On this day thread

[Muteswan]

29th April
534 Taliesin, Welsh poet, born today, according to legend in Mabinogion.
1429 Joan of Arc arrived at the besieged city of Orleans to eventually lead her French forces to victory (on 6th May) over the English.
1587 Sir Frances Drake sails into Cadiz Spain & sinks Spanish fleet ("singeing the King of Spain's beard").
1707 English and Scottish parliaments accept Act of Union; creates the United Kingdom of Great Britain(comes into being 1st May)
1852 1st edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus published in Great Britain.
1899 Edward "Duke" Ellington, American bandleader, composer and pianist ("Take the A Train"; "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)"), born in Washington, D.C. (d. 1974).
1916 Irish republicans abandon the post office in Dublin and surrender unconditionally, marking the end of the Easter Rising.
1930 Telephone connection Britain-Australia goes into service.
1931 Lonnie Donegan, Scottish singer-songwriter and the King of Skiffle, born in Glasgow (d. 2002).
1935 Just one year after their invention by Percy Shaw of Yorkshire, 'cats' eyes' were being inserted into British roads.
1952 David Icke, English writer and conspiracy theorist, born in Leicester, England.
1966 Phil Tufnell, English cricketer (England slow lefty & slower fieldsman ), born in London, England.
1967 Aretha Franklin releases her single "Respect" (written by Otis Redding).
1980 Alfred Hitchcock, English director (Psycho, Birds, Rear Window), dies of renal failure at 80.
1980 Black Sabbath began their first tour with vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who had replaced Ozzy Osbourne.
1990 Wrecking cranes began tearing down the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate.
1992 Jury acquits Los Angeles Police Department officers on charges of excessive force in the beating of Rodney King; the decision sparks massive riots in the city.
1993 It was announced that Buckingham Palace would be opened to the public for the first time (during August & September) in a bid to raise funds to repair Windsor Castle.
2011 The marriage of Prince William, 2nd in line to the throne, and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey. The day was declared a bank holiday in celebration.
2014 A campaign poster advertising Nigel Farage's UKIP was inadvertently placed next to a 'Go Outdoors' poster for inflatable tents that bore the slogan - 'No Poles Required'.
2018 UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd resigns amid immigration scandal involving the Windrush generation.
2018 Sweden's official Twitter account confirms Swedish meatballs actually originated in Turkey.
2019 Over 700 people infected with measles in the US, highest number for 25 years.
2020 UK official death toll reaches 26,000 deaths from COVID-19 as care home and community deaths included.

 

[Muteswan]

30th April
1492 Christopher Columbus is given royal commission by Spanish monarchs Isabella I and Ferdinand II to equip his fleet to the New World.
1789 George Washington is inaugurated as the first President of the United States of America.
1859 Charles Dickens' "A Tale Of Two Cities" is first published in literary periodical "All the Year Round" (weekly installments until Nov 26).
1883 Édouard Manet, French impressionist painter (Olympia, The Luncheon on the Grass) dies at 51.
1888 Moradabad hailstorm: hail stones allegedly as big as oranges kill 246 people and some 1600 sheep and cattle in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh.
1897 English physicist and head of the Cavendish laboratory J. J. Thomson announces his discovery of the electron in a lecture to the Royal Institution.
1900 Casey Jones dies heroically in a train wreck at Vaughn, Mississippi, while driving Cannonball Express (immortalized in "Ballad of Casey Jones").
1904 Ice cream cone makes its debut at St. Louis World's Fair invented by Ernest A. Hamwi (independently of other claimant Italo Marchiony in NY).
1938 The FA Cup was televised on British TV in its entirety, for the first time. The TV audience was estimated as 10,000. Preston played Huddersfield Town and Preston won in the last minute of extra time.
1940 Air New Zealand then known as TEAL makes its inaugural flight with a flight from Auckland to Sydney. Later becomes 1st airline in the world to boil hot water in-flight to offer customers hot tea and coffee. ️
1945 Adolf Hitler commits suicide along with his new wife Eva Braun in the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin as the Red Army captures the city.
1947 Boulder Dam renamed in honor of Herbert Hoover.
1952 Mr Potato Head is 1st toy advertised on television.
1980 Armed terrorists seized the Iranian Embassy in London taking 20 hostages and threatening to blow up the building.
1983 Muddy Waters [McKinley Morganfield], American blues singer and guitarist ("Mannish Boy"; "Got My Mojo Working"), dies at 70
2015 Ben E. King [Nelson], American soul singer (Stand By Me), dies at 76.
2016 Phil Ryan, Welsh keyboardist and composer (Man; Pete Brown), dies at 69.
2020 The 100th birthday of Captain Tom Moore. On 6th April he set out to raise £1000 for NHS Charities Together by walking 100 lengths of his 25 metre garden and ended up raising almost £30M in donations. It was the largest-ever amount raised by a JustGiving campaign. He later featured in a charity cover version of the song "You'll Never Walk Alone" with Michael Ball, with proceeds going to the same charity. The single topped the UK music charts and made Captain Moore the oldest person to ever achieve a UK number one. He was made an honorary colonel on his 100th birthday, received more than 125,000 birthday cards and will be made an honorary England cricketer by former captain Michael Vaughan. A Great Western Railway intercity express train (No. 800025) was also named in his honour on his birthday and an RAF flypast took place over his house.
2021 Glamorgan beat Kent by 10 wickets inside 2 days.

