On This Day

[Altobelli]

07 FEBRUARY

1812 Charles Dickens, English journalist and novelist was born. He is considered the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. He created characters such as Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and David Copperfield and amongst his other works were The Old Curiosity Shop, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Bleak House and many, many more.

1837 The birth of Sir James Murray, Scottish lexicographer. He was the primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1879 until his death.

1863 185 British sailors were killed when HMS Orpheus was wrecked off the coast of New Zealand.

1886 While building a cottage for a prospector in the Transvaal, South Africa, an Englishman, George Walker, found a clear streak of gold. It became the richest gold reef in the world.

1873 The birth, in County Down, of Thomas Andrews. Andrews was the naval architect in charge of the plans for the ocean liner RMS Titanic. He was travelling on board the Titanic during its maiden voyage when it hit an iceberg on 14th April 1912 and was one of the 1,517 people who perished in the disaster. Titanic's engineers, who battled below decks to try and keep Titanic afloat are commemorated on this monument in Southampton.

1937 Britain's first dive-bomber, the prototype B-24 Skua, made its maiden flight over Yorkshire, piloted by Dasher Blake.

1964 The Beatles pop group arrived in New York at the start of their first tour of the United States.

1964 Cassius Clay converts to Islam, and is renamed Muhammad Ali

1974 Prime Minister Edward Heath announced a general election and appealed to the miners to suspend their planned strike.

1974 The island of Grenada, in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, gained independence from Britain.

1976 Joan Bazeley became the first woman to referee a men's football match and Diana Thorne became the first woman jockey to win under National Hunt Rules (on ‘Ben Ruler’ at Stratford).

1991 Prime Minister John Major and senior Cabinet Ministers escaped unhurt during an apparent assassination attempt, when the IRA fired three mortar shells at 10 Downing Street from a van parked several streets away in the centre of London.

1992 The European Union was formed.

1994 It was reported that 13.1 million television viewers watched British boxer Chris Eubank beat German Graciano Rocchigiani in Berlin. It was the most watched programme of the year.

1995 Last day of Test Cricket cricket for Graham Gooch & Mike Gatting

2005 Britain's Ellen MacArthur (born 8th July 1976) became the fastest person to sail solo around the world. Two months after her amazing feat she also became the youngest person to receive a damehood.

2006 The completion, in Cardiff Bay, of The Senedd. It the main public building of the National Assembly, the main centre for democracy and devolution in Wales.

2015 Printing blocks from a typeface called 'Doves Type' were discovered in the River Thames. The font has not been used for nearly a century as the printing type blocks, used to print letters, were thrown into the river in 1917.

Famous Birthday's



Charles Dickens
(1812 - 1870)



1946 Pete Postlethwaite, actor (d. 2011)

Eddie Izzard
56th Birthday

Garth Brooks
56th Birthday

Ashton Kutcher
40th Birthday

Famous Weddings

1901 Queen Wilhelmina marries Prince Heinrich von Mecklenburg-Schwerin

1925 Heavyweight boxing champ Jack Dempsey (29) weds actress Estelle Taylor (30)

1931 Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart (33) weds publisher George Palmer Putnam (43) in Noank, Connecticut

1988 Heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson marries actress Robin Givens

2009 Actress and skating champ Kristy Swanson (39) weds 1993 World Pair Skater Champion Lloyd Eisler (45) at The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, California

Famous Deaths



Harvey Firestone
(1868 - 1938)



1985 Matt Monro, English singer (b. 1932)

Anne Morrow Lindbergh
(1906 - 2001)

50 Years Ago # 1 Singles and Albums

EVERLASTING LOVE - LOVE AFFAIR

SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND - BEATLES