On This Day

[Altobelli]

26 JANUARY

1841 Hong Kong was proclaimed British sovereign territory.

1871 The Rugby Football Union was formed, in London, by an initial 20 clubs.

1878 The death of Kirkpatrick McMillan, Scottish blacksmith. He is generally credited with inventing the pedal driven bicycle.

1922 The birth of Michael Bentine, British comedian, comic actor and founding member of the Goon Show radio show with Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe.

1926 John Logie Baird gave a special public demonstration of television to members of the Royal Institution in London. Baird's invention used mechanical rotating disks to scan moving images into electronic impulses.

1942 World War II: The first United States forces arrived in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland.

1950 India became a Republic within the British Commonwealth.

1952 At least 20 people were killed and hundreds injured in anti-British riots in Cairo.

1968 The National Provincial Bank and the Westminster Bank merged to form the National Westminster (NatWest).

1970 "Bridge over Troubled Water" 5th and final studio album by Simon & Garfunkel is released (Grammy Award Album of the Year, Best Engineered Non-Classical Album 1971)

1980 Mary Decker became 1st woman to run a mile in under 4½ minutes

1982 Conservative Prime Minister Mrs. Thatcher was elected in 1979 on the slogan 'Labour isn't working', yet the number of people out of work in Britain rose above three million for the first time since the 1930s.

1986 The Sunday Times and News of the World were printed at Wapping for the first time as the nation's presses moved away from Fleet Street.

1994 A protester fired two blank shots from a starting pistol at Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, as he prepared to speak at an Australia Day rally in Sydney.

1998 President Bill Clinton says "I want to say one thing to the American people; I did not have ***ual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky"

2014 The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, was named Honorary Australian of the Year for displaying 'archetypal Aussie characteristics in abundance'.

2014 Police stopped a learner driver for speeding on the M62 in West Yorkshire. She was accompanied only by her pet parrot. 'Since parrots are not allowed to supervise learner drivers, her vehicle has been seized,' police tweeted.

2015 Australian PM Tony Abbott used the country's national day (Australia Day) to announce a knighthood for Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, for his "long life of service and dedication". WHAT A LOAD OF BOLLOX

Famous Birthday's

Douglas MacArthur
(1880 - 1964)

1891 Frank Costello, Italian-American gangster (The Prime Minister of the Underworld), born in Lauropoli, Calabria, Italy (d. 1973)

Nicolae Ceausescu
(1918 - 1989)



1922 Michael Bentine, England, author/comedian (d. 1996)

1925 Paul Newman, American actor (Hud, Hombre, Hustler), racing car driver and popcorn mogul (Newman's Own), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2008)



Anita Baker
60th Birthday

Famous Weddings

1858 Inventor Cyrus McCormick (48) weds Nancy Fowler

1905 General officer John J. Pershing (44) weds Helen Frances

1925 Politician Seán MacBride (21) weds Catalina Bulfin in Dublin, Ireland

1940 Actor Ronald Raegan (28) weds Academy Award-winning actress Jane Wyman (23) at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather church in Glendale, California

1944 Actor Ralph Richardson (41) weds actress Meriel Forbes (30)

Famous Deaths

Charles "Lucky" Luciano
(1896 - 1962)



1973 Edward G Robinson [Goldenberg], Romanian actor (Double Indemnity, The Stranger, The Ten Commandments), dies at 79

Nelson Rockefeller
(1908 - 1979)



José Ferrer
(1912 - 1992)

[Altobelli]

27 JANUARY

1606 The trial of Guy Fawkes, and his fellow conspirators began. They were charged with treason for attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament in November 1605.

1757 The birth, in Richmond, of Henry Greathead, the pioneering lifeboat builder from South Shields. It took some years before his lifeboat became well known to the public. The first was purchased in 1798 by Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland, for North Shields. By 1802 Greathead's work was "deemed a fit subject for national munificence" and, over a period of years, 30 more lifeboats followed. Greathead never took out a patent on his invention, and was always willing to share his plans with others for the public good.

1832 The birth, at Daresbury parsonage - Cheshire, of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (‘Lewis Carroll’), the English mathematician and keen photographer who wrote Alice in Wonderland. Born at Daresbury Parsonage in Cheshire (now in ruins and in the care of the National Trust - (see ©BB picture), he is commemorated in this stained glass window at All Saint's Church - Daresbury.

