# Conversation and Fun > Just Conversation >  Just for the record...........................

## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 22 August* 


In 565, St Columba reports seeing a monster in Loch Ness. 

In 1485, the War of the Roses ends with the death of England's King Richard III. He is killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field. His successor is Henry V II. 

In 1572, the Earl of Northumberland is executed for treason in York, England. 

In 1642, the English Civil War begins when Charles I calls Parliament and its soldiers traitors and raises his standard against the Parliamentarian Army in Nottingham. 

In 1770, Australia is claimed under the British crown when Captain James Cook lands there. 

In 1862, composer Achille-Claude Debussy is born in St Germain-en-Laye. 

In 1865, a patent for liquid soap is received by William Sheppard. 

In 1902, President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt becomes the first American president to ride in an automobile. He is driven around in a Columbia Electric Victoria for a tour of Hartford, Connecticut. Twenty carriages follow behind. 

In 1910, Japan formally annexes Korea. 

In 1917, John Lee Hooker, blues musician, is born in Mississippi. 

In 1920, Dr. Denton Cooley, heart surgeon who performs the first artificial heart transplant, is born. 

In 1950, Althea Gibson becomes the first black tennis player to be accepted into a national competition. 

In 1956, Elvis Presley begins work on his first movie, "Love Me Tender." The film was originally entitled "The Reno Brothers." 

In 1963, Tori Amos, Singer-songwriter is born. 

In 1970, Elton John signs to MCA Records. 

In 1972, due to its racial policies, Rhodesia is asked to withdraw from the 20th Olympic Summer Games. 

In 1978, Jomo Kenyatta president of Kenya, dies at 83.

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## hcjilson

In 1959 that I began my career as an apprentice optician. My first job was sorting screws. My second was learning to air temper lenses, with this huge B&L unit called the tempross machine.
:D :D 
hj

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## Chris Ryser

On This Day - Back in time on 12 September TOP 




In 1609, Henry Hudson discovers the Hudson River. 

In 1649, Drogheda, Ireland, falls to Cromwell's Puritan troops, and the inhabitants are massacred. 

In 1687, John Alden, the last Mayflower passenger, dies. 

In 1818, Richard Jordan Gatling, US inventor of the hand-cranked machine gun, is born. 

In 1846, the Brownings were secretly married at St Marylebone Church in London.  They run away to Italy together a week later. 

In 1873, the first practical typewriter is sold to customers. 

In 1888, French song and dance man, Maurice Chevalier is born in Paris. 

In 1890, the town of Salisbury is founded by the British South Africa Company and becomes the capital of Rhodesia in 1893. 

In 1913, Jesse Owens track star, spoiled Hitler's 1936 Olympics with 4 gold 

In 1922, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church remove the word obey from the bride's section of wedding vows. 

In 1923, Britain takes over Southern Rhodesia from the British South Africa Company. 

In 1953, Jacqueline Bouvier marries John F Kennedy. 

In 1977, Steven Biko, South African black student leader, dies in police custody. 

In 1988, Gilbert, the strongest hurricane ever (160 mph), devastates Jamaica.

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## hcjilson

has already eclipsed Gilbert with winds to 236 mph. Please God, don't let it hit the east coast.
hj

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## Sean

> *hcjilson said:* 
> has already eclipsed Gilbert with winds to 236 mph. Please God, don't let it hit the east coast.
> hj


 Harry, if you want we could go out in the boat this weekend and check out the surf being kicked up by Henri.......................:idea:

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## hcjilson

I think I'll play a little golf and save myself for my daughters wedding next weekend!:D 
hj

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## chip anderson

Harry:  I was in Houston during Carla and the Red Fish were running.  The idiots were out on the piers with their legs around the pilings as the planks were blowing off the boardwalk.

Some fishermen like it a litttle more than me.

Chip

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## Sean

> *hcjilson said:* 
> I think I'll play a little golf and save myself for my daughters wedding next weekend!:D 
> hj


Ooops!, almost forgot about Fabian's 8-10 ft swells.Guess i should wait to get out of the body cast first.

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## Cindy Hamlin

> *Sean said:* 
> Ooops!, almost forgot about Fabian's 8-10 ft swells.Guess i should wait to get out of the body cast first.


Okay, Sean, you and Harry have "teased" enough-details, boy, I want details!!
:o

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## Sean

Cindy,
I was just trying to rattle Harry's cage a bit. :D  Last week i went out on my boat to go through a part of this area called Oyster Harbor and then head over to Martha's Vinyard........all this to check out the forcasted swells from hurricane Fabian and to see if anyone was surfboarding. The 8-10 ft swells remark was tongue in cheek on my part because they were more like 10-16ft. It was a blast! But i must admit by the end of the trip i was whipped. And sore is not the only word i would use to describe how i felt the next day.Harry just happened to get a glimpse of the bruises on my arms and asked what had happend..........:bbg:

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## hcjilson

give Cindy a call and invite her out in your jet boat.......say late Friday or Early Saturday morning......I'm SURE she will be thrilled!:D :D :D 
Chip, the last time we had a major Storm in the fall, they were surfing Nauset Beach in 15-20 foot waves........I didn't see any fishermen however!

hj

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## Sean

> *hcjilson said:* 
> give Cindy a call and invite her out in your jet boat.......say late Friday or Early Saturday morning......I'm SURE she will be thrilled!:D :D :D 
> hj


Is there an outside chance you are referring to Isabel ? :shiner:

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 19 September * 




In 1356, led by the heroic Black Prince, the English defeat the French at Poitiers in the Hundred Years War. 


In 1655, Netherlands, scholar/physicist/mathematician/astronomer Jan Luyts is born. 


In 1783, the Montgolfier brothers send up the first hot-air balloons with live creatures on it, including some sheep and a duck. 


In 1876, the carpet sweeper is patented by M.R. Bissel of Grand Rapids, Michigan. 


In 1881, US president James A Garfield dies of a gunshot wound. 


In 1928, Mickey Mouse debuts in "Steamboat Willie". Walt Disney originally intended to call him Mortimer Mouse, but his wife talked him into Mickey. 


In 1943, singer Mama Cass Elliot is born in Baltimore Maryland. 


In 1948, the English actor Jeremy Irons is born. 


In 1949, English model Twiggy Lawson (real name Leslie Hornby) is born in England. 


In 1957, the first U.S. underground nuclear test is conducted near Las Vegas, Nevada. 


In 1959, Nikita Krushchev is denied access to Disneyland. 


In 1981, Simon & Garfunkel reunite for a NYC Central Park concert. 


In 1989, the US Appeals court restores the America's Cup to the USA after the New York Supreme Court gave it to New Zealand (NZ protested the USA's use of a catamaran).

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## Chris Ryser

On This Day - Back in time on 26 September TOP 




In 1109, French saint Albericus of Cîteaux dies. 

In 1340, English king Edward III is proclaimed king of France. 

In 1580, Sir Francis Drake returns to England after his 2-year, 10-month circumnavigation of the globe. 

In 1774, Jonathan Chapman, who entered American legend as Johnny Appleseed, planter of apple groves throughout the Midwest, is born. 

In 1781, the Continental forces of George Washington and the French forces under Jean Baptiste, Comte de Rochambeau join at Williamsburg. They will defeat Cornwallis the next month at Yorktown, assuring American independence. 

In 1841, Hong Kong is proclaimed a sovereign territory of Britain. 

In 1871, Cement is patented by D.O. Saylor in Allentown, Pennsylvania. 

In 1880, General of the Army in WWII, Douglas MacArthur is born at Little Rock Arkansas. 

In 1888, two major figures of literature, the Anglo-American poet T.S. Eliot and the Texas folklorist J. Frank Dobie, are born. Eliot's poem The Waste Land is arguably the most influential poem of the century. He wins the Nobel Prize in 1948. 

In 1898, American composer George Gershwin is born in New York. 

In 1904, Irish statesman and Amnesty International co-founder (Nobel '74) Sean MacBride is born in Dublin. 

In 1934, Winnie Mandela, the former wife of South African president Nelson Mandela, is born. 

In 1948, Pop singer Olivia Newton-John is born in Cambridge, England. 

In 1953, sugar rationing ends in Britain, eight years after the end of the war. 

In 1965, The Beatles are decorated with the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth. 

In 1973, actor Edward G Robinson dies at 79. 

In 1975, The Rocky Horror Picture Show opens in theatres.

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## Sean

1492  The crew of the Pinta, one of Christopher Columbus' ships, mistakenly thought that they had spotted land.  
1847  During the Mexican-American War, U.S. forces, led by General Zachary Taylor, captured Monterrey Mexico.  
1897  Author, William Faulkner, was born. He is remembered for his works "As I Lay Dying," "Light in August" and "The Sound and the Fury."  
1978  Melissa Ludtke, a writer for "Sports Illustrated," filed a suit in U.S. District Court. The result was that Major League Baseball could no longer bar female writers from the locker room after the game.  
1981  Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.  
1990  The U.N. Security Council voted to impose an air embargo against Iraq. Cuba was the only dissenting vote.  
1992  In Orlando, FL, a judge ruled in favor of 12-year-old Gregory Kingsley. He had sought a divorce from his biological parents.  
1997  NBC sportscaster, Marv Albert, plead guilty to assault and battery of a lover. He was fired from NBC within hours.  
2001  Michael Jordan announced that he would return to the NBA as a player for the Washington Wizards. Jordan became the president of basketball operations for the team on January 19, 2000.

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## Sean

On September 26 
1774  John Chapman was born. He was better known as Johnny Appleseed. He planted orchards, befriended wild animals and was considered a great medicine man by Native Americans.  
1914  The Federal Trade Commission was established.  
1955  The New York Stock Exchange suffered its worst decline since 1929 when the word was released concerning U.S. President Eisenhower's heart attack.  
1960  The first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place in Chicago, IL.  
1969  "The Brady Bunch" series premiered on ABC-TV.  
1985  Shamu was born at Sea World in Orlando, FL. Shamu was the first killer whale to survive being born in captivity.  
1990  The Motion Picture Association of America announced that it had created a new rating. The new NC17 rating was to keep moviegoers under the age of 17 from seeing certain films.  
1991  Four men and four women began their two-year stay inside the "Biosphere II." The project was intended to develop technology for future space colonies.  
1996  Shannon Lucid returned to Earth after being in space for 188 days. Her time in space set a record for both a U.S. astronaut and a woman.  
2001  In Kabul, Afghanistan, the abandoned U.S. Embassy was stormed by protesters. It was the largest anti-Amercian protest since the terror attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, on September 11.  
2001  Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres announced plans to formalize a cease-fire and end a year of fighting in the region.

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## Chris Ryser

In 1226, St Francis of Assisi dies. He is canonised two years later. 

In 1605, Chinese revolutionary Li Tzu-ch'eng dethrones the last Ming emperor. 

In 1789, Washington proclaims the first national Thanksgiving Day on November 26. 

In 1863, President Lincoln declares the last Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day, commemorating the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony immigrants in the early 1600s. 

In 1906, SOS replaces CDQ as the official distress signal because it is easy to remember and transmit using the Morse key. 

In 1941, Chubby Checker, the inventor of the Twist (birth name is Ernest Evans), is born in Spring Gulley, South Carolina. 

In 1952, the first video recording on magnetic tape is made in Los Angeles. 

In 1971, Billie Jean King becomes the first female athlete to win $100,000. 

In 1988, Imagine, the documentary about John Lennon, premieres in Hollywood.

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## Sean

On October 3 
1863  U.S. President Lincoln declared that the last Thursday in November would be recognized as Thanksgiving Day.  
1902  Harvey Kurtzman, founder of Mad magazine, was born.  
1932  Iraq was admitted into the League of Nations leading Britain to terminate their mandate over the nation. Britain had ruled Iraq since taking it from Turkey during World War I.  
1941  Adolf Hitler stated in a speech that Russia was "broken" and "would never rise again."  
1942  The Office of Economic Stabilization was established by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He also authorized controls on rents, wages, salaries and farm prices.  
1952  Britain became the third nuclear power in the world when they successfully detonated their first atomic bomb. The U.S. and Russia were the only other nuclear powers.  
1955  "The Mickey Mouse Club" premiered on ABC-TV.  
1974  Frank Robinson took over the management position of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. He was the first black manager in major league baseball  
1988  The space shuttle Discovery landed safely after its four-day mission. It was the first American shuttle mission since the Challenger disaster.  
1990  The Berlin Wall was dismantled, and the unification of East and West Germany ended 45 years of division.  
2001  Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) broke Babe Ruth's major league single-season record for walks at 171.

