03 FEBRUARY
1903 The birth of Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, pioneering Scottish aviator. He was the eldest of four brothers who were to make military history by all being at the rank of Squadron Leader or above simultaneously at the outbreak of World War II. He was also the youngest Squadron Leader of his day and was chief pilot on the first flight over Mount Everest in 1933, making it the first detailed and scientific survey of the Himalaya region.
1928 The birth, in Liverpool of the singer Frankie Vaughan. He had than 80 recordings in his lifetime and was known as 'Mr. Moonlight' after one of his early hits.
1935 The first 'League of Ovaltineys' created by the manufacturer of the drink Ovaltine. It became a children's 'secret society', promoting high morals and consideration towards others. At the height of its popularity, there were over five million members and I was one of them! In 1975 the song 'We Are The Ovaltineys' came back to a new audience when it was used by Ovaltine in a TV advertisement and also released as a single record.
1937 Don Bradman scores 212 (in 441 minutes!) in 5th cricket test v England
1943 4 chaplains drown after giving up their life jackets to others
1947 Bradman bowled by Alec Bedser for a duck in 4th Test Cricket
1949 In Britain, 23 year old Margaret Roberts (Thatcher) was adopted as Tory candidate in Deptford, but she later failed to win the seat at the General Election.
1954 The Queen visited Australia, the first reigning monarch to do so.
1957 The Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, moved for the first time. The distance moved was an inch (2.5cm)!
1959 "The Day the Music Died" plane crash kills musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, J. P. Richardson and pilot near Clear Lake Iowa.
1960 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan made his 'wind of change' speech to the South African parliament in Capetown. He talked of increasing national consciousness blowing through colonial Africa, signalling that his Government was likely to support decolonisation.
1963 Britain's worst learner driver, Margaret Hunter, was fined for continuing to drive on after her instructor jumped out of the car shouting 'This is suicide.'
1988 Nurses across the UK took part in a day of industrial action to secure more money for themselves and the NHS.
1989 BT banned chatlines because of the 'chatline junkie problem'. The company had been criticised following the widely reported case of a woman whose 12 year old son landed her a chatline bill of £6000.
2012 The Energy Secretary Chris Huhne resigned after being charged over allegations that he handed penalty points for a speeding offence to his then wife, economist Vicky Pryce.
2012 England football captain John Terry was stripped of the captaincy for the second time amid growing concern over his pending race abuse trial.
2013 The cost of cleaning up the Sellafield nuclear waste site reached £67.5bn with no sign of when the cost would stop rising, according to a report. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said that it was facing up to the challenges.
2015 The unauthorised biography 'Charles: Heart of a King' revealed that both Prince Charles and Princess Diana contemplated calling off their wedding, because each knew that their relationship was deeply flawed.
2017 The re-opening of the Tadcaster Bridge, which is believed to date from around 1700. The bridge collapsed on 29th December 2015 after flooding that followed Storm Eva. The loss of the bridge involved a 16 mile detour and loss of businesses in the town.
Famous Birthday's
Ferdinand Magellan
(1480 - 1521)
Elizabeth Blackwell
(1821 - 1910)
1899 Doris Speed, British actress dubbed 'The Queen Mother of Soap' (Coronation Street), born in Manchester, England (d. 1994)
Pretty Boy Floyd
(1904 - 1934)
1910 Robert Earl Jones, American actor (The Sting, Witness, Sleepaway Camp), born in Senatobia, Mississippi (d. 2006)
1943 Dennis Edwards, American lead singer of The Temptations (Papa was a Rollin' Stone), born in Fairfield, Alabama (d. 2018)
Famous Weddings
1112 Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
1547 Russian Tsar Ivan IV (17) marries Anastasia Romanova
1910 Author James Weldon Johnson (38) weds civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson (24) at her family's home
1994 Actor Jean-Claude Van Damme (32) weds Darcy Lapier (28) in Bangkok
2006 "The Science Guy" Bill Nye (50) weds author/oboist Blair Tindall at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles
Famous Divorces
1999 Actress Angelina Jolie (23) divorces actor Jonny Lee Miller (26) after 3 years of marriage
Famous Deaths
Woodrow Wilson
(1856 - 1924)
Buddy Holly
(1936 - 1959)
2012 Ben Gazzara, American actor, dies from pancreatic cancer at 81
Charlie Sifford
(1922 - 2015)