This page provides daily updates on past events and anniversaries during the First week of March. The events included are those that either happened in London or had an effect, one way or another, on the lives of Londoners.
Daily updates on Events during the First week |
Below are the events and anniversaries for this week both about London and Londoners and Outside London. The archive for these pages has been arranged in a series of monthly Digests. To speed up navigation, these have been further divided into four weekly instalments. These pages are all comprehensively interlinked. The Outside London section offers daily updates on a range of political, cultural, scientific and religious events and anniversaries in History and which had, in one way or another, an effect on London Life. Each Section has its own background page which provides additional and in-depth information about many of the events and people in the daily listings. They are intended to both amuse and inform and can be found at Gazette Briefings and Historical Anecdotes . Links to the anniversaries and events in the other weeks of the month are given in the following table whilst links to the other months of the year can be found at the bottom of the page. 1st
1587, Wednesday, The radical MP Peter Wentworth was sent to the Tower for a second time.1619, Monday, Death of the English physician, composer and poet Thomas Campion.
1633, Friday, Death of the English poet George Herbert.
1711, Saturday, The Spectator was first published in London.
1740, Saturday, E Kidner opened the first cookery school, in London with branches in Queen Street and Holborn.
1833, Friday, The Hampstead Subscription Library was inaugurated at a meeting of subscribers who included John Constable. The Publishers John Murray, Thomas Longman and Charles Knight each gave 150 books.
1841, Monday, The new Premises of the Reform Club in Pall Mall, designed by Charles Barry, were opened. A novel feature was the kitchens, which were fuelled by gas.
1851, Saturday, A farewell public dinner for the actor William Macready was attended by many notables including Dickens and Thackeray.
1880, Sunday, Birth of the English biographer Lytton Strachey.
1885, Sunday, Birth of the English actor Lionel Atwill.
1912, Friday, Death of the English singer and actor George Grossmith. See HMS Pinafore.
1912, Friday, The Suffragettes and their supporters ran riot through central London smashing windows. Emmeline Pankhurst and Mr and Mrs Pethick were arrested and gaoled for nine months.
1918, Friday, Birth of the English actor Roger Delgado, in London.
1940, Friday, Birth of the English Show Jumper David Broome (world champion 1970).
1944, Wednesday, Birth of the English set designer John Napier, in London.
1946, Friday, The Labour Government of Attlee took control of the Bank of England, ending its 252 years of independence.
1948, Monday, The Commonwealth Immigrants Bill was given the Royal Assent.
1949, Tuesday, The Government banned Tudor IV airliners from passenger service after a series of accidents.
1971, Monday, One million industrial workers went on strike to protest against a bill curbing Trade Union activity.
1976, Monday, The House of Commons approved the road traffic bill, which made the wearing of car seat belts compulsory. 2nd
1545, Monday, Birth of Thomas Bodley founder of the Bodleian Library Oxford.
1629, Monday, A demonstration by MPs prevented the reading of the order for Dissolution made by Charles I.
1717, Saturday, The first ever ballet was performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
1791, Wednesday, Death of John Wesley the founder of Methodism.
1797, Thursday, Death of the English man of letters Horace Walpole.
1826, Thursday, Chunee the elephant, a prize exhibit at Cross's Menagerie in the Strand for 17 years, had to be destroyed as he threatened to break out of his cage. The poor animal was speared, bombed and finally put out of its misery by a squad of soldiers firing repeated musket rounds.
1882, Friday, An attempt was made to assassinate Queen Victoria at Windsor.
1909, Tuesday, The Daily Sketch was launched. It would merge with the Daily Mail in 1971.
1923, Friday, Birth of the archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Basil Hume.
1930, Sunday, Death of the English novelist D H Lawrence.
1939, Thursday, Death of the English Egyptologist Howard Carter.
1981, Monday, Twelve members of the Labour party resigned to form the Social Democrats.
1985, Saturday, Death of the English actor Michael Redgrave.
1987, Monday, Death of the English actress Joan Greenwood.