 

[Muteswan]

1st May
1753 Publication of Species Plantarum by Carolus Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
1786 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera "Marriage of Figaro" premieres in Vienna with Mozart himself directing.
1840 The first British Penny Black stamp went on sale. Invented by Rowland Hill, it was the world’s first adhesive postage stamp and it became valid for postage on 6th May.
1851 First public flushing toilets the 'Monkey Closets' unveiled by George Jennings as part of The Great Exhibition at Hyde Park, London, costing one penny.
1852 Calamity Jane [Martha Jane Canary], American frontierswoman, born in Princeton, Missouri (d. 1903).
1875 Alexandra Palace, London, reopens after being burnt down in 1873.
1904 Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (Slavonic Dances; New World Symphony; Cello Concerto in b, Op. 104), dies at 62.
1925 Cyprus becomes a British Crown Colony.
1929 Sonny Ramadhin, West Indian cricket spin bowler (43 Tests, 158 wickets), born in St.Charles Village, Trinidad.
1930 Cricket master batsman Don Bradman scores 236 for Australia v Worcestershire in his first 1st class innings in England.
1931 Empire State Building opens in New York City.
1939 Batman first appears in Detective Comics #27.
1941 General Mills introduces CheeriOats (renamed Cheerios in 1945) an oat-based, ready-to-eat cold cereal.
1945 Joseph Goebbels, German Nazi Minister of Propaganda, commits suicide aged 47 with his wife (43) and arranges the death of their 6 children, Heidrun (4), Hedwig (6), Holdine (8), Helmut (9), Hildegard (11), and Helga (12).
1946 Joanna Lumley, British actress (Absolutely Fabulous, OHM's Secret Service), born in Kashmir, India.
1946 The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy.
1961 Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba.
1963 First one-day cricket competition is played (Gillette Cup); Lancashire beats Leicestershire by 101 at Old Trafford.
1964 The Beatles received $140,000 dollars for the rights to having their pictures included in packages of bubble gum in the USA.
1981 Tennis player Billie Jean King acknowledges a lesbian relationship with Marilyn Barnett - becoming first prominent sportswoman to come out.
1989 135 acre Disney's MGM studio theme park officially opens to public in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
1994 Three-time World Formula 1 Drivers champion Ayrton Senna of Brazil is killed in a 309 kmh crash whilst leading the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in Italy.
1997 Tony Blair elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1997 Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt had a quadruple heart by-pass operation after visiting his Harley Street doctor and complaining of chest pains.
2000 "Gladiator" directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix premieres in LA.
2003 American soul singer Barry White suffered a stroke while being treated for kidney failure. The singer died two months later on July 4th 2003.
2011 Ted Lowe, English snooker commentator (Pot Black, BBC), dies at 90.
2011 Henry Cooper, English boxer (British, European, C'wealth heavyweight champion), dies of heart failure at 76.
2018 Scotland is the first country in the world to introduce a minimum price on alcohol.

