On This Day

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09 JANUARY

1799 Income tax was introduced into Britain by William Pitt the Younger, to raise funds for the Napoleonic War. The rate was two shillings in the pound.

1806 Lord Nelson, naval commander and hero of the Battle of Trafalgar, was buried beneath the dome of St Paul's cathedral, in London, after a grand and solemn procession along the river to Whitehall and thence to the City. Nelson was born on this site - a former rectory :. A plaque on the wall on Creake Road.

1816 Sir Humphry Davy tested his Davy safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery. In January 1819, Davy was awarded a baronetcy, at the time the highest honour ever conferred on a man of science in Britain. A year later he became President of the Royal Society.

1854 Birth of Jenny, Lady Randolph Churchill, wife of Lord Randolph and mother of Winston.

1854 The first free lending Library opened, on Marylebone Road, London.

1888 The London Financial Guide was launched. It became The Financial Times on 13th February.

1898 The birth, in Rochdale, Lancashire, of Dame Gracie Fields, internationally famous singer. This statue of her was unveiled in her home town of Rochdale. on 18th September 2016 by Roy Hudd, President of the British Music Hall Society.

1909 Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, planted the British flag 112 miles from the South Pole, the furthest anyone had ever reached at that time.

1929 Alexander Fleming successfully treated his assistant Stuart Craddick’s infection with a penicillin broth, at St Mary’s, Paddington.

1947 Elizabeth "Betty" Short, the black dahlia, is last seen alive.

1972 British miners began their first strike since 1926, campaigning for improved pay and conditions. A season of power cuts followed.

1997 The lone yachtsman, Tony Bullimore, feared drowned after his boat, (Exide Challenger) capsized in the Southern Ocean five days previously, was found safe and well.

2007 Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs announces the iPhone

2015 A New York judge sentenced the extradited radical preacher Abu Hamza to life in prison for supporting terrorist organisations. The Muslim cleric rose to prominence for his fiery sermons at a north London mosque prior to the protracted extradition battle. The US justice department and Theresa May, the UK home secretary, hailed the sentence.



2016 The Flying Scotsman, (engine no. 60103) and the first steam engine to be officially recorded at 100mph carried its first passengers, after a 10 year restoration that cost £4.2M. Test run services were carried out on the East Lancashire Railway, between Bury and Rawtenstall, for two successive weekends.

Famous Birthday's

Richard Nixon
(1913 - 1994)

1920 Clive Dunn, British actor, (d. 2012)



1925 Lee Van Cleef, NJ, actor (For a Few Dollars More, Escape from NY) (d. 1989)

Bob Denver
(1935 - 2005)



1939 Susannah York, English actress (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Superman), born in London, England (d. 2011)

Jimmy Page
74th Birthday

Joan Baez
77th Birthday

Catherine, Duchess of CambridgeCatherine, Duchess of Cambridge
36th Birthday

Famous Deaths

Victor Emmanuel II
(1820 - 1878)

Katherine Mansfield
(1888 - 1923)



Albert Stevens
( - 1966)

1995 Peter Cook, English comic/actor (Peter n' Dud, Bedazzled), dies at 57

2009 Dave Dee, British musician (Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich), dies of cancer at 67

2016 Ed Stewart, British DJ and broadcaster (Crackerjack), dies of a stroke at 74

Famous Weddings

1428 Pope Martinus V declares Jacqueline, Countess of Haintaut's marriage to Humphrey Duke of Gloucester invalid

1987 Sir Rudolph Bing (of NY Met Opera) marries Lady Carroll Douglass

1988 English earl of St Andrews marries Sylvana Tomaselli

2005 "Motley Crue" lead singer Vince Neil (43) weds Lia Gerardini at the Four Seasons hotel in Las Vegas

2007 "Ugly Betty" actress Ashley Jensen (37) weds actor and writer Terence Beesley in a ceremony in the woods of Big Sur, California

50 Years Ago Album & Single # 1s

VAL DOONICAN ROCKS BUT GENTLY - VAL DOONICAN

HELLO GOODBYE - BEATLES

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19 JANUARY

1736 The birth, in Greenock, of James Watt, the Scottish inventor who developed Newcomen's steam engine and gave his name to a unit of power. On 29th May 2009 the Bank of England announced that Watt and his business partner Matthew Boulton would appear on a new £50 note.

1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie's troops occupied Stirling.

1813 Sir Henry Bessemer, who gave his name to a process for converting cast iron into steel, was born, in Charlton - Hertfordshire.

1848 The birth of Matthew Webb, the first person to swim the English Channel - (25th August 1875, in a time of 21 hours & 45 minutes). This memorial to him is erected in Dawley - Telford, close to his birthplace, now demolished)

1903 1st regular transatlantic radio broadcast between US & England

1903 New bicycle race "Tour de France" announced

1915 More than 20 people were killed when German zeppelins bombed England for the first time. The bombs were dropped on Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn.