1988, Wednesday, The Liberals and Social Democrats merged to form the Liberal Democrats.
1998, Monday, The Egyptian owner of Harrods, Mohamed Al Fayed, was arrested over claims that his staff broke into a safe deposit box held by his business rival Tiny Rowlands. 3rd
1415, Sunday, The foundation of Twickenham Convent by Henry V as Syon House. It was the only English house of the Bridgettine Order. It moved to Isleworth in 1431.
1592, Friday, Shakespeare's Henry VI part 1 premiered at the Rose Theatre.
1500, Tuesday, Birth of Cardinal Reginald Pole, Papal legate and opponent of Henry VIII. See The Execution of Margaret, Countess of Salisbury.
1583, Sunday, Birth of the English Soldier, statesman and philosopher Lord Edward Herbert of Cherbury.
1606, Monday, Birth of the English poet Edmund Waller.
1652, Wednesday, Birth of the English poet and playwright Thomas Otway.
1703, Wednesday, Death of the English physicist Robert Hooke.
1792, Saturday, Death of the Scottish architect Robert Adam in London.
1869, Wednesday, Birth of the English conductor Henry Wood.
1878, Sunday, Birth of the English poet Edward Thomas.
1920, Wednesday, Birth of the English artist and cartoonist Ronald Searle.
1947, Monday, Eight hundred thousand returned to work as some power was restored after a major blackout.
1958, Monday, Birth of the English actress Miranda Richardson.
1985, Sunday, Having achieved nothing, British miners voted to go back to work after a year-long of strike under their Leader Arthur Scargill.
1995, Friday, The House of Commons passed a bill that would largely prohibit game hunting in the country. It was thrown out by the House of Lords.
1995, Friday, British police were to be issued stab proof vests in 'dangerous' operations. 4th
1461, Wednesday, In the Wars of he Roses, the Yorkist Edward IV was declared king in Westminster Hall.
1470, Sunday, Death of the English writer Thomas Malory.
1611, Thursday, George Abbot became the 75th archbishop of Canterbury.
1651, Tuesday, Birth of the English Statesman John Somers.
1675, Thursday, John Flamsteed was appointed as the first Astronomer Royal.
1681, Friday, Charles II granted a Royal Charter to William Penn entitling him to establish a colony in North America.
1765, Monday, Birth of the English songwriter and actor Charles Dibdin.
1824, Thursday, The Royal National Lifeboat Institution was formed.
1882, Saturday, Britain's first electric trams came into operation in Leytonstone East London.
1903, Wednesday, Death of the English writer Joseph Shorthouse.
1921, Friday, Birth of the English actress Joan Greenwood London.
1928, Sunday, Birth of the British writer Alan Sillitoe.
1928, Sunday, Birth of the English astronomer Patrick Moore.
1968, Monday, Tennis authorities voted to admit professional players to Wimbledon.
1969, Tuesday, The exploits of "The Firm" finally ended when the Kray twins and four others were convicted of murder at the Old Bailey.
1974, Monday, The Heath government resigned after failing to form a coalition with the Liberals. Harold Wilson formed his second Government.
1986, Wednesday, The first issue of the first national colour newspaper, Today, was published. 5th
1133, Sunday, Birth of Henry II.
1461, Thursday, After the battle of Towton, Edward IV was acclaimed king of England at London.
1496, Saturday, Henry VII hired the Italian sailor John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) to explore the North Atlantic.
1574, Friday, Birth of the English Mathematician William Oughtred, inventor of the slide rule.
1624, Thursday, Birth of the English Mathematician John Collins.
1748, Saturday, Birth of the English composer William Shield .
1778, Thursday, Death of the English composer Thomas Arne.
1779, Friday, Birth of the English Mathematician Benjamin Gompertz, in London.
1817, Wednesday, Birth of the English archaeologist Sir Austen Henry Layard.
1825, Saturday, The Grosvenor Canal, running from Chelsea Bridge to the area covered by Victoria Station, was opened. It was truncated by the construction of the station in 1899.
