1766 1st fire escape patented, wicker basket on a pulley & chain.
1838 The day before his 32nd birthday, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s 236 ft steamship Great Western sailed from Bristol on her maiden voyage to New York. The journey took 15 days, half the time of the fastest sailing ship. She became the first steamship to make regular Atlantic crossings.
1879 Milk sold in glass bottles for 1st time.
1925 The Australian Government and the British Colonial Office offered low interest loans to encourage Britons to borrow the money to emigrate to Australia.
1967 121st Grand National: John Buckingham aboard rank 100/1 outsider Foinavon avoids famous carnage to win by 15 lengths from favourite Honey End.
1967 12th Eurovision Song Contest: Sandie Shaw for United Kingdom wins singing "Puppet on a String" in Vienna.
1968 'Goodfellows' Gangsters Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke commit the Air France robbery, stealing $420,000.
1975 47th Academy Awards: "The Godfather Part II" wins.
1983 In front of a live audience of 20 tourists, David Copperfield makes the Statue of Liberty disappear.
1986 Clint Eastwood elected mayor of Carmel, California.
1989 143rd Grand National: Irish 12-year-old Little Polveir, ridden by jockey Jimmy Frost wins by 7 lengths from West Tip.
1990 British golfer Nick Faldo won his second successive US Masters after a play-off.
1992 After 151 years Britain's "Punch Magazine" publishes its final issue.
1995 Oliver McCall beats Larry Holmes in 12 for heavyweight boxing title.
1997 The results of the first ultrasonic scan of the front of the Titanic revealed a series of six short slits as the principal damage to the ship after it struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic in 1912.
2000 153rd Grand National: Irish 10/1 shot Papillon, ridden by jockey Ruby Walsh and trained by his father Ted Walsh wins by 1¼ lengths from Mely Moss.
2006 159th Grand National: 11–1 Irish shot Numbersixvalverde, ridden by Niall Madden wins by 6 lengths from defending champion Hedgehunter.
2012 35 year old Trenton Oldfield was charged over an incident which led to the 158th University Boat Race being halted halfway through. He swam in front of the boats, protesting about university elitism and narrowly avoided being hit by the oars of the Oxford crew.
2013 The death of former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher, aged 87. She was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990 and the first woman to have held the role.
2017 170th Grand National: Derek Fox wins aboard 14/1 One For Arthur; second ever Scottish-trained winner of the event.
After having made two substitute appearances in the League for Southampton Alan Shearer made his starting debut for the Saints against Arsenal at the Dell and at 17 years 240 days of age became the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the top flight. Southampton won 4-2.
1413 Henry V was crowned King of England. He was the second English monarch from the House of Lancaster.
1483 The young Edward V (aged 12) acceded to the throne after the death of his father Edward IV. He is never crowned, and disappears presumed murdered, after incarceration in the Tower of London with his younger brother Richard (the "Princes in the Tower").
1511 St John's College, Cambridge, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of King Henry VII and paternal grandmother of King Henry VIII), received its charter.
1585 The expedition organised by Sir Walter Raleigh departed England for Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony.
1649 The birth of James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, claimant to the English throne, who led a failed rebellion against James II which cost him his head. His 320 accomplices were sentenced to death by Judge Jeffreys.
1731 British mariner Robert Jenkins' ear cut off by Spanish Guarde Costa in the Caribbean, the catalyst for war between Britain & Spain.
1747 The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, for high treason. He was the last man to be executed in this way in Britain, in a form of execution which had been reserved for the nobility.
1770 The explorer Captain Cook arrived in Botany Bay, Australia, the first European to do so.
1806 English engineer and inventor Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born. He was perhaps the greatest of the 19th-century engineers and designed railways, bridges, tunnels, viaducts and ships. Much of his work still survives, including his SS Great Britain which was launched in 1843 and is in the Great Western Dockyard, Bristol.
1838 The opening of the the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London.
1916 The Libau sets sail from Germany with a cargo of 20,000 rifles. The arms were meant to aid Irish independence and be used during the Easter Rising. Captain Karl Spindler changes the name of the vessel to the Aud to avoid British detection. Although the SS Libau evaded British lookout, arriving off Fenit Harbour in Tralee Bay on the 20th April, she failed to meet with her intended supporters. Their leader, Roger Casement, a British Diplomat had already been captured. The SS Libau then tried to return to Germany but was intercepted by HMS Bluebell on 23 April. The crew scuttled the ship outside Queenstown harbour to stop the arms falling into British hands.
1937 The Kamikaze arrived at Croydon Airport in London. It was the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe. The flight from Tokyo to London took 51 hours, 17 minutes and 23 seconds
1969 Sikh bus men in Wolverhampton won the right to wear turbans on duty.
1969 Brian Trubshaw, the first British pilot to fly Concorde, made his first flight in the British built prototype. The 22 minute flight left from a test runway at Filton near Bristol and landed at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
1976 "All the President's Men" detailing the Watergate investigation starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford is released.
1979 51st Academy Awards: "The Deer Hunter" wins.
1983 English trainer Jenny Pitman became the first woman to train the winner of the Grand National (Corbiere) at Aintree, Liverpool.
1984 About 100 pickets were arrested during violent clashes with police outside two working coal pits in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
1988 142nd Grand National: Irish jockey Brendan Powell wins aboard 10/1 shot Rhyme 'n' Reason by 4 lengths from Durham Edition.
1989 53rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Englishman Nick Faldo wins the first of his 3 Masters titles after a final round 65 (−7) and a birdie on the 2nd hole of a sudden-death playoff with Scott Hoch.
1992 John Major elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after his Conservative Party wins the most votes in British electoral history.
1994 147th Grand National: Jockey Richard Dunwoody wins his second GN aboard Irish 16/1 shot Miinnehoma by 1¼ lengths from Just So.
1999 Fulham owner Mohamed Al-Fayed welcomed a special guest for the Division 2 match against Wigan – singer Michael Jackson. That was his only visit to Craven Cottage but 12 years later Fulham marked that visit with a statue of their ‘greatest supporter’.
2002 The funeral of the Queen Mother was held at Westminster Abbey.
2005 The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles were married, in a civil ceremony at the Guildhall in Windsor.
2005 158th Grand National: 9-year-old 7/1 favourite Hedgehunter, ridden by Ruby Walsh and trained by Willie Mullins, win by 14 lengths from 40/1 shot Royal Auclair.
2011 164th Grand National: Jason Maguire wins aboard Irish 14/1 shot Ballabriggs; first GN win for trainer Donald McCain Jr., son of 4-time winning trainer Ginger McCain.
2017 81st US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Spaniard Sergio García beats Justin Rose of England in a sudden-death playoff, after they completed 72 holes at -9; Garcia's 1st major title in his 74th attempt.
1512 The birth of James V of Scotland, who allied his country with France against the English. He became king at the age of 17 months.
1606 The Charter of the Virginia Company of London was established by James I, with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
1633 Bananas went on display in Thomas Johnson's shop window in London. This was the first time the fruit had been seen in Britain.
1710 The Copyright Act, known as The Statute of Anne, came into effect in Britain. It allowed authors to hold exclusive rights to their work for up to 50 years after their death. The restrictions were enforced by the Stationers' Company, a guild of printers given the exclusive power to print and the responsibility to censor literary works.
1815 Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies experiences a cataclysmic eruption, one of the most powerful in history, killing around 71,000 people, causes global volcanic winter.
1820 The first British settlers landed at Algoa Bay, South Africa.
1829 The birth of William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, which he began in 1865 while performing mission work to the poor in London’s East End. It was named the 'Salvation Army' in 1878, when he took the title ‘General’.
1849 Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (NYC); sold rights for $400.
1858 The 14.5 tonne bell, 'Big Ben', was cast in Stockton-on-Tees by Warner's of Cripplegate. However the bell cracked during testing. It was recast into the 13.76 tonne bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry and is still in use today. It is the largest of the five bells in the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament).