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## Sean

On October 4 
1535  The first complete English translation of the Bible was printed in Zurich, Switzerland.  
1648  The first volunteer fire department was established in New York by Peter Stuyvesant.  
1887  The Paris Herald Tribune was published for the first time. It was later known as the International Herald Tribune.  
1931  The comic strip "Dick Tracy" made its debut in the Detroit Daily Mirror. The strip was created by Chester Gould.  
1940  Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met in the Alps at Brenner Pass. Hitler was seeking help from Italy to fight the British.  
1957  The Soviet Union began the Space Age by launching Sputnik I into orbit around the Earth. Sputnik I was the first manmade satellite to enter space.  
1958  British Overseas Airways Corporation became the first jetliner to offer trans-Atlantic service to passengers with flights between London, England and New York City, NY.  
1976  Barbara Walters joined Harry Reasoner at the anchor desk of the "ABC Evening News" for the first time.  
1985  The Shiite Muslim group Islamic Jihad announced that they had killed American hostage William Buckley. Later another American hostage said that he believed that Buckley had died four months earlier from torture.  
1993  Russian Vice-President Alexander Rutskoi and Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov surrendered to Boris Yeltsin after a ten-hour tank assault on the Russian White House. The two men had barricaded themselves in after Yeltsin called for general elections and dissolved the legislative body.  
1994  South African President, Nelson Mandela, was welcomed to the White House by U.S. President Clinton.  
1998  The Vincent Van Gogh exhibit opened in Washington, DC. The exhibit featured 70 paintings.  
2001  Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 70th home run of the season to tie Mark McGwire's major league record, and Rickey Henderson (San Diego Padres) scored his 2,246th career run to break Ty Cobb's major league record.  
2001  In Washington, DC, Reagan National Airport re-opened. The airport had been closed since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11.

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## Sean

On October 7 
1777  During the American Revolution, the second Battle of Saratoga began.  
1868  Cornell University was inaugurated in Ithaca, NY.  
1949  The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was formed.  
1963  President Kennedy signed a nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union.  
1968  The Motion Picture Association of America adopted the film-rating system that ranged from "G" to "X."  
1985  91 people were killed in Ponce, Puerto Rico, by a mudslide.  
1985  Four Palestinian terrorists hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro of the coast of Egypt. There were 440 people onboard. They surrendered after two days and killing an American passenger Leon Klinghoffer.  
1989  Hungary's Communist Party renounced Marxism in favor of democratic socialism.  
1993  President Clinton sent more troops, heavy armor and naval firepower to Somalia.  
1994  President Clinton dispatched an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf when Iraqi troops were spotted moving toward Kuwait. The U.S. Army was also put on alert.  
1998  The U.S. government filed an antitrust suit that alleged Visa and MasterCard inhibit competition by preventing banks from offering other cards.  
2001  The U.S. military (along with Great Britain) began airstrikes in Afghanistan. It was the first military action taken by the United States in response to the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001.  
2001  Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 73rd home run of the season and sets a new major leage record.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 17 October* 


In 532, Boniface II ends his reign as Catholic Pope. 

In 1483, Pope Sixtus IV launches the Spanish Inquisition, placing it under joint direction of the Church and state. 

In 1831, Michael Faraday succeeds in generating electric current from his dynamo and discovered electromagnetic induction. His invention led to motors that drive many appliances and transportation equipment. 

In 1885, Danish writer Isak Dinesen, who wrote mainly in English, is born. The film Out of Africa is based on her life. 

In 1918, Yugoslavia proclaims itself a republic. 

In 1919, actress Rita Hayworth is born in New York. 

In 1923, country singer and songwriter, Hank Williams, is born in Southern Alabama. 

In 1938, Robert "Evel" Knievel, motorcycle daredevil, is born. 

In 1948, actress Margot Kidder is born. 

In 1973, eleven Arab nations begin an oil embargo against several countries including the US and Great Britain. 

In 1979, Mother Teresa of India is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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## Oha

The Red Sox beat the D*mn Yankees!

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## Jim Schafer

Dewey Beats Truman...

red sox nation, I feel your pain.

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## Oha

Did I say two thousand and 3 ??????

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## Chris Ryser

*On October 17, 1823, President James Monroe wrote a letter to his friend and Virginia neighbor Thomas Jefferson*........................ seeking advice on foreign policy. The issue at hand was whether to join forces with Britain in a joint-declaration against Spain's efforts to regain sovereignty in South America.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 22 October TOP* 




In 1537, Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII, dies following complications at the birth of Prince Edward. 

In 1788, Sarah Josepha Hale author , who composed the most popular children's poem of all time, 'Mary had a little lamb...,' is born. 

In 1830, Belva Lockwood is born. She is the first woman formally nominated for the U.S. Presidency. 

In 1836, the match is patented. 

In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph line is completed, linking California with the East Coast almost instantaneously. It puts an end to the Pony Express. 

In 1882, English actress Dame Sybil Thorndike is born. 

In 1901, the first woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, Anna Taylor, is born. 

In 1939, Nylon stockings go on sale for the first time in Wilmington Delaware. 

In 1947, actor Kevin Kline is born in St Louis. 

In 1957, Christian Dior, French designer, dies at 52 in Italy. 

In 1984, Steffi Graf plays her firstt pro tennis match. 

In 1991, Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek creator, dies of a heart attack at 70.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 31 October TOP* 




In 1632, Dutch painter Jan Vermeer is born. 

In 1815, Londoner Sir Humphrey Davy patents the miner's safety lamp. 

In 1860, Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts is born. 

In 1887, Chiang Kai-Shek, the leader of the Nationalist Chinese government and later the Taiwanese government, is born. 

In 1888, John Boyd Dunlop of Scotland is awarded a patent for the pneumatic bicycle tyre.Revolutionizing transportation. Dunlop developed these tyres to cushion the tricycle ride for his sick son on the cobblestone streets of Belfast. 

In 1920, popular mystery writer Dick Francis, who mainly writes books connected with horse racing, is born. 

In 1922, Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) becomes premier of Italy. 

In 1926, Magician and escape artist Harry Houdini dies from peritonitis and gangrene, after sustaining a punch in the abdomen from a deranged fan nine days earlier. The fan had been wondering if Houdini were able to withstand stomach hits as earlier reported, but did not wait for the magician to prepare himself. 

In 1937, American actor Michael Landon (Bonanza, Highway to Heaven) is born in Forest Hills, New York. 

In 1984, Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, is assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 7 November* 




In 1637, Anne Hutchinson, the first female religious leader in the American colonies, is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for heresy. 

In 1783, the last public hanging in Britain at Tyburn Hill took place with the execution of John Austin, a forger. 

In 1805, Lewis and Clark first sight the Pacific Ocean. 

In 1867, twice winner of the Nobel Prize (1907, 1911) physicist Madame Marie Sklodowska Curie is born in Russian Poland. 

In 1874, Thomas Nast?s cartoon elephant is first used as a symbol of the Republican party. Nast is also the creator of Uncle Sam and the Democratic donkey. 

In 1876, the cigarette-making machine is patented this day in 1876 by A.H. Hook of New York City. It makes a very long roll of paper and tobacco which is cut into uniform lengths. 

In 1879, Soviet leader Leon Trotsky is born. 

In 1888, Sir Chandrasekhara Raman, the Indian physicist who won the Nobel Prize in 1930, is born. 

In 1918, the most famous of all American evangelists, Billy Graham, is born. 

In 1943, folk-rock singer Joni Mitchell is born in Canada. 

In 1962, Eleanor Roosevelt, former US First Lady, dies at 78 in New York City. 

In 1973, New Jersey becomes the first state to allow girls into the little league. 

In 1980, actor Steve McQueen dies at 50.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 14 November* 




In 565, Roman emperor Justinian dies at 82. 

In 1666, Samuel Pepys reports on the first blood transfusion which was between dogs. 

In 1687, Nell Gwyn, one of the mistresses of Charles II, dies on this day in 1687. 

In 1765, Robert Fulton, who built the first commercial steamboat, is born. 

In 1776, Henri Dutrochet discovers and names the process of osmosis. 

In 1832, horse-drawn streetcars begin operating in New York City. They hold 30 people. The fare of 12¢ takes passengers on 4th Avenue between Prince & 14th Streets. 

In 1840, French impressionist painter, Claude Monet is born. 

In 1851, Herman Melville?s tale of the great-white whale Moby-Dick, is published. 

In 1889, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister (1947-64) is born. 

In 1896, the power plant at Niagara Falls begins operation. 

In 1922, the first BBC radio broadcast is made. 

In 1940, Coventry Cathedral is bombed and destroyed. The new cathedral was built adjacent to it. The shell of the old one was retained and is now a site for reconciliation. 

In 1973, Britain's Princess Anne marries commoner, Capt Mark Phillips. 

In 1990, British spy, author, and Christian apologist Malcolm Muggeridge dies at 87.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 21 November TOP* 




In 235, St Anterus begins his reign as Catholic Pope. 

In 1694, English composer Henry Purcell dies, the year after he composed the beautiful funeral music for Queen Mary II. 

In 1694, French thinker Voltaire [Francois-Marie Arouet], is born. 

In 1794, Pearl Harbor in Hawaii is first sighted by Europeans. 

In 1835, English poet James Hogg, known as the ?Etterick Shepherd? for his rural themes, dies. 

In 1863, Arthur Quiller-Couch, editor of the Oxford Book of English Verse, is born. 

In 1871, Moses Gale patents a cigar lighter. 

In 1888, Harpo (Adolph) Marx is born on this day in 1888 in New York City. 

In 1929, Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali has his first art exhibit. 

In 1945, American performer Goldie Hawn is born. 

In 1946, at Key West, Florida, Harry Truman becomes the first American president to travel in a submarine. 

In 1973, President Nixon?s attorney J. Fred Buzhardt announces that one of the Watergate tapes had a mysterious 18½ minute gap in it. Nixon?s secretary Rose Mary Woods claims that she inadvertently did it, but experts claim that it was intentionally erased. 

In 1977, the first flight of the Concorde (London to New York) takes place. 

In 1989, the proceedings of Britain?s House of Commons were televised live for the first time.

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## Chris Ryser

Fifty years ago on this date, First Officer Pierre Guy Charbonneau (Known then as co-pilot) was taking his very first flight as a pilot on Trans Canada Air Lines.

The flight was a Toronto-London-Cleveland return.

The aircraft was a 21 passenger DC3

The crew was one Captain, one co-pilot and one stewardess

The flight was at four thousand feet and 180 mph

The weather was total apocalypseA severe double cold front was smack across our route which meant we had to go trough continuous thunderstorms, hail, rain, ice and severe turbulence ( no radar in those days) all the way down and back. The DC3 was not pressurized so it leaked like an old rowboat; we had to wear raincoats in the cockpit.

What I remember the most about that night is having second thoughts about my choice of career.

When we finally got back to Toronto, he Captain noticed how white and green I was so in a most serious tone he said to me Cheer up son, its bound to get better tomorrow

It wasand it did..for the next thirty-five years.

Pierre
------------------------------

and here is the comment his son just sent:


"it leaked like an old rowboat; we had to wear raincoats in the cockpit." 

Well this probably explains why you also sailed, just change the whole thing from DC-3 to boat, slow the speed down a bit and voilà, same thing :o)

This was quite a scary story, just like when I tell the kids at work that we used to fly on ADF then much later ( for me) on VOR radios with no flight management systems or even a GPS they turn a nice shade of white, the exact same color I get when I hear how you did it...shudder brrrr.

Claude

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 28 November*  



In 1262, Shinran, founder of Japan's True Pure Land Buddhist sect, dies. 

In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing the Pacific Ocean, through the straits that bear his name. 

In 1628, English cleric and author of the Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan is born. 

In 1757, English poet/painter William Blake (Songs of Innocence & Experience) is born. 

In 1863, Thanksgiving is first observed as a regular American holiday. Proclaimed by President Lincoln the previous month, it was declared that the event would be observed annually, on the fourth Thursday in November. 

In 1871, Ku Klux Klan trials begin in the Federal District Court in South Carolina. 

In 1905, the Irish political party Sinn Fein is founded. 

In 1919, US-born Lady Astor is elected the first female member of the British Parliament. 

In 1925, the Grand Ole Opry makes its radio debut on station WSM in Nashville. 

In 1939, James A Naismith creator of basketball, dies at 78. 

In 1981, actress Natalie Wood drowns near Catalina Island. 

In 1988, Picasso's "Acrobat & Harlequin" sells for $38.46 million.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 5 December * 



In 1212, Derek II of Are Bishop of Utrecht (1197-1212), dies. 

In 1456, an earthquake strikes Naples - about 35,000 people die. 

In 1766, the first sale is made in London by auctioneer James Christie. 

In 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composer, dies in Vienna, Austria, age 35. 