1917 The Silvertown explosion in West Ham. 73 people were killed and 400 injured in an explosion in a munitions plant . The plant was destroyed instantly, as were many nearby buildings, including the Silvertown Fire Station and a gasometer.

1923 UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Stanley Baldwin and US Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon agree to reschedule repayment of Britain's $4.5 billion war debt over 62 years

1937 The first play written for British television, The Underground Murder Mystery by J. Bissell Thomas, was broadcast by the BBC.

1955 "Scrabble" debuts on board game market

1981 Muhammad Ali talks a despondent 21 year old out of committing suicide

1988 Christopher Nolan, a 22-year-old Irish writer, won the £20,000 Whitbread Book of the Year Award for his autobiography, Under the Eye of the Clock. Completely paralysed, Nolan used a ‘unicorn’ attachment on his forehead to write the novel at a painfully slow speed.

1990 Police in Johannesburg, armed with batons and dogs, broke up a demonstration against English cricketers who had defied a ban on playing in segregated South Africa.

2004 Prime Minister Tony Blair said that he would survive his toughest week as he faced the university top-up fees vote and the Hutton enquiry into the death of David Kelly, former UN weapons inspector in Iraq and ........ he was right!

2013 Lance Armstrong admits to doping in all seven of his Tour de France victories

2014 The death of former British athlete Sir Chris Chataway, at the age of 82. Chataway, who broke the 5,000m world record in 1954, is also remembered as the man who helped pace Sir Roger Bannister to break the four-minute mile barrier in the same year. Chataway was named the first-ever BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1954.

2015 The death of Anne Kirkbride, known for her long-running role as Deirdre Barlow in the ITV soap Coronation Street, which she played for 42 years from 1972 to 2014. In January 2014 the soap left its long established Quay Street site in Manchester city centre and moved to this purpose built set at MediaCityUK

Famous Birthday's



Robert E. Lee
(1807 - 1870)



Edgar Allan Poe
(1809 - 1849)

1878 Herbert Chapman, English football player and manager (d. 1934)

1938 Phil Everly, Brownie Ky, singer (Everly Bros-Wake Up Little Susie) (d. 2014)



Janis Joplin
(1943 - 1970)

Michael Crawford
76th Birthday

Dolly Parton
72nd Birthday

Rod Evans, rocker (Deep Purple-Come Taste the Band)
70th Birthday

Dennis Taylor
69th Birthday

Jenson Button
38th Birthday

Famous Weddings

1872 Physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (26) weds Anna Bertha Ludwig in Apeldoorn, Netherlands

1884 Painter Thomas Eakins (39) weds painter and photographer Susan Macdowell (32) in a Quaker ceremony

1957 Golfer Gary Player (21) weds Bobby Verwey's sister Vivienne Verwey

2012 Indian bollywood actress Deepshikha Nagpal (34) weds Indian actor Kaishav Arora in Mumbai

2013 "Big Brother" Daniele Donato (26) weds Dominic Briones at the Newland House Museum in Huntington Beach, California

Famous Divorces

1977 Director Martin Scorsese (34) divorces Julia Cameron (28) after 1 year of marriage

Famous Deaths

Hedy Lamarr
(1914 - 2000)



Wilson Pickett
(1941 - 2006)

Stan Musial
(1920 - 2013)

2004 David Hookes, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1955)

2014 Bert Williams, English footballer (Wolverhampton, 30 caps), dies at 93

2015 Anne Kirkbride, English Actress (Deirdre in Coronation Street), dies of breast cancer at 60

[Altobelli]

06 FEBRUARY

1649 The claimant King Charles II of England and Scotland was declared King of Great Britain, by the Parliament of Scotland. This move was not followed by the Parliament of England nor the Parliament of Ireland.

1665 The birth of Queen Anne, the last Stuart ruler and second daughter of James II. She bore Prince George of Denmark 17 children, but 16 died in infancy and the remaining child died when aged 12. Her desire for national unity led to the union of the English and Scottish parliaments in 1707.

1685 Charles II, King of Great Britain and Ireland, died after several days of revelry with his concubines and his favourite mistresses. Charles acknowledged at least 12 illegitimate children by various mistresses, but as illegitimate children were excluded from the succession, he was succeeded by his brother James. On his deathbed Charles asked his brother to look after his mistresses and told his courtiers: 'I am sorry, gentlemen, for being such a time a-dying.'

1783 Death of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, the greatest English landscape gardener. His work lives on today throughout the great estates of England. He designed and assisted with many gardens, including Charlecote Park in Warwickshire and Wallington in Northumberland.

1804 The death of Joseph Priestley (FRS) the 18th-century English theologian and chemist. Priestley is generally credited with the discovery of oxygen. He was born at Birstall, near Leeds. a statue of Priestley is in Leeds City Square.