1912 The British built luxury liner Titanic set sail on its maiden and only voyage, from Berth 44, White Star Line dock, Southampton, bound for New York.
1916 1st professional golf tournament held.
1916 The Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) is founded in New York City.
1924 Tubular steel golf club shafts approved for championship play.
1955 Ruth Ellis shot her lover David Blakely outside a pub in Hampstead in North London. Following her murder trial she became the last woman to be hanged in Britain.
1970 Paul McCartney announced that he was to leave The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.
1972 An agreement banning the use of biological weapons was signed by 74 countries.
1981 Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands was elected to Westminster as the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
1988 52nd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Scotsman Sandy Lyle claims his second major title with a birdie on the 72nd hole to win by 1 stroke over Mark Calcavecchia.
1997 The National Trust's ruling council voted unanimously to ban stag-hunting on its land after a study concluded that the chase caused extreme suffering and exhaustion to the deer.
1998 The Northern Ireland peace talks ended with a historic agreement called the Good Friday Agreement.
1999 152nd Grand National: Irish 10/1 shot Bobbyjo, ridden by jockey Paul Carberry wins by 10 lengths from Blue Charm.
2005 69th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Tiger Woods wins his 4th green jacket on the 1st hole of a playoff with Chris DiMarco.
2010 163rd Grand National: Tony McCoy wins aboard 10/1 joint-favourite Don't Push It by 5 lengths ahead of Black Apalachi.
2016 80th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: England's Danny Willett wins his first major title, 3 strokes ahead of Lee Westwood and defending champion Jordan Spieth.
2019 First-ever photo of a black hole announced, taken by The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration in 2017 in galaxy M87, 6.5 billion times the mass of earth, 55 million light-years away.
1471 Wars of the Roses: King Edward IV of England seizes London from Henry VI.
1689 William II (Prince of Orange and champion of Protestants) and Mary II were crowned joint monarchs by the Bishop of London. The Archbishop of Canterbury refused to officiate.
1713 France handed over Gibraltar and Newfoundland to Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht.
1750 Jack Slack retains Champion of England boxing title, beats Frenchman Jean Petit in 7 rounds in Harlston, England; acknowledged as first international prize fight.
1814 Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates unconditionally and he is exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.
1831 The 12th century Lewis chess pieces are exhibited at the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, shortly after their rediscovery in a sand bank on the Scottish Isle of Lewis. In 2019 a newly rediscovered Lewis chess piece sells at auction for £735,000 in London.
1855 Britain's first pillar boxes were put up in London. There were six of them, all painted green.
1936 Billy Butlin opened his first holiday camp at Skegness. One of the original chalets is on site and is a grade II listed building.The camp was officially opened by Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.
1939 The game of darts was banned in public houses in Glasgow because it was 'too dangerous'.
1941 Germany blitzes Coventry, England.
1951 The Stone of Scone, (the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned) was found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey in Angus. It had been stolen from Westminster Abbey 107 days earlier by Scottish nationalists who wanted it returned to Scotland. In 1996, in a symbolic response to growing dissatisfaction among Scots, the Conservative Government decided that the Stone should be kept in Edinburgh Castle when not in use at coronations.
1952 Queen Elizabeth II announced that her children and descendents would bear the surname of Windsor.
1959 Billy Wright, former England football captain became the first player in the world to play for his country in a hundred matches when England beat Scotland 1-0.
1973 The British Government introduced a tar content table to be printed on cigarette packets.
1976 The Apple I computer, created by Steve Wozniak is released.
1981 Larry Holmes beats Trevor Berbick in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1981 The arrest of a black man led to hundreds of youths rampaging through the streets of Brixton in south London. Over a 100 vehicles were burned and almost 150 buildings were damaged. Reports suggested that up to 5,000 people were involved.
1983 The film Gandhi, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, won eight Oscars, the most any British film has ever won. In October 2004 a four feet high bust of Gandhi was erected in the city of Hull, donated by Hull's Indian community . The chair of the ceremony pointed out that no other city in the world had within half-a-mile the statues of Wilberforce, Mandela and Gandhi who devoted their lives to fight against slavery, racism and colonialism.
2000 South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje is sacked after admitting dishonesty following match-fixing allegations in India.
2015 168th Grand National: Jockey Leighton Aspell wins his second consecutive GN aboard 25/1 shot Many Clouds; owner Trevor Hemmings' 3rd GN victory.
1567 The Earl of Bothwell was found not guilty of the murder of Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Bothwell and Mary then married.
1606 The Union Flag became the official flag of Britain. It combined the flags of St. George (England) and St. Andrew (Scotland). As Wales was not a Kingdom but a Principality it could not be included on the flag. In 1801 the cross of St. Patrick (Ireland) was incorporated to create the flag that has been flown ever since.
1709 The first edition of the Tatler Magazine was published 'On This Day'.
1831 Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester caused it to collapse, reportedly owing to a mechanical resonance induced by troops marching over the bridge in step. Forty of the soldiers were thrown into the river. As a result of the incident the British Military issued an order that troops should 'break step' when crossing a bridge.
1838 English settlers in South Africa defeated the Zulus at the Battle of Tugela. The settlers had guns whereas the Zulus only had spears.
1861 Fort Sumter in South Carolina is attacked by the Confederacy, beginning the American Civil War.
1902 In South Africa, Boer leaders met the British commander Lord Kitchener to discuss peace proposals to end the Boer War.
1905 French Dufaux brothers test helicopter.
1919 British Parliament passes a 48-hour work week with minimum wages.
1924 In the first ever international match at Wembley England drew 1-1 with Scotland in front of a disappointingly low crowd of 37,250.
1927 The British Cabinet came out in favour of voting rights for women.
1935 The first flight of the Bristol Blenheim, a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. BAC went on to become a founding component of the nationalised British Aerospace, now BAE Systems.
1937 British engineer, Frank Whittle, tested the first jet engine at the Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby. The first jet flight was achieved by the German Heinkel, but it was Whittle’s engine that was used as the prototype.
1941 Bobby Moore, English footballer was born. He captained West Ham for more than ten years and was captain of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the all-time greats of world football, and was cited by Pelé as the greatest defender that he had ever played against.
1954 American, Bill Haley recorded 'Rock Around The Clock'. It was first record to sell a million copies in Britain.
1961 Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to orbit Earth (Vostok 1).
1969 Wales beats England, 30-9 at the National Stadium, Cardiff to clinch their 16th Five Nations Rugby Championship and 11th Triple Crown.
1984 Arthur Scargill, leader of the miners' union the NUM, would not allow a national ballot to take place on whether to stop the miners' strike.
1989 Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 'Cats' was performed for the 3,358th time at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane, making it Britain’s longest running musical. Steven Wain who played one of the cats, was the only member of the original cast still in the show after eight years. Seats were booked to the end of 1999.
1992 Euro Disney (Disneyland Paris) opens in Marne-la-Vallee, France.
2020 The death (aged 90) of the British motor racing legend Sir Stirling Moss. Described as ‘A mighty racer and a true gentleman’, Stirling Moss was widely regarded as one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time, even though he never won the World Championship. He won 16 of the 66 Formula 1 races he competed in (between 1951 and 1961) and in 1955, at Aintree, he became the first British driver to win a home grand prix.
1570 The birth of Guy Fawkes at this house, now the Guy Fawkes Inn, in York, He was also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries. Guy Fawkes belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot at the Houses of Parliament in 1605.
1668 The appointment of the first Poet Laureate - John Dryden.
1732 The birth of Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guildford. As Lord North, he levied the tax on tea that so incensed the American colonists that it provoked the so called ‘Boston Tea Party’.
