On this day thread

[Muteswan]

1st. November.
1348. The Black Death reaches London on or about this date.
1512. Michelangelo's paintings on ceiling of Sistine Chapel in the Vatican first exhibited.
1604. William Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello" first presented.
1611. William Shakespeare's romantic comedy "Tempest" first presented.
1848. WHSmith opens its 1st railway bookstall, at Euston Station in London.
1887. The birth of L.S Lowry, English artist, famous for his matchstick figures.
1887. The Helvetia was wrecked off Worms Head, Rhossili, and its remains can still be seen at low tide. Her wreck and her cargo of 500 tons of wood were strewn along Rhossili beach, but no lives were lost.
1907. Cwm Rhondda by John Hughes first performed.
1956. Karnataka (then known as Mysore State) is formed from the merge of Kannada-speaking regions in India.
1956. Premium Bonds first went on sale in Britain with the winning numbers picked at random by a machine with the acronym 'ERNIE'.
1963. Mark Hughes, Welsh soccer striker and manager, born in Wrexham, Wales.
1963. Rick Allen, drums, Def Leppard was born. Allen lost his left arm in an accident after crashing his Corvette Stingray on the A57 outside Sheffield in England in 1984.
1969. The Beatles' "Abbey Road" album goes #1 in US & stays #1 for 11 weeks.
1982. S4C first aired today, the night before Channel 4 opened.
1982. The first episode of Superted was aired, on S4C in Welsh.
1993. The Maastricht Treaty, the Treaty on European Union comes into effect.
1998. The European Court of Human Rights is instituted.

 

[Muteswan]

3rd. November.
1534. English parliament passes the Act of Supremacy making Henry VIII and all subsequent monarchs the Head of the Church of England.
1843. The statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson was raised to the top of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London.
1921. Charles Bronson, American actor, born in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania (d. 2003).
1948. Lulu (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie) the British actress and singer was born, in Glasgow.
1952. Clarence Birdseye markets frozen peas.
1954. Adam Ant (Stuart Goddard), born in London.
1956. "The Wizard of Oz" 1st televised (CBS-TV).
1957. Dolph Lundgren, actor, born in Stockholm, Sweden.
1957. Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2 with space dog Laika aboard, a mostly-Siberian husky, the 1st animal in space.
1957. Sun Records released 'Great Balls Of Fire', by Jerry Lee Lewis.
1960. Elvis Presley had his fifth UK No.1 single with 'It's Now Or Never', it stayed at No.1 for eight weeks.
1963. Ian Wright MBE, English striker and broadcaster, born in London, England.
1971. Dwight Yorke, born in Canaan, Trinidad and Tobago.
1971. Straw Dogs film released today.
1976. The first £100,000 Premium Bond was won, by an anonymous person in Hillingdon.
2002. Lonnie Donegan, Scottish singer-songwriter and the King of Skiffle, dies at 71.
2014. New York's 104-storey One World Trade Center officially opens 13 years after the September 11 attacks.

 

[Muteswan]

5th. November.
1605. Gunpowder Plot: Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes attempts to blow up King James I and the British Parliament. Plot discovered, Guy Fawkes caught, tortured and later executed along with seven others.
1854. Nineteen Victoria Crosses were won in the defeat of the Russians at the Battle of Inkerman.
1909. Woolworths opened its first British store, in Liverpool.
1911. Roy Rogers, singer and cowboy actor, born today.
1913. Vivien Leigh, English actress (Gone With The Wind), born in Darjeeling, Bengal Presidency, India (d. 1967).
1935. Parker Brothers launches game of Monopoly.
1935. Lester Piggott, British jockey (11 time champ), born in Wantage, Berkshire, England.
1941. Art Garfunkel, American singer and actor, born in NYC, New York.
1947. Peter Noone, English singer, sometimes known as "Herman" (Herman's Hermits), born in Davyhulme, Lancashire, England.
1955. Date returned to in "Back to the Future" by Marty McFly.
1959. Bryan Adams, Canadian singer, born in Kingston, Ontario.
1960. Ward Bond, American actor (Wagon Train), dies of a heart attack at 57.
1982. Channel 4 TV's The Tube had its first showing, presented by Paula Yates and Jools Holland.
1983. Billy Joel was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Uptown Girl'.
1986. Kasper Schmeichel, Danish footballer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark.
1987. Eamonn Andrews, Television Presenter (b. 1922), died today.
1988. Viral Kohli, Indian cricketer, star batsman and captain of India, born in Delhi, India.
1991. Robert Maxwell, British billionaire publisher, dies at 68.