1840 The Treaty of Waitangi was signed, giving Britain sovereignty over New Zealand.

1918 The Representation of the People Act passed by the British Parliament received the Royal Assent, granting the vote to women over 30. Their first opportunity to use it would come at the General Election on 14th December 1918.



1931 Fred Trueman, Former Yorkshire and England cricketer was born. Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968. He represented England in 67 Test matches and was the first bowler to take 300 wickets in a Test career. British Prime Minister Harold Wilson described him as the 'greatest living Yorkshireman', yet Trueman was omitted from numerous Test teams because he was frequently in conflict with the cricket establishment. a statue of Fred (Freddie) Trueman is in the canal basin at Skipton, North Yorkshire, the town where he lived for many years.

1935 "Monopoly" board game goes on sale for 1st time

1948 Bradman retires hurt, 57 in his last Test Cricket innings in Australia

1952 Queen Elizabeth succeeded to the British throne. The Queen and Prince Philip were on tour in Kenya when they heard the news of the death of her father, King George VI.

1958 Seven Manchester United footballers (Busby’s Babes) died in their Airspeed AS-57 Ambassador when the plane crashed in thick snow on the runway at Munich airport during its third attempted take off. The team had just beaten Red Star Belgrade in the European Cup quarter-final. Duncan Edwards survived the crash but died 15 days later in hospital. Manager Matt Busby was seriously injured, but survived. Of the 44 passengers and crew on board, 8 United players were killed and there were 15 other fatalities, including 8 journalists.

1995 The National Trust for Scotland banned foxhunting on any of its land.

1997 The Court of Appeal made an historic judgement in favour of Diane Blood to be allowed to be inseminated with her dead husband's sperm.

1998 Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport

2005 Tony Blair marked 2,838 days in his post at Number 10, making him the Labour Party's longest-serving prime minister. He would only surpass Margaret Thatcher's 11 years if he was still Prime Minister at the end of 2008 and he was not!

2015 26 year old Royal Marine, Andy Grant, woke up from an operation to remove his leg below the knee and found a key word missing from his You'll Never Walk Alone tattoo. He used the new wording "You'll Never Walk" as the inspiration for his rehabilitation. The marine learnt to walk and run, won two gold medals at the Invictus Games, abseiled the Shard and went on to work as a motivational speaker.

2017 Queen Elizabeth II became the first British Monarch to reach her Sapphire Jubilee. The Royal Mint is to mark the 65th anniversary of her accession with a range of specially designed Sapphire Jubilee commemorative coins, with the Royal Mail issuing a Sapphire Blue £5 stamp.

Famous Birthday's



Babe Ruth
(1895 - 1948)

Ronald Reagan
(1911 - 2004)

1917 Zsa Zsa Gabor [Zsa Sari], Hungarian-born actress (Queen of Outer Space), born in Budapest (d. 2016)



1924 Billy Wright, English soccer player (d. 1994)

1931 Fred Trueman, English cricketer ("Fiery Fred",307 wickets for England) (d. 2006)

1933 Leslie Crowther, English TV-comic and quizmaster (d. 1996)

Bob Marley
(1945 - 1981)



1950 Natalie Cole, American vocalist (Pink Cadillac, Miss You Like Crazy), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2015)

Jimmy Tarbuck, English comic/golfer
78th Birthday

Rick Astley, rock vocalist (Never Gonna Give You Up)
52nd Birthday

Famous Weddings

1843 Frontiersman Kit Carson (33) weds Josefa Jaramillo (14) at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church

1949 Diplomat Henry Kissinger (25) weds Ann Fleisher (23) in Washington Heights, Manhattan

1993 US Senator Mitch McConnell (51) weds economist Elaine Chao

1995 "The Beach Boys" leader and chief songwriter Brian Wilson (52) weds former model Melinda Ledbetter (47) at Palos Verdes in Peninsula, California

2009 "The L Word" actress Sarah Shahi (29) weds actor Steve Howey (31) in Las Vegas, Nevada

Famous Divorces

2007 "Married ... With Children" actor David Faustino (32) divorces actress Andrea Elmer Faustino (31) due to irreconcilable differences after 3 years of marriage

Famous Deaths

Charles II
(1630 - 1685)

1945 Jan Bos, Dutch resistance fighter, executed

1945 Paul Bos, Dutch resistance fighter, executed

George VI
(1895 - 1952)

Emilio Aguinaldo
(1869 - 1964)

1985 Dandy Nichols, actress (Confessions of a Window Cleaner), dies at 78

1993 Arthur Ashe, (Wimbledon 1975), dies of aids at 49

1998 Carl Wilson, American rock vocalist and guitarist (Beach Boys), dies of lung cancer at 51