1741 Britain's Royal Military Academy was established at Woolwich. It is now at Sandhurst.
1796 First elephant arrives in US from India.
1892 The birth of Sir Arthur Travers Harris, Royal Air Force Bomber commander, nicknamed 'Bomber' Harris by the press, and often within the RAF as 'Butcher' Harris. He instituted the mass bombing raids over Germany, including the controversial blanket bombing of Dresden.
1912 The formation of the Royal Flying Corps (later incorporated into the RAF).
1935 Imperial Airways and QANTAS inaugurated their London to Australia air service.
1936 Luton Town footballer Joe Payne in his first match as a centre-forward aged 22, set a goal scoring record when he scored ten goals in one match against Bristol Rovers.
1962 Animal Magic, presented by Johnny Morris, was first broadcast.
1970 Apollo 13 announces "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here", as Beech-built oxygen tank explodes en route to Moon.
1980 44th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: 23 year old Spaniard Seve Ballesteros wins his first Masters.
1986 50th Masters Golf Tournament: Jack Nicklaus wins his record 18th major with a 1-stroke victory over Greg Norman and Tom Kite; shoots final round 65 (−7); at 46 the oldest Masters winner.
1992 Neil Kinnock resigned as Labour Party leader. He blamed the Conservative backed press for his party's defeat at the general election.
1996 Fergie came out with some great excuses for poor Manchester United displays with one of the most bizarre coming at half-time in the Premier League match against Southampton at the Dell on April 13th 1996. He blamed the 3-0 deficit at the break on the grey kit United were wearing saying that his players couldn't pick each other out against the background of the crowd. He ordered them to change into a blue strip for the second half and to be fair United scored the only goal in the second period. Mind you United wore blue when they visited the Dell the following season - and lost 3-6!
1997 61st US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Tiger Woods wins his first major title, a record 12 strokes ahead of Tom Kite; 4-round total 270 (−18) is tournament record.
2019 World's largest plane by wingspan at 117m (385 ft), the Stratolaunch, built as a flying launch pad for satellites, takes its first flight from Mojave, California.
1471 The Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Barnet. Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, ‘the Kingmaker’, was slain in the battle. He had put Henry VI on the throne but Edward IV returned from exile in Holland to reclaim the crown.
1841 1st detective story published, Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders in Rue Morgue".
1865 US President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington; he dies a day later.
1912 The British built luxury liner Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic shortly before midnight, and sank in the early hours of the next morning. 1500 passengers and crew were killed.
1927 The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1931 The Ministry of Transport issued the first Highway Code, a set of guidelines and rules for drivers.
1939 The birth of Trevor Locke, a policeman who was taken hostage while on guard duty outside the Iranian Embassy in London. He tackled the terrorist leader as the SAS stormed the building saving the life of the first SAS man on the scene.
1950 Comic strip hero Dan Dare the pilot of a space ship made his first appearance in the first edition of the comic, the Eagle.
1983 The first cordless telephone capable of operating up to 600 feet from base was introduced. It was made by Fidelity and British Telecom and sold for £170.
1985 The death of Noele Gordon, English film and television actress. She was credited as the first woman to be seen on colour television sets, as she took part in the BBC's early tests in colour broadcasting in the 1940s. In 'Crossroads', she took the role of motel owner Meg Richardson (later Meg Mortimer) and was the only member of the Crossroads cast who had a permanent contract.
1989 Police in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, revealed that violent prisoners were being put into a bright pink cell which seemed to have a calming effect. The colour was named Baker-Miller Pink after the police chief and psychologist who thought up the idea.
1991 55th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Welshman Ian Woosnam wins his only major title, 1 stroke ahead of José María Olazábal; 4th straight year the Masters champion is from the UK.
1996 60th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Englishman Nick Faldo wins his 3rd Masters and 6th and final major title, 5 strokes ahead of Greg Norman of Australia.
2000 Kenneth Noye, who carried out a 'road rage' killing on the M25 began a life sentence after being convicted of murder at the Old Bailey in London. He fled to the Costa del Sol after the attack and was arrested in 1998 by British police.
2010 Icelandic Volcano Eyjafjallajökull begins erupting from the top crater in the centre of the glacier.
2013 The Wizard of Oz song, 'Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead' which was at the centre of an online campaign by opponents of Baroness Thatcher, reached number two in the 'charts' after selling 52,605 copies. Rival campaign song 'I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher' entered at number 35.
2014 Seventeen new Scout badges were introduced across all age groups of the Scout movement. New tasks range from the ability to assess disability access at public buildings, to geocaching, sending emails and posting photographs on the Internet appropriately.
2018 171st Grand National: Davey Russell wins aboard 10/1 Tiger Roll in a photo finish from Pleasant Company.
2019 83rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Tiger Woods wins his 5th Masters title, it's Woods' 15th major and first in 11 years.
February 20, 1817 — Two leading English actors went head to head at London’s Drury Lane theatre on this day in a thespian battle to decide which of the two was the nation’s finest actor. It was a contest that led indirectly to the death of one of America’s most famous presidents.
Junius Brutus Booth and Edmund Kean were outstanding Shakespearean actors, each with their own band of supporters known as Boothites and Keanites. In this clash, Kean played Othello while Booth performed as Iago.
It seems that Kean took the acting laurels in the production, but the rivalry between the two continued until 1821 when Booth finally called it a day and emigrated to the United States. There, the ninth of his ten children – John Wilkes Booth – was to become the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.
JW Booth himself became an actor, making his debut at the age of 17 with a part in Richard III at Baltimore. He then toured the country with a Shakespearean acting company.
In 1862, he made his New York debut, this time as the lead in Richard III and the New York Herald described him as a "veritable sensation."
The following year, Booth was struck down by a respiratory illness and had to give up the stage – for a while at least.
It was at a time when the American Civil War was raging and the young actor – said to suffer from emotional instability – was not only a vigorous supporter of the Southern cause but a critic of Lincoln with a vehemence that bordered on hatred.
In March 1865, he became involved in a plot to kidnap the President. Booth and six Southern sympathisers, with Lincoln held hostage, would demand either peace or the release of Confederate soldiers as a ransom.
But the President failed to appear at the location where the kidnap was to take place and the plot had to be abandoned.
Frustrated, Booth looked for new ways to get at the President. And on the morning of April 14, 1865, he learned that Lincoln was to attend an evening performance of the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford’s theatre in Washington.
As a famous and popular actor Booth had free access to the theatre and took a seat for the performance. Then, during the play’s third act he went to the outer door of the presidential box and found Lincoln and his guests essentially unguarded.
Entering the box, he drew a gun and shot Lincoln through the back of the head.
Booth then swung himself over the balustrade and leapt to the stage, shouting, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus always to tyrants!”). He broke his leg when he landed but was able to make his escape to an alley where he had a horse waiting.
He was tracked down to a farm 12 days later and shot dead when he refused to give himself up.
Although Junius Brutus Booth was the father of a notorious assassin, another of his sons – Edwin Thomas Booth – became a great Shakespearean actor who toured throughout America and the major capitals of Europe.
Some theatrical historians consider him the finest American actor of the 19th century, and certainly the greatest Hamlet.
1534 Thomas Cromwell is appointed Chief Secretary to King Henry VIII of England.
1755 Dr Samuel Johnson's dictionary 'A Dictionary of the English Language' was first published, in London. It contained explanations and meanings for 40,000 different words and had taken him almost 9 years to compile, although he had claimed he could finish it in three. He was paid the sum of 1,500 guineas, equivalent to about £230,000 in today's money.
1793 The Bank of England issued the first £5 notes.
1802 William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy saw a 'long belt' of daffodils, inspiring him to pen 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud'.
1896 1st modern Summer Olympic Games close in Athens, Greece; USA wins gold medal count, 11; Greece wins total medal count, 46; IOC has retroactively assigned gold, silver & bronze medals to 3 best placed athletes in each event.
