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

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 6 October

In 1536, English religious reformer and translator of the Bible's New Testament, William Tyndale, was strangled and burned at the stake for heresy at Vilvorde, France.


In 1809, poet Alfred 'Lord' Tennyson is born in Lincolnshire.

In 1847, Jane Eyre is published by Smith, Elder and Co. Charlotte Bronte, the book's author, used the pseudonym Currer Bell.


In 1866, the brothers John and Simeon Reno stage the first train robbery in American history, making off with $13,000 from an Ohio and Mississippi railroad train in Jackson County, Indiana.

In 1889, Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture.


In 1914, Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian anthropologist and explorer, is born in Larvik, Norway.

In 1927, "Jazz Singer,"starring Al Jolson, the first movie with a sound track, premieres in New York City.


In 1959, Soviet Luna 3, the first successful photographic spacecraft, impacts with the Moon.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy, speaking on civil defence, advises American families to build bomb shelters to protect them from atomic fallout in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union.


In 1976, John Hathaway completes a bicycle tour of every continent in the world, cycling 50,600 miles in the process.

In 1978, Ayatolloh Khomeini, Iranian religious leader opposed to the Shah, is granted asylum in France after being expelled from Iran.


In 1981, Egyptian president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Anwar Sadat is killed by Muslim extremists while he is reviewing a military parade commemorating the 1973 Egyptian-Israeli War.

In 1989, actress and Oscar-winning Hollywood legend Bette Davis dies at the age 81 from breast cancer in a suburb of Paris, France. During a career that spanned more than three decades, Davis appeared in some 80 films.


In 1994, South African President Nelson Mandela addresses a joint session of US Congress.

In 2002, Mick Jagger donates £100,000 to his old Grammar school in Dartford to help pay for a music director and buy musical instruments.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 13 October

In 0054, Nero succeeds his great uncle Roman Emperor Claudius I, as the new Emperor of Rome.


In 1307, members of the Knights of Templar are arrested throughout France on charges of heresy.


In 1601, Tycho Brahe greatest naked-eye observer, dies in Prague.

In 1853, vaudevillian actress and mistress of the Prince of Wales, Lillie Langtry (known as the Jersey Lily) is born in the English Channel island of Jersey.


In 1884, Greenwich is adopted as the universal time meridian of longitude. Zero degrees between East and West. All standard times throughout the world are calculated from this.

In 1899, Mafeking is besieged by the Boers and defended by Baden-Powell until relieved 217 days later.


In 1925, Conservative MP, former British Prime Minister (1979-1990) and the first UK woman Prime Minister, Baroness Margaret Hilda Thatcher (nee Roberts) is born.

In 1941, singer (with Art Garfunkel formed duo Simon and Garfunkel), songwriter, actor, Paul Simon, is born in Newark, New Jersey.


In 1957, two superstars introduce a new car on ABC-TV. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra join forces in an hourlong special that turns out to be a big ratings hit. Too bad the Edsel, the car that Ford Motor Company was introducing, didn't fare as well.

In 1974, TV and radio personality and a former newspaper columnist, Ed Sullivan, dies aged 73 in New York City.


In 1988, the Bishop of Turin, Italy announces that the Shroud of Turin, long believed to be Christ's burial sheet, did not withstand scientific testing. It dates back only to 1280, and not to the time of Jesus' crucifixion (ca. AD 30-33).

In 1992, the British government announces plans to close one third of Britain's deep coal mines, putting 31,000 miners out of work.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 27 October

In 1728, James Cook, captain and explorer, is born in Marton, Yorkshire.


In 1775, the US Navy is established.

In 1811, Issac Merritt Singer, inventor of the first practical home sewing machine, is born in Pittstown, New York.


In 1858, future US President Theodore Roosevelt is born in New York City.

In 1872, Emily Post, authority on social behaviour and writer, is born in Baltimore, Maryland.


In 1873, a De Kalb, Illinois, farmer named Joseph Glidden submits an application to the US Patent Office for his clever new design for a fencing wire with sharp barbs, an invention that will forever change the face of the American West.

In 1858, RH Macy & Co opens its first store, (6th Ave-NYC), packed with a variety of useful products and become an immediate success. Today, Macy's is, by volume of sales, the biggest department store in the world.


In 1914, author and poet Dylan Thomas is born in Swansea, Wales.

In 1917, Oliver Tambo leader of African National Congress is born in Bizana, near Johannesburg.


In 1925, water skis - called Dolphin Akwa-Skees – are patented by Fred Waller.

In 1939, comedian/actor (Monty Python, Fawlty Towers) John Cleese is born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England.

In 1945, Ferdinand Porsche is arrested by US military officials for his pro-Nazi activities, and was sent to France where he was held for two years before being released.

In 1954, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio divorce after DiMaggio allegedly struck Monroe following the filming of her famous "skirt scene" in The Seven-Year Itch. The scene, showing Monroe laughing as a blast of air lifts her skirt, infuriated DiMaggio, who felt it was exhibitionist.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 3 November

In 1507, Leonardo Da Vinci is commissioned to paint the portrait that becomes known as the Mona Lisa.