1868 E.D. Young reported to the Royal Geographical Society that Dr. Livingstone, the British explorer and missionary in Africa, was still alive. Livingstone was born here in Blantyre and died at Old Chitambo in North Rhodesia (now Zambia).

1945 The Nazis' biggest concentration camp at Auschwitz in south-western Poland was liberated. The millions killed during the Holocaust are remembered each year in services across the UK, as part of Holocaust Memorial Day.

1969 Hard line Unionist Ian Paisley was jailed for three months along with Ronald Bunting, for organising an illegal counter-demonstration against a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Armagh. He was released during a general amnesty for people convicted of political offences.

1981 Rupert Murdoch's bid to buy 'The Times' and 'Sunday Times' was given the go ahead, without the investigation usually required by the Monopolies Commission.

1989 Thomas Sopwith, British aircraft designer, died aged 101. Remembered for his Sopwith Camel and Sopwith Pup planes he also won a £4,000 prize for the longest flight from England to the Continent in a British built aeroplane, flying 169 miles in 3 hours 40 minutes. His company produced more than 18,000 British World War I aircraft for the allied forces, including 5,747 of the famous Sopwith Camel single-seat fighter. Sopwith was awarded the CBE in 1918.


1993 Mrs. Thatcher told journalist Woodrow Wyatt that she thought most of the members of the House of Lords were so useless that the Lords needed to be reformed.

1995 Manchester United's Eric Cantona was fined £20,000 and a football ban over his kung fu-style attack on a fan. Cantona was nicknamed 'King Eric' by Manchester United fans, and he was voted the club's greatest ever player by the Inside United magazine.

2001 The first Holocaust Memorial Day was held in Britain, on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops. The Holocaust resulted in the annihilation of 6 million European Jews and millions of others by the Nazi regime.

2014 The National Governors' Association declared that many schools in England were finding it very difficult to recruit senior staff. According to the association, applications for head teacher posts were sometimes littered with basic grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.


2017 Donald Trump issues executive order banning travel to the US for 7 mostly Muslim countries and suspending admission for refugees

Famous Birthday's



Wolfang Amadeus Mozart
(1756 - 1791)



Lewis Carroll
(1832 - 1898)

Wilhelm II
(1859 - 1941)

1931 Ronald "Buster" Edwards, British Great Train Robber turned flower-seller, born in London (d. 1994)

Famous Weddings

1186 Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, weds Constance of Sicily

1937 Musician Nat King Cole (17) weds dancer Nadine Robinson in Ypsilanti, Michigan

1996 "ER" TV actress Yvette Freeman (39) weds musical director Lawny Hartley (49) in Dunleith, Delaware

2006 Mexican Latin Grammy Award singer Ana Barbara (35) weds Jose Maria Fernandez in Mexico

Famous Divorces

1997 "Wall Street" actor Charlie Sheen (31) divorces model Donna Peele after nearly 5 months of marriage

Famous Deaths

Nerva
(30 - 98)



Giuseppe Verdi
(1813 - 1901)

1910 Thomas Crapper, English plumber and inventor (ballcock), dies at 73

André the Giant
(1946 - 1993)


2010 J. D. Salinger, American novelist (The Catcher in the Rye), dies at 91

[Altobelli]

28 JANUARY

1596 Sir Francis Drake died from dysentery aboard his ship, off Porto Bello. His exploits were legendary, making him a hero to the English but a pirate to the Spaniards. It's claimed that King Philip II of Spain offered a reward of 20,000 ducats, (equivalent to £4,000,000 in today's money) for Drake's life.

1813 The novel Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, was first published. It follows Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with the issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England.

1829 The public hanging of Irish body-snatcher William Burke in Edinburgh. Burke and his accomplice William Hare, sold the corpses of their 17 victims to provide material for dissection to Doctor Robert Knox. Hare was offered immunity from prosecution if he confessed and if he testified against Burke. After Burke was hanged he was publicly dissected at the Edinburgh Medical College.

1833 Birth of General Charles George Hamilton Gordon, British defender of Khartoum and often referred to as Gordon of Khartoum.

