On This Day

[Altobelli]

24 JANUARY

1899 Rubber heel for boots or shoes patented by American Humphrey O'Sullivan

1901 The birth of Edward Turner, English motorcycle designer. He sold his 4 cylinder engine to Aerial motorcycles when BSA rejected it. And thus it became the legendary 'Ariel Square Four'.

1908 Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell publishes "Scouting for Boys" as a manual for self-instruction in outdoor skills and self-improvement. The book becomes the inspiration for the Scout Movement.

1915 The First World War sea battle of Dogger Bank ended with a British victory when the superior speed and gunnery of the British fleet sank the German armoured cruiser Blucher. If it had not been for a British signalling mixup that enabled the German fleet to flee safely to port, German losses would have been considerably higher.

1927 Alfred Hitchcock releases his first film as director - The Pleasure Garden, in England

1928 The birth of Desmond Morris, British anthropologist. He first came to the public's attention in the 1950s as a presenter of the ITV television programme Zoo Time, but he achieved worldwide fame in 1967 with his book The Naked Ape.

1930 The birth, in Norfolk, of Bernard Matthews, the poultry industry figure. He won a scholarship to the City of Norwich School, but found it difficult to settle, regularly failed his exams and left school with no qualifications. Nevertheless, when he died, aged 80, in November 2010 he had amassed a fortune estimated at over £300m and a motor yacht, a Cessna private jet and a Rolls-Royce motor car.

1935 1st canned beer, "Krueger's Cream Ale," is sold by American company Krueger Brewing Co.

1942 World War II: The Allies bombarded Bangkok, leading Thailand to declare war against the United States and the United Kingdom.

1965 Death of Sir Winston Churchill, aged 90, world famous soldier, politician, historian and Prime Minister of Britain. He was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of the battle of Dogger Bank (see above). He had correctly predicted that he would die on the same date as his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, who had died exactly 70 years previously. The graves of Winston Churchill and his father are in St Martin's Churchyard at Bladon, Oxfordshire

1969 Students protesting at the installation of steel security gates at the London School of Economics went on the rampage, with crowbars, pickaxes and sledgehammers.

1972 Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi was found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II. He was among the last three Japanese hold-outs to surrender after the end of hostilities in 1945, almost 28 years after the island had been liberated by allied forces in 1944.

1976 Margaret Thatcher, leader of the Conservative Party, was dubbed 'The Iron Lady' in the Soviet newspaper 'Red Star' after her speech on the threat of Communism.

1986 The beginning of the end for London's Fleet Street, home to most of Britain's national newspapers, when staff of the 'Sun' and 'News of the World' were told that they were moving to new premises at Wapping, in London's Docklands.

2014 Somerset County Council and Sedgemoor DC declared a major incident throughout much of the Somerset Levels. The village of Muchelney was cut off by flood water from the River Parrett for almost 10 weeks.

2015 A racehorse named Sir Winston Churchill netted a win, on the 50th anniversary of the wartime leader's death, in the 3:25pm race at Uttoxeter racecourse.

Famous Birthday's

Hadrian
(76 - 138)

Frederick the Great
(1712 - 1786)



1917 Ernest Borgnine, actor (Ice Station Zebra, McHale's Navy, Marty), (d. 2012), born in Hamden, Connecticut (d. 2012)

1930 Bernard Matthews, English turkey farmer/multi-millionaire (d. 2010)



Sharon Tate
(1943 - 1969)



Desmond Morris, English zoologist (Human Ape, Body Language)
90th Birthday

Neil Diamond, American singer-songwriter, born in Brooklyn, New York
77th Birthday

Adrian Edmondson, British comedian
61st Birthday

Jools Holland, British musician and TV presenter, born in Blackheath, London
60th Birthday

Famous Weddings

1328 King Edward III of England marries Philippa of Henegouwen (Hainault)

1884 Abolitionist Frederick Douglass marries his second wife suffragist Helen Pitts

1978 Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convicted prisoners to marry in prison in the history of the Republic of Ireland.

1981 Singer Davy Jones (35) weds Anita Pollinger

2004 "Married ... With Children" actor David Faustino (33) weds actress Andrea Elmer (31) at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada

Famous Deaths

Caligula
(12 - 41)



Winston Churchill
(1874 - 1965)

Ted Bundy
(1946 - 1989)

50 YEARS AGO SINGLE AND ALBUM # 1's

THE BALLAD OF BONNIE AND CLYDE - GEORGIE FAME

VAL DOONICAN ROCKS BUT GENTLY - VAL DOONICAN


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