1856, Wednesday, Robert Smirke's Covent Garden Theatre was destroyed by fire following an accident at a masked ball.
1874, Thursday, Birth of the English actor Henry Travers.
1894, Monday, Birth of the English actor Henry Daniell.
1908, Thursday, Birth of the English actor Rex Harrison.
1915, Friday, Birth of the French Mathematician Laurent Schwartz.
1931, Thursday, Birth of English composer Anthony Hedges.
1939, Sunday, Birth of the English actress Samantha Eggar.
1948, Friday, Birth of English conductor Richard Hickox.
1952, Wednesday, Birth of the English actress Elaine Page.
1976, Friday, The pound fell below $2 for the first time ever.
1993, Friday, Death of the British politician Nicholas Ridley. 6th
1616, Wednesday, Death of the English dramatist Francis Beaumont.
1661, Wednesday, The Royal Society elected their first president - Sir Robert Moray.
1665, Monday, The first issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society was published. It is the world's oldest continuing periodical.
1754, Wednesday, Death of the English statesman Henry Pelham.
1806, Thursday, Birth of the English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
1835, Friday, The philosopher John Stuart Mill, having borrowed Thomas Carlyle's first draft of his monumental history of The French Revolution in order to review it, had to face the historian to tell him that a servant had used the manuscript to light a fire. The unhappy Carlyle had already destroyed his own notes.
1838, Saturday, A candle overturned in the rooms of Justice Maule in the Temple and started a fire which destroyed the Paper Buildings.
1848, Monday, A meeting in Trafalgar Square to protest against income tax was dispersed by 500 policemen.
1866, Tuesday, Death of the English physicist William Whewell.
1902, Thursday, A British Army order gave soldiers the right to wear spectacles on or off duty.
1903, Friday, In response to the build-up of the German Navy, plans to build a massive Royal Navy base at Rosyth on the Firth of Forth were announced.
1905, Monday, Chief Secretary for Ireland, George Wyndham, resigned over problems of creating a coherent Irish policy in the face of extreme Unionism.
1919, Thursday, The Board of Trade revealed that women in paid occupations increased by 1.2 million during the War.
1920, Saturday, Birth of the English actor/director Lewis Gilbert.
1922, Monday, Birth of the English comic actor Frankie Howerd.
1929, Wednesday, Birth of the British politician Hal Miller.
1941, Thursday, Birth of the British politician Ann Winterton.
1949, Sunday, The UK announced that it had succeeded in manufacturing plutonium for the first time.
1956, Tuesday, British Railways announced that steam trains were to be replaced by electric services between London, Liverpool, and Manchester.
1961, Monday, Death of the English comic actor George Formby [George Hoy Booth].
1963, Wednesday, A television documentary on defence was banned as it was deemed it could not be politically impartial.
1974, Wednesday, The Miners end their strike after getting a 35% pay rise.
1984, Tuesday, The National Coal Board announced a plan of massive job cuts & pit closures.
1985, Wednesday, The Conservative MP Ivar Lawrence made the longest speech of the 20th century in the House of Commons. He spoke for 4 hours and 23 minutes on the subject of the fluoridation of drinking water.
1989, Monday, Death of the English actor Harry Andrews.
1995, Monday, The Dutch financial conglomerate Internationale Nederlanden Groep NV (ING) agreed to buy most of the collapsed 223-year-old Barings bank for the nominal price of £1.00 .
1996, Wednesday, Death of the English actor Simon Cadell.
1997, Thursday, Tête de Femme by Picasso , priced at £650,000, was stolen from the Lefevre Gallery in Mayfair. 7th
1804, Wednesday, The Royal Horticultural Society was formed in a room above Hatchard's bookshop in Piccadilly at a meeting of gardeners and botanists organised by a son of Josiah Wedgwood.
1804, Wednesday, The British and foreign Bible Society was formed for the circulation of the Scriptures in the principal living languages.'