 

[Muteswan]

2nd May
1519 Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, scientist and visionary, dies at 67.
1536 Anne Boleyn, second wife of England's King Henry VIII, was sent to the Tower of London, accused of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft. She was executed 17 days later.
1611 The Authorized Version of the Bible (King James Version) was first published and became the standard English language Bible.
1887 Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film (used in Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope).
1903 Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician (Common Sense Book of Baby Care), born in New Haven, Connecticut (d. 1998).
1929 Billie Holiday (14) and her mother are arrested for prostitution following a raid of a brothel in Harlem.
1933 The modern legend of the Loch Ness Monster was born when a sighting made local news. Several London newspapers sent correspondents to Scotland, and a circus offered a £20,000 reward for capture of the beast.
1936 Sergei Prokofiev's musical "Peter and the Wolf" premieres in Moscow.
1936 Engelbert Humperdinck [Arnold George Dorsey], British pop singer ("Release Me"), born in Madras, British India.
1945 More than 1,000,000 German soldiers officially surrender to the Western Allies in Italy and Austria.
1949 Alan Titchmarsh, English gardener and broadcaster (Gardener's World), born in Iilkley, England.
1952 The world's first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1, set off from London to Johannesburg on its maiden flight.
1953 Football legend Sir Stanley Matthews, at the age of 38, won an FA Cup winners' medal as Blackpool came back from trailing 3-1 to beat Bolton 4-3. In recognition of the impact he had on the match, it become known as the 'Matthews Final'.
1962 Jimmy White, English professional snooker player, born in Tooting, England.
1963 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'From Me To You', the group's first No.1 and the first of eleven consecutive No.1's.
1965 Britain's Early Bird satellite began transmitting TV programmes to more than 300 million viewers. The first programme was:- 'Out Of This World'.
1969 The Beatles recorded a re-make of the new George Harrison song ’Something’ at Abbey Road Studios in London. They recorded 36 takes of the song, which included Billy Preston on piano. The track is featured on the Abbey Road album.
1969 British liner Queen Elizabeth II leaves Southampton on maiden voyage to NY.
1969 Brian Lara, West Indian Cricket Batsman and captain (131 Tests; WR Test score 400no 2004; 11,953 runs @ 52.88; 34 x 100; 299 ODIs), born in Santa Cruz, Trinidad and Tobago.
1972 J. Edgar Hoover, first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1924-72) dies at 77.
1975 David Beckham, English midfielder (115 caps [58 as captain]; Man Utd, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Paris SG, LA Galaxy) and owner (Inter Miami CF, Salford City), born in London, England.
1981 Swansea City promoted to the First Division for the first time.
1983 Spandau Ballet were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'True', the group's only No.1.
1982 Falklands War: Argentine cruiser General Belgrano sunk by British submarine Conqueror, killing more than 350 men.
1998 Justin Fashanu, English soccer forward (first openly gay pro footballer; first black footballer to command £1 million transfer fee), dies from suicide at 37.
2005 Eric Clapton joined former Cream members Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce for the first of four nights at London's Royal Albert Hall 36 years after they had split up.
2011 Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man is killed by US special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
2012 A pastel version of "The Scream", by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch sells at auction for $119,922,500.
2014 71 year old Max Clifford, the 'master media manipulator and publicist' and the man behind many of the tabloid scoops of the previous 30 years was sentenced to 8 years in jail. He was found guilty, on 28th April 2014, of eight counts of indecent assault on women and girls as young as 15 over a period of 20 years. Clifford became the first person to be convicted under the high profile 'Operation Yewtree', sparked by abuse claims against Jimmy Savile.'
2015 The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to her second child (Charlotte Elizabeth Diana), a sister to Prince George. She will be fourth in line to the throne.
2016 Leicester City win the English Premier League title after starting the season at 5,000-1 odds.

 

[Muteswan]

