Category: It happened today…

  1914  Birth of American baseball star Joe Di Maggio. 1949  Death of Mr Bojangles, American tap dancer and entertainer. 1952  Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap opens in London. 1974  Death of U Thant, Burmese...

  1499  Perkin Warbeck, “pretender” to the throne of England is hanged. 1887  Birth of English actor Boris Karloff, particularly remembered for his roles in horror films. 1956  Petrol is rationed in Great Britain...

  1694  Birth of French philosopher Voltaire. 1695  Death of English composer Henry Purcell. 1783  A balloon made by the Montgolfier brothers makes the first ever untethered flight. 1888  Birth of Harpo Marx. 1945...

  1787  Birth of Samuel Cunard, Canadian shipowner and founder of the Cunard line. 1805  Beethoven’s opera Fidelio is performed for the first time. 1945  The trial of senior Nazis begins in Nuremberg. 1947  Marriage...

  1620  The Mayflower lands at Cape Cod, just over two months after setting out from Plymouth, England. 1828  Death of composer Franz Schubert. 1917  Birth of Indira Gandhi. 1962  Birth of American actress Jodie Foster....

  1852  State funeral for the Duke of Wellington in London. 1874  The Women’s Christian Temperance Union is formed in Cleveland, Ohio. 1910  Suffragettes attack House of Commons in London resulting in 119 arrests....

  1603  Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason. 1796  Death of Catherine the Great of Russia. 1869  Suez Canal opened. 1904  The first underwater submarine journey is made from Southampton to the...

  1724  Highwayman Jack Sheppard hanged at Tyburn in front of 200000. 1908  Birth of American actor Burgess Meredith. 1937  The House of Commons votes to commence a programme of air raid shelter construction....

  1802  Death of English portrait painter George Romney. 1864  Under orders of General William T Sherman, the Union Army sets fire to Atlanta. 1891  Birth of German General Erwin Rommel. 1956  Elvis Presley’s...

  1689  Death of Nell Gwynn, mistress of King Charles II of England. 1896   A new Highway Act declares that it is no longer necessary for a man with a red flag to walk...

  1460  Prince Henry of Portugal , also known as Henry the Navigator, dies. 1851  A telegraph service between London and Paris commences. 1923  Benito Mussolini introduces a bill in Italy which gives women...

  1035  Death of the Danish King of England, Canute II. 1847  First public demonstration of the use of chloroform by Sir James Simpson. 1903  Death of French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. 1929  Birth...

  1880  Ned Kelly the Australian outlaw is hanged. 1918  End of World War I. 1965  South Africa declares UDI. 1974  Birth of American actor Leon 1975  Angola wins independence from Portugal. 2004  Death...

  1871  Henry Morton Stanley tracks down David Livingstone and utters the words “Doctor Livingstone I presume ?”. 1913  Battersea in London elects the first black mayor in Britain. 1928  Emperor Hirohito ascends the...

  1656  Birth of English astronomer Edmond Halley, best known for identifying the comet named after him. 1674  Death of the poet John Milton. 1900  Birth of Margaret Mitchell, the American author of Gone with...

  1799  Napoleon Bonaparte becomes new leader of France. 1909  Birth of American actress Katherine Hepburn. 1938  The Jewish community in Nazi Germany is attacked with thousands of shops looted and 267 synagogues burned...

  1659  The Franco-Spanish war ends. 1867  Birth of Marie Curie. 1885  Canadian Pacific railway completed. 1916  Jeanette Rankin of  Montana becomes first female member of US Congress. 1961  Konrad Adenauer elected West German...

  1505  Death of Ivan the Great,first Tsar of Russia. 1764  Death of the painter and cartoonist William Hogarth. 1914  Birth of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. 1923  Birth of American painter and pioneer of...

  1879  Birth of Leon Trotsky. 1881  Gunfight at the OK Corral. 1954  Assassination attempt on Egyptian prime minister Gamal Abdel Nasser. 1955  The American newspaper Village Voice is first published. 1965  The Beatles receive their...