Just for the record...........................

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 22 July



In 260, St Dionysius begins his reign as Catholic Pope.


In 1478, Philip I (the Handsome) the first Habsburg king of Spain is born.


In 1844, Rev William Archibald Spooner, who invented "spoonerisms" is born in London.


In 1888, mystery writer Raymond Chandler is born.


In 1932, designer Oscar de la Renta is born in the Dominion Republic.


In 1933, American aviator Wiley Post returns to Floyd Bennett Field in New York, having flown solo around the world in 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes. He is the first aviator to accomplish the feat.


In 1934, notorious criminal John Dillinger - America's "Public Enemy No. 1" - is killed in a hail of bullets fired by federal agents.


In 1939, actor Terence Stamp is born in England.


In 1947, musician and Eagles drummer Don Henley is born.


In 1965, the leader of the Tory party in Britain, Alec Douglas-Home, surprises colleagues by resigning from his post.


In 1967, Jimi Hendrix quits as the opening act of the Monkees' tour.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 29 July



In 1030, King Olav Haraldsson of Norway, dies in battle of Stiklestad.


In 1588, off the coast of Gravelines, France, Spain's so-called "Invincible Armada" is defeated by an English naval force under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake.


In 1751, the first international world title prize fight takes place in England.


In 1848, the Tipperary Revolt ends in failure and Irish nationalists under William Smith O'Brien are overcome and arrested.


In 1883, Benito Mussolini, fascist Italian dictator (1922-43) is born.


In 1890, Vincent Van Gogh dies in Auvers, France. He attempts suicide by shooting himself in the chest on July 27. He dies two days later from the wound.


In 1900, Italian King Umberto I is shot to death by Gaetano Bresci, an Italian-born anarchist who resided in America before returning to his homeland to murder the king.


In 1905, Clara Bow, silent screen actress, is born in Brooklyn, New York.


In 1928, Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie" is released.


In 1948, King George VI opens the fourteenth modern Olympic Games inLondon.

In 1965, Queen Elizabeth attends the premier of the Beatles movie "Help".


In 1968, Pope Paul VI confirms a ban on the use of contraceptives by Roman Catholics in spite of a Church commission's recommendation for change.


In 1981, Prince Charles of England weds Lady Diana Spencer.


In 1983, David Niven actor (Rugues), dies in Switzerland at 73.


In 1987, Ben & Jerry's & Jerry Garcia agree on a new flavour - Cherry Garcia.


In 1988, the South African government bans the anti-apartheid film "Cry Freedom".


In 1993, a court in Israel says retired Ohio car worker John Demjanjuk may not after all have been notorious Nazi death camp guard Ivan the Terrible and sets him free.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 5 August



In 1583, Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland as the first English colony in North America.


In 1749, Thomas Lynch signs the Declaration of Independence.


In 1850, Guy de Maupassant, writer of short stories and novels, is born near Dieppe, France.


In 1858, after several unsuccessful attempts, the first telegraph line across the Atlantic Ocean is completed, a feat accomplished largely through the efforts of American merchant Cyrus West Field.


In 1906, director and writer John Huston is born in Nevada Missouri.


In 1914, the first traffic light is installed at Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland Ohio.


In 1930, the first moon walker Neil Armstrong is born in Wapakoneta Ohio.


In 1962, film actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her bed with an empty bottle of sleeping tablets by her side.


In 1962, Nelson Mandela is arrested for incitement and illegally leaving South Africa.


In 1972, the Moody Blues re-release "Nights in White Satin".


In 1981, US president Ronald Reagan begins firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers striking in violation of his order for them to return to work.


In 1983, twenty two members of the IRA are jailed for a total of more than 4,000 years following one of Northern Ireland's biggest mass trials.


In 1984, actor Richard Burton dies at 58 of cerebral haemorrhage.

[chip anderson]

Isn't 1749 a bit early to be signing the Declaration of Independence? I don't think the idea of the revolution started until a bit later.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 12 August



In 1553, Pope Julius III orders the confiscation and burning of the Talmud.


In 1762, George IV king of England (1820-30) is born.