3rd May
1788 The first daily evening newspaper, the Star and Evening Advertiser, was published in London.
1830 The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway (Kent) was opened. Sometimes referred to colloquially as the Crab and Winkle Line, it was the first steam hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets. It used cable haulage by stationary steam engines over much of its length, with steam locomotives restricted to the level stretch.
1841 New Zealand was declared a British colony.
1903 (Harry Lillis) "Bing" Crosby, American Grammy and Academy Award winning singer ("White Christmas"; with David Bowie - "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" ), and actor (Going My Way; High Society; Road To...(with Bob Hope)), born in Tacoma, Washington (d. 1977).
1926 Britain's Trade Union Congress calls for the country's first ever general strike, begins at 1 minute to midnight in support striking coal miners, lasts 9 days.
1932 24 tourists begin 1st air-charter holiday (London-Basle, Switzerland).
1933 James Brown, American soul singer ("Hot Pants"; "Living in America"; "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag") and originator of funk music, born in Barnwell, South Carolina (d. 2006).
1934 Science fiction writer H.G.Wells predicted there would be a world war before 1940.
1934 The birth of boxer Henry Cooper. He was known for the effectiveness of his left hook, "Enry's 'Ammer", and his knockdown of the young Muhammad Ali. Cooper, who died on 1st May 2011, held the British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight titles several times throughout his career and is the only boxer to have been awarded a knighthood.
1947 Japan's post-war constitution goes into effect, granting universal suffrage, stripping Emperor Hirohito of all but symbolic power and outlawing Japan's right to make war.
1950 Mary Hopkin, Welsh folk singer ("Those Were the Days"), born in Pontardawe, Wales.
1951 King George VI opened the Festival of Britain. It was built on an old bomb site near Waterloo Station in London.
1959 Born on this day in Bangor, Andrzej Edward 'Eddie' Niedzwiecki, former Wales football goalkeeper who played club football with Wrexham and Chelsea. After retiring from playing Niedzwiecki has become a well respected coach.
1965 Rob Brydon, Welsh comedian and actor (Marion & Geoff), born in Baglan, Glamorgan, Wales.
1967 Pink Floyd appeared at The Moulin Rouge, Ainsdale, Southport, England. The promotion flyers for the club said: 'The Moulin Rouge night club. Wine, Dine, Dance! And have a gay time'.
1968 The first heart transplant in Britain was carried out at the National Heart Hospital in Marylebone, London. It was undertaken on an unnamed 45-year-old man.
1968 The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded 'Voodoo Chile.'
1972 Les Harvey guitarist with Stone The Crows died after being electrocuted on stage during a gig at Swansea University, Wales. He was the brother of Scottish singer Alex Harvey and a member of the Alex Harvey Soul Band.
1991 356th & final episode of CBS second longest running series "Dallas", (2nd only to "Gunsmoke").
1996 Martin Moxon & Michael Vaughan make 362 1st wkt Yorks v Glam.
1999 World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Stephen Hendry of Scotland defeats Welshman Mark Williams, 18-11 for a record 7th world crown.
2000 Two Libyan men pleaded not guilty to charges that they were involved in the Lockerbie bombing of PanAm flight 103 in 1988.
2007 Three year old Madeleine McCann went missing from her family's holiday apartment at the Ocean Club, in Praia da Luz, Portugal. To date, she has not been found.
2020 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says China responsible for the spread and severity of COVID-19 and should be held accountable.

 

[Muteswan]

4th May
1471 Battle of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, final battle between the Houses of Lancaster and York: Prince of Wales, Edward of Westminster killed and King Edward IV restored to his throne. Re-restores political stability to England until his death in 1483.
1675 King Charles II ordered the construction of the Royal Greenwich Observatory. It played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation and is best known as the location of 0 degrees longitude, which has determined mapping co-ordinates since that time.
1780 The first Derby was run at Epsom. The winner was Diomed. The idea of the race was first discussed in 1778 at a house party given by the 12th Earl of Derby and a toss of a coin settled the name. The other founder was Sir Charles Bunbury.
1827 The birth of John Speke, the English explorer who discovered the source of the Nile.
1850 Born today, Samuel Arthur Brain who, with his uncle Joseph Benjamin Brain, founded S.A. Brain & Company Ltd in 1882 in Cardiff.
1878 Thomas Edison's Phonograph shown for 1st time at Grand Opera House.
1904 Charles Stewart Rolls meets Frederick Henry Royce at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, England. Go on to form Roll-Royce.
1923 Eric Sykes, English writer, actor and director (Goon Show, Sykes and A...), born in Oldham (d. 2012).
1927 Owen "Terry" Scott, British actor and comedian (Terry and June, Carry On Films), born in Watford, Hertfordshire (d. 1994).
1929 Audrey Hepburn, British actress (Roman Holiday; Breakfast at Tiffany's; My Fair Lady), born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1993).
1945 World War II: The North Germany Army surrendered to British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
1945 German forces in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands surrender unconditionally to British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery at Luneburg Heath.
1949 Plane carrying the entire Torino Serie A soccer squad crashes on the outskirts of Turin, Italy; 31 killed; Torino awarded
League title at the request of their rivals.
1956 Gene Vincent recorded the classic rock 'n roll song 'Be Bop-A-Lula', at Owen Bradley's studio in Nashville, Tennessee.
1959 First Grammy Awards: Perry Como & Ella Fitzgerald win.
1959 Aneurin Bevan was elected as deputy leader of the Labour Party. He was instrumental in establishing the National Health Service.
1974 ABBA were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Waterloo', the group's first of nine UK No.1 singles.
1978 'Night Fever' by The Bee Gees was at No.1 on the UK singles chart.
1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman to be elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1982 British destroyer HMS Sheffield hit by Exocet rocket off Falkland Islands: 20 of her crew died.
1984 Diana Dors [Fluck], British actress and singer (Berserk!; Steaming), dies of cancer at 52.
1989 Rory McIlroy, Irish golfer (US Open 2011, British Open 2014, PGA C'ship 2012, 14; FedEx Cup 2016, 19), born in Holywood, Northern Ireland.
2000 Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London.
2020 India begins lifting some restrictions in regions with fewer COVID-19 cases.