1896 Walter Arnold of Kent was the first British motorist to receive a speeding fine, for exceeding 2 mph in a built-up area. He was doing 8 mph as he passed the house of the local policeman. The constable gave chase on his bicycle and after a 5 mile chase Mr. Arnold was arrested. He was fined one shilling for his offence.

1918 The birth of Harry Corbett, the English puppeteer who created Sooty. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Sooty is the longest-running children's programme in the UK. The puppet was 60 years old on 19th July 2008 and, as this was close to Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, Sooty sent him a birthday message!

1953 19 year-old Derek Bentley was hanged at Wandsworth Prison. On 2nd November 1952, he and 16-year-old Christopher Craig were attempting to rob a confectioner’s warehouse in Croydon when they were caught by police. It was alleged that Bentley urged Craig to fire his gun, injuring one policeman and killing another. Both boys were found guilty of murder. Craig, too young to hang, was imprisoned, while Bentley was sentenced to death despite considerable public protest.

1960 "The Goon Show"'s final episode on BBC radio




1983 The death, aged 42, of Ronald William Wycherley, better known by his stage name Billy Fury. He equalled the Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s, and spent 332 weeks on the UK chart, without a chart-topping single or album. In 2003 this bronze statue of Fury was unveiled at the Albert Dock, Liverpool.

1994 The first women only boxing tournament was held at the Marine Halls, Fleetwood. Diane Berry became the first British super-flyweight women’s champion.

2014 A report by the Commons public accounts committee found that the Queen’s advisers were failing to control her finances, while the royal palaces were 'crumbling'. MPs said that her advisers had overspent to such an extent that her reserve fund had fallen from £35 million in 2001 to just £1 million. The Queen's courtiers were advised to take money-saving tips from the Treasury.

2015 Photographers took to Twitter to complain that their pictures of Arlington Row, in the Cotswold village of Bibury were being 'blighted and photo-bombed' by the bright yellow Vauxhall Corsa that belonged to one of the residents.

Famous Birthday's

Henry Morton Stanley
(1841 - 1904)

Colette
(1873 - 1954)



1929 Acker Bilk, English clarinetist who was part of the traditional jazz revival of the 1950s and 1960s, born in Pensford, Somerset (d. 2014)

Alan Alda, [Alphonso D'Abruzzo], American actor (Hawkeye Pierce-M*A*S*H), born in NYC, New York
82nd Birthday

Frank Skinner
61st Birthday

Elijah Wood
37th Birthday

Famous Weddings

1867 Labor union leader Samuel Gompers (17) weds co-worker Sophia Julian (16) in Brooklyn, New York

1904 German chancellor Konrad Adenauer (28) weds Emma Weyer at St. Stephan Catholic Church in Lindenthal, Germany

1925 Actress Gloria Swanson (25) weds aristocrat Henri de la Falaise (26) in Paris, France

1929 Mobster Bugsy Siegel (23) weds childhood sweetheart Esta Krakower

1949 NFL coach Tom Landry (24) weds Alicia Wiggs at St John the Divine Church in Houston, Texas

Famous Divorces

2011 "Desperate Housewives" actress Eva Longoria (37) divorces NBA player Tony Parker (30) due to irreconcilable differences after 3 years of a storybook wedding

Famous Deaths

Charlemagne
(742 - 814)



Henry VIII
(1491 - 1547)



Francis Drake
( - 1596)

1983 Billy Fury [Ronald Wycherley], English singer (That'll Be the Day), dies at 42 of heart failure

[chalky_ncfc]

1829.... William Burke dissected after his hanging,seems a fit and proper punishment all things considered, his 'mate' Hare robbed in in to save his own neck,no loyalty among thieves there then

Thanks Alto,another great read

[Altobelli]

29 JANUARY

1801 The birth of the illegitimate daughter of Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton. She was christened Horatia Nelson Thompson. One of Nelson's last wishes was that Horatia should take the name Nelson. He left her £200 a year in his will, adding : "I desire she will use in future the name of Nelson only."

1817 Birth of John Callcott Horsley. He designed the first commercial Christmas cards in 1843.

1820 King George III died, aged 81. At the time he was the longest reigning monarch and served for more than 59 years.

1856 Queen Victoria instituted Britain’s highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross (VC). The medal is awarded to British and Commonwealth armed forces for outstanding bravery ‘on the field of battle’. The medal was originally made from the metal of cannon captured from the Russians at Sevastopol, until the supply came to an end in 1942.