In 1898, the brief and one-sided Spanish-American War comes to an end when Spain formally agrees to a peace protocol on US terms.


In 1923, Enrico Tiraboschi is the first to swim the English Channel westward.


In 1925, Norris and Ross McWhirter authors of the Guinness Book of World Records are born in London.


In 1949, guitarist and vocalist of Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler is born in Glasgow Scotland.


In 1953, Ann Davidson, the first woman to sail solo across the Atlantic, arrives in Miami.


In 1953, less than one year after the United States tested its first hydrogen bomb, the Soviets detonate a 400-kiloton device in Kazakhstan.


In 1964, a massive manhunt gets underway across Britain after one of the gang involved in the Great Train Robbery breaks out of a high-security prison in Birmingham.


In 1972, the last American combat ground troops leave Vietnam.


In 1973, American golfer Jack Nicklaus wins the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) championship for his 14th major title, surpassing Bobby Jones' record of 13 major championships.


In 1981, IBM introduces the PC and PC-DOS version 1.0.


In 1982, actor Henry Fonda dies at 77 from heart disease.


In 1985, a Japan Airlines jumbo jet crashes on a remote mountainside near Tokyo with 524 people aboard: all but four die.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 19 August



In 1631, John Dryden, the first poet laureate of England, is born.


In 1812, during the War of 1812, the US frigate Constitution defeats the British frigate Guerriýre in a furious engagement off the coast of Nova Scotia.


In 1858, author of the Railway Children, Edith Nesbit, is born in England.


In 1871, aviator Orville Wright is born in Dayton, Ohio.


In 1902, humorous poet Ogden Nash is born in Rye NY.


In 1934, Germans vote to make Adolf Hitler Fuhrer.


In 1939, drummer of the group Cream, Ginger Baker, is born in Lewisham England.


In 1942, during World War II, an Allied force of 7,000 men carry out a large daytime raid against German positions at the French seaport of Dieppe.


In 1946, former Little Rock attorney and US President Bill Clinton is born.


In 1960, United States pilot, Francis Gary Powers, is sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Soviet military court.


In 1977, comedian and member of the Marx brothers, Julius (Groucho) Marx dies in LA at 86.


In 1991, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is overthrown in a coup as Communist hardliners take over.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 26 August



In 55BC, Roman forces under Julius Caesar invade Britain.


In 1346, during the Hundred Years War, King Edward III's English army annihilates a French force under King Philip VI at the Battle of Crýcy in Normandy.


In 1676, British Whig Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole is born.


In 1884, author of the Charlie Chan detective series, Earl Biggers, is born.


In 1906, Dr Albert B Sabin, discoverer of the polio vaccine, is born in Bialystok, Poland.


In 1920, the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote, is formally adopted into the US Constitution by proclamation of Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.


In 1968, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago is besieged by thousands of antiwar demonstrators to protest the Vietnam War and its support by the top Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey.


In 1974, Charles Lindbergh, the first man to accomplish a solo nonstop flightacross the Atlantic Ocean, dies in Maui, Hawaii, at the age of 72.

In 1975, talks between the Rhodesian Government and the African National Council collapse acrimoniously.

In 1985, controversial South African athlete Zola Budd breaks the world 5,000m record.


In 1994, a man is given the world's first battery-operated heart in a pioneering operation in Britain.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 2 September



In 31BC, at the Battle of Actium, off the western coast of Greece, Roman leader Octavian wins a decisive victory against the forces of Roman Mark Antony and Cleopatra, queen of Egypt.


In 1666, in the early morning hours, the Great Fire of London breaks out in the house of King Charles II's baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge.


In 1859, gas lighting is introduced to Hawaii.


In 1930, the first non-stop airplane flight from Europe to US (37 hrs) takes place.


In 1945, Japanese officials sign the act of unconditional surrender, finally bringing to an end six years of world war.


In 1948, Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger, is born in Boston, Massachusetts.


In 1952, tennis favourite Jimmy Connors is born in Belleville, Illinois.


In 1964, actor Keanu Reeves is born in Beirut, Lebanon.