In 1830, the English poet Christina Rossetti is born. 

In 1854, Aaron Allen of Boston patents the folding theatre chair. 

In 1861, the Gatling gun is patented. 

In 1893, the first electric car (built in Toronto) could go 15 miles between charges. 

In 1908, numbers are first used on football uniforms to distinguish players, to aid in reporting. 

In 1946, tenor José Carreras is born. 

In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association rules that homosexuality is not a mental illness.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 16 January*




In 1547, Ivan the Terrible crowns himself the first Czar of Russia. 


In 1604, at the Hampton Court conference which King James I had called together to consider Biblical translations, the King approves a proposal for a new translation, which will come to be known as the King James Version, to replace the earlier English versions, which according to the conference had become "corrupt and not answerable to the truth of the original." 


In 1759, the British Museum opens in London. 


In 1815, Civil War Union general Henry Halleck was born. 


In 1913, the British House of Commons accepts Home-Rule for Ireland. 


In 1920, Prohibition begins in the United States, with the implementation of the 18th Amendment, which three-fourths of the states had ratified a year earlier. It ends in 1933. 


In 1932, Diane Fossey, the American zoologist who focused her studies on the mountain gorilla, is born. 


In 1938, Benny Goodman refuses to play Carnegie Hall when black members of his band are barred from performing. 


In 1939, the comic strip "Superman" debuts.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 23 January*




In 1002, Otto III German king/emperor during 983/996-1002, dies age 21. 


In 1265, the first English parliament convenes on this day. 


In 1622, British explorer William Baffin dies at about 38. 


In 1806, William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1783-1806), dies at 46. 


In 1832, Impressionist painter Édouard Manet (Déjeuner sur L'Herbe), is born. 


In 1849, Mrs Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman physician in the US. 


In 1865, General Robert E Lee is named Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate Armies. 


In 1899, actor Humphrey Bogart is born in New York. 


In 1909, the first rescue at sea utilizing radio is done. 


In 1910, Django Reinhardt, Gypsy jazz guitarist is born in Liberchies Belgium. 


In 1931, Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova dies. 


In 1957, Princess Caroline (Louise Marguerite Grimaldi) of Monaco is born. 


In 1962, British spy Kim Philby defects to the USSR. 


In 1974, cricketer Glen Chapple cricketer is born. 


In 1989, Salvador Dalí, Spanish Surrealist painter, dies in Spain at 84. 


In 1992, Simon Brand South African banker/adviser to President De Klerk, dies.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 30 January * 


In 1077, Pope Gregory VII pardons German emperor Henry IV. 

In 1647, the Scots agree to sell King Charles I to the English Parliament for £400. 

In 1649, Charles I King of Great Britain (1625-49), is beheaded for treason. 

In 1788, the Young Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie of Scotland, dies. 

In 1790, the first lifeboat test at sea takes place by Mr Greathead, the inventor. 

In 1882, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the USA is born in New Hyde Park New York. 

In 1930, Magnus Adem Malan South African Minister of Defence is born. 

In 1933, "The Lone Ranger" premieres on ABC radio. 

In 1937, actress Vanessa Redgrave is born in London. 

In 1948, India spiritual and political leader Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by a Hindu fanatic, Nathuram Godse, in New Delhi, at age 78. 

In 1948, aviation pioneer Orville Wright dies. 

In 1951, English singer and drummer Phil Collins is born. 

In 1951, the German automobile inventor Ferdinand Porsche dies. 

In 1956, Elvis Presley records his version of "Blue Suede Shoes". 

In 1958, Yves St Laurent holds his first major fashion show at 22. 

In 1965, the state funeral of Winston Churchill takes place. 

In 1979, Rhodesia agrees to a new constitution.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 6 February* 




In 1508, Maximilian I is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 

In 1564, English poet and dramatist Christopher Marlowe is born. 

In 1659, the earliest recorded check is written on a British bank.v 

In 1665, Anne Stuart Queen of England (1702-14) is born. 

In 1685, Charles II King of England/Scotland/Ireland (1660-85), dies at 54. 

In 1778, England declares war on France. 

In 1804, Joseph Priestley, the chemist who isolated oxygen, dies. 

In 1895, baseballs most famous player, George Herman "Babe" Ruth, is born in Baltimore.
In 1911, Ronald Reagan is born in Illinois. 

In 1912, Eva Braun, mistress/wife of Adolph Hitler, is born. 

In 1918, Britain grants women age thirty and over the vote. 

In 1922, Patrick MacNee London England, actor (Jonathan Steed-Avengers) 

In 1931, cricketer Freddie ("Fiery Fred", 307 wickets for England) Trueman is born. 

In 1935, Board game "Monopoly" goes on sale for the 1st time. 

In 1945, Jamaican reggae vocalist Bob Marley is born. 

In 1958, seven soccer players of Manchester United die in an air crash at Munich.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 13 February*




In 1440, Hartmann Schedel, German physician, humanist and historian is born. 

In 1542, Catherine Howard, Queen of England and the fifth wife of King Henry VIII, is executed. 

In 1545, William of Nassau becomes prince of Orange. His family is still the ruling family of the Netherlands. 

In 1566, St. Augustine, Florida, is founded, the oldest city in the United States. 

In 1622, the Campbell clan in the Highlands of Scotland carries out as massacre of the MacDonald clan. The order came from King William III. 

In 1826, the American Temperance Society forms in Boston. 

In 1858, Sir Richard Burton and John Speake explore Lake Tanganyika, Africa. 

In 1883, German composer Wilhelm Richard Wagner dies in Venice at 69. 

In 1907, English suffragettes storm the British Parliament and 60 women are arrested. 

In 1919, Tennessee Ernie Ford, country singer and actor, is born Ernest Jennings Ford in 1919 in Bristol, Tennessee, on the Virginia border. 

In 1920, the League of Nations recognizes perpetual neutrality of Switzerland. 

In 1933, Kim Novak, erstwhile Hollywood megastar, is born. 

In 1937, the Prince Valiant comic strip appears for the first time. It is known for its historical detail. 

In 1938, English actor Oliver Reed is born in London. 

In 1950, Peter Gabriel, British pop musician, is born. 

In 1959, the first Barbie doll goes on sale. 

In 1990, 50 people are killed at an Inkatha-UDF battle in Natal, South Africa. 

In 1924, King Tut's tomb is opened.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 27 February * 



In 280, Constantine the Great, Roman emperor between 306 and 337 is born. 

In 289, Constantine the Great adopted Christianity. 

In 837, the fifteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet is recorded. 

In 1807, American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is born in Portland Maine. 

In 1827, the first Mardi Gras celebration takes place in New Orleans Louisiana. 

In 1847, Dame Ellen Alice Terry, Shakespearian stage actress and beloved (if not mistress) of Charles Dickens, is born in Coventry England. 

In 1861, Social philosopher and the founder of anthroposophy, Rudolph Steiner is born in Kraljevec, NW Croatia. 

In 1872, Charlotte Ray, the first Black woman lawyer, graduates from Harvard University. 

In 1902, author John Steinbeck is born in Salinas California. 

In 1932, violet-eyed actress Elizabeth Taylor is born in London. 

In 1934, consumer advocate Ralph Nader is born in Winsted Connecticut. 

In 1956, Elvis Presley releases "Heartbreak Hotel". 

In 1974, Sweden accepts a new constitution which strips the monarchy of all political powers. 

In 1992, Tiger Woods, 16, becomes the youngest PGA golfer in 35 years. 

In 1993, American actress Lillian Gish dies at 96.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 12 March* 


In 0417, Innocent I Italian Pope (401-417), dies. 

In 1365, the University of Vienna is founded. 

In 1622, Ignatius of Loyola is declared a saint. 

In 1628, John Bull, who is thought to have composed the British national anthem "God Save The King," dies. 

In 1710, English composer of Rule Britannia, Thomas Augustine Arne is born. 

In 1789, the US Post Office is established. 

In 1868, Great Britain annexes Basutoland in Africa. 

In 1900, President Steyn of the Orange-Free state flees from Bloemfontein. 

In 1924, Hilaire Comte de Chardonnet the inventor of rayon, dies. 

In 1945, diarist Anne Frank is killed in Belsen concentration camp. 

In 1946, singer and actress Liza Minnelli is born in Hollywood California. 

In 1955, American jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker dies in New York City at 34. 

In 1969, Paul McCartney marries Linda Louise Eastman in London. 

In 1970, the US lowers the voting age from 21 to 18. 

In 1976, South African troops leave Angola. 

In 1994, the Church of England ordains the first 33 women priests.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 19 March * 


In 0721BC, the first recorded lunar eclipseis recorded in Babylon. 


In 1628, the colony of Massachusetts is founded by Englishmen. 


In 1629, Aleksei M Romanov, the first Romanov tsar of Russia, is born. 


In 1644, Si Sang, the last Ming-emperor of China, commits suicide. 


In 1813, Scottish explorer David Livingstone (found by Stanley in Africa) is born. 


In 1821, explorer and translator Sir Richard Burton is born. 


In 1831, the first US bank robbery (City Bank, New York/$245,000) takes place. 


In 1848, western legend Wyatt Earp is born in Monmouth, Illinois. 


In 1892, three brothers Hearne play in the same cricket test in Cape Town (England vs SA). 


In 1931, Nevada legalizes gambling. 


In 1936, actress Ursula Andress is born in Berne Switzerland. 


In 1947, actress Glenn Close is born in Greenwich Connecticut. 


In 1950, Edgar Rice Burroughs, adventure author (Tarzan of the Apes), dies at 74. 


In 1955, actor Bruce Willis is born. 


In 1957, Elvis Presley buys the mansion he calls Graceland.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 26 March* 


In 1668, England takes control of Bombay India. 


In 1827, German composer Ludwig van Beethoven dies in Wien (Vienna) at 56. 


In 1863, Henry Royce, the founder of Rolls-Royce Limited in 1884, is born. 


In 1874, the quintessential American poet Robert Frost is born in San Francisco California. 


In 1878, Sabi Game Reserve, the world's first official designated game reserve, opens. 

In 1892, American poet Walt Whitman dies in Camden New Jersey at 72. 


In 1931, actor Leonard Nimoy is born in Boston Massachusetts. 


In 1944, singer and founder member of the Supremes, Diana Ross is born in Detroit Michigan. 


In 1959, US detective writer Raymond T Chandler dies at 71. 


In 1973, English playwright Noel Coward dies at 73. 


In 1974, the Romanian communist party names party leader Nicolae Ceausescu President. 


In 1989, the first free elections take place in the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin is elected President of Russia.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 2 April* 




In 0742, Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman emperor (800-14) is born. 


In 1118, Boudouin I of Bologne/Edessa, first crusader and king of Jerusalem, dies. 


In 1595, Cornelis de Houtman's ships depart to Asia through the Cape of Good Hope. 


In 1618, mathematician and physicist (light defraction) Francesco M Grimaldi is born. 


In 1725, the Italian memoirist Giovanni Casanova is born. 


In 1805, Hans Christian Andersen, author of 150 fairy tales, is born in Denmark. 


In 1827, Joseph Dixon begins manufacturing lead pencils. 


In 1844, Londons notorious Fleet Street prison is shut down. 


In 1872, Samuel F.B. Morse, developer of the electric telegraph, dies at 80. 


In 1872, George B Brayton patents the gasoline powered engine. 


In 1875, Walter Chrysler founds the Chrysler car company. 


In 1877, the first Easter egg roll is held on the White House lawn. 


In 1905, the Cairo-Capetown railway opens. 


In 1912, the Titanic undergoes sea trials under its own power. 


In 1914, thespian Sir Alec Guinness is born in London England. 


In 1935, Mary Hirsch becomes the first woman licensed as a horse trainer. 


In 1939, Soul singer Marvin P Gaye Jr is born in Washington DC. 


In 1948, popular country singer, Emmylou Harris, is born in Birmingham, Alabama 


In 1978, the TV show "Dallas" premieres on CBS (as a 5 week mini-series). 


In 1992, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering. 


In 2002, A siege of the Church of the Nativity by Israeli forces ensues.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 23 April * 



In 0303, George, knight of Cappadocië, patron saint of England, is beheaded. 

In 0871, Ethelred I king of Wessex/brother of Alfred the Great, dies. 

In 1348, the first English order of knighthood (the Order of the Garter) is founded. 

In 1551, Boris Godunov tsar of Muscovy (1598-1605) is born. 

In 1616, English author and playwright William Shakespeare dies on his 52nd birthday.
In 1775, English painter J.M.W. Turner is born. 

In 1850, poet William Wordsworth dies in the same month as his 80th birthday.
In 1891, Ukranian composer Sergey Prokofiev (Peter and the Wolf) is born. 