1888 The death of Edward Lear, English artist, illustrator, author and poet, renowned today primarily for his limericks and his literary nonsense poems such as The Owl and the *****cat.


1916 British military tanks had their first trials, in Hertfordshire.

1928 The death of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, British senior officer during World War I. He was commander during the Battle of the Somme, the battle with one of the highest casualties in British military history. In the 1960s he became an object of criticism for his leadership during the First World War and has been dubbed "Butcher Haig", for the two million British casualties under his command.

1930 Barton Airport, Manchester's first international airport, was opened.

1942 The first broadcast of Desert Island Discs on BBC radio, devised and presented by Roy Plomley. It is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio.

1943 The birth of Tony Blackburn, English disc jockey. He broadcast on the "pirate" stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s and was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1, in 1967.

1963 A French veto stopped Britain joining the European Common Market.

1966 A bill was published by the government, permitting random breath tests.

1985 Oxford University snubbed Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by refusing her an honorary degree. Academics led a campaign against honouring Mrs. Thatcher in protest against the government's cuts in funding for education.

1989 The artificial leg that had belonged to Sir Douglas Bader was catalogued for sale. His widow was selling memorabilia to raise money to buy her own house, instead of renting.

2003 Solicitor Sally Clark was cleared by the Court of Appeal of murdering her two sons after serving more than three years of a life sentence. Sadly, she never fully recovered from the effects of the appalling miscarriage of justice and was found dead at her home on 16th March 2007.

2015 Lt. Danielle Welch was presented with her 'wings' by The Duke of York. She was the first and also the last woman to become a Royal Navy Lynx helicopter pilot, as the aircraft is due to be replaced in 2017.

2015 There were tears of joy for widower Stan Beaton as he heard again the answerphone message of his late wife Ruby. The message had been accidentally deleted during an upgrade by Virgin Media, but engineers searched through thousands of recordings and eventually managed to restore the message, which he had kept on his phone for 14 years.

2016 The Land Rover Defender ceased production at 9:30am GMT (and at 8:30pm on the same day for the East Coast of Australia). Over 2 million Land Rover Series and Defender vehicleswere produced since 1948. To mark the Defender’s passing, the Sunshine Coast Land Rover Owners' Club held a gathering at the exact time that production ceased, to hold a wake and to remember the Defender.

Famous Birthday's

Thomas Paine
(1737 - 1809)

William McKinley
(1843 - 1901)

1880 W C Fields, [William Claude Dukenfield], actor (Bank Dick), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1946)



1913 Victor Mature, American actor (I Wake Up Screaming, Samson and Delilah), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1999)



1930 John Junkin, actor/writer (A Hard Day's Night) (d. 2006)



Katharine Ross, American actress (Graduate, Francesca-Colbys), born in Hollywood, California
78th Birthday

Tom Selleck
73rd Birthday

Oprah Winfrey
64th Birthday

Famous Weddings

1839 English Naturalist and author of Origin of the Species author Charles Darwin marries Emma Wedgwood

1917 Sculptor Auguste Rodin (76) weds Rose Beuret

1923 President of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (41) weds highly-educated woman Latife Hanim

1945 Actress Gloria Swanson (45) weds William N. Davey

1958 Academy Award-winning actor Paul Newman (33) weds "The Three Faces of Eve" actress Joanne Woodward (27) at the El Rancho hotel-casino in Las Vegas

Famous Divorces

1951 Actress Elizabeth Taylor's 1st divorce from hotel heir Conrad Hilton Jr

1987 Lisa files for separation from husband NY Met Darryl Strawberry

1990 Actor Michael Keaton (38) divorces actress Caroline McWilliams (44) after 7 years of marriage

1994 Actor Bill Murray (43) divorces Margaret Kelly after 13 years of marriage

Famous Deaths

H. L. Mencken
(1880 - 1956)

Robert Frost
(1874 - 1963)



1964 Alan Ladd, American actor (Shane, Carpetbaggers), dies from an overdose at 50

1965 John Larkin, American actor (Saints & Sinners, The Satan Bug, 12 O'Clock High), dies of heart attack at 52

1980 Jimmy Durante, comedian (Palooka, Jimmy Durante Show), dies at 86

2009 Bill Frindall, English cricket scorer and statistician (b. 1939)

[Altobelli]

30 JANUARY

1736 The birth of James Watt, Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1781. His engine was fundamental to the changes of the Industrial Revolution.