1900 An early 50 mile race is won by an electric car in over 2 hrs.
1901 The birth of Joe Davis, world snooker and billiards champion from 1927-1946.
1901 The first motor hearse appeared on the streets of Britain when it carried the body of William Drakeford to his burial in Coventry. His employer, the Daimler Motor Company, had adapted one of their cars for the occasion.
1912 The British built Titanic luxury ocean liner that had collided earlier with an iceberg about 400 miles from Newfoundland sank at 2:20 a.m. More than 1,500 people drowned or froze to death in the icy waters. Most of the 700 survivors were women and children. As the ship sank, the band played music to calm the passengers and all the musicians went down with the ship. They were recognized for their heroism and bandleader Wallace Hartley aged 33, from Colne in Lancashire, is commemorated in a memorial in the town's centre. The words 'Nearer My God To Thee', the alleged last song that the band played on RMS Titanic, are engraved on the plinth along with a violin and bow.
1925 Author James Barrie donated his copyright fee for the story of Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London.
1941 The Belfast Blitz, during which two-hundred bombers of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attacked Belfast in Northern Ireland, killing one thousand people.
1942 The people of the British colony of Malta were awarded the George Cross in recognition of their heroic war time struggle against enemy attack.
1945 British troops entered the Belsan concentration camp after negotiating a truce with the German commandant. Soldiers found piles of dead and rotting corpses and thousands of sick and starving prisoners. Freddie Gilroy, a former miner and 23 year old soldier from County Durham was one of the first allied troops to enter Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The oversized Freddie Gilroy and the Belsen Stragglers statue at Scarborough 'represents ordinary people pulled out of ordinary lives because of war'. A picture of a normal sized adult alongside the oversized sculture.
1955 Ray Kroc opens first McDonald's Inc. fast food restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.
1961 England thumped Scotland 9-3 at Wembley. Jimmy Greaves scored a hat-trick and Scotland ‘keeper Frank Haffey had a nightmare.
1964 Both George Best and Pat Jennings made their senior international debuts for Northern Ireland on this day in a 3-2 victory over Wales in the British Home Championship match at the Vetch Field in Swansea. Jennings went on to make a record 119 appearances for his country but Best sadly not making enough with just 37 caps to his name.
1984 Tommy Cooper, English comedian, collapsed and died from a heart attack in front of millions of television viewers, midway through his act on the London Weekend Television variety show Live From Her Majesty's.
1989 Britain's worst football disaster at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. 96 football fans were crushed to death shortly after the start of the FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
2000 A white farmer in Zimbabwe became the first white farmer to be killed in land confrontations involving President Robert Mugabe's ruling party.
2010 All flights in and out of the UK and several other European countries were suspended as ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland moved south. The cloud triggered the UK's worst airspace restriction in living memory and brought much of Europe to a standstill.
2011 "Black Friday" for online poker in the US: indictment United States v. Scheinberg shuts down sites, accusing companies of fraud and money laundering.
2013 Boston Marathon bombings: 3 people are killed and 183 injured after two explosions near the finish line.
2019 Paris cathedral Notre Dame catches fire, toppling its spire and destroying its roof.
1705 Queen Anne of England knighted the scientist Isaac Newton at Trinity College, Cambridge.
1746 Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was defeated at the Battle of Culloden Moor by an English Army under the the command of William, Duke of Cumberland. The **** battle earned the Duke the name ‘Butcher Cumberland’. The Young Pretender Charles Stuart escaped and was later helped by Flora Macdonald to flee the country.
1889 Charlie Chaplin, English-born film actor and director was born.
1912 American Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel. She took off from Dover, en route to Calais, France and made the flight in 59 minutes, landing about 25 miles from Calais, on a beach.
1918 Spike Milligan, English comedian and writer was born.
1939 The Soviet Union proposes an alliance with Britain and France to counter Nazi Germany; the Soviets would later sign a secret agreement with the N azis.
1943 Swiss scientist Dr. Albert Hofmann discovers the psychedelic effects of LSD.
1945 Colditz Castle, the high-security prisoner of war camp in Germany, is liberated by American troops.
1948 Organization for European Economic Cooperation (EEC) forms in Paris.
1953 Queen Elizabeth II launched the Royal Yacht Britannia at Clydeside. She was used by the British Royal Family for state visits and diplomatic missions for the next 45 years and is now permanently moored as an exhibition ship at Ocean Terminal, Leith - Edinburgh.
1964 Twelve members of the Great Train Robbery gang were sentenced to a total of 307 years.
1982 Queen Elizabeth proclaimed the new Canadian constitution, severing Canada's last colonial links with Britain.
1986 Brewery heiress Jennifer Guiness was released in Dublin after being kidnapped and held hostage for 7 days.
1993 Jury reaches guilty verdict in federal case against police officers (two convicted, two acquitted) who beat Rodney King, but the verdict is not read until April 17th.
1996 The Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, announced that they were to divorce.
2007 Virginia Tech massacre: The deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. The gunman, Seung-**** Cho, kills 32 people and injures 23 others before committing suicide.
2008 It was announced that Karen Matthews (aged 32, from Dewsbury) was to stand trial alongside Michael Donovan, charged with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of her 9 year old daughter Shannon who disappeared on 19th February. On 23rd January 2009, Matthews and Donovan were sentenced to eight years in prison by Mr. Justice McCombe.
2017 World record for gathering of Charlie Chaplin lookalikes - 662 at Manoir de Ban, Chaplin museum in Vevey, Switzerland.
2020 Shortly before 06:00 this morning, Tom Moore, a 99-year-old war veteran from Bedfordshire, who is walking 100 laps of his garden with the aid of a walking frame before he turns 100, had raised nearly £12million for the NHS. More than 600,000 people from around the world donated money to his fundraising page since it was set up the previous week.
Oxford United owner Robert Maxwell announced that he had bought a controlling interest in Reading FC and that he intended to merge the clubs and play under the name of Thames Valley Royals.
Football On This Day - 16th April 1994.
Duncan Ferguson of Rangers became the first professional player in Britain to be jailed for a incident on the football pitch. In a Scottish League match at Ibrox on 16th April 1994 he head-butted visiting Raith Rovers defender Jock McStay and although the clash wasn't noticed by the match officials it was caught on camera and he ended up in court charged with assault. He was found guilty and with previous convictions (although not from footballing incidents) he was sentenced to 3 months in prison. He eventually served 44 days in Barlinnie prison after which he became an Everton player.
1387 Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" characters begin their pilgrimage to Canterbury.
1397 Geoffrey Chaucer told the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.
1492 Christopher Columbus signs a contract with the Spanish monarchs to find the "Indies" with the stated goal of converting people to Catholicism. This promises him 10% of all riches found, and the governorship of any lands encountered.
1860 The first world title boxing match took place near Farnborough, Hampshire, when Briton Tom Sayers took on American John Heenan. Despite being 46 lb lighter, Sayers forced a draw after 42 rounds of bare-knuckle fighting lasting 2 hours 27 minutes.
1875 Modern Snooker invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain, a bored British officer in Jabalpur, India.
1888 The formation of the English Football League took place at a formal meeting in the Royal Hotel, Manchester.
1912 1st unofficial gold record (Al Jolson's "Ragging The Baby To Sleep").
1940 The birth in Liverpool of Billy Fury. He equalled The Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s, and spent 332 weeks in the UK charts, without ever reaching Number One.
1949 At midnight 26 Irish counties officially left the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushered in the Republic of Ireland.
1951 Designated as a National Park in December 1950, the Peak District was officially confirmed as the United Kingdom's first National Park.
1956 Premium Bonds were introduced into Britain by the Conservative Chancellor, Harold Macmillan. They were described as a ‘squalid raffle’ and as a ‘cold, inhuman activity’. 750,000 Methodists were urged by their church leaders to boycott the scheme.
1963 The opening of the Hilton Hotel in London.
1964 The British pop group The Rolling Stones released their first album. The debut album was called The Rolling Stones! It was released a month later in the US with the title 'England’s Newest Hit Makers'.