1860, Wednesday, The Floral Hall at Covent Garden, designed by E M Barry, was opened. It is now an integral part of the new Opera House complex.
1900, Wednesday, A fire at Buckingham Palace destroyed part of the roof.
1912, Thursday, French aviator Henri Seimet made the first non-stop flight from Paris to London.
1925, Saturday, Birth of the English actor Richard Vernon.
1926, Sunday, The first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation took place, between New York and London.
1943, Sunday, The British national Wings for Victory savings campaign began.
1957, Thursday, Death of the English writer and artist Percy Wyndham Lewis.
1958, Friday, Birth of the English comedian Rik Mayall.
1963, Thursday, Two London journalists were jailed for refusing to reveal their sources.
1966, Monday, The Government announced that it was to abolish national assistance and create a new ministry of social security.
1969, Friday, The Victoria line on London's underground railway system was opened.
1990, Wednesday, The Egyptian Fayed brothers were allowed to keep Harrods despite an official report that branded them liars during their £615m takeover bid of the House of Fraser Stores.
1997, Friday, Death of the British aviation engineer Norman de Bruyne. 1st
1643, Wednesday, Death of the Italian composer Girolamo Frescobaldi.
1777, Saturday, Death of the Austrian composer Georg Christoph Wagenzeil.
1810, Saturday, Birth of the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin.
1904, Tuesday, Birth of the American bandleader Glenn Miller.
1910, Tuesday, Birth of the Scottish-born film actor David Niven.
1911, Wednesday, Death of the Dutch physical chemist Jacobus H van 't Hoff (Nobel 1901).
1927 Tuesday, Fifty three miners were killed in a firedamp explosion in a coalpit at Ebbw Vale in Wales.
1935, Friday, Birth of the American actor Robert Conrad [Conrad R Falk].
1947, Saturday, The International Monetary Fund began operations.
1954, Monday, The first American hydrogen bomb test took place on the Bikini atoll.
1966, Tuesday, The soviet probe Venus 3 became the first man-made object to land on Venus.
1968, Friday, The Pirate Radio Atlantis South began test transmitting.
1978, Wednesday, The coffin of the screen actor Charlie Chaplin was stolen, only months after being buried in a Swiss cemetery.
1979, Thursday, A devolution vote in Scotland failed to reach the 40% requirement.
1983, Wednesday, British Leyland launched a new car, the Maestro.
1984, Thursday, Death of the American film actor Jackie Coogan.
1989, Wednesday, The Comet du Toit reached its perihelion.
1990, Thursday, Death of the Belgian playwright Clause Spaak.
1998, Sunday, The Countryside Alliance staged probably the largest demonstration in Britain this decade, campaigning on issues including beef policies and hunting in the countryside. 2nd
1824, Tuesday, Birth of the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana.
1900, Friday, Birth of the German composer Kurt Weill.
1931, Monday, Birth of the American journalist and author Tom Wolfe.
1931, Monday, Birth of the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
1933, Thursday, The classic film King Kong premiered at Radio City Music Hall & RKO Roxy New York.
1938, Wednesday, Birth of the American bass-baritone Simon Estes.
1958, Sunday, The Antarctic was crossed for the first time by a team under the English explorer Sir Vivian Fuchs.
1970, Monday, Rhodesia proclaimed itself a republic independent of Britain.
1983, Wednesday, Compact Disc recorders, developed by Phillips & Sony, were introduced.
1986, Sunday, Queen Elizabeth II signed the Australia Bill in Canberra, thereby severing all remaining legal ties with Britain.
1987, Monday, Death of the American film actor Randolph Scott. 3rd
1706, Sunday, Death of the German organist and composer Johann Pachelbel.
1802, Wednesday, Beethoven published his piano sonata op. 27 no. 2 in C# minor (Moonlight).
1804, Saturday, Death of the Italian artist Giandomenico Tiepolo.
1845, Saturday, Birth of the German mathematician George Cantor.
1847, Monday, Birth of the Scottish inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell.
1875, Wednesday, Bizet's opera Carmen premiered at the Opéra Comique Paris.
