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1 1908 - The first Ford Model T rolls off the production line and starts off a new way of mass-producing cars that would make motoring affordable to the general public. 1943 - US singer and songwriter Jim Croce, best known for the song 'Bad, Bad Leroy Brown', is born as the eldest son of an Italian family. 1957 - The tranquiliser Thalidomide is first marketed, which leads to birth defects in thousands of children worldwide. 1958 - The NASA is created. 1969 - The Beatles' 11th and penultimate album Abbey Road is released in the USA. 1982 - Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as chancellor of Germany. 1982 - Sony launches the first consumer compact disc player (model CDP-101).
2 1452 - King Richard III of England is born (d. 1485). 1869 - On this day, Mahatma Gandhi, Pacifist and Political Activist, is born. 1889 - In Colorado, USA, Nicholas Creede strikes it rich during the last great silver boom of the Old West, leaving the legacy of the town of Creede. 1890 - Julius Henry Marx - AKA Groucho Marx - is born. 1950 - The Peanuts comic strip has its very first appearance in a couple of newspapers.
3 610 - Future Emperor Heraclius and his fleet arrive at Byzantium. 1778 - British captain James Cook anchors in Alaska. 1896 - William Morris, the English designer, writer, poet and politician, dies (b. 1834). 1941 - Singer Chubby Checker is born as Ernest Evans in Spring Gulley, South Carolina. 1993 - During a military mission, the 'Black Hawk' helicopters crash in Mogadishu, Somalia. 2005 - Famous British comedian Ronald William George Barker, or Ronnie Barker for short, dies.
4 1777 - During the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Germantown begins on this day in Pennsylvania. 1830 - Belgium is created with its separation from The Netherlands. 1930 - The British Imperial Airship R101 crashes over Beauvais, France, effectively ending the British airship development. 1957 - Earth's first artificial satellite Sputnik is lauched. 1975 - A Cessna 310Q airplane crashes over Wilmington, North Carolina, USA, killing the pilot and severely injuring several pro-wrestlers.
5 1582 - Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day was skipped in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. 1914 - World War I witnesses the first aerial combat to result in a kill. 1918 - Tennis player and aviation pioneer Roland Garros dies in an air crash when he is shot down at Vouziers, Ardennes during WWI. 1962 - The Beatles' first single 'Love me do' is released. 1969 - Monty Python's first episode is aired on British television. 1999 - 31 people lose their lives and more than 500 are injured in a London rail disaster when a three carriage diesel service travelling from London Paddington to Bedwyn and a high speed train travelling from Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington collide on the Ladbroke Grove points crossing.
6 1600 - Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, premieres in Florence, signifying the beginning of the Baroque period. 1889 - Thomas Edison shows his first motion picture. 1893 - Indian physicist Meghnad Saha is born in the village of Seoratali, near Dhaka in Bangladesh. 1914 - Ethnologist Thor Heyerdahl is born in Larvik, Norway. 1969 - Protests against the war in Vietnam escalate into the 'Days of Rage'. 1976 - All of the Cuban national fencing team die in an air crash, when bombs explode aboard their Cuban Airlines DC-8. 1993 - Aviation legend 'Lawn Chair' Larry Walters commits suicide by shooting himself in the heart. 1995 - 51 Pegasi becomes the first major star to be discovered, apart from the Sun, that has a planet (and extrasolar planet) orbiting it.
7 1879 - Joe Hill is born in Gefle, Sweden. 1968 - Thom Yorke, singer with the UK band Radiohead, is born. 1985 - The Mediterranean cruise ship Achille Lauro departs from Alexandria and is hijacked on the same day. 2000 - England's national football stadium, Wembley, sees its last competitive match before being demolished, rebuilt and re-opened in 2007. England lost 1:0 to Germany.
8 1944 - In World War II, the Battle of Crucifix Hill begins just outside Aachen, Germany. The US troops win. 1952 - 114 people die and 340 are injured in the worst London rail disaster to date, at Harrow & Wealdstowe when an express train coming from Perth crashes into the back of a local train. 1967 - Cuba's revolutionary Che Guevara is captured by the Bolivian army. 2005 - The Kashmir earthquake hits Pakistan.
9 1937 - Actor Brian Blessed is born in Mexborough, Yorkshire. 1973 - Elvis and Priscilla Presley are divorced. 1940 - In World War II, St Paul's Cathedral in London, England, is hit by a bomb in a nighttime air raid by the German Luftwaffe. 1967 - Che Guevara, the Argentine revolutionary and guerilla leader, is executed. 2006 - North Korea tests its first nuclear device, allegedly.