1790 The first purpose-built lifeboat, The Original, was launched on the River Tyne at South Shields. The boat was 28 feet (8.5m) long and was rowed by up to 12 crew for whom cork life jackets were provided.

1826 The opening of the Menai Bridge, the world's first modern suspension bridge. It was designed by Thomas Telford and links North Wales to the island of Anglesey

1915 The birth of John Profumo, British politician. He is best remembered today for his involvement in a 1963 scandal involving the 'call-girl' Christine Keeler. After his resignation, Profumo began to work as a volunteer, cleaning toilets at Toynbee Hall, a charity based in the East End of London with a focus on working towards a future without poverty. Eventually Profumo volunteered as the charity's chief fundraiser and was awarded a CBE in 1975 for his charitable activities.

1937 Birth of the actress Vanessa Redgrave. She remains the only British actress ever to win the Oscar, Emmy, Tony, Cannes, Golden Globe, and the Screen Actors Guild awards. She was also the recipient of the 2010 BAFTA Fellowship 'in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film'.

1939 Hitler threatens the Jews during his speech to the German Reichstag (Parliament)

1965 The state funeral, in London, of Sir Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of Britain. It was the biggest state funeral of its kind since the burial of the Duke of Wellington in 1852. After his state funeral service, his body was taken by train to Bladon, Oxfordshire and there the private burial took place, conducted by the rector. By contrast with the earlier service, only relatives and close friends were present. The grave of Winston Churchill is in Bladon churchyerd. The bells in the church were rung for 2 hrs and 40 minutes.

1969 The Beatles played their last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert was broken up by the police.

1988 A microlight aircraft landed near Sydney, Australia, to create a record time of 55 days since leaving London.

2003 British-born Richard Reid was sentenced to life in jail for trying to bomb an American Airlines flight carrying 197 people.

2012 London City trader Kweku Adoboli appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court accused of fraudulently gambling away a record £1.5bn whilst working for Swiss bank UBS. He was subsequently jailed for seven years after being found guilty of two counts of fraud.

2015 Sir Jay Tidmarsh, Lord-Lieutenant of Bristol between 1996 and 2007, found an old school library book as he cleared his shelves. He decided to return the book to Taunton School, in Somerset, and made a £1,500 donation to the library in lieu of a fine for not returning the book for 65 years.

Famous Birthday's

Franklin D. Roosevelt
(1882 - 1945)



Payne Stewart
(1957 - 1999)



Gene Hackman
88th Birthday

Vanessa Redgrave, British actress (Blow-Up, Julia, Orient Express), born in London, England
81st Birthday

Phil Collins
67th Birthday

Dimitar Berbatov
37th Birthday

Peter Crouch
37th Birthday

Famous Weddings

1853 Emperor and French President Napoleon III marries Eugenie de Montijo, Countess of Teba

1929 Mitford sister Diana Mitford (18) marries Irish peer Bryan Walter Guinness (23) in the British society wedding of the year

1934 Actor and comedian Lou Costello marries burlesque dancer Anne Battler

1934 Painter Salvador Dali (30) weds Gala Dali (39) in a civil ceremony in Paris

1985 NFL Quarterback Dan Marino (23) weds Claire Veazey at St. Regis Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania

Famous Deaths

Charles I
(1600 - 1649)

Mahatma Gandhi
(1869 - 1948)



Orville Wright
(1871 - 1948)

1951 Ferdinand Porsche, German automotive engineer (Volkswagen Beetle, Mercedes-Benz SS) and founder of the Porsche car company, dies at 75

2007 Sidney Sheldon, American novelist and playwright (Master of the Game, Bloodline, The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer), dies of pneumonia at 89

2008 Jeremy Beadle, British television host (Beadle's About), dies of pneumonia at 59


2016 Frank Finlay, English actor (Bouquet of Barbed Wire), dies at 89

[Altobelli]

31 JANUARY

1606 Guy Fawkes, one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot, was hanged, drawn and quartered. Known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, Fawkes belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who had planned the failed Plot in November 1605. Guy Fawkes was born at Stonegate in York, in April, 1570.