1906, Saturday, Birth of the Swedish writer Artur Lundkvist.
1911, Friday, Birth of the US film actress Jean Harlow [Harlean Carpentier].
1918, Friday, Birth of the US biochemist Arthur Kornberg (Nobel 1959).
1945, Saturday, An RAF bomber squadron bombed The Hague in error, killing 511 people.
1959, Tuesday, Death of the US comic actor Lou Costello.
1962, Saturday, The British Antarctic Territory was created.
1967, Friday, Grenada gained partial independence from Britain.
1977, Thursday, Death of Lord Brian Faulkner, former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, in a riding accident.
1983, Thursday, Death of the Hungarian writer Arthur Koestler.
1987, Tuesday, Death of the US actor Danny Kaye. 4th
1394, Wednesday, Birth of the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator, patron of explorers.
1678, Monday, Birth of the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi.
1774, Friday, William Herschel made the first sighting of Orion nebula.
1798, Sunday, Catholic women were forced to do penance for kindling sabbath fires for their Jewish.
1835, Wednesday, Birth of the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli.
1852, Thursday, Death of the Russian novelist and playwright Nikolai Gogol.
1890, Tuesday, The Forth railway bridge Scotland was officially opened.
1904, Friday, Birth of the nuclear physicist and cosmologist George Gamow.
1913, Tuesday, Faure‚'s opera Penelope premiered in Monte Carlo.
1916, Saturday, Birth of the German-born psychologist Hans Eysenck.
1929, Monday, Birth of the Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink.
1936, Wednesday, The first flight of the German airship Hindenburg.
1946, Monday, Birth of the American cellist Ralph Kirshbaum.
1951, Sunday, Birth of the Scottish footballer Kenny Dalgleish.
1959, Wednesday, Pioneer 4 became the first American spacecraft to achieve a lunar fly-by.
1960, Friday, Death of the American baritone Leonard Warren [Warenoff] on stage during a performance of Verdi's La Forza del Destino.
1980, Tuesday, Robert Mugabe formed Zimbabwe's first black government. 5th
1512, Saturday, Birth of the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator.
1534, Thursday, Death of the Italian painter Antonio Correggio.
1558, Saturday, the smoking of tobacco was introduced into Europe by Francisco Fernandes.
1616, Tuesday, Copernicus's work De revolutionibus was put on the Church's list of prohibited books.
1637, Sunday, Birth of the Dutch painter John van der Heyden (invented the fire extinguisher).
1668, Thursday, Birth of the Italian composer Francesco Gasparini.
1733, Monday, Birth of the Italian dancer/choreographer Vincenzo Galeotti [Tomazelli].
1794, Wednesday, Birth of the French scientist Jacques Babinet .
1807, Thursday, Beethoven's 4th Symphony premiered.
1815, Sunday, Death of the Austrian physician Friedrich Mesmer.
1817, Wednesday, Birth of the Italian Mathematician Angelo Genocchi.
1818, Thursday, Rossini's opera Mose in Egitto premiered at the Teatro San Carlo, Napoli.
1825, Saturday, Birth of the German photographer Joseph Albert (albertotype).
1827, Monday, Death of the French Mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace.
1827, Monday, Death of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta.
1830, Friday, Birth of the French physiologist Étienne-Jules Marey.
1830, Friday, Birth of the Scottish marine biologist Sir C. Wyville Thomson.
1835, Thursday, Birth of the piano manufacturer William Steinway.
1846, Thursday, Birth of the Belgian embryologist Edouard van Beneden.
1850, Tuesday, Stephenson's tubular bridge linking Anglesey with mainland Wales was opened.
1852, Friday, Birth of the Irish playwright and writer Lady (Augusta) Gregory.
1853, Saturday, The piano company H E Steinway and sons was founded in New York.
1868, Thursday, The stapler was patented by C.H Gould of Birmingham.
1868, Thursday, Boito's opera Mefistofele premiered at the Teatro alla Scala, Milano.