 

[Muteswan]

5th May
1260 Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
1760 The first public hanging took place at Tyburn in London. Earl Ferrers was executed after being convicted of murdering his valet.
1818 Karl Marx, German philosopher (Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital), born in Trier, Prussia (d. 1883).
1821 Napoleon Bonaparte, French military leader and Emperor of the French (1804-14, 1815), dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena, officially from stomach cancer but rumours of arsenic poisoning persist.
1870 The British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind adopts Braille as best format for blind people.
1891 Music Hall (Carnegie Hall) opens in New York, Tchaikovsky is guest conductor.
1904 Gordon Richards, British jockey (winner of 4,870 races), born in Donnington Wood, Telford (d. 1986).
1912 Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda begins publishing.
1921 Perfume Chanel No. 5 released by fashion designer Coco Chanel.
1930 British aviator Amy Johnson took off from Croydon Airport in her Gypsy Moth plane 'Jason'. She became the first woman to fly solo to Australia, arriving on 24th May.
1943 Michael Palin, English comedian (Monty Python, Fish Called Wanda), born in Sheffield, Yorkshire.
1944 Mahatma Gandhi freed from prison.
1944 Born this day in Aberystwyth, Roger Rees, a Tony-winning actor best known for playing Robin Colcord on the television show Cheers and Lord John Marbury on the television drama The West Wing.
1944 Born on this day in Salisbury to Welsh parents and raised in Tanganyika and Ammanford, John Rhys-Davies, actor, perhaps best known for the roles of Gimli in The Lord of the Rings and Sallah in the Indiana Jones films. Among other roles, Rhys Davies has also appeared in the James Bond film The Living Daylights and the television series, The Untouchables, Shōgun, Robin of Sherwood and I, Claudius, as well as providing the voices of Cassim in Disney's Aladdin and the King of Thieves, and Man Ray in SpongeBob SquarePants.
1945 World War II: Admiral Karl Dönitz, leader of Germany after Hitler's death, orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases.
1956 Elvis Presley scored his first US No.1 single and album when 'Heartbreak Hotel' went to the top of the charts.
1966 Manfred Mann were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Pretty Flamingo'. The recording features future Cream bassist Jack Bruce, who briefly joined the band in 1965.
1980 The SAS stormed the terrorist-occupied Iranian Embassy at Knightsbridge in London. Four gunmen were killed in the attack and all 19 hostages were rescued.
1981 After 66 days on hunger strike, 26 year old Provisional IRA member and British MP Bobby Sands dies in the Maze Prision. Nine more hunger strikers die in the next 3 months.
1988 Adele [Adele Laurie Blue Adkins], Briish pop-rock singer-songwriter ("Rolling In The Deep"; "Someone Like You"), born in Tottenham, London.
2012 The Wales Coast Path which follows the whole of the coastline of Wales was opened today. Wales is the first country in the World to have a dedicated footpath along its entire coastline 1,030 miles continuous walk.
2013 Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant obtained a temporary restraining order against an overzealous female fan he alleged was a threat to his safety. Darran has a rival?
2014 World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Briton Mark Selby beats countryman Ronnie O'Sullivan 18-14, the first of 4 world titles.
2018 Electric cigarette explodes killing a man in St. Petersburg, Florida, first death from a vaping product.