In 1916, the Easter Rebellion begins in Ireland, as IRA forces stage guerrilla-war attacks around the Irish capital. 

In 1928, child actress and UN Ambassador Shirley Temple Black is born in California. 

In 1936, singer Roy Orbison is born in West Texas USA. 

In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to death for killing Bobby Kennedy. 

In 1984, AIDS-virus identified (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 30 April* 






In 0311, Emperor Galerius recognizes Christians legally in the Roman Empire. 

In 1006, the brightest supernova in recorded history is observed. 

In 1309, Kazimierz III de Great King of Poland is born. 

In 1527, England and France sign treaty of Westminster. 

In 1789, George Washington is inaugurated as the first President of the USA. 

In 1828, Shaka, the great Zulu king, is killed. 

In 1873, Scottish missionary and explorer David Livingstone dies in south central Africa. 

In 1885, the Boston Pops Orchestra forms. 

In 1893, French painter Edouard Manet dies at 61. 

In 1904, the ice cream cone makes its debut. 

In 1933, country singer Willie Nelson is born in Abbott Texas. 

In 1945, Adolf Hitler commits suicide at 56. 

In 1952, Mr Potato Head is the first toy advertised on US television. 

In 1967, Mohammed Ali is stripped of his world heavyweight title for refusal to be drafted and his seeking status as a conscientious objector. 

In 1974, President Richard Nixon hands over partial transcripts of Watergate tape recordings. 

In 1980, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands abdicates. 

In 1997, Big Ben stops at 12:11 pm for 54 minutes.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 14 May................................*



<LI>In 1316, Charles IV king of Bohemia (1346-78) and emperor (1355-78) is born. 
<LI>In 1610, Henry IV, the first Bourbon-king of France, is murdered age 56. 
<LI>In 1643, Louis XIV becomes King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. He reigns 72 years as the "Sun King." 
<LI>In 1796, the first smallpox inoculation is administered by Edward Jenner. 
<LI>In 1853, Texan Gail Borden patents his process for condensed milk. 
<LI>In 1878, Vaseline is first sold (registered trademark for petroleum jelly). 
<LI>In 1897, Guglielmo Marconi makes the first communication by wireless. 
<LI>In 1906, Hastings Kamuzu Banda President of Malawi (1964-94) is born. 
<LI>In 1908, the first passenger flight in an airplane takes place. 
<LI>In 1925, English writer Henry Rider Haggard dies. 
<LI>In 1926, Comedian Eric Morecambe(of Morecambe & Wise) is born in London. 
<LI>In 1936, singer Bobby Darin (real name Walden Waldo Cassotto) is born in the Bronx NY. 
<LI>In 1948, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion establishes the State of Israel. 
<LI>In 1987, actress Hayworth actress dies of Alzheimer's disease at 68. 
<LI>In 1998, sinter and actor Frank (Francis Albert) Sinatra dies at 82. 
In 1998, the last episode of Seinfeld is broadcast on NBC. Commercials are $2 million for 30 seconds. :cheers:

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 21 May*



<LI>*In 0427BC*, Greek philosopher Plato is born. 

<LI>*In 1420*, the Treaty of Troyes where the French King Charles VI gives France to English takes place. 

<LI>*In 1481*, Christian I, King of Denmark/Norway/Sweden, dies. 

<LI>*In 1688*, English poet Alexander Pope is born. 

<LI>*In 1780*, Elizabeth Fry, Quaker minister, prison reformer, and nurse is born. 

<LI>*In 1804*, the Lewis and Clark Expedition begins. 

<LI>*In 1819*, bicycles are first seen in the US in New York City. 

<LI>*In 1840*, New Zealand becomes a British colony. 

<LI>*In 1881*, the American Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton. 

<LI>*In 1906*, Tennis player Helen Willis Moody Roark (US Open 1923-25, 27-29, 31) is born. 

<LI>*In 1908*, much-beloved American actor Jimmy Stewart is born. 

<LI>*In 1908*, the first horror movie (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) premieres in Chicago. 

<LI>*In 1916*, Britain first begins Summer Time (Daylight Savings Time). 

<LI>*In 1932*, the first transatlantic solo flight by a woman (Amelia Earhart) lands. 

<LI>*In 1945*, Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart are wed. 

<LI>*In 1956*, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission explodes the worlds first airborne hydrogen bomb in a new series of nuclear tests in the Pacific at Bikini Atoll. 

<LI>*In 1979*, Elton John becomes the first western rocker to perform live in the USSR. 

*In 2000*, British romance writer Barbara Cartland dies at 98. She was the step-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 28 May*



<LI>In 970 BC, according to Hebrew tradition, King Solomon, the son of King David and his queen Bathsheba, is born. 
<LI>In 1259, Christoffel I King of Denmark, dies. 
<LI>In 1533, England's archbishop voids King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's marriage. 
<LI>In 1660, George I king of England is born. 
<LI>In 1738, French doctor and revolutionary Joseph Guillotin, who invented the guillotine, is born. 
<LI>In 1742, the first indoor swimming pool opens (Goodman's Fields, London). 
<LI>In 1759, English Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger is born. 
<LI>In 1908, British master of the spy genre and creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming, is born. 
<LI>In 1922, the first live radio broadcast of a performing orchestra is made. 
<LI>In 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco opens to vehicular traffic. 
<LI>In 1944, Soul singer Gladys Knight, leader of the Pips, is born in Atlanta Georgia. 
<LI>In 1961, Amnesty International is founded (Nobel Peace Prize 1977). 
<LI>In 1961, the Oriental Express, the train that ran between Paris and Bucharest, begins its last run, after operating for 78 years. 
<LI>In 1963, Jomo Kenyatta becomes the first Prime Minister of Kenya. 
<LI>In 1972, the virtually exiled King Edward VIII, styled the Duke of Windsor by his brother King George VI in 1936, dies in Paris age 77. 
<LI>In 1984, Eric Morecambe British comedian (Morecambe & Wise), dies at 58.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 4 June*



 In 1070, Roquefort cheese is created in a cave near Roquefort, France. 
 In 1738, George III, English king during the American Revolution (1760-1820) is born. 
 In 1783, the Montgolfier brothers launch the first hot-air balloon (unmanned). 
 1896, Henry takes his first Ford through the streets of Detroit. 
 In 1912, Massachusetts passes the first US minimum wage law. 
 In 1919, the Senate passes the Womens Suffrage bill. 
 In 1929, George Eastman demonstrates the first technicolor movie. 
 In 1942, Capitol Records opens for business. 
 In 1944, singer Michelle Phillips (The Mamas and the Papas) is born. 
 In 1946, Juan Perón is installed as Argentinas president. 
 In 1970, the Pacific nation of Tonga gains independence from Britain after     70  years as a British protectorate. 
In 1989, Ayatalloh Ruhullah Khomeini of Iran, dies at 86 of internal bleeding.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 11 June*




*In 1509*, King Henry VIII marries his first of six wives, Katherine of Aragon.*In 1572*, English playwright and poet Ben Jonson is born.*In 1582*, the city of Buenos Aires in Argentina is founded Spanish conquistador Juan de Garay, captain-general of the La Plata territory.*In 1770*, Captain Cook runs aground on the Australian Great Barrier Reef.*In 1776*, English landscape painter of the Hay Wain, John Constable is born.*In 1910*, French oceanic explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau is born.*In 1918*, Nelson Mandela, civil rights activist, president and statesman, is born in South Africa.*In 1935*, actor and performer Gene Wilder (real name Jerome Silberman) is born in Milwaukee.*In 1939*, the King and Queen of England taste their first "hot dogs" at a party given by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.*In 1947*, the US government announces an end to sugar rationing.*In 1979*, Hollywood actor and star John Wayne dies of cancer at age 72.*In 1987*, Margaret Thatcher is the first British Prime Minister in 160 years to win a third consecutive term.*In 1999*, DeForest Kelley, "Bones" from the original Star Trek television series, dies.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 18 June*




*In 1155*, Frederick I (Barbarossa) is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.*In 1583*, Richard Martin of London takes out the first life insurance policy, on William Gibbons. The premium was £383.*In 1812*, The War of 1812 begins as the US declares war against Britain.*In 1815*, The Battle of Waterloo is waged on this day in 1815.*In 1873*, Susan B. Anthony is fined in Rochester, New York, for committing the crime of voting.*In 1901*, actress and singer Jeanette MacDonald ('When I'm Calling You') is born.*In 1901*, Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia, is born.*In 1928*, aviator Amelia Earhart completed a flight from Newfoundland to Wales and became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.*In 1942*, rock musician and founder member of the Beatles, Paul McCartney is born.*In 1945*, William Joyce, (Lord Haw-Haw), British radio broadcaster for the Axis, is charged with treason.*In 1967*, guitarist Jimi Hendrix burns his guitar on stage at the Monterey Pop Festival.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 25 June*



<LI>*In 1212*, Simon de Montfort a leader of the Crusades dies at 67. 
<LI>*In 1876*, General George Custer and his detachment of 264 troops are killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn by the Sioux and their allies under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. 
<LI>*In 1900*, Lord Louis Mountbatten of Burma, uncle to Prince Phillip (husband of Queen Elizabeth II) is born. 
<LI>*In 1903*, English satirist and author (Animal Farm, 1984) Eric Blair, known to the world as George Orwell is born. 
<LI>*In 1924*, Sidney Lumet, American film, television, and stage director, is born. 
<LI>*In 1962*, the US Supreme Court declares that official prayers in public schools are an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state. 
<LI>*In 1963*, comedian Mike Myers is born in Canada. 
<LI>*In 1963*, English rock singer George Michael is born. 
<LI>*In 1991*, Croatia and Slovenia declare independence from Yugoslavia, starting a violent break-up of the federation. 
*In 1992*, singer Billy Joel gets his high school diploma. He had overslept and missed English and Gym finals 25 years before.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 2 July*



<LI>*In 419,* Valentinian III Roman emperor between 425 and 55 is born. 
<LI>*In 1489,* Archbishop Thomas Cranmer is born. 
<LI>*In 1566,* French astrologer, physician and prophet Nostradamus dies in France. 
<LI>*In 1608,* the city of Quebec is founded by Samuel de Champlain. 
<LI>*In 1777,* Vermont becomes the first American colony to abolish slavery. 
<LI>*In 1843,* it is reported that an alligator fell from the sky during a Charleston, South Carolina, thunderstorm. 
<LI>*In 1862,* William Bragg, British physicist who pioneered solid-state physics, is born. 
<LI>*In 1881,* US President James Abram Garfield, who had been in the White House only four months, is shot by a mentally disturbed disappointed office seeker named Charles Guiteau in a Washington train station. 
<LI>*In 1903,* Lord Alex Douglas-Home, Conservative British Prime Minister between 1963 and 64, is born. 
<LI>*In 1927,* Helen Wills Moody becomes the first American to win Wimbledon in 20 years. 
<LI>*In 1937,* Amelia Earhart, who had soloed across the Atlantic in 1932 and had flown from California to Hawaii in 1935, is lost near Howland Island in the South Pacific as she attempts a round-the-world flight. 
<LI>*In 1956,* Jerry Hall, model and Mrs Mick Jagger, is born in Mesquite Texas. 
<LI>*In 1961,* Ernest Hemingway shoots himself to death in Ketchum Idaho. 
<LI>*In 1966,* Billie Jean King wins her first of six Wimbledon single titles. 
<LI>*In 1988,* Steffi Graf, 19 years old, defeats eight-time Wimbledon champion, Martina Navratilova, to win her first Wimbledon crown. 
*In 1999,* American popular writer Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather, dies.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 6 August*




In 1623, Anne Hathaway the widow Shakespeare dies in Stratford, seven years after her illustrious husband.In 1726, the first permanent Roman Catholic convent in America is opened in New Orleans.In 1809, the sage of Victorian poets, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, is born in Lincolnshire.In 1825, Bolivia declares its independence from Spain. 
In 1844, Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, is born.In 1890, the electric chair is first used in the USA, for John Hart, in New York for murder.In 1911, Lucille Ball, American comedienne, is born in Jamestown, New York.In 1945, the Japanese city of Hiroshima is targeted with the first Atom Bomb, dropped on it by the bomber Enola Gay.In 1960, Chubby Checker performs the Twist on American TV for the first time on American Bandstand.In 1962, after 300 years of British colonial rule, Jamaica becomes independent.In 1978, Pope Paul VI dies.In 1986, William J Schroeder, the world's longest-survivor with a permanent artificial heart, dies after 620 days with the Jarvik VII man-made pump.In 1996, NASA announces the discovery of evidence of primitive life on Mars.

