1865 - The Ku Klux Klan is formed.
1914 - WWI - Not a shot was fired.
1941 - WWII - Hong Kong falls to the Japs.
1953 - A railway bridge collapses in New Zealand, sending a train into the river below; 153 die.
1965 - A 100lb meteorite falls on the village of Barwell, Leics.
Born today:
1944 - Barry Chuckle, comedian
1960 - Carol Vordeman, TV presenter
1963 - Caroline Aherne, actress
Died today:
1524 - Vasco da Gama, explorer
1863 - William Makepeace Thackeray, writer
1997 - Toshiro Mifune, Jap actor
2000 - John Cooper, car designer
1066 - William the Conqueror crowned king.
1643 - Christmas Island is founded and named.
1800 - The UK's 1st xmas tree is erected, at Windsor.
1932 - A 7.6 earthquake hits Gansu, China, killing 70,000.
1950 - The Stone of Scone is stolen from Westminster Abbey.
2000 - A fire in the Dongda Commercial Plaza building in China kills 300.
Born today:
0 - Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah
1943 - Wilson Fittipaldi, racing driver
1944 - Jairzinho, footballer
1949 - Sissy Spacek, actress
1954 - Annie Lennox, singer
1971 - Dido, singer
Died today:
1977 - Charlie Chaplin, king of the silent screen
1995 - Dean Martin, singer
2006 - James Brown, singer
1860 - 1st inter-club footy match: Sheffield v Hallam.
1862 - Largest mass hanging in US at Mankato, Minnosaota - 39 dangled.
1933 - FM radio is patented.
1943 - The RN sink Germany's last battleship - the Scharnhorst.
1990 - Desert Orchid wins the King George VI Chase for a record 4th time.
1997 - The volcano on Montserrat explodes, devastating much of the island.
2003 - A 6.6 earthquake in SE Iran kills 10's of thousands.
2004 - A 9.3 " causes a tsunami in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Over 300,000 die.
Born today:
1914 - Richard Widmark, actor
1940 - Phil Spector, music presenter
1951 - Richard Skinner, radio presenter
Died today:
1957 - Charles Pathe, film pioneer
1970 - Lillian Board, athlete
1974 - Jack Benny, comedian
1983 - Violet Carson, aka Ena Sharples, Coro actress
1999 - Curtiss Mayfield, musician
2001 - Nigel Hawthorne, actor
27th
1836 - The UK's biggest avalanche kills 8 in Lewes.
1975 - The Sex Discrimination Act comes into force.
1977 - Star Wars premieres in the UK.
Born today:
1946 - Janet Street-Porter, journalist
Died today:
1994 - Fanny Craddock, food critic
2003 - Alan Bates, actor
1879 - A railway bridge in Dundee collapses as a train passes over it, sending all into the River Tay below. Over 80 perish in the icy waters.
1908 - An earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily, killing 75,000+.
1950 - The Peak District becomes our 1st National Park.
1993 - C&E seize £70m worth of cocaine at Felixstowe docks.
Born today:
1932 - Roy Hattersley, politician
1934 - Dame Maggie Smith, actress
1953 - Richard Clayderman, pianist
1954 - Denzel Washington, actor
1956 - Nigel Kennedy, violinist
Died today:
1734 - Rob Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero
1916 - Eduard Strauss, composer
1937 - Maurice Ravel, composer
1967 - Otis Redding, singer
1984 - Sam Peckinpah, film director
1860 - Britain's 1st iron warship HMS Warrior was launched.
1890 - US soldiers massacre the Sioux at Wounded Knee.
1918 - The Sunday Express is published for the 1st time.
2001 - A fire in a shopping centre in Lima, Peru kills 300.
Born today:
1928 - Bernard Cribbins, actor
1936 - Mary Tyler Moore, actress
1938 - Harvey Smith, "V" showjumper
1938 - Jon Voight, actor
1946 - Marianne Faithfull, singer
1947 - Ted Danson, actor
1969 - Jennifer Ehle, actress
1970 - Aled Jones, singer
1972 - Jude Law, actor
Died today:
1170 - Thomas a Becket, Archbishop, murdered
1916 - Rasputin, Russian monk
2003 - Bob Monkhouse, comedian
1460 - York killed during the War of the Roses at the Battle of Wakefield.
1903 - A theatre fire in Chicago kills 600.
1922 - The USSR is formed.
1995 - The lowest ever temp recorded in the UK -27C in the Scottish Highlands.
2004 - A nightclub fire in Buenos Aires kills 200.
2006 - Saddam Hussain is executed.
Born today:
1928 - Bo Diddley, musician
1937 - Gordon Banks, goalie
1942 - Michael Nesmith, Monkee
1945 - Davy Jones, Monkee
1959 - Tracy Ullman, actress
1975 - Tiger Woods, golfer
1695 - The Window Tax was introduced, causing many windows to be bricked up.
1900 - One of the large uprights at Stonehenge fell over.
1927 - End of the use of the lance by the British Army.
1960 - The farthing, in use since the 13th century, ceased to be legal tender.
2006 - Britain finally paid off its war debt to the USA.
Born today:
1937 - Anthony Hopkins, actor
1941 - Alex Ferguson, MU namager
1943 - Ben Kingsley, actor
1948 - Donna Summer, singer
1959 - Val Kilmer, actor
1660 - Samuel Pepys begins his diary.
1781 - The world's 1st all-iron bridge was opened in Ironbridge, Shropshire.
1785 - The Daily Universal Register was 1st published - later re-named The Times.
1801 - Formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1833 - The UK claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
1877 - Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India.
1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal opens.
1934 - The island of Alcatraz becomes a prison.
1946 - 1st civil flight from Heathrow airport.
1948 - The railways are nationalised to form British Rail.