In 1985, it is announced that the Titanic had been found by a US and French expedition 560 miles off Newfoundland. The luxury liner had been missing for 73 years.


In 1998, 229 people are killed when a Swissair jetliner crashes into the Atlantic near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 9 September



In 1087, William the Conqueror, King of England and the Duke of Normandy, dies.


In 1513, the battle of Flodden Fields takes place where the English defeat James IV of Scotland.


In 1754, ship's captain of the HMS Bounty, William Bligh, is born.


In 1828, novelist Leo Tolstoy is born.


In 1839, John Herschel takes the first glass plate photograph.


In 1900, hotel magnate James Hilton is born.


In 1908, Orville Wright makes the first one hour airplane flight at Fort Myer, Virginia.


In 1941, blues rocker and composer Otis Redding is born in Georgia.


In 1951, actor Michael Keaton is born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.


In 1956, Elvis Presley appears on national TV for the first time on the Ed Sullivan show.


In 1971, prisoners riot and seize control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York.


In 1976, Mao Zedong, Chinese revolutionary and statesman, dies in Beijing at the age of 82.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 16 September



In 1387, Henry V king of England (1413-22) is born.


In 1620, the Mayflower sails from Plymouth, England, bound for the New World with 102 passengers.


In 1810, the Mexican War of Independence begins.


In 1875, James Cash Penney department store founder (JC Penney) is born.


In 1924, actress Lauren Bacall is born in Staten Island.


In 1925, blues singer B(lues) B(oy) King is born in Itta Bena Mississippi.


In 1927, actor Peter Falk, famous for his role as Columbo, is born in New York.


In 1977, American-born prima-donna Maria Callas dies in Paris at 53.


In 1977, pop star Marc Bolan is killed in a car crash in south-west London.


In 1978, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale hits south-east Iran demolishing a major city and dozens of surrounding villages.


In 1983, Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes a US citizen.


In 1986, at least 177 people die during a lethal fire in a South African gold mine at Kinross.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 23 September



In 63BC, Octavian (Augustus C‘sar) the first Roman emperor (27 BC-14 AD) is born.


In 1779, during the American Revolution, the US ship Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, wins a hard-fought engagement against British warships off the east coast of England.


In 1846, Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich d'Arrest find the eighth planet, Neptune.


In 1920, actor Mickey Rooney is born in Brooklyn New York.


In 1930, singer/pianist Ray Charles is born in Albany Georgia.


In 1939, Sigmund Freud, who created psychoanalysis, dies at 83.


In 1949, rock musician Bruce Springsteen is born in Asbury New Jersey.


In 1951, British King George VI has an operation to remove part of his lung.


In 1952, the star of the silent movies, Charlie Chaplin, returns to his native England after 21 years in the US.


In 1964, the Paris Opýra unveils a stunning new ceiling painted as a gift by Belorussian-born artist Marc Chagall, who spent much of his life in France.


In 2000, British rower Steve Redgrave makes Olympic history at the Sydney Games by winning his fifth consecutive gold medal.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 30 September


In 1399, Henry Bolingbroke is proclaimed King Henry IV of England upon the abdication of King Richard II.


In 1452, the first book is published, Johann Guttenberg's Bible.


In 1630, the first execution in America takes place in Plymouth, Massachusetts.


In 1846, anaesthetic ether is used for the first time when Dr William Morton extracts a tooth.


In 1885, Bechuanaland becomes a British protectorate.


In 1921, actress Deborah Kerr is born in Helensburg Scotland.


In 1935, singer Johnny (John Royce) Mathis is born in Gilmer, Texas.


In 1938, British and French prime ministers Neville Chamberlain and ýdouard Daladier sign the Munich Pact with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.


In 1954, the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear submarine, is commissioned by the US Navy.


In 1955, actor James Dean is killed in an auto collision at 24 near Cholame California.


In 1966, Botswana (Bechuanaland) gains independence from Britain.


In 1968, the first Boeing 747 rolls out.


In 1978, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen dies at 75.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 21 October



In 1520, Magellan enters the strait which bears his name.