 

[Muteswan]

6th May
878 Battle of Edington: Alfred the Great and his West Saxon army defeat Viking army of Guthrum the Old.
1541 King Henry VIII orders a bible in English be placed in every church in England.
1837 US blacksmith John Deere creates the first steel plough in Grand Detour, Illinois.
1840 The first postage stamps, the ‘Penny Black’ and two-penny ‘blues’, which were the brainchild of Roland Hill, became valid for postage On This Day.
1851 Linus Yale patents Yale lock.
1910 Edward VII, King of England (1901-10), dies at 68.
1915 Orson Welles [George], American actor (Citizen Kane, War of the Worlds), born in Kenosha, Wisconsin (d. 1985).
1937 German airship Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 of the 97 on board and 1 on the ground.
1941 Joseph Stalin becomes Premier of the Soviet Union, replacing his foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov.
1953 Tony Blair, British Prime Minister (Labour: 1997-2007), born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1954 English athlete Roger Bannister becomes first to run a sub-4 minute mile, recording 3:59:4 at Iffley Road Track, Oxford.
1958 The last execution to take place in Wales occurred today when Vivian Teed was hanged for murder at Swansea Prison.
1959 Icelandic gunboats fire lived ammunition at British trawlers during a Cod War between Britain and Iceland over fishing rights in the North Sea.
1961 George Clooney, American actor (ER, Batman, The Descendants), born in Lexington, Kentucky.
1966 At Chester Crown Court, 'Moors murderers' Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were found guilty of torturing and killing several children before burying their bodies on the moors north of Manchester.
1978 The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever started an 18 week run at No.1 on the UK album chart.
1988 Graeme Hick scores 405 for Worcs v Somerset 35 fours 11 sixes.
1992 Marlene Dietrich, German American actress and singer (The Blue Angel, Shanghai Express), dies in Paris at 90.
1994 The Queen and France's President Francois Mitterrand formally opened the Channel Tunnel during two elaborate ceremonies in France and Britain.
1995 The Queen Mother opened (in Hyde Park) three days of VE Day celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the ending of World War Two.
1997 The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank's 300-year history.
1999 In an historic vote, electors in Scotland and Wales went to the polls to chose their representatives for the newly-devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.
2002 Entrepreneur Elon Musk founds SpaceX.
2004 TV sitcom "Friends" airs season finale in 10th and final season in US (52.5 million viewers).
2004 American jazz guitarist Barney Kessel died of a brain tumor aged of 80. He was a member of the the Wrecking Crew and was also a member of the Oscar Peterson Trio and worked with Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke and many others. He appeared on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album.
2014 Leslie Thomas, Welsh writer (The Virgin Soldiers), dies at 83.
2019 Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, British son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, born in London, England.
2020 UK becomes the first European country to report over 30,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
2021 Alun Wyn Jones was named as the captain of the British and Irish Lions for the forthcoming tour to South Africa.

 

[Muteswan]

7th May
1663 Theatre Royal in Drury Lane London opens.
1765 HMS Victory, the ship which became the flagship of British Admiral Horatio Nelson, was launched at Chatham. The ship is now preserved at Portsmouth.
1824 Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th (Choral) Symphony, often regarded as his greatest work, premieres in Vienna.
1840 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer of the late-Romantic period (1812 Overture; Swan Lake), born in Votkinsk, Russia (d. 1893).
1867 Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel patents dynamite in England, the first of three patents he would receive for the explosive material.
1895 Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention - the world's first radio receiver in St. Petersberg. Celebrated as Radio Day in Russia.
1915 RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off the southern coast of Ireland; 1198 lives lost.
1916 Huw Wheldon, Welsh broadcaster (BBC), born in Prestatyn, Denbighshire (d. 1986).
1928 The United Kingdom lowers age of women voters from 30 to 21.
1941 Glenn Miller records "Chattanooga Choo Choo" for RCA, it becomes 1st record to be designated "gold".
1942 Nazi decree orders all Jewish pregnant women of Kovno Ghetto executed.
1945 World War II: Unconditional German surrender to the Allies signed by General Alfred Jodl at Rheims.
1946 Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with around 20 employees.
1953 Ian McKay, British soldier (VC recipient), born in Wortley, South Yorkshire, England (d. 1982).
1959 British Rail announced plans to close down 230 stations.
1961 Phil "Wizzö" Campbell, Welsh rock musician (Motörhead), born in Pontypridd, Wales.
1966 The Mamas & the Papas started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Monday Monday' becoming the first song with a day of the week in the title to top the chart.
1970 "Long & Winding Road" becomes Beatles' last American release.
1977 The Eagles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Hotel California', the group's fourth US No.1, a No.8 hit in the UK.
1982 IBM releases PC-DOS version 1.1
1994 Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream" is recovered 3 months after it was stolen.
2006 Russell T Davies won the Dennis Potter BAFTA Award for his revival of the classic science fiction series Doctor Who.
2011 Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (British Open 1979, 84, 88, US Masters 1980, 83), dies of brain cancer at 54.
2011 John Walker (John Joseph Maus) best known as the founder of The Walker Brothers died of liver cancer at his Los Angeles home.
2012 Paeleoclimatological research claims dinosaur flatulence may have warmed the earth.
2018 World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Welshman Mark Williams beats John Higgins of Scotland, 18-16; as promised, does his press conference in the nude.