1964 Ford Mustang formally introduced ($2,368 base).
1969 The age at which a person was eligible to vote in Britain was lowered from 21 to 18.
1979 British tennis star John Lloyd married the American tennis star Chris Evert.
1984 WPC Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead during an anti Gadaafi protest outside the Libyan People’s Bureau in London. Ten others were wounded and the events led to an 11-day siege of the building. Diplomatic relations with Libya were severed on 23rd April and her killer escaped under the cloak of diplomatic immunity.
1986 British journalist John McCarthy was kidnapped in Beirut. He was not released until August 1991.
2011 "Game of Thrones", based on the fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin premieres on HBO.
2013 The funeral of Baroness Margaret Thatcher. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and the first woman to have held the office.
2015 James Anderson becomes the highest wicket-taking bowler in England's test cricket history.
2021 The funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II for more than 70 years.
Hooliganism was an ever-present problem in the 70s with one particularly bad incident at Elland Road in April 1971. Leeds were involved in a tight battle with Arsenal for the League title and in a crucial match against WBA referee Ray Tinkler allowed a clearly off-side goal. The ref was jostled during a pitch invasion which followed. Leeds lost the match 1-2 and were pipped by a point by Arsenal for the title. Their punishment for the incident was a four-match banishment from Elland Road at the start of the 1971/72 season.
1970-71 Leeds v West Bromwich Albion, full highlights not just THAT goal.
Plenty more went on in this match. 2 goals ruled out for offside, a linesman hit, Alan Merrick had a close encounter with some chairs! Bremner, Hunter & Charlton were their usual unpleasant selves. Watch out for the smiling St.John's ambulance man after Astle's goal. Obviously not a fan of Revies bullies!
1689 The death of Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys known as the Hanging Judge. He led the Taunton Assize trials that came in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor, the battle that ended the Monmouth Rebellion in England. Of more than 500 prisoners brought before the court, 144 were hanged and their remains displayed around the county.
1740 The birth of Sir Francis Baring, English merchant banker. Barings was the oldest merchant bank in London until it collapsed in 1995 after one of the bank's employees, Nick Leeson, lost £827 million on speculative investing.
1775 At the start of the War of American Independence, US patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes left Boston, bound for Concord, to warn people that British troops were advancing.
1783 Fighting ceases in the American Revolution, eight years to the day when it began.
1809 First run of 2,000 guineas horse race at Newmarket, England.
1881 The Natural History Museum in London was opened.
1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire kills nearly 4,000 while destroying 75% of the city.
1912 The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brought 705 survivors to New York from the RMS Titanic that had sunk on on 15th April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton.
1949 The Republic of Ireland Act came into force as Eire (Southern Ireland) became a Republic and left the British Commonwealth.
1949 The first 'Bob-a-Job week' began when 440,000 British Scouts started a nationwide campaign to raise the £22,000 needed to cover the deficits of the Scout movement. In the first year £60,000 was raised. The variety of jobs undertaken included a 13 year old who spent four hours cleaning the silver at 10 Downing Street.
1960 At least 60,000 demonstrators gathered in Trafalgar Square to mark the end of the Aldermaston to London 'ban the bomb' march.
1968 London Bridge was sold for £1m to American oil tycoon Robert McCullough. He decided to knock it down brick by brick and have it re-built at Lake Havasu in the United States.
1980 Rhodesia became Zimbabwe at midnight and independent from Britain. Canaan Banana was the President and Robert Mugabe the Prime Minister.
1985 Wham become the first western pop act to release an album in China.
1986 Guinness the giant brewery business won their battle to take over the equally large spirits combine, the Distillers Group. The manner of the takeover was later investigated by the Director of Public Prosecutions and led to arrests of top financial figures including the Guinness chief executive, James Saunders.
1988 In the House of Commons, the 16th-century symbol of the Speaker’s authority, the Mace, was damaged by Ron Brown, Labour MP for Leith, when he flung it to the floor during a debate. It was described by his own supporters as ‘a childish stunt’ and led to his 20 day suspension.
1993 The Coca-Cola (League Cup) final at Wembley saw Arsenal beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 with the winner being a rare goal from Steve Morrow. After the final whistle Arsenal captain Tony Adams tried to lift Morrow on to his shoulders in celebration of his part in the victory - but dropped him! While his team-mates were collecting their winners' medals the unfortunate Morrow was on his way to hospital with a broken arm. He did get a Wembley presentation of his medals though, in May before Arsenal's FA Cup final against - ironically - Sheffield Wednesday which they won after a replay.
1994 West Indian batsman Brian Lara broke the record for the highest individual score in Test Cricket when he scored 375 against England in Antigua.
2017 British Prime Minister Teresa May announces she will seek a "snap" election.
1587 The English naval commander Sir Francis Drake sailed a small number of ships into Cadiz Harbour and sank most of the Spanish fleet. The incident became known as 'singeing the King of Spain's beard'.
1770 Explorer Captain James Cook sighted the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
1775 The "Shot Heard Round the World" took place in Concord.The start of the American War of Independence against Britain when fighting began at Lexington and Concord.
1880 The Times war correspondent telephoned a report of the Battle of Ahmed Khel (part of the Second Afghan War). It was the first time that news had been sent from a field of battle in this manner.
1882 Charles Darwin, the English biologist who developed the theory of evolution, died at his home in Kent.
1883 At a meeting in Liverpool to establish a home for dogs, the proposer, T.F. Agnew, suggested it should perhaps be turned into a home for children as he had seen the work of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to children. On the evening of this day, the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed. Later, it would become the National Society (NSPCC).
1897 1st Boston Marathon (B.A.A. Road Race), won by John J. McDermott in 2:55:10; the world's oldest annual marathon inspired by success of the first marathon at the 1896 Summer Olympics.
1927 Actress Mae West found guilty of “obscenity and corrupting the morals of youth” in a New York stage play entitled "Sex". She is sentenced to 10 days in prison and fined $500, the resulting publicity launches her Hollywood career.
1928 The 125th and final section of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.
1933 'Dickie' Bird, (Harold Dennis Bird) English cricket umpire, was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire.
1935 The birth of Dudley Moore, English actor, comedian and composer.
1951 The first Miss World Contest was won by Kiki Haakonson, a 21 year old from Sweden. There were 30 contestants and 25 came from Britain, although all nations could enter. The contest was devised by Mecca publicity officer, Eric Morley, as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations.
1958 The legendary English footballer Bobby Charlton made the first of his 106 appearances for England against Scotland and scored the first of his record 49 goals for his country.
1963 Johnny Cash releases his single "Ring Of Fire".
1971 Charles Manson sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Sharon Tate.
1980 25th Eurovision Song Contest: Johnny Logan for Ireland wins singing "What's Another Year" in The Hague.
1986 Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1991 Evander Holyfield beats George Foreman in 12 for heavyweight boxing title.
1993 After a 51 day siege by the FBI 76 Branch Davidians die in a fire near Waco Texas (accident, suicide, tear gas are disputed causes).
1994 Rodney King awarded $3,800,000 compensation by the Los Angeles County for his police beating.
1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Timothy McVeigh sets a truck bomb at Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 and injuring 500.
1995 The first television advert for football pools was screened in a £1.5m Littlewood's campaign. The ban on such commercials was lifted after the company protested to the government that the National Lottery was hitting their profits.
2004 The death of Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder (along with Ross McWhirter) of the Guinness Book of Records.
2014 For the first time Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho suffered a Premier League defeat at Stamford Bridge. After 61 wins and 16 draws in his first 77 league matches at the ground in his two spells at the club along came bottom club Sunderland to win 2-1 against title chasing Chelsea. In his after-match interview he praised his players, he praised Sunderland and then had this to say about the referee who had turned down several Chelsea penalty appeals but awarded one to Sunderland. "Third point, I want to congratulate again Mike Dean. I think his performance was unbelievable and I think when referees have unbelievable performances I think it's fair that as managers we give them praise. So, fantastic performance. He came here with one objective. To make a fantastic performance. And he did that.” Yes he was being sarcastic and yes he was fined, £10,000.