1788 Death, in Rome, of Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie). After his father's death, Charles was recognised as 'King Charles III' by his supporters.

1849 The abolition of the Corn Laws. These trade barriers had been designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom against competition from less expensive foreign imports and their abolition marked a significant step towards free trade.

1858 The Great Eastern, the five-funnelled steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and John Scott Russell, was launched at Millwall. At the time, it was the world's largest ship.

1867 The four bronze lions at the base of Nelson's Column were completed.

1910 American-born murderer Dr. Hawley Crippen poisoned his wife before cutting her into small pieces and burying her in the cellar of his home in London. He was later executed at Pentonville Prison.

1917 As World War One raged, Germany announced that submarine warfare would resume the next day, following a two-year break.

1918 A series of accidental collisions on a misty night, off the Isle of May at the entrance to the Firth of Forth, led to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines and damage to another five British warships. In all 270 people lost their lives.

1919 The Battle of George Square took place in Glasgow. Known as Bloody Friday and Black Friday, it was one of the most intense riots in the history of Glasgow. The dispute revolved around a campaign for shorter working hours, backed by widespread strike action. Clashes between the City of Glasgow Police and protesters broke out, leading to the British government sending soldiers and tanks to the city to prevent any further gatherings.

1931 Christopher Chataway, former British athlete & Conservative MP, was born.

1953 307 people were killed when the Thames estuary broke its banks, flooding large areas of Kent and Es***. A car ferry also sank in the Irish Sea, in one of the worst gales in living memory, claiming the lives of more than 130 passengers and crew.

1981 Former British MP John Stonehouse, famous for faking his own death, married his former secretary Sheila Buckley.

1983 It became compulsory in Britain to wear car seat belts.

1990 1st McDonalds in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow

1994 German based BMW bought the Rover Group from British Aerospace for for £800,000,000 (£800M) then sold Land Rover alone for £1,800,000,000(£1.8Bn). A good purchase then for BMW!

1995 President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.

2000 Family GP Dr. Harold Shipman was jailed for life for murdering 15 of his patients, making him Britain's most prolific convicted serial killer. An official inquiry concluded that Shipman may have killed as many as 250 patients over 23 years.

2012 Leonard Cohen releases his album "Old Ideas", becomes No.1 in 10 countries

2016 The death of the radio and TV brodcaster Terry Wogan, aged 77. He presented Children in Need, Wake Up to Wogan, Come Dancing, the game show Blankety Blank and he was the BBC's commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest from 1971 to 2008. His weekday radio programme on BBC Radio 2, 'Wake Up to Wogan', had eight million regular listeners, making him the most listened to radio broadcaster in Europe. He was granted a knighthood in 2005 and was entitled to use 'Sir' in front of his name as he held dual British and Irish citizenship.

Famous Birthday's

1797 Franz Peter Schubert, Austrian composer (Unfinished Symphony), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1828)

1914 Jersey Joe Walcott, American heavyweight boxing champion (1951-52), born in Merchantville, New Jersey (d. 1994)

1915 John Profumo, British cabinet minister (Profumo scandal), born in London, England (d. 2006)

1929 Jean Simmons, actress (Thorn Birds, Guys & Dolls), born in London, England (d. 2010)

Justin Timberlake
37th Birthday

Famous Weddings

1560 Spanish king Philip II marries Elisabeth van Valois

1842 10th US President John Tyler's daughter Elizabeth marries in the White House

1960 Songwriter Adolph Green marries actress/singer Phyllis Newman in NYC

1974 "The Outlaw" actress Jane Russell (52) weds real-estate broker John Calvin People (45) in Santa Barbara, California

2009 "Stay" singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb (40) weds Late Night with Conan O'Brien music supervisor Roey Hershkovitz (30) at Manhattan restaurant in New York City

Famous Divorces

1957 Actress Elizabeth Taylor's 2nd divorce from actor Michael Wilding

Famous Deaths



Guy Fawkes
(1570 - 1606)



A. A. Milne
(1882 - 1956)



Samuel Goldwyn
(1882 - 1974)


1989 Jack Douglas, humorist (My Brother Was an Only Child), dies at 80

2016 Terry Wogan, British broadcaster (Eurovision Song Contest, Blankety Blank), dies of cancer at 77

Single and Album # 1's 50 Years ago

EVERLASTING LOVE - LOVE AFFAIR

THE SOUND OF MUSIC - ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

[Altobelli]

01 FEBRUARY

1884 The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary was published. James Murray was its most famous editor but he had only reached the letter T after working 44 hours per week for 35 years, so hundreds of people sent in their own contributions.