1875, Friday, Death of the French astronomer and mathematician Claude-Louis Mathieu.
1876, Sunday, Birth of the French engineer Édouard Belin.
1880, Friday, Birth of the Ukrainian Mathematician Sergi Bernstein.
1887, Saturday, Birth of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.
1891, Thursday, Birth of Spanish composer Frederico Moreno Torroba.
1892, Saturday, Birth of the American Actor William Powell.
1904, Saturday, Ravel's String Quartet in F premiered in Paris.
1907, Tuesday, Rossini's William Tell Overture was the first piece of orchestral music to be broadcast (on a radio signal sent from Telharmonic Hall at Broadway and 40th Street in NYC, to the receiver at the American Naval Yard).
1922, Sunday, Birth of the Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini.
1925, Thursday, Death of the Danish Mathematician Johan Ludwig Jensen.
1926, Friday, Death of the French engineer and inventor Clément Ader.
1927, Saturday, Death of the Prussian Mathematician Franz Mertens.
1930, Wednesday, Birth of the French conductor Lorin Maazel.
1931, Thursday, Birth of Australian horn player Barry Tuckwell.
1936, Thursday, The Spitfire made its first test flight from Eastleigh Southampton.
1942, Thursday, Shostakovitch's Seventh Symphony Leningrad premiered in Siberia. (The score was smuggled out of Leningrad).
1944, Sunday, Death of the Dutch chemist Ernst Julius Cohen.
1946, Tuesday, The term 'iron curtain' was first used by Winston Churchill in a speech in the USA.
1950, Sunday, Birth of the Turkish violinist Eugene Fodor.
1953, Thursday, Death of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
1953, Thursday, Death of the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev.
1973, Monday, Death of Polish conductor Paul Kletzki while rehearsing the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
1974, Tuesday, Leonard Bernstein's Candide premiered in New York.
1984, Monday, Death of the Italian baritone Tito Gobbi. 6th
1475, Tuesday, Birth of the Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarotti.
1619, Saturday, Birth of the French novelist and playwright Cyrano de Bergerac.
1683, Tuesday, Death of the Italian architect and mathematician Fr. Guarino Guarini.
1787, Tuesday, Birth of the German physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer.
1825, Sunday, First performance of Beethoven's Quartet in Eb, Op 127, in Vienna.
1831, Sunday, Bellini's La Sonambula premiered at Teatro alla Scala, Milano.
1837, Monday, Birth of the German baritone Georg Ungar, the first Siegfried (1876 at Bayreuth).
1844, Wednesday, Rimsky-Korsakov completed the composition of the Flight of the Bumblebee.
1847, Saturday, Birth of the German astronomer Fr. Johann Georg Hagen SJ.
1853, Saturday, Verdi's La Traviata premiered at La Fenice, Venice.
1869, Saturday, Dmitry Mendeleyev published his first version of the periodic table of the elements.
1870, Sunday, Birth of the Austrian composer Oscar Straus.
1888, Sunday, Death of the American novelist Louisa May Alcott.
1899, Monday, Aspirin was patented by German chemist Felix Hoffman.
1900, Tuesday, Death of the German motor engineer Gottlieb Daimler, he invented the motorcycle.
1906, Tuesday, Birth of the American comic film actor Lou Costello.
1909, Saturday, The Duke of Sutherland opposed his son's marriage to Lady Marjorie Manners as he was not yet of age and she was 26 years old.
1913, Thursday, Niels Bohr wrote his first paper describing his new ideas on atomic structure.
1913, Thursday, Birth of the American actor Stewart Granger.
1914, Friday, Birth of the Russian conductor Kiril Kondrashin.
1918, Wednesday, First performance of the ballet-opera form with a presentation of Rimsky-Korsakov's Le Coq d'or at the Metropolitan Opera New York.
1920, Saturday, The Cunard liner Mauretania began her first voyage with the newly invented gyroscopic compass.
1921, Sunday, Birth of the Austrian conductor Julius Rudel.
