was to test how effective, humane and safe a cull could be in their attempt to stop the spread of bovine TB.

Famous Birthday's

Millard Fillmore
(1800 - 1874)

William Peter Blatty
(1928 - 2017)

Nicolas Cage
54th Birthday

Lewis Hamilton
33rd Birthday

Eden Hazard
27th Birthday

Famous Deaths

Catherine of Aragon
(1485 - 1536)



Nikola Tesla
(1856 - 1943)



1988 Trevor Howard, British actor (Brief Encounter, Superman, The Third Man), dies of bronchitis at 71



2015 Stéphane Charbonnier [Charb], French cartoonist and editor of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, dies in a terrorist attack at 47

2015 Rod Taylor, Australian actor (Time Machine, The Birds), dies at 84

Mário Soares
(1924 - 2017)

Famous Weddings

1630 Composer Pier Cavalli marries rich widow Maria Sosomeno

1879 Dutch King Willem II marries Emma von Waldeck-Pyrmont

1880 Pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski (19) weds Antonina Korsak

1911 Actress Mary Pickford (19) weds actor Owen Moore (25)

1934 Princess Juliana marries German prince Bernhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld

Famous Divorces

1985 Actress-singer Janet Jackson (18) divorces fellow R&B singer James DeBarge (21) only 4 months after getting married