Category: It happened today…

1765  Birth of British King William IV. 1959  Hawaii becomes the 50th state of the US. 1959  Death of American born sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein. 1976  Mary Langdon becomes Britains first female firefighter. 1986...

1833  Birth of US president Benjamin Harrison. 1912  Death of Salvation Army founder William Booth. 1913  Adolphe Pegond becomes the first person to parachute from an aeroplane. 1924  British sprinter Eric Liddel refuses to...

1662  Death of French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal. 1750  Birth of Italian composer Antonio Salieri. 1871  Birth of American aviation pioneer Orville Wright. 1883 Birth of French fashion designer Coco Chanel. 1977  Death of...

1227  Death of Mongol ruler Genghis Khan. 1503  Death of Pope Alexander VI. 1774  Birth of American explorer Meriwether Lewis. 1922  Birth of American actress Shelley Winters. 1933  Birth of Polish film director Roman...

1786  Birth of American frontiersman Davy Crockett. 1892  Birth of American actress Mae West. 1896  The first pedestrian to be killed by a car is knocked down in Croydon, England. 1943  Birth of American...

1886  Death of American novelist Ned Buntline. 1920  Birth of American poet Charles Bukowski. 1948  Death of American baseball player “Babe” Ruth. 1949  Death of American novelist Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind....

1057  Death of Scottish King Macbeth. 1769  Birth of Napoleon Bonaparte. 1856  Birth of James Keir Hardie, founder of the British Labour Party. 1879  Birth of American actress Ethel Barrymore. 1947  India gains independence...

1864  Birth of English novelist John Galsworthy. 1932  Death of Hollywood dog film star Rin Tin Tin. 1949  Konrad Adenauer becomes Chancellor of West Germany. 1951  Death of American newspaper publisher Randolph Hearst. 1956...

1704  Battle of Blenheim. 1860  Birth of American markswoman Annie Oakley. 1896  Death of English artist Sir John Everett Millais. 1899  Birth of English film director Alfred Hitchcock. 1910  Death of nurse Florence Nightingale....

1822  The British Foreign Secretary, Lord Castlereagh, commits suicide by slitting his throat. 1827  Death of English poet and artist William Blake. 1848  Death of steam locomotive pioneer George Stephenson. 1881  Birth of American...

1897  Birth of British author Enid Blyton. 1919  Death of American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. 1921  Birth of American author Alex Haley. 1956  American artist Jackson Pollock is killed in a car crash in...

1846  The Smithsonian Institute is established in Washington. 1874  Birth of American president Herbert Hoover. 1885  The first Promenade Concert is held in London, organised by Sir Henry Wood. 1896  Death of German aviation...

1757  Birth of Scottish bridge engineer Thomas Telford. 1902 Edward VII crowned King of England. 1922  Birth of British poet Philip Larkin. 1945  A second atomic bomb is dropped on Japan, this time on Nagasaki....

117      Hadrian becomes Emperor of Rome. 1786  Mont Blanc is successfully climbed for the first time. 1901  Birth of American physicist Ernest Lawrence. 1919  Birth of American film producer Dino De Laurentis....

1830  Louis Philippe “The Citizen King”, is proclaimed King of France. 1840  The British Parliament passes a law making it illegal to use children to sweep chimneys. 1913  American aviator Samuel Cody crashes his...

1623  Death of William Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway. 1881  Birth of Scottish scientist and discoverer of penicillin, Alexander Fleming. 1890  The first execution by electric chair takes place in New York. 1911   Birth of American...

1100  Henry I is crowned King of England. 1729  Death of the English inventor of the steam engine, Thomas Newcomen. 1861  National income tax is introduced in the US. 1895  Death of German political...

1060  Death of King Henry I of France. 1792  Birth of English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. 1875  Death of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. 1914  Britain declares war on Germany. 1961  Birth of Barack...

1492  Christopher Columbus sets sail on his voyage of discovery. 1778  Milan’s La Scala opera house opens for the first time. 1881  Death of William George Fargo, co-founder of the Wells-Fargo express service. 1924...

1100  English King William II is killed while hunting in the New Forest. 1788  Death of English painter Thomas Gainsborough. 1876  “Wild Bill” Hickock is killed while playing poker in Deadwood. 1921  Death of...