In 1718, John Montague 4th Earl of Sandwich, inventor of the sandwich, is born.

In 1892, the first successful automatic telephone system is introduced in Laporte, Indiana by Almond Strowger, the inventor.

In 1926, Annie Oakley dies in Greenville, 0hio.


In 1933, Academy Award-winning composer of the James Bond scores, John Barry (real name John Barry Prendergast) is born in York, England.

In 1936, champion tennis player Roy Emerson Australia, is born in Blackbutt Queensland Australia.


In 1941, the classic Jerry Gray arrangement of String of Pearls is recorded by the Glenn Miller Orchestra - on Bluebird 78s. The recording features the trumpet of Bobby Hackett.

In 1941, the Combined Japanese Fleet receives Top-Secret Order No. 1: in 34 days time, Pearl Harbor is to be bombed, along with Mayala, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines.


In 1948, the Chicago Tribune jumps the gun and mistakenly declares New York Governor Thomas Dewey the winner of his presidential race with incumbent Harry S. Truman in a front-page headline: "Dewey Defeats Truman."

In 1948, singer and vocalist for the Luvvers, Lulu (real name Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie), is born in Glasgow, Scotland.


In 1952, Clarence Birdseye first markets frozen peas.

In 1957, the Soviet Union sends the first ever living creature (a dog) into the cosmos aboard Sputnik II.


In 1976, the first £100,000 Premium Bond prize went to a lucky holder from Hillingdon.

In 1983, white South Africans vote by a large majority to allow Indians and "Coloureds" some limited power-sharing in the government, but not blacks.


In 1997, angry truckers blockade French ports and thousands of lorries are at a standstill in France as striking drivers form roadblocks around the country.

In 2002, singer, musician, and legendary skiffle king, Lonnie Donegan dies at the age of 71.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 10 November

In 1483, religious leader and reformer who began the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther is born in Eisleben, Germany.

In 1730, novelist and dramatist (She Stoops to Conquer) Oliver Goldsmithis born in Ireland.

In 1775, during the American Revolution, the Continental Congress passes a resolution stating that "two Battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces for the recently formed Continental Navy.


In 1871, Stanley presumes to meet Livingston in Ujiji, Central Africa.

In 1889, actor Claude Rains (Invisible Man, Casablanca) is born in London.

In 1925, actor Richard Burton (real name Richard Jenkins) the 12th of 13 children born to a South Wales coal miner, is born.


In 1928, the first instalment of All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque’s acclaimed novel of World War I, appears in the German magazine Vossische Zeitung.

In 1928, Hirohito is enthroned as Emperor of Japan.


In 1939, the first air-conditioned automobiles went on display at the Auto Show in Chicago.

In 1944, lyricist Sir Tim Rice is born in Buckinghamshire.


In 1969, Sesame Street premieres on PBS TV in the USA.

In 1969, twenty years after the first release of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Gene Autry receives a gold record for the single.


In 1970, Charles DeGaulle, World War II military leader, President of France 1958-1969 dies aged 79.

In 1991, in Calcutta, a record 95,000 people watch South Africa's return to international cricket.


In 1995, the writer and human rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, is executed in Nigeria despite worldwide pleas for clemency.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on November 17

In 1558, Elizabeth I ascends the English throne upon the death of Queen Mary.

In 1839, Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi's first opera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio, debuts in Milan.


In 1869, the Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red seas, is inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.

In 1887, Bernard Law Montgomery, British general and one of the most formidable Allied commanders of the war, as well as one of the most disliked, is born in London.


In 1917, sculptor Auguste Rodin dies in Meudon, France.

In 1925, actor Rock Hudson (real name Leroy Harold Scherer, Jr) is born in Winnetka Illinois.


In 1937, actor and comedian Peter Cook is born in Torquay England.

In 1938, folk singer Gordon Lightfoot is born in Ontario Canada.


In 1942, film director Martin Scorsese is born in Flushing, New York.

In 1944, actor Danny De Vito is born in Neptune New Jersey.


In 1959, the De Beers firm of South Africa announces news of a synthetic diamond.

In 1970, hours after an unmanned Soviet lunar probe soft-lands in the Sea of Rains, Lunokhod 1, a self-propelled vehicle controlled by Soviet mission control on earth, rolls out and becomes the first wheeled vehicle to travel on the surface of the moon.


In 1973, in the midst of the Watergate scandal that eventually ended his presidency, President Richard Nixon tells a group of newspaper editors gathered at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, that he is "not a crook."

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 24 November

In 1434, the river Thames freezes over.


In 1572, Scottish preacher John Knox dies.

In 1642, Dutch navigator Abel Tasman discovers Van Dieman’s Land, which he names after his captain. It was later renamed to Tasmania.


In 1815, Grace Darling, a lighthouse keeper’s daughter who became a famous heroine for her courageous rescue of nine sailors in 1838, is born in Bamburgh, Northumberland.