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## Chris Ryser

*      On  This Day - Back in time on 3 September*




*In 1189*, England's King Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) is crowned in Westminster.*In 1596*, Nicolo Amati, violin maker (Stradivari & Guarneri) is born in Italy.*In 1658*, James I, King of England (1603-25), dies at 92.*In 1658*, the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell dies.*In 1900*, Britain annexes Natal South Africa.*In 1913*, actor Alan Ladd is born in Arkansas.*In 1935*, the first automobile to exceed 300 mph is driven by Sir Malcolm Campbell at a speed of 301.337 mph.*In 1939*, Great Britain declares war on Nazi Germany in 1939, following the invasion of Poland two days earlier.*In 1954*, the Lone Ranger is heard on radio for the final time after 2956 episodes over a period of 21 years.*In 1962*, poet e. e. cummings dies at 67.*In 1965*, actor Charlie Sheen - real name Carlos Estevez, is born in New York City.*In 1971*, John Lennon leaves the UK for New York City, never to return.*In 1991*, sentimental movie director Frank Capra dies at the age of 94.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 14 January*



*In 1163,* Ladislaus I Arpad king of Hungary (1162-63), dies. 
*In 1236,* English king Henry III marries Eleonora of Provence. 
*In 1690,* the clarinet is invented, in Nüremberg, Germany. 
*In 1873,* *"Celluloid" registered as a trademark. First ARTIFICIAL plastic used for spectacle frames*
*In 1875,* Albert Schweitzer doctor, humanitarian, Nobel Prize winner in 1952 is born. 
*In 1886,* Hugh Lofting, the author of the Dr. Doolittle series of children's books, is born. 
*In 1898,* the Reverend Charles L Dodgson better known as Lewis Carroll, dies at 66. 
*In 1900,* Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca premieres in Rome. 
*In 1904,* Sir Cecil Beaton, British royal family photographer is born. 
*In 1914,* Henry Ford introduces assembly line, for T-Fords. 
*In 1941,* actor Faye Dunaway is born in Bascom, Florida. 
*In 1957,* actor Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca, Caine Mutiny), dies at 57. 
*In 1977,* Anthony Eden British premier (1955-57), dies at 79.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 21 January*



*In 0879,* Boudouin with the Iron Arm, Earl of Flanders, dies. 
*In 1338,* Charles V (the Wise) king of France (1364-80) is born. 
*In 1677,* the first medical publication in America (a pamphlet on smallpox),     is published in Boston. 
*In 1793,* French king Louis XVI (1774-93) is beheaded by revolutionaries at 38. 
*In 1799,* Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination is introduced. 
*In 1853,* the envelope-folding machine is patented by Russell Hawes in Worcester MA. 
*In 1855,* John M Browning US, weapons manufacturer is born. 
*In 1903,* Harry Houdini escapes from a police station in Amsterdam. 
*In 1905,* fashion designer Christian Dior is born. 
*In 1922,* the first slalom ski race is run in Mürren, Switzerland. 
*In 1924,* British comedian Benny Hill is born. 
*In 1924,* actor Telly [Aristotle] Savalas is born in Garden City Long Island New York. 
*In 1950,* George Orwell (real name Eric Arthur Blair), author of Animal Farm and 1984, dies in London from tuberculosis at 46. 
*In 1959,* Cecil B[lount] de Mille pioneer blockbuster Hollywood producer, dies at 77. 
*In 1976,* faster-than-sound commercial air travel becomes a reality as the French Concorde starts flying between the US and Europe. 
*In 1977,* Italy legalizes abortion. 
*In 1990,* John McEnroe becomes the first person ever expelled from the Australian Open for throwing a tantrum & swearing at an official. 
*In 1997,* Colonel Tom Parker, manager of Elvis Presley, dies at 87

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 28 January*




*In 0814,* German emperor and Roman Emperor (800-814) Charlemagne, dies at 71. 
*In 1457,* Henry VII, first Tudor king of England (1485-1509) is born in Pembroke Castle. 
*In 1547,* Henry VIII King of England (1509-47), dies at 55. 
*In 1547,* 9-year-old Edward VI succeeds Henry VIII as king of England. 
*In 1595,* English navigator and pirate Sir Francis Drake, dies at about 50. 
*In 1706,* John Baskerville, English printer and inventor of typeface, is born. 
*In 1829,* William Burke, murderer and body snatcher, is executed in Edinburgh. 
*In 1841,* Henry Stanley, English journalist and explorer is born. 
*In 1929,* clarinetist Acker Bilk (Stranger on the Shore) is born. 
*In 1936,* actor Alan Alda (real name Alphonso D'Abruzzo), is born in New York City. 
*In 1939,* Irish poet William Butler Yeats dies in France at 73. 
*In 1948,* Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov is born. 
*In 1956,* Elvis Presley makes his first TV appearance on the Dorsey Brothers Talent Show. 
*In 1960,* the BBC's innovative comedy The Goon Show has its final episode broadcast. 
*In 1980,* comedian Jimmy Durante dies at 86. 
*In 1986,* astronaut and teacher Christa McAuliffe, dies in the Challenger disaster.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 4 February*

*In 1189,* English monastery founder and saint, Gilbert of Sempringham dies. 

*In 1794,* French National Convention proclaims abolishment of slavery. 


*In 1824,* J. W. Goodrich introduces rubber galoshes to the public. 


*In 1866,* Mary Baker Eddy claims to cure her injuries by opening a Bible. She founds the Christian Science movement. 


*In 1894,* Antoine J. "Adolphe" Sax, maker of the first saxophone, dies at 79. 


*In 1902,* Charles A Lindbergh, the first pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic, is born in Detroit MI. 


*In 1906,* Clyde William Tombaugh, US astronomer who discovered Pluto, is born. 


*In 1910,* South African playwright and novelist Uys Krige is born. 


*In 1913,* Rosa McCauley Parks, whose defiance of segregated bus law in Montgomery began the Civil Rights movement, is born. 


*In 1914,* actress Ida Lupino is born in London. 


*In 1918,* English comedian Norman Wisdom is born in London. 


*In 1983,* Karen Carpenter, singer/drummer for the Carpenters, dies of anorexia at 32. 


*In 1987,* pianist and showman Liberace dies at 67.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*In 0641*, Heraclius emperor of Byzantium (610-641), dies at about 65. 


*In 1531,* Henry VIII is recognised as supreme head of the Church in England. 


*In 1554,* Lady Jane Grey deposed Queen of England, is beheaded after 9 day rule at 17. 


*In 1650,* René Descartes philosopher "I think therefore I am", stops thinking. 


*In 1800,* photographic pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot is born in Wiltshire England. 


*In 1810,* Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria. 


*In 1847,* inventor (and holder of 120 patents) Thomas Alva Edison is born in Milan Ohio. 


*In 1852,* the first British public female toilet opens in Bedford Street London. 


*In 1904,* New Zealand PM (1960-72) Sir Keith Holyoake is born. 



*In 1917,* novelist and Academy Award winner Sidney Sheldon is born. 

*In 1921,* actress Eva Gabor is born in Budapest Hungary. 

*In 1922,* actor Leslie Nielsen is born. 

*In 1934,* British race car driver John Surtees is born. 


*In 1941,* the first gold record is presented to Glenn Miller for ChattanoogaChoo Choo. 

*In 1967,* the Monkees announce that they would be playing all the instruments on all future recordings. 
*In 1986,* Frank Herbert sci-fi author of Dune, dies at 65. 


*In 1990,* Nelson Mandela is freed after 27 years in captivity.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day...........................*

*In 0641*, Heraclius emperor of Byzantium (610-641), dies at about 65. 

*In 1531,* Henry VIII is recognised as supreme head of the Church in England. 


*In 1554,* Lady Jane Grey deposed Queen of England, is beheaded after 9 day rule at 17. 


*In 1650,* René Descartes philosopher "I think therefore I am", stops thinking. 


*In 1800,* photographic pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot is born in Wiltshire England. 


*In 1810,* Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria. 


*In 1847,* inventor (and holder of 120 patents) Thomas Alva Edison is born in Milan Ohio. 


*In 1852,* the first British public female toilet opens in Bedford Street London. 


*In 1904,* New Zealand PM (1960-72) Sir Keith Holyoake is born. 


*In 1917,* novelist and Academy Award winner Sidney Sheldon is born. 


*In 1921,* actress Eva Gabor is born in Budapest Hungary. 


*In 1922,* actor Leslie Nielsen is born. 


*In 1934,* British race car driver John Surtees is born. 


*In 1941,* the first gold record is presented to Glenn Miller for Chattanooga Choo Choo. 


*In 1967,* the Monkees announce that they would be playing all the instruments on all future recordings. 


*In 1986,* Frank Herbert sci-fi author of Dune, dies at 65. 


*In 1990,* Nelson Mandela is freed after 27 years in captivity.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 18 February*



*In 1516,* Mary I Tudor, the first reigning queen of Great Britain is born. 


*In 1546,* Martin Luther biblical scholar and religious reformer dies at 62. 


*In 1564,* the artist Michelanglelo dies in Rome. 


*In 1678,* John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" is published. 


*In 1745,* Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta physicist andinventor of the battery is born. 

*In 1920,* actor Jack Palance (rel name Walter Palanuik), is born in Lattimer Philadelphia. 

*In 1922,* author and publisher of Cosmopolitan, Helen Gurley Brown is born in Portland Maine. 

*In 1932,* Czechoslovakian director Milos Forman Cáslav (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, Ragtime and more) is born. 

*In 1933,* Yoko Ono, wife of John Lennon, is born in Tokyo Japan. 


*In 1954,* actor John Travolta is born in Englewood New Jersey. 


*In 1967,* Robert J Oppenheimer creator of the atomic bomb dies at 62. 


*In 1972,* the California Supreme Court strikes down the state's death penalty. 


*In 1979,* snow falls in the Sahara Desert. 


*In 2001,* (Ralph) Dale Earnhardt NASCAR driver, dies in a crash during the Daytona 500 at 49.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 25 February*



*In 1570,* England's Queen Elizabeth I is excommunicated by Pope Pius V. 


*In 1577,* King Eric XIV of Sweden is born.</B> 


*In 1601,* Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, is executed for treason against Queen Elizabeth I 


*In 1723,* English astronomer and architect Sir Christopher Wren dies at 90. 


*In 1836,* Samuel Colt patents the first revolving barrel multishot firearm  the Colt 45. 


*In 1841,* French Impressionist painter and sculptor Pierre Auguste Renoir Limoges is born. 


*In 1888,* John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State is born. 


*In 1919,* Oregon places a one cent per gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first US state to levy a gasoline tax. 


*In 1943,* Beatle member and composer George Harrison is born in Liverpool England. 


*In 1968,* Archbishop Makarios is re-elected President of Cyprus. 


*In 1983,* playwright Tennessee Williams dies. 


*In 2001,* Australian cricketer Sir Donald Bradman dies.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 4 March*



*In 1394,* Prince Henry the Navigator is born. 


*In 1595,* English poet Robert Southwell is hanged for becoming a Catholic priest. 


*In 1678,* Baroque violin virtuoso and composer Antonio Vivaldi is born in Venice. 


*In 1681,* King Charles II grants William Penn a royal charter for Pennsylvania. 


*In 1792,* oranges are introduced to Hawaii. 


*In 1835,* the Italian astronomer who discovered canals of Mars, Giovanni Schiaparelli, is born. 


*In 1881,* South African President Kruger accepts a ceasefire. 


*In 1909,* billionaire builder of the Empire State Building, Harry B Helmsley is born in New York. 

*In 1924,* "Happy Birthday To You" is published by Claydon Sunny. 


*In 1951,* British soccer star Kenny Dalglish is born. 


*In 1966,* John Lennon says "We (the Beatles) are more popular than Jesus". 


*In 1979,* US Voyager I photo reveals Jupiter's rings.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 11 March*



*In 0537,* the Goths lay siege to Rome. 


*In 1665,* New York approves new code guaranteeing Protestants religious rights. 


*In 1669,* the Volcano Etna in Italy (Sicily) erupts killing 15,000. 


*In 1682,* the Chelsea Hospital for old soldiers (Chelsea Pensioners), also the venue for the world-famous flower show, is founded. 


*In 1794,* Royal Theatre in London's Dury Lane opens. 


*In 1811,* Urbain Jean Joseph le Verrier, co-discoverer of Neptune, is born. 


*In 1819,* English sugar producer Henry Tate who founded the Tate Gallery is born. 


*In 1845,* Henry Jones of Bristol, England, patents self-raising flour. 


*In 1885,* Malcolm Campbell, the first auto racer to travel 8 km/minute is born. 


*In 1892,* the first public basketball game takes place in Springfield MA. 


*In 1916,* British Prime Minister Harold Wilson is born. 