1926, Sunday, Birth of the American economist Alan Greenspan.
1927, Monday, Birth of the American bass baritone Norman Treigle.
1928, Tuesday, Birth of the Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Nobel 1982).
1930, Thursday, Clarence Birdseye's first frozen foods went on sale in the USA.
1932, Sunday, Death of the American composer John Philip Sousa.
1936, Friday, Death of the Welsh zoologist and psychologist C. Lloyd Morgan.
1944, Monday, Birth of the New Zealand soprano Kiri Te Kanawa.
1951, Tuesday, Death of the Welsh composer and actor Ivor Novello [David Ivor Davies].
1952, Wednesday, Birth of the French pianist Marielle Labeque.
1957, Wednesday, Ghana gained its independence from Britain.
1967, Tuesday, Death of the Hungarian composer Zóltan Kodaly.
1967, Tuesday, Death of the American screen baritone/actor Nelson Eddy.
1982, Saturday, Death of the Russian novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand.
1984, Tuesday, Death of the English-born Soviet spy Donald Maclean.
1987, Friday, The cross-channel ferry 'Herald of Free Enterprise' capsized outside the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium, with the loss of over 180 lives.
1988, Sunday, British SAS men shot dead three IRA members in a street in Gibraltar claiming that they had been about to attack a military parade.
1989, Monday, Two people were killed in a train crash in Glasgow.
1994, Sunday, Death of the Greek actress and politician Melina Mercouri. 7th
1274, Wednesday, Death of the Christian philosopher St Thomas Aquinas.
1625, Monday, Death of the German astronomer Johann Bayer.
1746, Friday, Birth of the French botanist André Michaux.
1765, Thursday, Birth of the French inventor Nicéphore Niepce (the first to make a permanent photographic image).
1786, Tuesday, Death of the Bohemian composer Frantisek Benda.
1792, Wednesday, Birth of the English astronomer John F. W. Herschel.
1809, Tuesday, Death of the French balloonist Jean-Pierre-François Blanchardwho, with the American physician John Jeffries, made the first aerial crossing of the English Channel.
1838, Wednesday, The Swedish soprano Jenny Lind (The Swedish Nightingale) made her debut in Weber's Der Freischutz.
1839, Thursday, Birth of the German chemist Ludwig Mond.
1857, Saturday, German chemist Arthur Rudolf Hantzsch.
1857, Saturday, Birth of the Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist Julius Wagner-Jauregg (Nobel 1927).
1858, Sunday, Birth of the Russian composer Nikolai Artzibushev.
1875, Sunday, Birth of the French composer Maurice Ravel.
1876, Tuesday, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.
1897, Sunday, Dr. John Kellogg served the world's first cornflakes to his patients at a mental hospital in Battle Creek, Michegan.
1933, Tuesday, The board game was created and trademarked by Charles Darrow in Atlantic City.
1938, Monday, Birth of the American virologist David Baltimore (Nobel 1975).
1954, Sunday, Death of the German organic chemist Otto Diels.
1960, Monday, Birth of the Czech tennis player Ivan Lendl (never made it past runner-up at Wimbledon).
1979, Wednesday, Photographs revealed a thin ring around Jupiter.
1991, Thursday, The biggest hoard of gold and silver found in Britain this century was declared crown property at King's Lynn.
1995, Tuesday, The directors of the pharmaceutical giant Wellcome PLC advised the company's shareholders to accept a hostile £9.4 billion/$15 billion takeover bid from rival Glaxo PLC after failing to receive better offers.
1996, Thursday, The first surface photos of Pluto were released. Although the only solar-system planet never visited by spacecraft, it was successfully photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope.
1997, Friday, Death of the American physicist Edward Mills Purcell (Nobel 1952).
1997, Friday, Adrian Targett a 42-year-old history teacher in Cheddar Somerset was shown by DNA tests to be a direct descendant of 'Cheddar Man' the oldest complete skeleton ever found in Britain.
1999, Sunday, Death of American film director Stanley Kubrick.
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