1910 The first 80 Labour Exchanges opened in Britain to try and find jobs for the unemployed.

1915 Sir Stanley Matthews, often regarded as one of the greatest English football players, was born. He is the only player to have been knighted while still playing, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year awards. He kept fit enough to play at the top level until he was 50 years old, was also the oldest player ever to play in England's top football division and the oldest player ever to represent his country. He played his final competitive game in 1985, at the age of 70.

1930 The first ever 'Times' crossword was published.

1939 A British White Paper proposing the formation of the Home Guard (which became better known as Dad’s Army because of the average age of the volunteers) was published. The hugely popular TV series of Dad's Army was first aired on 31st July 1968 and ran for 9 series until 13th November 1977. The 2016 Dad's Army film had its premiere on 26th January 2016. Principal filming took place on the beach at North Landing (Flamborough Head) and at nearby Bridlington.

1952 The first TV detector van was demonstrated. It enabled the BBC to track down users of unlicensed television sets in Britain.

1965 P.J. Proby, the US rock singer, was banned by ABC Theatres and the BBC after he had deliberately split his trousers during his act. The mainly female audience and the tabloids, who claimed Proby’s act was obscene, went wild. It was the beginning of the end for the flamboyant performer. (Note - We went to a concert that year, but Proby had been banned and was replaced with a then unknown singer called Tom Jones!)

1965 Prescriptions on the NHS became free of charge and remained so until June 1968.




1968 Saigon police chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executes Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém with a pistol shot to head. The execution is captured by photographer Eddie Adams and becomes an anti-war icon.

1972 "Harvest" 4th studio album by Neil Young is released (best selling album US 1972)

1974 Escaped Great Train Robber Ronald Biggs was arrested by Brazilian police in Rio. He escaped extradition because he was the father of a child by his Brazilian girlfriend.

1979 Trevor Francis, aged 24, became the first £1m footballer in England, signing for Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest.

1984 Chancellor, Nigel Lawson, announced that the halfpenny coin would cease to be legal tender. Its fate was sealed when it became more expensive to make than its face value.

2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

2013 Det. Ch. Insp. April Casburn, aged 53, became the first person to be prosecuted and jailed (15 months) as part of the investigation into payments by News of the World journalists to officials.

Famous Birthday's

1895 John Ford, American director (Stagecoach, Air Mail, Quiet Man), born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine (d. 1973)

Clark Gable
(1901 - 1960)



1915 Stanley Matthews, 1st British soccer player to be knighted (d. 2000)

1921 Peter Sallis, British actor (Wallace and Gromit, Last of the Summer Wine), born in Twickenham, England (d. 2017)

Boris Yeltsin
(1931 - 2007)

Don Everly, Brownie Ky, vocalist (Everly Bros-Wake Up Little Susie)
81st Birthday

Dr Hook, [Ray Sawyer], Ala, vocalist (Dr Hook-When You're in Love)
81st Birthday

Terry Jones, Welsh comedian (Monty Python), born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales
76th Birthday

Lisa Marie Presley
50th Birthday

Famous Weddings

1840 Novelist Alexandre Dumas (37) weds actress Ida Ferrier

1932 Film director Frank Capra (34) weds secretary Lucille Reyburn

1986 Singer Diana Ross marries Norwegian businessman Arne Naess in Switzerland

1997 Retired MLB player Johnny Bench (49) weds stockbroker Elizabeth Benton

Famous Deaths

Mary Shelley
(1797 - 1851)

Piet Mondrian
(1872 - 1944)

1966 Buster Keaton, American actor and comedian (Navigator, Steamboat Bill Jr, The General), dies at 70

1995 John Smith, English chairman of Liverpool F.C. (1973-90), dies at 74

2003 Michael P. Anderson - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1959)

2003 David Brown - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1956)

2003 Kalpana Chawla - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1961)

2003 Laurel Clark - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1961)

2003 Rick D. Husband - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1957)

2003 Willie McCool - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1961)

2003 Ilan Ramon - crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster) (b. 1954)



2012 Angelo Dundee, American boxing trainer and cornerman, dies at 90



Maximilian Schell
(1930 - 2014)

[Altobelli]

02 FEBRUARY

1665 British forces captured New Amsterdam, the centre of the Dutch colony in North America. The trading settlement on the island of Manhattan was renamed New York in honour of the Duke of York, its new governor.