1653 Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament. It had followed the Long Parliament that had governed during the Civil War.
1657 The Spanish Fleet was destroyed in the Battle at Santa Cruz by an English Fleet commanded by Admiral Blake.
1689 The siege of Londonderry began when supporters of James II attacked the city. The population nearly starved to death before the siege was raised on 30th July.
1879 The first mobile home (horse-drawn) was used in a journey from London to Cyprus.
1887 Georges Bouton wins the world’s 1st motor race on a steam-powered quadricycle, a 'test' organised by French newspaper Le Velocipede.
1912 The Irish-born writer Bram Stoker, author of Count Dracula, died at his London home.
1918 Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
1931 British House of Commons agrees for sports play on Sunday.
1949 The Badminton Horse Trials were held for the first time, at Badminton, Gloucestershire.
1949 Jockey Bill (Willie) Shoemaker wins his 1st race, in Albany, California.
1964 BBC Two launched, with a power cut because of a fire at Battersea Power Station.
1968 The Conservative right-winger, Enoch Powell, made a hard-hitting speech attacking the government's immigration policy. Mr Powell said Britain had to be mad to allow in 50,000 dependents of immigrants each year. He compared it to watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre. "Like the Roman, I seem to see the river Tiber foaming with much blood."
1969 British troops guarded public utilities in N. Ireland after post offices were bombed.
1974 The conflict in Northern Ireland claimed its 1,000th victim, a petrol station owner from County Fermanagh.
1981 Steve Davis became the world snooker champion at 23 years of age, beating Doug Mountjoy at Sheffield. On 17th April 2016 he announced his retirement, aged 58. Davis won six world titles and 28 ranking titles.
1989 Scientists said that the Earth had narrowly missed being struck by a passing asteroid weighing 400 million tons.
1992 Benny Hill, English comedian died. Between the end of World War II and the dawn of television he worked as a radio performer. His film credits included parts in nine films such as Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Italian Job. His world famous Benny Hill Show Hill ran for nearly four decades and remained a cult series in much of the world long after Hill's death.
1999 Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School, Colorado.
2010 The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes, killing 11 and causing the rig to sink, causing a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and an environmental disaster.
2016 The Queen visited the Royal Mail Windsor delivery office to mark the 500th anniversary of the postal service. (Additional note - In 1516, Henry VIII knighted Brian Tuke, the first Master of the Posts, in an act that was the catalyst for the creation of the Royal Mail).
2020 Price of US oil turns negative for the 1st time in history - West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for US oil, falls as low as minus $37.63 a barrel as worldwide demand falls.
A then world-record crowd for a football match at the Crystal Palace for the FA Cup final between Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur. The official attendance was 110.802 although thousands more gained entrance to witness a 2-2 draw. The replay, played a week later at Bolton's Burnden Park, saw Southern League Spurs become the only non-league side to win the FA Cup since the Football League was founded in 1888 with a 3-1 victory.
Football On This Day – 20th April 1986.
Robert Maxwell perhaps wasn't the most popular of club chairman but under his control Oxford United did enjoy its most successful period. As a First Division club - the top tier in those days - on this day in 1986 Oxford beat favourites QPR in front of 90,396 at Wembley to win the Milk Cup (League Cup). Twenty years later they were relegated to the Conference
Football On This Day - 20th April 2018.
Arsène Wenger announces he will leave London EPL club Arsenal after 22 years as manager.
753 BC Romulus and Remus found Rome (traditional date).
1509 Henry VIII became King of England following the death of his father, Henry VII.
1536 Thomas Cromwell begins to plot Anne Boleyn's downfall while feigning illness.
1671 The birth of John Law, Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth in itself. He was a gambler and a brilliant mental calculator who was known to win card games by mentally calculating the odds.
1689 William III and Mary II were crowned joint king and queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1750 Peter Dollond opened a small optical business in Vine Street, near Hatton Garden in London. In 1927 Dollond & Co merged with Aitchison & Co, to form Dollond & Aitchison. On 29th January 2009, it was announced that Boots Opticians were to merge with D&A, forming a chain of 690 stores and 5,000 staff after Boots purchased a controlling share in D&A.
1816 Charlotte Bronte, eldest of the three literary sisters, was born in Thornton, West Yorkshire. .Her publisher rejected her first novel, 'The Professor,' but she went on to write her masterpiece, 'Jane Eyre'.
1828 Lexicographer Noah Webster compiled a two volume work entitled 'The American dictionary of the English language'. It was the first attempt to standardize the the American language and distinguish it from the English of the British.
1907 Political clubs in Ireland merged to form the Sinn Fein League.
1916 Roger Casement, the Irish-born British consular official, landed in Ireland from a German submarine prepared to lead the Sinn Fein rebellion, but was arrested as the ‘Easter Uprising’ took place. The rebellion against the British in Dublin reached its worst level as Irish republicans took over sections of the city, while a Royal Navy gunboat bombarded them from the River Liffey.
1918 Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the legendary German ace pilot who had destroyed 80 Allied aircraft, was shot down by an RAF fighter and died from the crash behind British lines. He was known as the ‘Red Baron’ because of his distinctive red Fokker tri-plane.
1926 Queen Elizabeth II was born. On 23rd Janury 2015, (following the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz), the Queen became the oldest reigning monarch in the world and on 21st April 2016 she became the first 90 year old head of state of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms.
1934 The 'Surgeon's Photograph', the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, was published in the Daily Mail. In 1999, it was revealed to be a hoax.
1955 National newspapers were published for the first time in nearly a month following the end of the maintenance workers' strike.
1956 Elvis Presley's 1st hit record, "Heartbreak Hotel", becomes #1.
1959 English ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn was jailed for a day in Panama while the police looked for her Panamanian husband, accused of plotting a coup.
1963 Beatles meet The Rolling Stones for the 1st time.
1964 BBC television launched Playschool as the opening programme of their second channel. BBC2 actually opened a day late due to a major power failure the previous day.
1981 US furnish $1 billion in arms to Saudi-Arabia.
1983 One pound coins replaced notes in England and Wales.
1984 After 37 weeks Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" is knocked off as top album by movie soundtrack for "Footloose".
1984 Centers for Disease Cont says virus discovered in France causes AIDS.
1984 Franz Weber of Austria skis downhill at a record 128 mph.
1986 Bob Hering sets Formula One power boat record (165.338 mph, Ariz).
1989 Thousands of Chinese crowd into Beijing's Tiananmen Square cheering students demanding greater political freedom.
1995 British sitcom "Father Ted" written by Arthur Mathews & Graham Linehan, starring Dermot Morgan premieres on Channel 4.
2016 US President Barack Obama begins a 4 day visit to the UK with Michelle Obama.
2019 Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks at a Extinction Rebellion protest in London amid city-wide climate protests where Waterloo Bridge was occupied over four days.
On this day in 2013: Liverpool’s Luis Suarez bites Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.
Liverpool Luis Suarez hit the headlines after biting the arm of Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in a feisty encounter at Anfield on this day in 2013.
The Uruguay international endured an eventful afternoon after finding himself at the centre of several of the game’s key moments.
He conceded the 57th-minute penalty for handball, from which Eden Hazard fired the visitors ahead for the second time after Daniel Sturridge had cancelled out Oscar’s first-half opener, and he then scored a controversial equaliser seven minutes into stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw.
However, it was what happened in between which defined his day and earned him a 10-game ban.
Suarez appeared to sink his teeth into the upper arm of Ivanovic as the pair battled or possession. The incident was not spotted at the time by match referee Kevin Friend, but television replays left the striker with nowhere to hide.