In 1849, John Froelich, the inventor of the first gasoline-powered farm tractor, is born in Froelich, Iowa.


In 1859, Charles Darwin publishes "On the Origin of Species".

In 1864, painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec France is born in Albi, France.

In 1868, US entertainer and composer Scott Joplin is born in Linden, Texas.


In 1874, Joseph F. Glidden, a farmer from De Kalb, Illinois receives his patent for his invention of barbed wire. Today, it remains the most familiar style of barbed wire.

In 1888, author Dale Carnegie (How to Win Friends & Influence People) is born in Maryville, Missouri.


In 1942, Scottish comedian and former Scottish steelworker in shipyards, singer and actor Billy Connolly is born in Glasgow.

In 1952, Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" opens in London.


In 1955, English cricketer and commentator Ian Botham is born in Oldfield, Cheshire.

In 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of murdering President Kennedy, is himself shot dead in a Dallas police station.


In 1991, Freddie Mercury, lead singer with the rock group Queen, dies of complications from AIDS at his home in London's Holland Park. He was 45. During his career with Queen he had scored over 40 top 40 UK singles including the worldwide No.1 Bohemian Rhapsody.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 1 December

In 1761, French wax modeller, Madame Marie Tussaud who founded the world-famous exhibition on London's Baker Street, is born in Strasbourg.


In 1835, Hans Christian Andersen publishes his first book of fairy tales.

In 1881, Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan Earp are exonerated in court for their action in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.


In 1891, James Naismith creates the game of basketball.

In 1913, a continuous moving assembly line iss introduced by Ford (1 car every 2.5 minutes).


In 1919, Lady Nancy Astor is sworn-in as the first female member of British Parliament.

In 1929, the game of bingo is invented by Edwin S Lowe.


In 1934, Jazz clarinet pioneer Benny Goodman debuts as a regular on radio variety show Let's Dance.

In 1945, singer and actress Bette Midler is born in Aiea Hawaii.


In 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks is jailed for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man, a violation of the city's racial segregation laws.

In 1957, Buddy Holly & The Crickets make their national TV debut on CBS, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show.


In 1973, Jack Nicklaus becomes the first golfer to earn $2 million in a year.

In 1983, the first ever Cabbage Patch Dolls arrive in Britain complete with their own 'adoption papers'.


In 1988, Benazir Bhutto is named the first female Prime Minister of a Moslem country (Pakistan).

In 1990, Britain and France are joined for the first time in thousands of years as the last wall of rock separating two halves of the Channel Tunnel is removed.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 8 December

In 1542, in Linlithgow Palace in Scotland, a daughter is born to James V, the dying king of Scotland. She became Mary Queen of Scots.


In 1733, a Dorset man reports seeing a polished silver disc in the sky, the first known sighting of an Unidentified Flying Object.

In 1765, inventor of the Cotton Gin Eli Whitney is born in Westborough, Massachusetts.


In 1792, the first formal cremation in the US takes place, of Henry Laurens.

In 1841, Prince Albert Edward, later Edward VII, becomes the 'Prince of Wales'.


In 1880, 5,000 armed Boers gather in Paardekraal South Africa.

In 1894, humorist James Thurber is born in Columbus, Ohio.


In 1925, singer, dancer and actor Sammy Davis Jr is born in New York.


In 1941, as America's Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan.

In 1943, Doors singer Jim Morrison is born in Melbourne Florida.


In 1980, John Lennon, one of rock's most influential musicians, is murdered by a deranged fan in front of Lennon's New York apartment building.

In 1983, cameras will be allowed into the House of Lords after its members vote in favour of allowing live broadcasts from its chamber.

[Chris Ryser]

On This Day - Back in time on 9 February


In 1540, the first recorded horse race meeting takes place at Roodeye Field, Chester.


In 1567, Henry Stuart, Earl of Darnley and Consort of Mary Queen of Scots, is murdered.

In 1853, Sir Leander Starr Jameson Prime Minister of South African Cape colony is born.


In 1863, the fire extinguisher is patented by Alanson Crane.

In 1891, actor Ronald Colman is born in Richmond, Surrey, England.

In 1939, actress Janet Suzman is born in Johannesburg South Africa.


In 1940, singer Smokey Robinson (of the Miracles) is born in Detroit.

In 1942, singer and songwriter Carole King (Klein) is born in Brooklyn, New York.


In 1945, actress Mia (Maria de Lourdes Villers) Farrow is born in Los Angeles California.

In 1964, The Beatles, televised live from New York, first appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. More than 73 million people across the country tune in that night, and it was reported that during the hour in which the show was aired, the country experienced the lowest crime rate, among teenagers, of the decade.


In 1969, the first ever commercial flight of a Boeing 747 takeplace.The milestone ushered in the age of the Jumbo Jet.

In 1981, Bill Haley (William John Clifton), rock 'n' roll singer of Bill Haley and the Comets, dies in Harlington, Texas at the age of 55.


In 2002, Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II of England, dies from a stroke at 71.