Apparently, someone called “Guy” has burned to death on November 5th for many years and people have had fireworks to celebrate. A penny for your thoughts.

 

[Muteswan]

6th. November.
1814. Adolphe Sax, Belgium musician and inventor (saxophone), born in Dinant, Belgium (d. 1894).
1860. Abraham Lincoln (Rep-R-Ill) elected 16th American President.
1892. Birth of Sir John Alcock, English aviator who flew the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic in 1919 with Sir Arthur Whitten-Brown.
1893. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer of the late-Romantic period (1812 Overture, Swan Lake), dies of suspected cholera at 53.
1935. The RAF's first monoplane fighter, the 'Hawker Hurricane' made its maiden flight.
1946. Sally Field, American actress, born in Pasadena, California.
1947. Jim Rosenthal, English sports presenter, born in Oxford, England.
1948. Glenn Frey, guitar, vocals, the Eagles, born today.
1949. Nigel Havers, English actor, born in London, England.
1968. Joe Cocker was at No.1 in the UK singles chart with his version of The Beatles song 'With A Little Help From My Friends'.
1970. Aerosmith performed their first ever gig when they played at Nipmuc Regional High School in Mendon, Massachusetts.
1975. First performance by punk band The Sex Pistols at St Martins College, London.
1986. Forty five people died after a Chinook helicopter carrying oil rig workers plunged into the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. It is the deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record.
1991. The last oil fire in Kuwait set by retreating Iraqi troops is extinguished.
2001. TV drama series "24" starring Kiefer Sutherland premieres on Fox.
2012. Barack Obama is re-elected as US President, defeating Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
2012. Clive Dunn, British actor, dies from complications following an operation at 92.

 

[Muteswan]

7th. November.
1867. Marie Curie, Polish-French scientist who discovered radium and the 1st woman to win a Nobel Prize (1903, 1911), born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1934).
1879. Leon Trotsky, Russian Marxist revolutionary, political theorist and founder of the Red Army [OS 26-10-1879], born in Yelizavetgrad, Russian Empire (d. 1940).
1908. Butch Cassidy (Robert LeRoy Parker) and The Sundance Kid (Harry Alonzo Longabaugh) American train and bank robbers die, shot by Bolivian soldiers at 42.
1917. October Revolution in Russia; Lenin and the Bolsheviks seize power, capture the Winter Palace and overthrow the Provisional Government. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is proclaimed; first Council of People's Commissars is formed with Vladimir Lenin as leader and including Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.
1927. Ivor Emmanuel, Welsh singer and actor, born in Margam, Wales (d. 2007).
1943. Joni Mitchell [Roberta J Anderson], Canadian singer, born in Fort Macleod, Alberta.
1956. Suez Crisis ends with a ceasefire.
1958. Eddie Cochran made his UK chart debut with 'Summertime Blues'.
1974. Lord Lucan mysteriously disappeared following the murder of his children's nanny and a serious assault on his wife.
1980. Steve McQueen, American actor called "The King of Cool" during the 1960s, dies of a heart attack after surgery at 50.
1996. The closure of 'Butlins - Barry Island' in south Wales, Billy Butlin's last-built and smallest holiday camp.
2014. Alan Knight, a fraudster from Swansea, who pretended to be quadriplegic for two years in an attempt to evade punishment for conning an elderly and vulnerable neighbour was jailed for four and a half years.
2014.Australian drummer of AC/DC, Phil Rudd, had a charge of attempting to arrange a murder dropped in New Zealand, but he will still facing charges of drugs possession and making threats to kill.
2016. Canadian singer, songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen died at the age of 82 at his home in Los Angeles.
2016. The death (aged 95) of the veteran broadcaster Sir Jimmy Young.

 

[Muteswan]

8th. November.
1431. Vlad III the Impaler, Wallachian prince, born in Sighișoara, Transylvania, Romania (d. 1476).
1602. The Bodleian Library at Oxford University was opened to the public.
1656. The birth of Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician best known for the comet named after him and for his work predicting its orbit.
1674. The death of John Milton, blind English poet of Paradise Lost.
1802. The birth of Sir Benjamin Hall, commissioner of works at the time of Big Ben’s installation in the tower at the Houses of Parliament. The famous 13 ton bell is named after him.
1847. Bram Stoker, Irish author remembered for the classic, 'Dracula', was born.
1920. Rupert Bear made his first appearance in the Daily Express. Rupert Bear Annuals have been produced since 1936 and are still in production today. The Rupert Annual is still one of the top three Annual titles sold worldwide.
1922. Christiaan Barnard, South African cardiac surgeon (performed 1st heart transplant), born in Beaufort West, Union of South Africa (d. 2001).
1927. Ken Dodd, British singer and comedian described as "the last great music hall entertainer", born in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, England (d. 2018).
1943. Martin Peters, English midfielder, born in Plaistow, Essex, England (d. 2019).
1946. Roy Wood, English rock vocalist and cellist (ELO), born in Birmingham, England.
1958. Melody Maker published the first British album charts.
1960. John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States, defeating Republican candidate Richard Nixon who was the incumbent Vice President.
1965. The bill abolishing the death penalty became law.
1969. ’Something’ the first Beatles A-side composed by George Harrison entered the UK singles chart.
1987. An IRA bomb exploded shortly before a Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing 11 people.
2016. Republican Donald Trump is elected President of the United States of America, defeating democrat Hillary Clinton, who received 2.9 million more votes.