He apologised to Ivanovic for his “inexcusable behaviour” via his Twitter account and then in a statement on his club’s website, and later revealed he had been fined by his employers and asked that the money be donated to the Hillsborough Family Support Group.
Two days after the game, he accepted a Football Association charge of violent conduct, but challenged the governing body’s view that a standard three-game suspension represented insufficient punishment.
The frontman, who had previously sat out seven matches for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal during his time at Ajax and eight after being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra, was handed a 10-game ban, much to Liverpool’s dismay, and did not play for the club again until September 25 that year.
Suarez, however, did not learn his lesson and was sent home from the 2014 World Cup finals after being banned for nine international matches and from all football for four months for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini. He left Anfield in a £75milion switch to Barcelona less than two weeks later.
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1766 1st fire escape patented, wicker basket on a pulley & chain.
1838 The day before his 32nd birthday, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s 236 ft steamship Great Western sailed from Bristol on her maiden voyage to New York. The journey took 15 days, half the time of the fastest sailing ship. She became the first steamship to make regular Atlantic crossings.
1879 Milk sold in glass bottles for 1st time.
1925 The Australian Government and the British Colonial Office offered low interest loans to encourage Britons to borrow the money to emigrate to Australia.
1967 121st Grand National: John Buckingham aboard rank 100/1 outsider Foinavon avoids famous carnage to win by 15 lengths from favourite Honey End.
1967 12th Eurovision Song Contest: Sandie Shaw for United Kingdom wins singing "Puppet on a String" in Vienna.
1968 'Goodfellows' Gangsters Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke commit the Air France robbery, stealing $420,000.
1975 47th Academy Awards: "The Godfather Part II" wins.
1983 In front of a live audience of 20 tourists, David Copperfield makes the Statue of Liberty disappear.
1986 Clint Eastwood elected mayor of Carmel, California.
1989 143rd Grand National: Irish 12-year-old Little Polveir, ridden by jockey Jimmy Frost wins by 7 lengths from West Tip.
1990 British golfer Nick Faldo won his second successive US Masters after a play-off.
1992 After 151 years Britain's "Punch Magazine" publishes its final issue.
1995 Oliver McCall beats Larry Holmes in 12 for heavyweight boxing title.
1997 The results of the first ultrasonic scan of the front of the Titanic revealed a series of six short slits as the principal damage to the ship after it struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic in 1912.
2000 153rd Grand National: Irish 10/1 shot Papillon, ridden by jockey Ruby Walsh and trained by his father Ted Walsh wins by 1¼ lengths from Mely Moss.
2006 159th Grand National: 11–1 Irish shot Numbersixvalverde, ridden by Niall Madden wins by 6 lengths from defending champion Hedgehunter.
2012 35 year old Trenton Oldfield was charged over an incident which led to the 158th University Boat Race being halted halfway through. He swam in front of the boats, protesting about university elitism and narrowly avoided being hit by the oars of the Oxford crew.
2013 The death of former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher, aged 87. She was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990 and the first woman to have held the role.
2017 170th Grand National: Derek Fox wins aboard 14/1 One For Arthur; second ever Scottish-trained winner of the event.
After having made two substitute appearances in the League for Southampton Alan Shearer made his starting debut for the Saints against Arsenal at the Dell and at 17 years 240 days of age became the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the top flight. Southampton won 4-2.
1413 Henry V was crowned King of England. He was the second English monarch from the House of Lancaster.
1483 The young Edward V (aged 12) acceded to the throne after the death of his father Edward IV. He is never crowned, and disappears presumed murdered, after incarceration in the Tower of London with his younger brother Richard (the "Princes in the Tower").
1511 St John's College, Cambridge, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of King Henry VII and paternal grandmother of King Henry VIII), received its charter.
1585 The expedition organised by Sir Walter Raleigh departed England for Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) to establish a permanent English settlement in what later became the Virginia Colony.
1649 The birth of James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, claimant to the English throne, who led a failed rebellion against James II which cost him his head. His 320 accomplices were sentenced to death by Judge Jeffreys.
1731 British mariner Robert Jenkins' ear cut off by Spanish Guarde Costa in the Caribbean, the catalyst for war between Britain & Spain.
1747 The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, for high treason. He was the last man to be executed in this way in Britain, in a form of execution which had been reserved for the nobility.
1770 The explorer Captain Cook arrived in Botany Bay, Australia, the first European to do so.
1806 English engineer and inventor Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born. He was perhaps the greatest of the 19th-century engineers and designed railways, bridges, tunnels, viaducts and ships. Much of his work still survives, including his SS Great Britain which was launched in 1843 and is in the Great Western Dockyard, Bristol.
1838 The opening of the the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London.
1916 The Libau sets sail from Germany with a cargo of 20,000 rifles. The arms were meant to aid Irish independence and be used during the Easter Rising. Captain Karl Spindler changes the name of the vessel to the Aud to avoid British detection. Although the SS Libau evaded British lookout, arriving off Fenit Harbour in Tralee Bay on the 20th April, she failed to meet with her intended supporters. Their leader, Roger Casement, a British Diplomat had already been captured. The SS Libau then tried to return to Germany but was intercepted by HMS Bluebell on 23 April. The crew scuttled the ship outside Queenstown harbour to stop the arms falling into British hands.
1937 The Kamikaze arrived at Croydon Airport in London. It was the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe. The flight from Tokyo to London took 51 hours, 17 minutes and 23 seconds
1969 Sikh bus men in Wolverhampton won the right to wear turbans on duty.
1969 Brian Trubshaw, the first British pilot to fly Concorde, made his first flight in the British built prototype. The 22 minute flight left from a test runway at Filton near Bristol and landed at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
1976 "All the President's Men" detailing the Watergate investigation starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford is released.
1979 51st Academy Awards: "The Deer Hunter" wins.
1983 English trainer Jenny Pitman became the first woman to train the winner of the Grand National (Corbiere) at Aintree, Liverpool.
1984 About 100 pickets were arrested during violent clashes with police outside two working coal pits in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
1988 142nd Grand National: Irish jockey Brendan Powell wins aboard 10/1 shot Rhyme 'n' Reason by 4 lengths from Durham Edition.
1989 53rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Englishman Nick Faldo wins the first of his 3 Masters titles after a final round 65 (−7) and a birdie on the 2nd hole of a sudden-death playoff with Scott Hoch.
1992 John Major elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after his Conservative Party wins the most votes in British electoral history.
1994 147th Grand National: Jockey Richard Dunwoody wins his second GN aboard Irish 16/1 shot Miinnehoma by 1¼ lengths from Just So.
1999 Fulham owner Mohamed Al-Fayed welcomed a special guest for the Division 2 match against Wigan – singer Michael Jackson. That was his only visit to Craven Cottage but 12 years later Fulham marked that visit with a statue of their ‘greatest supporter’.
2002 The funeral of the Queen Mother was held at Westminster Abbey.
2005 The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles were married, in a civil ceremony at the Guildhall in Windsor.
2005 158th Grand National: 9-year-old 7/1 favourite Hedgehunter, ridden by Ruby Walsh and trained by Willie Mullins, win by 14 lengths from 40/1 shot Royal Auclair.
2011 164th Grand National: Jason Maguire wins aboard Irish 14/1 shot Ballabriggs; first GN win for trainer Donald McCain Jr., son of 4-time winning trainer Ginger McCain.
2017 81st US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Spaniard Sergio García beats Justin Rose of England in a sudden-death playoff, after they completed 72 holes at -9; Garcia's 1st major title in his 74th attempt.
1512 The birth of James V of Scotland, who allied his country with France against the English. He became king at the age of 17 months.
1606 The Charter of the Virginia Company of London was established by James I, with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
1633 Bananas went on display in Thomas Johnson's shop window in London. This was the first time the fruit had been seen in Britain.
1710 The Copyright Act, known as The Statute of Anne, came into effect in Britain. It allowed authors to hold exclusive rights to their work for up to 50 years after their death. The restrictions were enforced by the Stationers' Company, a guild of printers given the exclusive power to print and the responsibility to censor literary works.