*In 1931,* Australian media tycoon and newspaper publisher Rupert Murdoch is born. 


*In 1927,* the first armoured commercial car hold-up in US, Pittsburgh takes place. 

*In 1935,* Hermann Goering officially creates the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe. 


*In 1968,* Otis Redding posthumously receives a gold record for "The Dock of the Bay". 


*In 1970,* US writer of Perry Mason, Erle Stanley Gardner, dies at 80. 


*In 1986,* one million days pass since the traditional foundation of Rome, 4/21/753 BC. 


*In 1988,* the Bank of England pound note ceases to be legal tender at midnight, and is replaced by the pound coin. 


*In 1990,* Lithuania declares its independence. 


*In 1997,* the ashes of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry are launched into space. 


*In 1997,* Beatle Paul McCartney is knighted Sir Paul by Queen Elizabeth II.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 25 March*



*In 0031,* the first Easter is noted, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus. 

*In 1306,* Robert the Bruce is crowned king of Scotland. 

*In 1133,* Henry II King of England (1154-89) is born. 

*In 1133,* William the Conqueror orders the first Domesday survey of England. 


*In 1223,* Afonso II 3rd King of Portugal (1211-23), dies at 36. 

..........................................................
*I corrected, but have to compliment the sharp critic who caught a 1000 year old kibg.*


*In 1584,* Sir Walter Raleigh renews Humphrey Gilbert's patent to explore North America. 


*In 1807,* the first railway passenger service begins in England. 


*In 1807,* British Parliament abolishes the slave trade. 


*In 1857,* Frederick Laggenheim takes the first photo of a solar eclipse. 


*In 1867,* conductor Arturo Toscanini is born in Parma Italy. 


*In 1881,* Hungarian composer and pianist Béla Bartók is born. 


*In 1889,* the first Test Cricket match played at Newlands, Cape Town vs England. 


*In 1918,* French composer Claude A Debussy dies in Paris France at 55. 


*In 1921,* actress Simone Signoret is born in Wiesbaden Germany. 


*In 1942,* Soul sister and singer Aretha Franklin is born in Memphis Tennessee. 


*In 1944,* RAF Sergeant Nickolas Alkemade survives a jump from his Lancaster bomber from 18,0,00 feet without a parachute. 


*In 1947,* Sir Elton John (real name Reginald Kenneth Dwight) is born in Pinner Middlesex England. 


*In 1954,* RCA manufactures the first colour TV set (12½" screen at $1,000). 


*In 1965,* actress Sarah Jessica Parker is born in Nelsonville Ohio. 

*In 1970,* Concorde makes its first supersonic flight (700 mph/1,127 kph).

----------


## 1968

> *On This Day - Back in time on 25 March*
> 
> *In 0306,* Robert the Bruce is crowned king of Scotland.


Given that Robert the Bruce died in 1329, he would have been well over a thousand years old if that were true.  That's pretty good even by Old Testament standards!  I think that date is supposed to be *1306*.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 8 April*



*In 0217,* Roman Emperor Caracalla [Marcus Aurelius Antoniius] is murdered at 29. 


*In 1460,* Spanish conqueror/explorer Ponce de León San Tervas de Campos is born. 


*In 1498,* Charles VIII King of France (1483-98) is beheaded at 27. 


*In 1605,* Philip IV king of Spain & Portugal (1621-65) is born. 


*In 1766,* the first fire escape is patented - a wicker basket on a pulley and chain. 


*In 1862,* John D Lynde patents the aerosol dispenser. 


*In 1873,* Alfred Paraf receives a patent for the first commercially viable margarine manufacturing process. 


*In 1912,* Sonja Henie, Olympic ice skater and actress, is born in Oslo Norway. 


*In 1919,* [Douglas] Ian Smith premier of Rhodesia is born. 


*In 1947,* Henry Ford US industrialist dies. 


*In 1986,* Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel California. 


*In 1994,* Smoking is banned in Pentagon & all US military bases.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 29 April*



*In 1091,* the battle at Monte Levunium - Emperor Alexius I beats Petshegenes. 


*In 1429,* Joan of Arc leads Orleans France, to victory over the English. 


*In 1856,* the end of the Crimean War is announced. 


*In 1899,* bandleader Duke [Edward Kennedy] Ellington is born in Washington DC. 


*In 1901,* Emperor Hirohito of Japan (1926-89) is born. 


*In 1913,* Swedish engineer Gideon Sundback of Hoboken patents the all-purpose zipper. 


*In 1931,* skiffle vocalist/guitarist Anthony "Lonnie" Donegan is born in Glasgow Scotland. 


*In 1936,* English banker and multi-millionaire Jacob Rothschild is born. 


*In 1951,* 6-time NASCAR national champion [Ralph] Dale Earnhardt is born in Kannapolis North Carolina. 


*In 1955,* Jerry Seinfeld comedian and actor is born. 


*In 1958,* the Broadway musical, My Fair Lady, opens for its first night in London. 


*In 1958,* actress Michelle Pfeiffer is born in Santa Ana California. 


*In 1970,* one of the greatest tennis players ever, Andre Agassi, is born in Las Vegas Nevada. 


*In I975,* US forces pull out of Vietnam. 


*In 1980,* British director Alfred Joseph Hitchcock dies at 80. 


*In 1984,* rocker Marvin Gaye is shot dead by his father at 45. 


*In 1993,* Buckingham Palace opens to the public for the first time in a bid to raise funds to repair Windsor Castle.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 13 May* 


*In 0609,* Pope Boniface I turns the Pantheon into a Catholic church. 


*In 1390,* Robert II the Steward King of Scotland (1371-90), dies. 


*In 1637,* Cardinal Richelieu of France creates the table knife. 


*In 1835,* John Nash, British town planner and architect of Regent's Park, dies. 


*In 1842,* composer, and half of the Gilbert & Sullivan team, Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan is born in London. 


*In 1888,* Brazil abolishes slavery. 


*In 1912,* the Royal Flying Corps is established in England. 


*In 1914,* world heavyweight boxing champion (1937-49) Joe Louis is born. 


*In 1926,* actress and Golden Girl Beatrice Arthur is born in New York. 


*In 1950,* singer and songwriter Stevie Wonder (real name Steveland Morris) is born in Saginaw Michigan. 


*In 1961,* two-time Academy award winning actor Gary Cooper dies at 60. 


*In 1981,* thousands in St Peter's Square in Rome are stunned by the close-range shooting of the Pope. 


*In 1995,* a British mother of two becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 20 May*



*In 0526,* Earthquake kills 250,000 in Antioch, Syria. 


*In 1471,* Henry VI king of England (1422-61, 70-71)/France (1431-71), dies. 


*In 1506,* explorer Christopher Columbus dies in poverty in Spain at 55. 


*In 1639,* Dorchester Massachusetts forms the first school funded by local taxes. 


*In 1799,* French novelist Honoré de Balzac is born.


*In 1818,* William George Fargo, the founder of Wells Fargo is born in Pompey, New York. 


*In 1830,* the first railroad timetable is published in a newspaper (Baltimore American). 


*In 1874,* Levi Strauss markets blue jeans with copper rivets, price $13.50 a dozen. 


*In 1892,* George Sampson patents the clothes dryer. 


*In 1913,* William Hewlett cofounder of Hewlett-Packard Co is born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 


*In 1944,* rock vocalist Joe Cocker is born in Sheffield England. 


*In 1954,* Chiang Kai-shek becomes president of Nationalist China. 


*In 1958,* citizens of High Wycombe in England witness a unique ceremony at which the mayor is weighed in public. 


*In 1965,* Britain's police are armed with tear gas guns and grenades for use against dangerous criminals. 


*In 1983,* at least 16 people are killed and more than 130 injured when a car bomb explodes in the centre of Pretoria.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 27 May*



*In 1564,* priest and church reformer John Calvin dies at 54. 


*In 1626,* William II prince of Orange is born. 


*In 1647,* Achsah Young, a resident of Windsor, Connecticut, is executed for being a "witch." It is the first recorded American execution of a "witch." 


*In 1794,* millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt is born. 


*In 1837,* cowboy and scout "Wild Bill" Hickok (real name James Butler) is born in Troy Grove, Illinois. 


*In 1844,* Samuel F.B. Morse completes the first telegraph line. 


*In 1907,* Bubonic Plague breaks out in San Francisco. 


*In 1915,* novelist Herman Wouk is born in New York. 


*In 1922,* actor Christopher Lee is born in London England. 


*In 1923,* US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is born in Furth, Germany. 


*In 1930,* Richard Drew invents masking tape. 


*In 1937,* in California, the Golden Gate Bridge is opened to the public. 


*In 1955,* Anthony Eden's Conservatives win the general election in the UK with a clear majority, ending a five-year political stalemate. 


*In 1964,* Jawaharlal Nehru, the founder of modern India and its current prime minister, dies suddenly at the age of 74. 


*In 1965,* Australian tennis player and 1987 Wimbledon winner Pat Cash is born. 


*In 1995,* in Charlottesville, Virginia, Christopher Reeve is paralysed after being thrown from his horse during a jumping event.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 10 June*



*In 1692,* in Salem Massachusetts, Bridget Bishop, the first colonist to be tried in the Salem witch trials, is hanged after being found guilty of the practice of witchcraft. 


*In 1720,* Mrs Clements of England markets the first paste-style mustard. 


*In 1848,* the first telegraph link between NYC & Chicago is established. 


*In 1902,* a patent for the window envelope granted to H.F. Callahan. 


*In 1903,* King Alexander I and Queen Dragia of Serbia are assassinated. 


*In 1910,* rocker Howlin' Wolf (real name Chester Arthur Burnett) is born. 


*In 1921,* Prince Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, and husband of Queen Elizabeth II is born in Greece. 


*In 1935,* Dr Robert Smith & William Wilson of Akron form Alcoholics Anonymous. 


*In 1940,* the last surviving Norwegian and British defenders of Norway are overwhelmed by the Germans, and the country is forced to capitulate to the Nazis. 


*In 1957,* Harold MacMillan becomes British PM. 


*In 1967,* Israeli forces comply with a UN ceasefire bringing to an end six days of fighting on three fronts. 


*In 1980,* In South Africa, the ANC makes public a statement by Nelson Mandela, smuggled out of Robben Island. 


*In 1985,* Coca Cola announces they'd bring back their 99-year-old formula. 


*:) In 1988,* western writer Louis L'Amour dies at 80 of cancer.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 24 June*



*In 451,* the tenth perihelion passage of Halley's Comet is recorded. 


*In 1509,* Henry VIII is crowned King of England. 


*In 1540,* Henry VIII divorces his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. 


*In 1812,* French Emperor Napoleon orders his Grande Armýe, the largest European military force ever assembled to that date, into Russia. 


*In 1895,* Jack Dempsey heavyweight boxing champion (1919-26) is born


*In 1901,* the first major exhibition of Pablo Picasso's artwork opens at a gallery on Paris' rue Lafitte, a street known for its prestigious art galleries. 


*In 1908,* Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President of the USA, dies in Princeton, at 71. 


*In 1942,* Mick Fleetwood, drummer of Fleetwood Mac, is born. 


*In 1949,* Hopalong Cassidy becomes the first network western  on NBC. 


*In 1973,* Eamon de Valera, the world's oldest statesman, resigns as president of Ireland at the age of 90. 


*In 1983,* America's first woman in space, Sally Ride, returns safely in the Challenger space shuttle after a six-day flight.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 15 July*



*In 1573,* architect Inigo Jones, who restored St Paul's cathedral, is born in London. 


*In 1662,* Charles II grants charter to establish the Royal Society in London. 


*In 1856,* Natal is established as a British colony separate from the Cape Colony. 


*In 1881,* William "Billy the Kid" Bonney is killed by Pat Garrett. 


*In 1946,* singer Linda Ronstadt is born in Tucson Arizona. 


*In 1962,* actress Brigitte Nielsen is born in Eisinore Denmark. 


*In 1965,* US scientists display close-up photos of Mars from Mariner IV. 


*In 1971,* the British Government endorses a cull of baby seals in the Wash. 


*In 1995,* thousands of Muslim refugees flee the captured "safe area" of Srebrenica - forced out by the Bosnian Serbs. 


*In 1997,* Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace is shot dead on the steps of his Miami mansion.

----------


## 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.

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## 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.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 7 April*



*In 1498,* Charles VIII King of France (1483-98), dies at 27. 


*In 1506,* St Francis Xavier, Jesuit missionary to India, Malaya and Japan, is born. 


*In 1652,* the Dutch establish settlement at Cape Town, South Africa. 


*In 1770,* William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic school of poetry and poet laureate, is born near England's Lake District. 