1852 1st British public men's toilet opens in Fleet St, London

1914 The very first Cub Scout pack was formed in England, the first pack being in Robertsbridge, Sus***, although the Cub Scout movement was not formally founded until 1916. By the end of that year there were 6,000 Cub Scouts and now there are 137,000 in the UK. Girls were allowed to become Cub Scouts in 1991.

1920 The birth of Hughie Green, who became a 'household name' with his TV shows Double Your Money and Opportunity Knocks.

1922 It was 2:22:22 on 2/2/22

1940 The birth of Sir David John White OBE, better known by his stage name David Jason. He is best remembered as the main character Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. He also played detective Jack Frost on the ITV crime drama A Touch of Frost, Granville in the sitcom Open All Hours, and Pop Larkin in the comedy drama The Darling Buds of May.

1943 The half-starved remnants of the German 6th Army gave themselves up after their five months of bloody fighting for Stalingrad ended in defeat.

1972 Angry demonstrators burned the British Embassy in Dublin to the ground in protest at the shooting dead of 13 people in Londonderry on the previous Sunday, known as Bloody Sunday.

1976 The Queen opened the National Exhibition Centre near Birmingham. It is the largest and busiest exhibition centre in the UK and the seventh largest in Europe.

1987 Reports from Lebanon said that Church of England envoy Terry Waite had been kidnapped by an Islamic militia group.

1993 The Queen's solicitors began proceedings against the Sun newspaper for publishing the text of her 1992 Christmas Day broadcast two days before its transmission.

1995 The death of Fred Perry, English tennis and table tennis player. He won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships between 1934 and 1936 and was World No. 1 four years in a row.

1999 Glenn Hoddle was sacked as England's football coach after his comments that disabled people were reaping the punishment for something done in a previous life.

2014 'The ruddy ducks with nowhere left to hide.' The Government wants to exterminate the entire British population, and in January 2014, having already spent £4 million on the job, announced that another £120,000 would be made available to track down and shoot the final few. The ducks’ downfall has been their fondness for breeding with an endangered Spanish species, the white-headed duck. The British Birding Association said 'It’s a total waste of public money, and all that will happen when the cull stops is that new ducks will fly over from the Continent, and we’ll be back to square one.'

2015 Bristol became the first city in the UK to ban smoking in some outdoor public places and Millennium Square and Anchor Square became no smoking zones. The project, by Smokefree South West, was inspired by 33-year-old mother Kirsty Vass, who was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease a year previously.

Famous Birthday's



James Joyce
(1882 - 1941)



Farrah Fawcett
(1947 - 2009)

David Jason, English actor
78th Birthday

Shakira
41st Birthday

Famous Weddings

1870 American writer (Huckleberry Finn) Samuel Langhorne Clemens, pen name Mark Twain, (34) marries Olivia Langdon (24) in Elmira, NY

1904 US blues singer Gertrude Pridgett marries comic William Rainey

1936 Physicist Emilio G. Segrè (31) weds jewish woman Elfriede Spiro at the Great Synagogue of Rome in Italy

1957 Actress Elizabeth Taylor (24) marries for the 3rd time to producer Mike Todd (47)

1963 Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (23) weds documentary filmmaker Eleanor Jessie Neil (26) in Las Vegas, Nevada

Famous Deaths

Dmitri Mendeleev
(1834 - 1907)

Sid Vicious
(1957 - 1979)




1995 Fred Perry, English tennis star (Wimbledon 1934-36), dies at 85



1995 Donald Pleasence, British actor (You Only Live Twice, Escape from New York, Halloween), dies from heart failure at 75

1996 Gene Kelly, American actor and dancer (Singin' in the Rain), dies at 83


Philip Seymour Hoffman
(1967 - 2014)

[alfinyalcabo]

Used to love watching Donald Pleasance,great actor ..