10 11 1811 - The HMS Pomone shipwrecks near the Isle of Wight because of human error. 1954 - In the First Indochina War, the Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam. 1957 - Celebrated comedienne and actress Dawn French is born in Holyhead, Wales. 1982 - The Mary Rose, a Tudor gunship that sunk in 1545, is raised from the sea bed in the Solent Channel, near Portsmouth, UK. 1984 - Three people are killed and 17 injured in a London rail disaster when two trains collide just south of Wembley Central station.
12 1492 - Christopher Columbus 'discovers' America. 1875 - Aleister Crowley, the English occultist and author, is born (d. 1947). 1940 - During the London Air Raid, seven people die when a World War 2 bomb hits the Trafalgar Square station of the London Underground. 1994 - NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus. 1997 - US singer/songwriter John Denver dies in an air crash near Pacific Grove, California, when he was piloting his Rutan Long EZ.
13 1307 - Simultaneous arrests of Knights Templars all across France. 1660 - General Thomas Harrison, having played an incriminating role in the execution of King Charles I, is executed at Charing Cross. 1884 - Greenwich, London, is established as the universal time meridian of longitude. 1908 - Suffragettes, led by Emmeline Pankhurst attempt to storm the British Parliament. 1940 - During the London Air Raid, highly explosive World War 2 bombs hit the Paddington Praed street station of the London Underground. 1972 - The 'Old Christians' rugby team of Stella Maris College, Montevideo, Uruguay is caught up in an air crash, when their plane crashes into a remote snow-covered area in the Andes. It's a Friday 13th. 1990 - Syrian forces remove general Michel Aoun from the presidential palace and effectively end the war in the Lebanon.
14 1066 - William the Conqueror invades Britain in the Battle of Hastings. 1644 - William Penn, the English founder of Pennsylvania, USA, is born. 1890 - President Dwight D Eisenhower is born in Denison, Texas. 1940 - During the London Air Raid, 68 people die when a World War 2 bomb destroys the road above one of the London Underground Northern Line platforms at Balham. 1999 - Irish Tenor Josef Locke dies aged 82. 1977 - Singer and Actor Bing Crosby dies from a heart attack during a golfing holiday to Madrid. 1981 - Amnesty International charges the USA government with holding Richard Marshall of the American Indian Movement as a political prisoner, citing official misconduct in the investigation and trial.
15 1881 - Writer PG Wodehouse is born. 1946 - At the Nuremberg Trials, the Nazi Hermann Göring poisons himself the night before his execution. 1948 - Singer/Songwriter Chris de Burgh is born in Argentina. 1951 - The Mexican chemist Luis Miramontes creates the first oral contraceptive. 1967 - In an attempt to exorcise it of evil spirits, 50,000 demonstrators try to levitate the Pentagon.
16 17 1781 - General Cornwallis orders the British troups to surrender to the US in the American Revolutionary War. 1931 - The US gangster Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion. 2000 - Four people are killed and 70 are injured in a London rail disaster at Hatfield when an express train derails due to a broken track. 2003 - An eastbound Piccadilly line London Underground train derails just after calling at Hammersmith station, due to a broken track section. 2007 - The Dalai Lama receives the USA's congressional gold medal.
18 1016 - The Danes defeat the Saxons at the Battle of Ashingdon. 1867 - Alaska is acquired by USA from Russia. 1904 - Gustav Mahler's purely instrumental 5th Symphony premieres in Cologne, Germany. 1926 - Rock'n'Roll pioneer Charles Edward Anderson Berry, better known as Chuck Berry, is born in St Louis, Missouri as one of six children, two older and three younger. 1931 - Thomas Edison, the US inventor, dies. 2000 - British comedian Ivan Owen dies.
19 1216 - King John of England dies. 1453 - The French recapture Bordeaux, bringing the Hundred Years' War to a close, with the English retaining only Calais on French soil. 1911 - Eugene Ely loses his life in an air crash during a demonstration flight with his Wright Flyer at the Georgia State Fair. 1940 - First recorded snowfall in Pennsylvania, USA. 1986 - Mozambique's political leader Samora Machel dies in an air crash returning from a congress in Zambia approaching Maputo airport. 1991 - Oasis play their first live gig at the Manchester Boardwalk. 2003 - Beatification of Mother Theresa.
20 1953 - US Musician Tom Petty is born in Gainsville, Florida. 1968 - Former US first lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. 1971 - The Nepal stock exchange collapses. 1977 - Three band members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, undisputed kings of Southern Rock, die in an air crash near Gillsburg, Mississippi.