*In 1860,* American industrialist and philanthropist W K Kellogg is born in Battle Creek, Michigan. 


*In 1891,* American showman Phineas Taylor Barnum dies in Bridgeport, Connecticut. age 81. 


*In 1908,* conductor Percy Faith (Summer Place) is born in Toronto, Ontario. 


*In 1920,* sitar player Ravi Shankar is born in Benares India. 


*In 1927,* the first simultaneous telecast of image and sound takes place. Herbert Hoover read a speech in Washington, DC which was transmitted to Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City, where an audience saw and heard a tiny televised image of Hoover, less than 3 inches square. 


*In 1939,* film maker Francis Ford Coppola is born in Detroit Michigan. 


*In 1953,* by a vote of 57 to 1, Dag Hammarskjýld is elected secretary-general of the United Nations. 


*In 1954,* Jackie Chan, one of the most recognised names in Kung Fu and action movies worldwide, is born in Hong Kong. 


*In 1957,* the last of New York's electric trolleys completes its final run. 


*In 1963,* a new Yugoslav constitution proclaims Tito the president for life of the newly named Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 


*In 1968,* motor racing world champion Jim Clark is killed in a car crash during a Formula Two race at Hockenheim. He was 32. 


*In 1978,* US President Jimmy Carter defers production of the neutron bomb. 


*In 1986,* home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair sells rights to his machines to Amstrad in a £5m deal. 


*In 1990,* in a tragic coincidence, two separate ferry accidents in different areas of the world take the lives of a reported 325 people. The first takes place in Myanmar (formerly Burma) on the Gyaing River. Later in the day, Scandinavia is also rocked by tragedy.

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## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 14 April*



*In 1614,* Pocahontas, daughter of chief Powhatan, marries planter John Rolfe. 


*In 1759,* organist and composer Georg Frideric Händel dies at 74. 


*In 1814,* Napoleon abdicated and is banished to Elba. 


*In 1818,* Noah Webster, a Yale-educated lawyer with an avid interest in language and education, publishes his American Dictionary of the English Language. 


*In 1859,* Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" is published. 


*In 1865,* at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally wounds President Abraham Lincoln. 


*In 1866,* teacher Anne Mansfield Sullivan, best known for educating Helen Keller, is born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts. 


*In 1894,* Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope first appears in a New York City arcade. The peep-show film machines accommodated only one viewer at a time and showed short films of entertainers like Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill. 


*In 1902,* Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive element radium. 


*In 1904,* actor Sir John Gielgud is born in London England. 


*In 1912,* the Titanic on route from Southampton to New York with 2200 passengers, strikes an iceberg off the coast of Halifax, Nova Scotia at approximately 11:30pm, and sinks early the next morning. 


*In 1925,* actor Rod Steiger is born in West Hampton New York. 


*In 1941,* actor Ryan O'Neal is born in Los Angeles, California. 


*In 1945,* actor Steve Martin is born in Waco Texas. 


*In 1960,* South African cricketer and TV commentator Pat Symcox is born. 


*In 1970,* an explosion on board Apollo 13 causes one of the most critical situations in American space history and puts the lives of the three astronauts on board in severe jeopardy.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 21 April*



*In 1509,* Henry VII, first Tudor king of England (1485-1509), dies at 52. 


*In 1619,* Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeek, first commander at the Cape, is born in Culemborg in the Netherlands. 


*In 1816,* novelist Charlotte Brontë is born in Tornton England. 


*In 1910,* author Mark Twain (real name Samuel Langhorne Clemens) dies in Redding CT at 74. 


*In 1918,* in the skies over Vauz sur Somme, France, Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious German flying ace known as "The Red Baron," is killed by Allied fire. 


*In 1926,* Elizabeth (Alexandra Mary Windsor II), current queen of England, is born in London England. 


*In 1945,* Russian troops capture some outlying suburbs of Berlin at the beginning of what promises to be a bitter battle for control of the city. 


*In 1948,* the first Polaroid camera is sold in US. 


*In 1952,* BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) begins the first passenger service with jets. 


*In 1975,* the President of South Vietnam steps down accusing the United States of betrayal in a blistering attack broadcast to the nation. 


*In 1983,* the £1 coin is introduced in United Kingdom. 


*In 1985,* Ayrton Senna wins his first of 41 Formula One Championship victories driving a Lotus-Renault at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril. 


*In 1989,* six days after the death of Hu Yaobang, the deposed reform-minded leader of the Chinese Communist Party, some 100,000 students gather at Beijing's Tiananmen Square to commemorate Hu and voice their discontent with China's authoritative communist government.

----------


## Chris Ryser

On This Day - Back in time on 28 April



*In 1442,* Edward IV king of England is born. 


*In 1770,* Captain James Cook in Endeavor lands at Botany Bay in Australia. 


*In 1855,* the first veterinary college in the USA is incorporated in Boston. 


*In 1914,* WH Carrier patents the air conditioner. 


*In 1945,* Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland. 


*In 1947,* Thor Heyerdahl & "Kon-Tiki" sail from Peru to Polynesia. 


*In 1950,* comedian and host of the Tonight show Jay Leno is born in New Rochelle New York. 


*In 1967,* Muhammad Ali refuses induction into the US army and is stripped of his boxing title. 


*In 1969,* following the defeat of his proposals for constitutional reform in a national referendum, Charles de Gaulle resigns as president of France. 


*In 1986,* the Soviet Union acknowledges there has been an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine. 


*In 1994,* former CIA agent Aldrich Ames admits selling secrets to the Soviet Union and then Russia, in one of the most damaging spy cases in US history. He is jailed for life. 


*In 1996,* 28-year-old Martin Bryant begins a killing spree that ends in the deaths of 35 men, women and children in the quiet town of Port Arthur in Tasmania, Australia

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 5 May*



*In 1494,* Christopher Columbus first sights Jamaica on his second voyage to the New World. 


*In 1809,* Mary Kies is the first woman issued a US patent (for weaving straw). 


*In 1818,* philosopher and author (Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital) Karl Marx is born in Trier, Germany. 


*In 1821,* Napoleon Bonaparte, the former French ruler who once ruled an empire that stretched across Europe, dies as a British prisoner on the remote island of Saint Helena. 


*In 1834,* Charles Darwin's expedition begins at Rio Santa Cruz. 


*In 1889,* prolific South African pre- & post-WWI cricketer Herbie Taylor is born in Durban. 


*In 1908,* actor Rex [Reginald Carey] Harrison is born in Huyton Lancashire England. 


*In 1930,* Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia, takes-off. 


*In 1940,* rock and lead singer for the Animals Eric Burdon is born in Walker-on-Tyne England. 


*In 1942,* country singer Tammy (stand by your man) Wynette is born in Redbay Alabama. 


*In 1945,* the Mauthausen Concentration camp is liberated. 


*In 1961,* from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. 


*In 1980,* the siege of the Iranian embassy in London comes to a dramatic end after a raid by SAS commandos. 


*In 1986,* the long-running romantic-comedy series The Love Boat airs its last episode. The show had been on the air since 1977.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*In 1777,* the first ice cream advertisement (Philip Lenzi-New York Gazette) appears. 

*In 1820,* Florence Nightingale is born in Florence Italy. 


*In 1828,* pre-Raphaelite poet and painter Gabriel Dante Rossetti is born in England. 


*In 1907,* actress Katharine Hepburn is born in Hartford Connecticut. 


*In 1908,* wireless radio broadcasting is patented by Nathan B Stubblefield. 


*In 1925,* New York Yankee catcher Lawrence "Yogi" Berra is born in St. Louis, Missouri. 


*In 1925,* actor Tony (Hancocks Half Hour) Hancock is born in Birmingham England. 


*In 1928,* Mussolini ends women's rights in Italy. 


*In 1932,* the body of the kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh is found in Hopewell New Jersey. 


*In 1937,* King George VI's coronation in Great Britain takes place. 


*In 1948,* singer, songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist Steve Winwood is born in Birmingham England. 


*In 1963,* Bob Dylan walks off the Ed Sullivan Show when CBS censors balked at his song "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues." 


*In 1971,* Rolling Stones singer, Mick Jagger, marries his fiancée Bianca Perez Morena de Macias at the town hall in the French Mediterranean town of St Tropez. 


*In 1981,* Francis Hughes is the second prisoner to starve to death in the Maze Prison in a Republican campaign for political status to be granted to IRA prisoners.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 19 May*



*In 0988,* Dunstan[us], English archbishop of Canterbury, dies. 


*In 1568,* English Queen Elizabeth I arrests Scottish Queen Mary. 


*In 1795,* philanthropist Johns Hopkins, who founded Johns Hopkins University, is born in Crofton in Maryland. 


*In 1890,* Ho Chi Minh trail blazer/leader of Vietnam (1946, 1969) is born in Kimlien, Vietnam. 


*In 1892,* Charles Brady King invents the pneumatic hammer. 


*In 1902,* Great Britain and the South African Boers resume peace talks in Pretoria. 


*In 1918,* swimmer Florence Chadwick, the first to swim the English Channel both ways, is born in San Diego, California. 


*In 1930,* White women win voting rights in South Africa. 


*In 1935,* TE Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia, dies as a retired Royal Air Force mechanic living under an assumed name. 


*In 1945,* Pete Townshend, rock guitarist/vocalist/composer of The Who, is born in Chiswick, London. 


*In 1958,* British actor Ronald Colman (Prisoner of Zenda), dies at 67. 


*In 1974,* Valery Giscard d'Estaing is elected President of France, defeating socialist Francois Mitterrand. 


*In 1980,* nine people die following the massive eruption of Mount St Helens volcano in Washington State, USA.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 26 May*



*In 1703*, Samuel Pepys English marine expert known for his exhaustive diaries written in code, dies at 70. 


*In 1805,* Napoleon is crowned king of Italy. 


*In 1867,* Mary queen of Great Britain/North Ireland is born. 


*In 1885,* Asa Yoelson, later known as Al Jolson, is born on this day in St. Petersburg, Russia. Jolson became the most famous singer of his day and starred in the first feature-length talkie, The Jazz Singer in 1927. 


*In 1896,* Nicholas II, the last czar, is crowned ruler of Russia in the old Ouspensky Cathedral in Moscow. 


*In 1907,* Western hero John Wayne is born on this day in Winterset, Iowa, and christened Marion Michael Morrison. 


*In 1909,* Matt Busby, Scottish soccer coach of Manchester United, is born in Bellshill, Lanarkshire. 


*In 1920,* singer Peggy Lee (real name Norma Deloris Egstrom) is born in Jamestown North Dakota. 


*In 1927,* the Ford Motor Company manufactures its fifteen millionth Model T automobile. 


*In 1937,* San Francisco Bay's Golden Gate Bridge opens. 


*In 1948,* South Africa elects a nationalist government with apartheid policy. 


*In 1950,* long queues appear at garages and motorists tear their ration books into confetti after an end to petrol rationing is announced. 


*In 1953,* It Came from Outer Space, the first science fiction film to be screened in 3-D, debuts on this day in Los Angeles. 


*In 1966,* South African track star Zola Budd Pieterse is born in Bloemfontein. 


*In 1977,* the movie "Star Wars" debuts.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 2 June*



*In 1491,* Henry VIII King of England (1509-47) is born in Greenwich Palace. 


*In 1840,* poet and novelist Thomas Hardy is born in Higher Bockhampton England. 


*In 1851,* the first US alcohol prohibition law is enacted in Maine. 


*In 1865,* Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith signs the surrender terms offered by Union negotiators. With Smith's surrender, the last Confederate army ceased to exist, bringing a formal end to the bloodiest four years in US history. 


*In 1910,* Pygmies are discovered in Dutch New Guinea. 


*In 1904,* the original Tarzan actor and Olympic gold swimmer John Weissmuller is born in Timisoara, Romania. 


*In 1953,* the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II takes place in Westminster Abbey. 


*In 1966,* the United States lands a spacecraft on the Moon on its first try, but four months behind the Soviet Union. 


*In 1979,* the Pope is greeted by two million people as he sets foot on his native soil of Poland. 


*In 1990,* actor Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady) dies at 82 of cancer. 


*In 1994,* twenty of Britain's top intelligence experts are killed when a RAF helicopter crashes on the Mull of Kintyre.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 9 June*



*In 68,* Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide after hearing that the senate had condemned him to be flogged to death. 


*In 1640,* Leopold I Emperor of Holy Roman Empire is born. 


*In 1822,* Charles Graham receives the first patent for false teeth. 


*In 1893,* composer/lyricist Cole Porter is born in Indiana. 


*In 1915,* guitarist, and inventor of the Les Paul guitar, Les Paul is born in Waukesha Wisconsin. 


*In 1918,* the New York Morning Post names Louella Parsons movie columnist. 