In 1772, English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, famous for the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, is born in Ottery St Mary, Devonshire.


In 1797, the USS Constitution, a 44-gun US Navy frigate built to fight Barbary pirates off the coast of Tripoli, is launched in Boston Harbour.


In 1805, in one of the most decisive naval battles in history, a British fleet under Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, fought off the coast of Spain. Lord Nelson dies just after the battle.


In 1879, Thomas Edison perfects the carbonized cotton filament light bulb.


In 1917, trumpeter and creator of modern jazz, Dizzy Gillespi is born in Cheraw, South Carolina.


In 1940, rocker Manfred Mann (real name Manfred Lubowitz) is born in Johannesburg.


In 1945, women in France are allowed to vote for the first time.


In 1952, the President of the Kenya African Union, Jomo Kenyatta, is arrested following the declaration of a state of emergency in the British colony of Kenya.


In 1959, President Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring the brilliant rocket designer Wernher von Braun and his team from the US army to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).


In 1959, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens in New York City.


In 1966, tragedy hits the Welsh village of Aberfan as a coal slag tip engulfs a school burying at least 130 people and injuring many more.

[Chris Ryser]

On This is Day - Back In Time


In 900, English monarch Alfred the Great dies.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovers Cuba.

In 1793, Eliphalet Remington, American firearms manufacturer is born in Suffield, Connecticut.

In 1868, Thomas Edison applies for his first patent, the electric vote recorder

In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States, is dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.


In 1904, St Louis police try a new investigation method – fingerprints.


In 1914, Dr Jonas Salk NYC, medical researcher, makes polio a fear of the past.


In 1919, US Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. The Volstead Act provided for the enforcement of the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, also known as the Prohibition Amendment.


In 1929, English acturess Joan Plowright is born.


In 1948, Swiss chemist Paul Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.


In 1955, Bill (William) Gates billionaire CEO of Microsoft is born in Seattle, Washington.


In 1962, US President John F Kennedy welcomes Russia's announcement that it will dismantle its missiles based in Cuba.


In 1986, Jeremy Bamber is found guilty of the murder of his parents, sister and twin nephews and is given five life sentences.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 4 November

In 1650, William III of Orange, king of England (1689-1702) is born.


In 1842, after a stormy three-year courtship marked by a broken engagement, Abraham Lincoln marries Lexington-born Mary Todd.


In 1873, dentist John Beers of San Francisco patents the gold crown.


In 1916, CBS Evening News anchor, Walter Cronkite is born in St Joseph Missouri.


In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his workmen discover a step leading to the tomb of King Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.


In 1928, Arnold Rothstein, New York's most notorious gambler, is shot and killed during a poker game at the Park Central Hotel in Manhattan.


In 1939, the 40th National Automobile Show opens in Chicago, Illinois, with a cutting-edge development in automotive comfort on display: air-conditioning.


In 1948, TS Eliot wins the Nobel Prize in literature, for his profound effect on the direction of modern poetry.


In 1962, the Karate Kid, actor Ralph Macchio is born in Huntington New York.


In 1979, student followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini send shock waves across America when they storm the US embassy in Tehran.


In 1980, former Hollywood actor and Republican Ronald Reagan wins the US presidential elections by a huge majority.


In 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton wins the presidential election to become the 42nd United States president, beating 68-year-old Republican President George Bush.


In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is fatally shot after attending a peace rally held in Tel Aviv's Kings Square in Israel.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 2 December



In 1697, St Paul's Cathedral opens in London.

In 1804, in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Napoleon I, the first Frenchman to hold the title of emperor in a thousand years.


In 1814, writer Marquis de Sade dies at 74.


In 1867, English writer Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States, in a New York City theatre.


In 1901, King Camp Gillette begins selling safety razor blades.


In 1932, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope appear together for the first time onstage in a show at the Paramount Theater, where The Mask of Fu Manchu opens.


In 1933, Fred Astaire's first film, "Dancing Lady" is released.


In 1946, fashion designer Gianni Versace is born in Reggio di Calabria, Italy.


In 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy, famous for his crusade against Communism, is censured for conduct unbecoming to a senator.