 

[Muteswan]

9th. November.
1541. Queen Catherine Howard (Henry VIII's fifth wife) confined in Tower of London.
1888. Jack Ripper's 5th and probably last victim, Mary Jane Kelly, found on her bed.
1907. The Cullinan Diamond, the largest ever discovered, is presented to King Edward VII on his birthday.
1925. German NSDAP (Nazi party) forms Schutzstaffel (SS).
1937. Ramsay MacDonald, British Prime Minister (Labour: 1924, 1929-35), dies of natural causes.
1940. Arthur Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister (1937-40), dies of bowel cancer at 71.
1953. Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet, died in New York, aged 39. His heavy drinking and wild living contributed to his early demise.
1961. Brian Epstein went to a lunchtime session at The Cavern in Liverpool to see for himself why his record shop was receiving so many requests for records by a group (the Beatles) that had apparently made none. He later became their manager.
1965. Sir Bryn Terfel, Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer, born in Pant Glas, Caernarfonshire.
1966. John Lennon met Yoko Ono for the first time when he visited her art exhibition.
1968. Led Zeppelin played their first ever London show when they appeared at The Roundhouse.
1969. "Bridge over Troubled Water" single recorded by Simon & Garfunkel.
1970. The Goodies make their television debut on the BBC.
1979. Caroline Flack, British television presenter, born in Enfield Town, United Kingdom (d. 2020)
1979. The UK release of the controversial comedy film Monty Python's "Life of Brian".
1980. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declares holy war against Iran.
2004. Stieg Larsson, Swedish author (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), dies of a heart attack at 50.

 

[Muteswan]

10h. November.
1810. The birth of George Jennings, an English sanitary engineer and plumber who invented the first public flush toilets.
1871. Henry Morton Stanley, born today in Denbigh as John Rowlands, known for apparently saying “ Dr. Livingstone I presume ”
1885. German engineer Gottlieb Daimler unveils the world's first motorcycle.
1908. 1st Gideon Bible put in a hotel room.
1925. Richard Burton, born Richard Walter Jenkins,Welsh stage and screen actor, born in Pontrhydyfen, South Wales (d. 1984).
1942. Buoyant after the desert victory at El Alamein, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
1944. Tim Rice, English lyricist, born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.
1947. Greg Lake, English rock vocalist and bassist (King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer), born in Bournemouth (d. 2016).
1960. Uncensored version of D. H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley’s Lover" finally goes on sale in the UK after a jury finds publisher Penguin Books not guilty in an obscenity trial.
1965. Robert Jones (born at Trebanos) is a Welsh rugby union coach and former player. During his playing career, he was capped 54 times by Wales and 3 times by the British and Irish Lions.
1968. England and Yorkshire fast bowler Fred Trueman announced his retirement.
1969. "Sesame Street" premieres on PBS TV.
1975. David Bowie was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Space Oddity' the track was first released in 1969 to tie in with the Apollo 11 moon landing.
1986. Gordon Richards, British jockey (winner of 4,870 races), dies at 82.
1989. Germans begin demolishing the Berlin Wall.
1991. South Africa's 1st cricket international since 1970 - one-day v India.
1998. "Star Trek: Insurrection" film directed by Jonathan Frakes and starring Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes premieres.
2012. The final US presidential election results are declared after Barack Obama wins Florida to defeat Mitt Romney 332-206 in Electoral College votes.

 

[Longlostjack]

On this day last year we’d never heard of Covid.