21 1805 - Admiral Nelson defeats the French and Spanish fleets in the Battle of Trafalgar. 1879 - Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb (it lasted 13˝ hours before burning out). 1966 - 144 people die, mostly children, in the Aberfan Disaster. 1833 - Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize, is born (d. 1896). 1989 - The first collection of 'Dilbert' books is published.
22 1797 - From 1,000 metres (3,200 feet) above Paris, France, André-Jacques Garnerin makes the first recorded parachute jump. 1878 - The first rugby match under floodlights takes place in Salford, UK, between Broughton and Swinton. 1969 - Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' is released. 1996 - Insurance tycoon and sponsor of the London football club Chelsea Matthew Harding dies in an air crash when his helicopter crashes near Middlewich, Cheshire.
23 1642 - During the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell's army fights the Royalists of Charles I in the Battle of Edge Hill. 1940 - Pelé, the legendary Brazilian footballer, is born. 1956 - The Budapest protests against the Russian occupation begin. 1982 - TV show Star Fleet first airs in the UK. 2001 - The first Apple iPod is announced. 2004 - A powerful earthquake hits Niigata, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.
24 1601 - Danish astronomer (also alchemist, astrologer, elk-owner, prosthetic nose-wearer and nobleman) Tycho Brahe dies from an infection of his bladder. 1857 - Sheffield FC becomes the world's first football club, in Sheffield, England. 1947 - 32 People are killed in a London rail disaster at South Croydon due to human error. 1961 - During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy announces the blockade of Cuba. 1995 - A total solar eclipse is visible from Iran, India, Thailand, and other parts of South-east Asia.
25 1415 - Henry V of England's army defeats the French at the Battle of Agincourt. 1875 - Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 premieres in Boston, during Hans von Bülow's American Tour. 1951 - The Panmunjom peace talks begin, which eventually leads to the end of the Korean War. 1955 - The Japanese girl Sadako dies aged 12, leaving the legacy of peace cranes. 1999 - US golfer Payne Steward, known for his flamboyant dress sense, dies in an air crash near Aberdeen, South Dakota. 2001 - Microsoft's Windows XP becames available.
26 899 - Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, dies. 1783 - Mozart's Mass in C Minor, considered such a great musical work that it is called the 'Great Mass', is first performed. 1905 - Norway gains independence from Sweden. 1956 - As an answer to the Hungarian Uprising, Soviet tanks are sent into Budapest. 2004 - Respected radio DJ and champion of new music for over 30 years John Peel dies at the age of 64.
27 1914 - Welsh poet Dylan Thomas is born in Swansea, South Wales. 1954 - TV show 'Disneyland' is first broadcast, featuring The Ballad of Davy Crockett. 1984 - Kelly Osbourne, the British celebrity daughter of rocker Ozzy Osbourne, is born. 2002 - The ITV television network stops airing a constant regional service in England and Wales. The national ITV1 is formed, with regional references only before regional programmes.
28 1347 - The first documented Great Peal of Bells in Frankfurt, Germany takes place in honour of the then recently deceased Louis IV of Bavaria, Holy Roman Emperor. 1949 - French virtuose violonist Ginette Neveu dies in an air crash when her Air France Lockheed Constellation crashes into a mountainside while approaching San Miguel Island in the Azores. 1971 - UK satellite Prospero is launched into a polar orbit. 1982 - The Socialist Workers' Party wins the Spanish elections, leading to the first Socialist government after the death of Franco. 1998 - The British poet Ted Hughes dies (b. 1930).
29 1891 - Comedienne Fanny Brice is born Fania Borach to Hungarian Jewish immigrant parents on the Lower East Side in New York. 1956 - During the Suez Crisis, Israel invades Egypt. 1956 - The Tangiers Protocol is signed, reintegrated the city of Tangiers into Morocco. 2005 - Bomb blasts in Delhi, India, kill more than 60 people.
30 1485 - The coronation of King Henry VII takes place. 1883 - The first ever terror attack happens on the London Underground when a bomb explodes between Charing Cross and Westminster stations, and a second explosion follows at Paddington Praed Street, injuring over 60 people. 1944 - Anne Frank and sister, Margot, are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. 1946 - The first episode of one of the first ever children's TV shows Muffin the Mule is aired. 1960 - Football legend Diego Armando Maradona is born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 1960 - Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the UK, at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
31 Every Year - On the day before All Saints Day, Halloween is celebrated in many countries worldwide. 1892 – Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. 1940 – The Battle of Britain ends, with the UK preventing a German invasion. 1963 - Johnny Marr, best known as guitarist with The Smiths, is born. 1968 - President Johnson announces a complete halt of US bombing of North Vietnam.
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