In 1966, South African cricketer Clive Eksteen cricketer is born.


In 1973, tennis star Monica Seles is born in Novi Sad Yugoslavia.


In 1977, demonstration erupts outside South African court as magistrate rules no police blame in death of Steve Biko.


In 1981, singer Britney (Jean) Spears is born in Kentwood, LA.


In 1982, comedic actor Marty Feldman dies at 49 of a heart attack in México.


In 1986, actor Desi Arnaz (Ricky Ricardo in I Love Lucy), dies of lung cancer at 69.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 9 December



In 1165, Malcom IV king of Scotland (1153-65), dies at 24.


In 1608, Puritan and poet (author of Paradise Lost) John Milton is born in London.


In 1783, the first execution takes place at Newgate Jail in England.


In 1854, Lord Tennyson's poem, "Charge of the Light Brigade" is published.


In 1886, frozen vegetable king Clarence Birdseye is born in Brooklyn, New York.


In 1909, actor Douglas Fairbanks Junior is born in New York.


In 1916, actor Kirk Douglas (real name Issur Danielovich Demsky) is born in Amsterdam, New York.


In 1925, future Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller sets the world record for the 150-yard freestyle swim.


In 1926, USGA legalizes steel shaft golf clubs.


In 1929, 18-year-old Ginger Rogers makes her Broadway debut, in Top Speed.


In 1963, the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company winds down. Started during the Civil War, it was the world's largest manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages.


In 1990, Lech Walesa wins the presidential election in Poland.


In 1992, American forces land in Somalia to begin humanitarian operation in famine-stricken country.


In 1993, a record-breaking mission to repair the faulty Hubble telescope in outer space is declared an unqualified success

[Chris Ryser]

In 1265, the first English Parliament is called into session by the Earl of Leicester.


In 1612, Rudolf II von Habsburg emperor of Germany (1576-1612), dies at 59.


In 1760, Charles III king of Spain (1759-88) is born.


In 1840, Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.


In 1841, during the First Opium War, China cedes the island of Hong Kong to the British with the signing of the Chuenpi Convention, an agreement seeking an end to the first Anglo-Chinese conflict.


In 1870, Victoria Woodhull and her sister Tennessee Claflin opened the doors of Woodhull, Claflin & Co., the USA's first brokerage firm run solely by women.


In 1879, British troops under Lord Chelmsford set camp at Isandlwana.


In 1889, 12 string blues guitarist Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter is born in Mooringsport Louisiana.


In 1907, Roy Welensky Premier of Rhodesia/Nyasaland during 1956-63 is born.


In 1910, director DW Griffith and his stock company arrive in Los Angeles to film for the first time.


In 1920, actor De Forest Kelley of Dr McCoy and Star Trek fame, is born in Atlanta Georgia.

In 1936, Edward VIII succeeds British king George V.


In 1948, Mahatma Gandhi, India's pacifist, is assassinated.


In 1958, members of the team attempting the first surface crossing of the Antarctic join up at the South Pole.


In 1961, on the newly renovated east front of the United States Capitol, John Fitzgerald Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States.


In 1977, lefty and very unorthodox bowler for South Africa, Paul "Goggo" Adams is born.


In 1984, Tarzan actor Peter John [Johnny] Weissmuller dies in Acapulco at 79.


In 1993, actress Audrey Hepburn dies of colon cancer in Tolochenaz, Switzerland at 63.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 27 January



In 1556, Abbas I "the Great", shah of Persia (1587-1629) is born.


In 1756, musical prodigy and composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born in Austria.


In 1859, Kaiser Wilhelm II Potsdam, German emperor (1888-1918) is born.


In 1880, Thomas Edison patents the electric incandescent lamp.


In 1908, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst Jr is born in New York.


In 1918, "Tarzan of the Apes", the first Tarzan film, premieres at a Broadway Theatre.


In 1926, John Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor, gives the first public demonstration of a true television system in London, launching a revolution in communication and entertainment.


In 1944, a successful Soviet offensive drives German troops away from the Leningrad which has been besieged since September 1941.