 

[Muteswan]

11th. November.
1880. Ned Kelly, Australian outlaw and bushranger, executed at 25.
1887. Work started on building the Manchester Ship Canal at Eastham, Merseyside.
1918. At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ended; a war that had lasted for 4 years and 97 days. Armistice signed by the Allies and Germany comes into effect.
1920. Great Britain's monument to her war dead, the Cenotaph in Whitehall, designed by Edwin Lutyens, unveiled.
1920. The burials of unknown soldiers take place simultaneously in Westminster Abbey, London, and at the Arc de Triomphe, Paris
1954. Publication of "Two Towers", 2nd volume of "Lord of the Rings", by J. R. R. Tolkien.
1954. Bill Haley scored his first US Top ten single with 'Shake Rattle And Roll'.
1968. John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear nude on cover of "2 Virgins" album.
1969. Beatles with Billy Preston release "Get Back" in UK.
1972. The Allman Brothers Band bass player Berry Oakley was killed when his motorcycle hit a bus at the same intersection as former band member Duane Allman, who had died a year earlier. Oakley was 24 years old.
1972. Gilbert O'Sullivan was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Clair'.
1987. Football striker Mark Hughes plays for Wales and Bayern Munich in 2 countries on same day; appears for Wales in 2-0 European Championship loss to Czechoslovakia in Prague, then jets to Munich for 3-2 Cup win over Borussia.
1997. Britain's Labour Party admitted to accepting a £1m donation from Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, but claimed it would be repaid and that it had nothing to do with the Government's decision to exempt motor racing from the ban on tobacco-related sports sponsorship.

 

[Muteswan]

12th. November.
1035. Cnut the Great [Canute], King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden (1016-1035), dies around the age of 45.
1912. The remains of English explorer Robert Scott and his companions were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
1927. Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, paving the way for Joseph Stalin to consolidate complete power.
1928. The birth, in South Africa of Bob Holness, English radio and television presenter.
1929. Grace Kelly, American actress and Princess of Monaco, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1982).
1933. First known photo of so-called Loch Ness monster is taken by Hugh Gray.
1960. Kevin Ratcliffe (born today) from Mancot near Queensferry, Flintshire, is a former Welsh international footballer and captain.
1965. After changing his name from Toby Tyler to Marc Bolan, the future T. Rex star performed his first single 'The Wizard' on the UK TV show Ready Steady Go!
1966. Buzz Aldrin takes the first 'space selfie', a photo of himself performing extravehicular activity in space during the Gemini program.
1971. Led Zeppelin appeared at The Locarno, Sunderland, England, with tickets at 75p, those were the days.
1980. Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor, born in London, Ontario.
1982. Anne Hathaway, American actress, born in NYC, New York.
1984. It was announced, by Chancellor Nigel Lawson, that the pound note, after being in circulation for more than 150 years, would be phased out and replaced with the pound coin.
1990. Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood broke both his legs after his car crashed on the M4 motorway near Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Wood was trying to wave other cars past his when he was run over.
1990. Tangaki Taulupe Faletau born today, Welsh and Lions international rugby union player. He was born in Tonga and moved to Wales in 1998.
1992. "Absolutely Fabulous" written by Jennifer Saunders, starring Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley first appears on the BBC.
2004. The funeral of DJ John Peel took place at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

 

[Muteswan]

13th. November.
1779. Thomas Chippendale, English furniture maker, dies at 61.
1789. Benjamin Franklin writes "Nothing . . . certain but death & taxes".
1850. Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish author (Treasure Island), born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1894).
1868. Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (Barber of Seville, William Tell), dies at 76.
1887. 'Bloody Sunday' in London when violence erupted in Trafalgar Square at a Socialist rally attended by Irish agitators.
1916. World War One : The final Battle of the Somme, on the River Ancre. By the end of the battle, the British Army had suffered 420,000 casualties including 19,240 fatalities on the first day alone. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000.
1955. Whoopi Goldberg [Caryn Johnson], American actress, comedian and singer, born in NYC, New York.
1964. Decca Records released The Rolling Stones' 'Little Red Rooster'.
1978. BBC Radio Wales began broadcasting today.It replaced Radio 4 Wales, which was previously the Welsh Home Service.
1979. The Times newspaper was published for the first time in nearly a year.
1982. Chesney Allen, English actor (Flanagan and Allen), dies at 88.
1987. With a view to encouraging 'safe sex', or AIDS prevention, the BBC screened its first condom 'commercial' (without a brand name).
1995. "GoldenEye", 17th James Bond film, starring Pierce Brosnan for the first time and Judi Dench as M, released.
2016. Leon Russell died in Nashville, he was 74.
2017. Italy fails to qualify for 2018 Football World Cup (first time since 1958), after play-off defeat against Sweden.
2019. First day of public testimony in Donald Trump's impeachment inquiry held in Washington, D.C.