*In 1934,* Donald Duck makes his first film appearance in The Wise Little Hen, a short by Walt Disney. 


*In 1961,* actor Michael J Fox is born in Edmonton, Alberta. 


*In 1969,* Brian Jones quits the Rolling Stones. 


*In 1970,* King Hussein of Jordan escapes an assassination attempt after gunmen open fire on his motorcade as it drives near his summer palace. 


*In 1975,* the first live transmission from the House of Commons is broadcast by BBC Radio and commercial stations.

----------


## hcjilson

I really enjoy this thread Chris- keep it coming!

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 23 June*



*In 1775,* the first regatta is held on the Thames in England. 


*In 1894,* the Duke of Windsor (King Edward VIII of England briefly in 1936) is born in Surrey, England. 


*In 1927,* choreographer and director Bob Fosse is born in Chicago, Illinois. 


*In 1934,* William Bayly is convicted of murder in New Zealand despite the fact that the body of one of his alleged victims was never found. 


*In 1940,* singer, actor and businessman Adam Faith, real name Terence Nelhams, is born in Acton, London. 


*In 1951,* British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean flee to the USSR. 


*In 1955,* Walt Disney's "Lady and the Tramp" is released. 


*In 1956,* 99.95 percent of Egyptian voters mark their ballots to elect Gamal Abdel Nasser as the first president of the Republic of Egypt. 


*In 1959,* after only nine years in prison, Klaus Fuchs, the German-born Los Alamos scientist whose espionage helped the USSR build their first atomic and hydrogen bombs, is released from a British prison. 


*In 1984,* an auction of John Lennon's possessions raises $430,000. 


*In 1985,* a passenger jet disintegrates in mid-air off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people on board. 


*In 1992,* New York crime boss John Gotti, known as Teflon Don, is sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 7 July*



*In 1668,* Isaac Newton receives his MA from Trinity College, Cambridge. 


*In 1852,* according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, Dr John H Watson is born. 


*In 1865,* Mary Surratt is executed for her alleged role as a conspirator in Abraham Lincoln's assassination, although ample evidence of her innocence exists. 


*In 1887,* artist Marc Chagall is born in Vitebsk Russia. 


*In 1891,* travellers cheques are first patented by American Express. 


*In 1900,* Warren Earp, the youngest of the famous clan of gun fighting brothers, is murdered in an Arizona saloon. 


*In 1922,* fashion designer Pierre Cardin is born in Paris France. 


*In 1930,* author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle dies in England at the age of 71. 


*In 1940,* Beatles' drummer and actor Ringo Starr (real name Richard Starkey)is born in Liverpool, England. 


*In 1942,* Heinrich Himmler, in league with three others, including a physician, decides to begin experimenting on women in the Auschwitz concentration camps. 


*In 1967,* actress Vivian Leigh (famous for her role as Scarlet in Gone with the Wind) dies at 53. 


*In 1969,* former Rolling Stones guitarist, Brian Jones, drowned after taking a cocktail of drink and drugs, an inquest is told. 


*In 1976,* for the first time in history, women are enrolled into the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. 


*In 1978,* Martina Navratilova captures Wimbledon defeating Chris Evert. 


*In 1981,* President Ronald Reagan nominates Sandra Day O'Connor, an Arizona court of appeals judge, to be the first woman Supreme Court justice in US history. 


*In 1985,* tennis unknown Boris Becker becomes the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon at the age of 17.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 14 July*

*In 1099,* during the First Crusade, Christian knights from Europe capture Jerusalem after seven weeks of siege and begin massacring the city's Muslim and Jewish population. 

*In 1789,* Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. 

*In 1834,* artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler is born in Lowell, Massachusetts. 

*In 1850,* the first public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration takes place. 

*In 1858,* English suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, who founded the Women's Social & Political Union, is born in Manchester. 

*In 1865,* the first ascent of the Matterhorn takes place by Edward Whymper. 

*In 1911,* English actor Terry-Thomas (real name Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens) is born in Finchley. 

*In 1938,* British director Alfred Hitchcock signs a contract with David O. Selznick to direct movies in Hollywood. 

*In 1951,* Citation becomes the first horse to win $1,000,000 in races. 

*In 1958,* a military revolt in Iraq overthrows the monarchy and prompts King Hussein of Jordan to call for British and US military help to avert a similar rebellion in his country. 

*In 1987,* Taiwan ends 37 years of martial law.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 4 August*


*In 1265,* English baron Simon de Montfort dies at the battle of Evesham. 


*In 1755,* the inventor of the modern graphite pencil Nicolas-Jacque Conte is born. 


*In 1792,* English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley is born Horsham, West Sussex. 


*In 1870,* comedian and singer Sir Harry Lauder is born in Edinburgh. Scotland. 


*In 1901,* jazz musician and bandleader Louis Armstrong is born in New Orleans. He was the oldest musician in Billboard history to have a Number One song. 


*In 1944,* acting on tip from a Dutch informer, the Nazi Gestapo captures 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse. 


*In 1955,* actor Billy Bob Thornton is born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. 


*In 1957,* Juan Fangio wins his last auto race and captures the world auto driving championship for the fifth consecutive year. 


*In 1964,* FBI agents uncover the bodies of three missing civil rights workers at a dam near Philadelphia, Mississippi. 


*In 2000,* celebrations take place all over the United Kingdom to mark the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 4 August*



*In 1866,* the world's first roller rink opens in Newport, Rhode Island. 


*In 1909,* SOS is first used by an American ship, Arapahoe, off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. 

*In 1921,* Alex Haley, author of Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X is born in Ithaca, New York. 


*In 1934,* a group of federal prisoners classified as "most dangerous" arrives at Alcatraz Island, a 22-acre rocky outcrop situated 1.5 miles offshore in San Francisco Bay. 

*In 1966,* the first Chevy Camaro drives out of the manufacturing plant in Norwood, Ohio. 

*In 1968,* the Beatles launch the "Apple Records" label. 


*In 1982,* the notorious East End gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray are allowed out of prison for their mother's funeral. 

*In 1984,* South African born British athlete Zola Budd sparks controversy in the 3,000m Olympics final as American favourite Mary Decker trips over her. 


*In 1999,* up to 350 million people in Europe and Asia witness the last total solar eclipse of the century.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 18 August*

*In 1227,* Genghis Khan, the Mongol leader who forged an empire stretching from the east coast of China west to the Aral Sea, dies in camp during a campaign against the Chinese kingdom of Xi Xia. 


*In 1688,* Puritan clergyman John Bunyan, aged 69, preached his last sermon, before dying 13 days later. 

*In 1905,* Newell S. Wright, an attorney, files to register the Cadillac crest as a trademark. The insignia adorned Cadillac's luxury car for almost a century. 

*In 1920,* Tennessee becomes the thirty-sixth state in the United States to ratify the nineteenth amendment granting women's suffrage, completing the three-quarters necessary to put the amendment into effect and give women the right to vote. 


*In 1926,* the first television picture is broadcast from Arlington, Virginia to Washington, DC. 

*In 1937,* actor Robert Redford is born in California. 

*In 1937,* the Toyota Motor Company, Ltd, began as a division of the Toyota Automatic Loom Works, is established. 

*In 1964,* South Africa is barred from taking part in the 18th Olympic Games in Tokyo over its refusal to condemn apartheid. 

*In 1969,* three days and nights of sex, drugs and rock and roll come to a peaceful end as the Woodstock music festival winds down. 


*In 1977,* Gordon Sumner (better known as Sting), Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers give their first performance as The Police at a nightclub in Birmingham, England. 

*In 1977,* New York born comedian Grouch Marx dies. 


*In 1977,* Elvis Presley's funeral is held in Memphis with an estimated that 130,000 mourners paying their respects.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 25 August*



*In 1530,* Ivan IV (the Terrible) the first tsar of Russia (1533-84) is born.*In 1609,* Galileo demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers. 

*In 1804,* Alice Meynell becomes the first woman jockey in England. 


*In 1819,* fabled crime fighter Allan Pinkerton is born in Glasgow, Scotland. 

*In 1875,* Matthew Webb becomes the first known person to successfully swim the English Channel. Captain Webb accomplished the grueling 21-mile crossing, which really entailed 39 miles of swimming because of tidal currents, in 21 hours and 45 minutes. 


*In 1918,* conductor, composer and pianist Leonard Bernstein is born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. 


*In 1926,* the classic silent film Beau Geste, starring William Powell, opens. 


*In 1930,* actor Sean Connery, famous for being the first movie James Bond, is born in Edinburgh, Scotland. 


*In 1944,* after more than four years of Nazi occupation, Paris is liberated by the French 2nd Armoured Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. 

*In 1954,* singer-songwriter Elvis Costello is born Declan Patrick McManus in London. 


*In 1984,* author Truman Capote dies in Los Angeles, California. 

*In 1989,* the unmanned Voyager 2 spacecraft sends back the first close-up pictures of Neptune and its satellite planets.

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 1 September*



*In 1661,* the first yacht race, between England's King Charles and his brother James, takes place. 


*In 1666,* the Great London Fire begins in Pudding Lane. 80% of London is destroyed. 


*In 1715,* Louis XIV the great, king of France (1643-1715), dies at 76. 


*In 1865,* Joseph Lister performs the first antiseptic surgery. 


*In 1875,* novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs is born in Chicago, Illinois. 


*In 1923,* heavyweight champion boxer Rocky Marciano is born in Brockton, Massachusetts. 


*In 1939,* German forces attack Poland across all frontiers and its planes bomb Polish cities; Britain and France prepare to declare war. 


*In 1941,* the yellow star becomes obligatory for Jews in the Reich to wear. 


*In 1950,* a new chapter in Porsche history begins today, with the company's return to Zuffenhausen, Germany, and the completion of the first Porsche. 


*In 1959,* Elizabeth Taylor signs with 20th Century Fox to make Cleopatra. Her salary is $1 million. 


*In 1960,* Britain's first betting shops will be allowed to open for business from May 1961, the government announces. 


*In 1985,* seventy-three years after it sunk to the North Atlantic Ocean floor, a joint US-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic. The sunken liner is about 400 miles west of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic.

----------


## k12311997

_Milton Snavely Hershey, founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company,  was born on this day in Pennsylvania in 1857._

_not nearly as educational as Chris's but important to us choc-o-holics_

----------


## Ory

Who would name their kid Milton Snavely?  That's just asking to be beaten up!:shiner:

----------


## k12311997

> Who would name their kid Milton Snavely? That's just asking to be beaten up!:shiner:


Who knows in 1857 that could have been in the top ten.  Either way he didn't do too bad for himself.

----------


## Grubendol

> *In 1661,* the first yacht race, between England's King Charles and his brother James, takes place. 
> 
> 
> *In 1666,* the Great London Fire begins in Pudding Lane. 80% of London is destroyed. 
> 
> 
> *In 1715,* Louis XIV the great, king of France (1643-1715), dies at 76.


All three of these events involve characters from the Baroque Cycle!

----------


## Chris Ryser

*On This Day - Back in time on 15 September*


*In 1588,* the Spanish Armada, attempting to invade England, is destroyed by a British fleet. 


*In 1830,* George Stephenson's Liverpool and Manchester Railway is opened by the Duke of Wellington. 


*In 1859,* Isambard Kingdom Brunel, widely believed to be Britain's greatest ever engineer, dies. 


*In 1881,* race car builder Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti is born in Milan. 


*In 1890,* mystery writer Dame Agatha Christie is born in Torquay Devon. 


*In 1904,* Wilbur Wright makes his first airplane flight. 


*In 1907,* actress Fay Wray (starred in the original King Kong) is born in Alberta. 


*In 1916,* the British Army deploys tanks, designed by Sir Ernest Swinton, for the first time at Flers, during the Battle of the Somme. 


*In 1940,* the tide turns in the Battle of Britain as the German air force sustain heavy losses inflicted by the Royal Air Force. 


*In 1946,* actor Tommy Lee Jones is born in San Saba Texas. 


*In 1949,* the Lone Ranger premiers on ABC-TV. 


*In 1971,* the environmental group Greenpeace is founded. 


*In 1984,* Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales, Prince Harry, third in British sucession, is born in London. 


*In 1985,* Tony Jacklin's team of (European) golfers beats the United States in the Ryder Cup for the first time in 28 years after dominating the final day of the competition.

----------


## hcjilson

Wilbur Wright did not take his first flight on an airplane in 1904. He piloted the second and fourth flights of the "Wright Flyer" on Dec 17th 1903. The account can be found here- http://www.fi.edu/flights/first/during.html

----------


## 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 &#163;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.

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## 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.

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## 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."

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## 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.

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## 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.

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