In 1945, the Red Army liberates the Nazi's biggest concentration camp at Auschwitz in southern Poland.


In 1948, the first US-made Ampex model 200 tape recorders recorded the Bing Crosby Show.


In 1948, ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov is born in Riga Latvia.


In 1967, three American astronauts die when fire sweeps the Saturn rocket on its launch pad at Cape Kennedy.


In 1980, Rhodesia opposition leader Robert Mugabe makes a triumphant return to his home country after five years in exile.


In 1986, novelist and founder of the Church of Scientology, L Ron Hubbard, dies at 74.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 10 February



In 0060, St Paul thought to have been shipwrecked at Malta.


In 1567, Lord Darnley, Mary Queen of Scots' husband, is murdered.


In 1635, the Académie Française is founded in Paris (by Cardinal Richelieu).


In 1775, critic/poet/essayist Charles Lamb is born in London England.


In 1824, Samuel Plimsoll, inventor of the Plimsoll line for ships, is born in Bristol England.


In 1840, British queen Victoria marries her cousin Albert von Saksen-Coburg.


In 1863, the first US fire extinguisher patent is granted to Alanson Crane in Virginia.


In 1912, surgeon and pioneer of antiseptic Joseph Lister, dies.


In 1931, New Delhi becomes the capital of India.


In 1940, Tom & Jerry, created by Hanna & Barbera, debut by MGM.


In 1950, swimmer and Olympics medal winner Mark Spitz is born in Modesto California.


In 1956, Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel" for RCA.


In 1961, Niagara Falls hydroelectric project begins producing power.


In 1962, American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is released by the Soviets in exchange for Soviet Colonel Rudolf Abel, a senior KGB spy who was caught in the United States five years earlier.


In 1992, US writer Alex Haley (authur of Autobiography of Malcolm X and Roots), dies at 70.

[Chris Ryser]

In 0364, Flavius Jovianus Christian emperor of Rome (363-64), dies at about 32.

In 1598, Boris Godunov is chosen tsar of Russia.

In 1688, Reverend James Renwick is hanged in Scotland for being a Presbyterian.


In 1867, the first ship passes through Suez Canal.


In 1867, chocolate manufacturer William Cadbury is born in England.


In 1883, A Ashwell patents the free-toilet in London.


In 1908, Apache chief Geronimo, dies at about 79, a prisoner of war, unable to return to his homeland.


In 1929, Yasser Arafat PLO-leader (Achille Lauro, Nobel 1994) is born.


In 1947, with the words, "Hello! This is New York calling," the US Voice of America (VOA) begins its first radio broadcasts to the Soviet Union.


In 1972, the 15,007,034th Volkswagen Beetle rolled out of the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, surpassing the Ford Model T's previous production record to become the most heavily produced car in history.


In 1979, in response to the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, China launches an invasion of Vietnam.


In 1982, Theolonious S Monk, US jazz pianist and composer, dies at 64.


In 1982, American director, actor, and drama coach Lee Strasberg, the founder of "method acting," dies of a heart attack at age 80.


In 1992, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is jailed for life in the US for murdering and dismembering 15 young men and boys.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 24 February



In 0303, the first official Roman edict for the persecution of Christians is issued.


In 1500, Emperor Charles V king of Spain (1516-56)/Holy Roman Emperor is born.


In 1581, Pope Gregory approves the results of his calendar reform commission.


In 1786, story teller and author of Grimm's Fairy Tales, Wilhelm Karl Grimm is born in Hanau Germany.


In 1839, the steam shovel is patented by William Otis in Philadelphia.


In 1881, the De Lesseps' Company begins work on the Panama Canal.


In 1932, Michel Legrand composer (Summer of '42, Windmills of Your Mind) is born.


In 1945, Formula 1 race driver Alain Prost is born in France.


In 1955, Steven Jobs, cofounder of Apple Computers, is born in Los Altos, California.


In 1971, Commonwealth citizens lose their automatic right to remain in the UK under the government's new Immigration Bill.


In 1981, the Prince of Wales and the Lady Diana Spencer end months of speculation by announcing they are to wed this summer.