 

[Muteswan]

14th. November.
1687. Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn, English mistress of King Charles II of England, dies from apoplexy at 37.
1840. Claude Monet. (Oscar-Claude), French impressionist painter, born in Paris, France (d. 1926).
1851. "Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville first published by Harper and Brothers in the US.
1883. "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson is first published as a book by Cassell & Co.
1908. Albert Einstein presents his quantum theory of light.
1909. Joseph McCarthy, American Senator (Rep - Wisconsin) who claimed communists infiltrated the US government, born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin (d. 1957).
1922. BBC radio was first broadcast from Alexandra Palace. The first programme was broadcast at 6 pm from 2LO London (later the BBC).
1930. Shirley Crabtree Jr. [Big Daddy], English pro wrestler (record-breaking 64-inch chest), born in Halifax, England (d. 1997).
1940. Freddie Garrity, British pop singer (Freddie & the Dreamers), born in Crumpsall, Manchester, England (d. 2006).
1948. Prince Charles [Charles Philip Arthur George], Prince of Wales/Duke of Cornwall, born in London.
1969. The BBC began colour television programmes.
1969. 'Sugar Sugar' by The Archies was at No.1 on the UK singles chart.
1983. First cruise missile placed at Greenham Common, England.
1994. 1st trains for public run in Channel Tunnel under English Channel.
2006. Led Zeppelin were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame by Roger Taylor of Queen.
2015. Warren Mitchell, English actor (Alf Garnett in Till Death Us Do Part), dies at 89.
2018. UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet approves draft plan for country's exit from the European Union (Brexit).

 

[Muteswan]

15th. November.
1577. English explorer and navigator Sir Francis Drake began his voyage to sail around the world.
1837. Isaac Pitman introduces his shorthand system of writing.
1897. The birth of Aneurin Bevan, often known as Nye Bevan, Welsh Labour Party politician who was the Minister for Health in the post-war Attlee government. He spearheaded the establishment of the National Health Service, to provide medical care free at point-of-need to all Britons.
1904. King C. Gillette patents the Gillette razor blade.
1947. Bradman scores his 100th 100, 172 v Indians at the SCG.
1956. "Love Me Tender" film with Elvis Presley in his debut premieres in the US.
1969. The 1st ever colour television commercial in the UK, for Birds Eye peas, airs on ATV in the Midlands during a Thunderbirds episode.
1979. In Parliament Sir Anthony Blunt, art advisor to the Queen, exposed as 4th man in Soviet spy ring.
1985 Britain and the Republic of Ireland signed a deal giving Dublin a role in Northern Ireland for the first time in more than 60 years.
1987. Dire Straits became the first act to sell over three million copies of an album in the UK (Brothers in Arms).
1989. Test Cricket debut of Waqar Younis & Sachin Tendulkar at Karachi.
2002. Moors murderer Myra Hindley, the woman who came to personify evil , died in prison, aged 60.

 

[Muteswan]

16th. November.
1871. National Rifle Association is first chartered in the State of New York.
1886. November 1886 saw serious flooding throughout Wales causing widespread damage. The keeper of the Mumbles lighthouse was swept out to sea and drowned.
1896. Birth of Oswald Mosley, English politician who was successively a Conservative and Labour Member of Parliament before forming the British Union of Fascists.
1907. Burgess Meredith, American actor (Mr Novak, The Penguin in Batman, Rocky), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1997).
1934. Alice Liddell, English schoolgirl model for Alice in Wonderland, dies at 82.
1942. The jockey Willie Carson was born, in Stirling.
1953.Griff Rhys Jones, British humorist and actor, born in Cardiff, Wales.
1960. Clark Gable, actor (Gone With the Wind), dies at 59.
1961. Frank Bruno, British boxer, was born.
1968. Led Zeppelin played their first ever show in the North of England when they appeared at Manchester College of Science & Technology. Zeppelin were paid £225 for the gig.
1971. Waqar Younis, cricketer (Pakistani fast/swing bowler) born today.
1971. Frank Zappa appeared on this week's UK TV music show the 'Old Grey Whistle Test', playing live and showing clips from his '200 Motels' film.
1981. Dennis Lillee kicks Javed Miandad after he had waved his bat at Dennis.
1982. Arthur Askey, British actor dies in London at 82.
2002. The first case of SARS is recorded in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, China, though is not identified until much later. First patient is thought to be a farmer in the city.
2008. Reg Varney, British actor (On The Buses) (b. 1916).
2010. Clarence House announced that Prince William would marry long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton in 2011.
2010. The Beatles back catalogue was finally made available on iTunes, after years of negotiations.
2013. Sachin Tendulkar plays his very last cricket match before retiring in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium against the West Indies.
2019. Britain's Prince Andrew refutes claims he had sex with 17 year-old connected to sex offender and friend Jeffery Epstein in BBC interview.