 

[Muteswan]

8th May
1348 Ship from Bordeaux carrying the plague, lands in Melcombe Regis (now Weymouth), Dorset.
1559 The Act of Supremacy was passed by which the new Queen Elizabeth I became "Supreme Governor" of the Church of England and a Common Prayer book was introduced.
1660 Charles II was proclaimed King of England. This was the restoration of the monarchy after the English Civil War and the reign of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector.
1835 1st installment of Hans Christian Andersen "Fairy Tales" published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark.
1878 David Edward Hughes' paper on the idea for a microphone is read before the Royal Society of London by Thomas Henry Huxley.
1885 Sarah Ann Henley survives 76-m jump from Clifton Bridge in Bristol, England.
1896 The highest county cricket championship innings score, 887, was achieved by Yorkshire against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
1898 The first games of the Italian Football League are played.
1899 Ernest Rutherford publishes his discovery of two different kinds of radiation (Alpha and Beta Particles).
1911 Robert Johnson, American blues singer-songwriter, and guitarist (King of Delta Blues Singers), born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi (d. 1938).
1919 Edward George Honey first proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, leads to the creation of Remembrance Day.
1926 David Attenborough, English naturalist, TV producer and host (BBC "Life" and "Our Planet" series), born in London, England.
1935 Jack Charlton, English soccer defender (35 caps; World Cup 1966; Leeds United) and manager (Middlesborough, Sheffield Wed, Newcastle, Rep of Ireland), born in Ashington, England (d. 2020).
1944 Gary Glitter [Paul Gadd], England, rocker (Rock & Roll Part II).
1945 VE Day in Europe. After five years, eight months, and five days of massive devastation, the end of the European phase of World War II was celebrated. Victory in Europe was commemorated with celebrations all around the world in recognition of the unconditional surrender of all German forces, which was signed in Reims, France, the previous day.
1957 Born today in Newport, Eddie Butler, former Wales rugby international and captain, journalist and commentator.
1958 "Dracula" film starring Christopher Lee as the eponymous vampire, directed by Terence Fisher is the first Hammer Horror film released.
1963 1st James Bond film, "Dr. No", starring Sean Connery, premieres in US.
1968 Gangster twins Reginald and Ronnie Kray and their brother Charlie were arrested after dawn raids by police in London.
1970 Beatles release 12th, and final, studio album, "Let It Be", in conjunction with the film of the same name.
1973 Sony opened its factory in Bridgend. It was the first major Japanese investment in Wales.
1976 Ian "H" Watkins, Welsh pop singer (Steps - "Heartbeat"; "Stomp"), actor, and television personality, born in Llwynypia, Wales.
1976 BBC Radio 1 DJ Johnny Walker announced he was quitting the station after being told he must pretend to like The Bay City Rollers.
1977 Joe Bonnamassa, American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter ("Dust Bowl"; "Redemption"), born in New Hartford, New York.
1980 World Health Organization announces smallpox has been eradicated.
1982 Vangelis went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Chariots Of Fire'.
1984 The official opening of the Thames Barrier in London. The barrier is designed to be raised when exceptionally high tides on the River Thames threaten to flood parts of London.
1984 The Soviet Union announces it will not participate in Los Angeles Summer Olympics in retaliation for the American boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
1984 Thames Barrier to stop flooding in London officially completed.
1993 Aerosmith entered the US album chart at No.1 with 'Get A Grip'.
1999 Dirk Bogarde [Derek van den Bogaerde] British writer and actor (Death in Venice, Servant), dies at 78.
2007 A new Northern Ireland Executive is formed with Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party) as First Minister and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) as Deputy First Minister.
2016 Sadiq Khan (L) is elected Mayor of London, - 1st Muslim mayor of a major Western city.