In 1989, 150-million-year-old fossil egg (oldest dinosaur embryo) is found.


In 1993, English soccer team captain Bobby Moore dies.


In 1998, Elton John is knighted.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 3 March



In 1191, Saladin Yusuf sultan of Egypt/Syria, dies at 52.


In 1791, Congress establishes the US Mint.


In 1831, George M Pullman, inventor of the railway sleeping car, is born inBrockton, New York.

In 1845, Florida becomes 27th state.


In 1847, inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell is born in Edinburg Scotland.

In 1885, American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) incorporates.

In 1911, 30’s sex goddess Jean Harlow (real name Harlean Carnter) is born in Kansas City Missouri.


In 1923, Time magazine publishes its first issue.


In 1931, President Herbert Hoover signs a congressional act making "The Star-Spangled Banner" the official national anthem of the United States.


In 1959, comedian Lou Costello, of Abbott & Costello fame, dies at 52.


In 1971, the South African Broadcasting Corporation lifts its ban on the Beatles.


In 1974, a Turkish Airlines DC10 crashes near Paris, en route to London, killing all 345 people on board.


In 1987, comedian and great American entertainer Danny Kaye dies at 74.


In 1993, flamenco guitarist Carlos Montoya dies at 89.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 24 March



In 1603, English Tudor queen Elizabeth I dies at 69.


In 1603, Scottish king James VI becomes King James I of England.


In 1855, South African writer Olive Schreiner (Portrait of a South African Woman) is born in Basutoland.


In 1874, magician and escape artist Harry Houdini (real name Erik Weisz) is born in Budapest Hungary.


In 1882, US poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Song of Hiawatha), dies at 75.


In 1903, English writer Malcolm Muggeridge is born in Sanderstead, England.


In 1909, English radio comic/actor Thomas E "Tommy" Trinder is born in Streatham, London.


In 1930, actor (Terence Steven) Steve McQueen is born in Beech Grove, Indiana.


In 1930, planet Pluto is named.


In 1953, British Queen Mary dies peacefully in her sleep after a lengthy illness.


In 1958, Elvis Presley joins the army (serial number 53310761).


In 1972, Great Britain imposes direct rule over Northern Ireland.


In 1989, the worst US oil spill, Exxon's Valdez spills 11.3 million gallons off Alaska.


In 1992, Punch, Britain's oldest satirical magazine, is to close after suffering crippling losses of £1.5m a year.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 31 March



In 1492, in Spain, a royal edict is issued by the nation's Catholic rulers declaring that all Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity will be expelled from the country.


In 1596, philosopher René Descartes is born in France.


In 1631, John Donne, Metaphysical poet, dies in London.


In 1657, the English Humble Petition offers Lord Protector Cromwell the crown.


In 1836, the first monthly instalment of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, by 24-year-old writer Charles Dickens, his first novel, is published under the pseudonym Boz.


In 1837, English painter John Constable dies at 60.


In 1854, Sir Dugald Clerk inventor of the 2-stroke motorcycle engine is born in Glasgow Scotland.


In 1885, Great Britain declares Bechuanaland a protectorate.


In 1889, the Eiffel Tower is dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by Gustave Eiffel, the tower's designer, and attended by French Prime Minister Pierre Tirard.


In 1921, Albert Einstein lectures in New York on his new theory of relativity.


In 1924, psychologist Leo Buscaglia, "Dr Hug", is born in Los Angeles California.


In 1929, fashion designer Liz Claiborne is born in Brussels Belgium.


In 1935, actor Richard (Dr Kildare) Chamberlain is born in Beverly Hills California.


In 1948, Senator and 45th US Vice President Albert Gore Jr is born in Washington DC.


In 1959, the Dalai Lama, fleeing the Chinese suppression of a national uprising in Tibet, crosses the border into India, where he is granted political asylum.


In 1971, actor Ewan McGregor is born in Perth Australia.


In 1990, an anti-poll tax rally in central London erupts into the worst riots in the city for a century.


In 1991, after 36 years in existence, the Warsaw Pact-the military alliance between the Soviet Union and its eastern European satellites-comes to an end.