1951 - 1st episode of The Archers is broadcast.
1958 - The EC is established.
1964 - Jimmy Saville presents the 1st TOTP.
1973 - The UK joins the EC.
1978 - An Air India Boeing 747 crashes into the sea off Bombay, killing 213.
1492 - Granada, the last Moorish city in Spain, surrenders to King Ferdinand of Aragon.
1872 - Brigham Young is charged with bigamy, having 25 wives.
1971 - 66 football supporters are crushed to death when a barrier collapses at the Ibrox ground in Glasgow.
1987 - Noddy has to go PC and change his golliwogs into gnomes.
Died today:
1983 - Dick Emery, comedian
1998 - Frank Muir, comedy writer
2005 - Cyril Fletcher, ode compiler
1777 - George Washington defeats the Brits at the Battle of Princeton.
1924 - Howard Carter discovers the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings.
1946 - William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) hanged for treason.
1962 - The pope excommunicates Fidel Castro - bet that really pissed him off!
1994 - A TU-154 explodes on takeoff from Irkutsk, killing 125.
2004 - A Boeing 737 plunges into the Red Sea, killing 148.
Born today:
1936 - David Vine, sports commentator
1950 - Victoria Principal, Dallas actress
1956 - Mel Gibson, actor
1969 - Michael Schumacher, motor racer
1642 - Charles I arrests MP's, starting the Civil War.
1797 - Napoleon defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Rivoli.
1847 - Samuel Colt markets the revolving pistol.
1865 - The New York Stock Exchange opens on Wall Street.
1944 - The Battle for Monte Cassino begins.
1967 - Donald Campbell died in his boat Bluebird, whilst attempting to break his own water speed record, on Coniston Water.
1982 - Erika Rowe streaks at Twickenham - the police cover her boobs with their helmets (just)!
1781 - Richmond, Virginia, is burned by the British led by Benedict Arnold.
1854 - The San Francisco steamer sinks; 300 drown.
1993 - The tanker MV Braer runs aground off the Shetlands, spilling 85,000 tons of crude oil into the sea.
Born today:
1931 - Robert Duvall, actor
1942 - Jan Leeming, newsreader
1965 - Vinnie Jones, footballer turned actor
Died today:
1066 - Edward the Confessor
1477 - Charles the Bold of Burgundy
1922 - Ernest Shackleton, explorer
1941 - Amy Johnson,aviator
1998 - Sonny Bono, Cher's fella
2003 - Roy Jenkins, politician
1066 - Harold Godwinson crowned King Harold II of England.
1781 - Britain defeats the last attempt by France to invade Jersey.
1838 - Samuel Morse demonstrates his electric telegraph.
1987 - The 1st 'Inspector Morse' is broadcast (coincidence or wot)!
1900 - The Boers attack Ladysmith - over 1,000 are killed.
Born today:
1934 - Sylvia Sims, actress
1943 - Terry Venables, football manager
1955 - Rowan Atkinson, Blackadder
1956 - Angus Deaton, TV presenter
1960 - Nigella Lawson, chef
Died today:
1913 - Frederick Hitch VC, Zulu killer
1919 - Theo Roosevelt, US president
1993 - Rudolf Nureyov, ballet dancer
7th
1558 - The Frogs finally kick the English out of Calais (after 200 years), and thus, France.
1805 - Pugilist Tom Cribb beats Tom Maddox after 76 rounds.
1927 - 1st transatlantic phone call - New York to London.
1972 - Iberian Airlines flight crashes into Mont San Jose, Ibiza; all 104 onboard die.
1990 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa closes to the public.
Born today:
1985 - Lewis Hamilton, racing driver
Died today:
1988 - Trevor Howard, actor
2007 - Magnus Magnusson, Masterminder
1815 - At the Battle of New Orleans, the Americans kill over 2,000 Brits, for little loss. Pity, cos the war ended 2 weeks earlier, but neither army had yet rec'd the news.
1877 - Crazy Horse's last stand against the US cavalry, at Wolf Mountain, Montana.
1916 - The allies withdraw from Gallipoli.
1926 - Abdul Aziz ibn Saud becomes King of Hejaz, and renames it Saudi Arabia.
1962 - 93 die in the Hasmelen train disaster in Holland.
1967 - 1st episode of The Forsyte Saga is broadcast. It became so popular that churches had to re-schedule their services!
1989 - A plane had to crashland on the MI nr Kegworth, Leics; 47 die, 80 injured.
1996 - A cargo plane crashes onto the market in Kinshasa, Zaire; over 350 die.
2004 - RMS Queen Mary 2 is launched, the largest passenger liner ever built.
Born today:
1924 - Ron Moody, actor, aka Fagin
1929 - Saeed Jaffrey, actor
1935 - Elvis Presley, king
1937 - Shirley Bassey, singer
1942 - Stephen Hawking, thinker
1947 - David Bowie, singer
Died today:
1324 - Marco Polo, explorer
1642 - Galileo, astronomer
1941 - Robert Baden-Powell, scout
1990 - Terry Thomas, actor
1349 - Accussed of carrying the Bubonic Plague, the Jews of Basel, Switzerland are rounded up and incinerated.
1799 - Income tax is introduced to fund the Napoleonic war.
1806 - The State Funeral of Admiral Horatio Nelson takes place.
1888 - The Financial Guide (later, The Financial Times) is 1st published.
1972 - The liner Queen Elizabeth catches fire and sinks in Hong Kong harbour.
1972 - The Miners Strike - 1st since 1926.
Born today:
1933 - Wilbur Smith, author
1941 - Joan Baez, singer
1942 - Susannah York, actress
1943 - Freddie Starr, comedian
1951 - Crystal Gayle, singer
1956 - Imelda Staunton, actress
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