 

[Muteswan]

9th May
1386 The Treaty of Windsor was ratified between England (succeeded by the United Kingdom) and Portugal. It is the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world that is still in force.
1662 The first recorded Punch & Judy Show in Britain took place at Covent Garden in London. That’s the way to do it!
1671 Colonel Thomas Blood attempts to steal Crown Jewels of England and Scotland from the Tower of London, captured running from the tower with the jewels, he was pardoned by King Charles II.
1785 British inventor Joseph Bramah patents beer-pump handle.
1860 J.M. [James Matthew] Barrie, Scottish novelist and playwright (Peter Pan), born in Kirriemuir, Angus (d. 1937).
1865 President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring armed resistance in the South is virtually at an end; this is the commonly accepted end date of the American Civil War.
1873 Howard Carter, British archaeologist and egyptologist who found King Tutankhamun's tomb, born in London (d. 1939).
1904 The steam locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine to exceed 100mph.
1927 Canberra replaces Melbourne as the capital of Australia, and the Australian Parliament convenes there for the first time.
1941 World War II: The German submarine U-110 was captured by the Royal Navy. On board was the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allied cryptographers later used to break coded German messages.
1945 World War II: The Channel Islands are formally liberated by the British.
1945 Born on this day in Abergavenny,Malcolm Nash former Glamorgan cricketer and captain.Despite being best known as the first bowler to be struck for six sixes in a six-ball over, by Garfield Sobers in 1968, Nash was a stalwart for Glamorgan cricket from 1966 to 1983. He was mainly used as a left-arm medium-pace bowler, taking 993 wickets over his career, but was also a useful lower-order batsman. Nash was Glamorgan's leading wicket taker in their 1969 championship winning side and captained the county in 1980 and 1981.
1949 Billy Joel, American rock singer-songwriter, and piano player ("Piano Man"; "Just the Way You Are"; "Captain Jack"), born in The Bronx, New York.
1956 Gower Peninsula became the first area in Britain to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
1960 Start of the sexual revolution of the 1960s when the birth control pill went on the market.
1962 The Beatles sign their 1st contract with EMI Parlophone.
1964 Louis Armstrong went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Hello Dolly' .
1979 Iranian-Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is the 1st Jew executed by the Islamic government firing squad in Tehran, prompting the mass exodus of the once 100,000-strong Jewish community of Iran.
2005 Liberal commentary website The Huffington Post is launched.
2016 Boris Johnson resigns as Mayor of London, succeeded by Sadiq Khan.
2019 Freddie Starr, English comedian & singer (The Freddie Starr Showcase), dies at 76.
2020 Little Richard [Wayne Penniman], American singer-songwriter and rock 'n' roll pioneer (Tutti Frutti), dies at 87.

 

[Darran]

On this day in 1950 the inventor of the 12-string bass guitar was born.


https://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/build/bass/usa-custom-shop-tom-petersson-signature-12-string-falcon-bass/9252002684

 

[Muteswan]

On this day in 1950 the inventor of the 12-string bass guitar was born.


https://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/build/bass/usa-custom-shop-tom-petersson-signature-12-string-falcon-bass/9252002684

Sorry, must have missed that one.

I think I saw somewhere that on any one day about 18,000,000 people are born around the world. I can’t keep track of all of them.

 

[Darran]

On this day in 1950 the inventor of the 12-string bass guitar was born.


https://www.gretschguitars.com/gear/build/bass/usa-custom-shop-tom-petersson-signature-12-string-falcon-bass/9252002684

Sorry, must have missed that one.

I thinks I saw somewhere that on any one day about 18,000,000 people are born around the world. I can’t keep track of all of them.

You need to up your game Sonny.

 

[Muteswan]

Sorry, must have missed that one.

I thinks I saw somewhere that on any one day about 18,000,000 people are born around the world. I can’t keep track of all of them.

You need to up your game Sonny.