1815 Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies experiences a cataclysmic eruption, one of the most powerful in history, killing around 71,000 people, causes global volcanic winter.
1820 The first British settlers landed at Algoa Bay, South Africa.
1829 The birth of William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, which he began in 1865 while performing mission work to the poor in London’s East End. It was named the 'Salvation Army' in 1878, when he took the title ‘General’.
1849 Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (NYC); sold rights for $400.
1858 The 14.5 tonne bell, 'Big Ben', was cast in Stockton-on-Tees by Warner's of Cripplegate. However the bell cracked during testing. It was recast into the 13.76 tonne bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry and is still in use today. It is the largest of the five bells in the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament).
1912 The British built luxury liner Titanic set sail on its maiden and only voyage, from Berth 44, White Star Line dock, Southampton, bound for New York.
1916 1st professional golf tournament held.
1916 The Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) is founded in New York City.
1924 Tubular steel golf club shafts approved for championship play.
1955 Ruth Ellis shot her lover David Blakely outside a pub in Hampstead in North London. Following her murder trial she became the last woman to be hanged in Britain.
1970 Paul McCartney announced that he was to leave The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.
1972 An agreement banning the use of biological weapons was signed by 74 countries.
1981 Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands was elected to Westminster as the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
1988 52nd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Scotsman Sandy Lyle claims his second major title with a birdie on the 72nd hole to win by 1 stroke over Mark Calcavecchia.
1997 The National Trust's ruling council voted unanimously to ban stag-hunting on its land after a study concluded that the chase caused extreme suffering and exhaustion to the deer.
1998 The Northern Ireland peace talks ended with a historic agreement called the Good Friday Agreement.
1999 152nd Grand National: Irish 10/1 shot Bobbyjo, ridden by jockey Paul Carberry wins by 10 lengths from Blue Charm.
2005 69th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Tiger Woods wins his 4th green jacket on the 1st hole of a playoff with Chris DiMarco.
2010 163rd Grand National: Tony McCoy wins aboard 10/1 joint-favourite Don't Push It by 5 lengths ahead of Black Apalachi.
2016 80th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: England's Danny Willett wins his first major title, 3 strokes ahead of Lee Westwood and defending champion Jordan Spieth.
2019 First-ever photo of a black hole announced, taken by The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration in 2017 in galaxy M87, 6.5 billion times the mass of earth, 55 million light-years away.
1471 Wars of the Roses: King Edward IV of England seizes London from Henry VI.
1689 William II (Prince of Orange and champion of Protestants) and Mary II were crowned joint monarchs by the Bishop of London. The Archbishop of Canterbury refused to officiate.
1713 France handed over Gibraltar and Newfoundland to Britain in the Treaty of Utrecht.
1750 Jack Slack retains Champion of England boxing title, beats Frenchman Jean Petit in 7 rounds in Harlston, England; acknowledged as first international prize fight.
1814 Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates unconditionally and he is exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean.
1831 The 12th century Lewis chess pieces are exhibited at the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, shortly after their rediscovery in a sand bank on the Scottish Isle of Lewis. In 2019 a newly rediscovered Lewis chess piece sells at auction for £735,000 in London.
1855 Britain's first pillar boxes were put up in London. There were six of them, all painted green.
1936 Billy Butlin opened his first holiday camp at Skegness. One of the original chalets is on site and is a grade II listed building.The camp was officially opened by Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.
1939 The game of darts was banned in public houses in Glasgow because it was 'too dangerous'.
1941 Germany blitzes Coventry, England.
1951 The Stone of Scone, (the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned) was found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey in Angus. It had been stolen from Westminster Abbey 107 days earlier by Scottish nationalists who wanted it returned to Scotland. In 1996, in a symbolic response to growing dissatisfaction among Scots, the Conservative Government decided that the Stone should be kept in Edinburgh Castle when not in use at coronations.
1952 Queen Elizabeth II announced that her children and descendents would bear the surname of Windsor.
1959 Billy Wright, former England football captain became the first player in the world to play for his country in a hundred matches when England beat Scotland 1-0.
1973 The British Government introduced a tar content table to be printed on cigarette packets.
1976 The Apple I computer, created by Steve Wozniak is released.
1981 Larry Holmes beats Trevor Berbick in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1981 The arrest of a black man led to hundreds of youths rampaging through the streets of Brixton in south London. Over a 100 vehicles were burned and almost 150 buildings were damaged. Reports suggested that up to 5,000 people were involved.
1983 The film Gandhi, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, won eight Oscars, the most any British film has ever won. In October 2004 a four feet high bust of Gandhi was erected in the city of Hull, donated by Hull's Indian community . The chair of the ceremony pointed out that no other city in the world had within half-a-mile the statues of Wilberforce, Mandela and Gandhi who devoted their lives to fight against slavery, racism and colonialism.
2000 South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje is sacked after admitting dishonesty following match-fixing allegations in India.
2015 168th Grand National: Jockey Leighton Aspell wins his second consecutive GN aboard 25/1 shot Many Clouds; owner Trevor Hemmings' 3rd GN victory.
1567 The Earl of Bothwell was found not guilty of the murder of Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Bothwell and Mary then married.
1606 The Union Flag became the official flag of Britain. It combined the flags of St. George (England) and St. Andrew (Scotland). As Wales was not a Kingdom but a Principality it could not be included on the flag. In 1801 the cross of St. Patrick (Ireland) was incorporated to create the flag that has been flown ever since.
1709 The first edition of the Tatler Magazine was published 'On This Day'.
1831 Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester caused it to collapse, reportedly owing to a mechanical resonance induced by troops marching over the bridge in step. Forty of the soldiers were thrown into the river. As a result of the incident the British Military issued an order that troops should 'break step' when crossing a bridge.
1838 English settlers in South Africa defeated the Zulus at the Battle of Tugela. The settlers had guns whereas the Zulus only had spears.
1861 Fort Sumter in South Carolina is attacked by the Confederacy, beginning the American Civil War.
1902 In South Africa, Boer leaders met the British commander Lord Kitchener to discuss peace proposals to end the Boer War.
1905 French Dufaux brothers test helicopter.
1919 British Parliament passes a 48-hour work week with minimum wages.
1924 In the first ever international match at Wembley England drew 1-1 with Scotland in front of a disappointingly low crowd of 37,250.
1927 The British Cabinet came out in favour of voting rights for women.
1935 The first flight of the Bristol Blenheim, a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. BAC went on to become a founding component of the nationalised British Aerospace, now BAE Systems.
1937 British engineer, Frank Whittle, tested the first jet engine at the Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby. The first jet flight was achieved by the German Heinkel, but it was Whittle’s engine that was used as the prototype.
1941 Bobby Moore, English footballer was born. He captained West Ham for more than ten years and was captain of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the all-time greats of world football, and was cited by Pelé as the greatest defender that he had ever played against.
1954 American, Bill Haley recorded 'Rock Around The Clock'. It was first record to sell a million copies in Britain.
1961 Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to orbit Earth (Vostok 1).
1969 Wales beats England, 30-9 at the National Stadium, Cardiff to clinch their 16th Five Nations Rugby Championship and 11th Triple Crown.
1984 Arthur Scargill, leader of the miners' union the NUM, would not allow a national ballot to take place on whether to stop the miners' strike.
1989 Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 'Cats' was performed for the 3,358th time at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane, making it Britain’s longest running musical. Steven Wain who played one of the cats, was the only member of the original cast still in the show after eight years. Seats were booked to the end of 1999.
1992 Euro Disney (Disneyland Paris) opens in Marne-la-Vallee, France.
2020 The death (aged 90) of the British motor racing legend Sir Stirling Moss. Described as ‘A mighty racer and a true gentleman’, Stirling Moss was widely regarded as one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time, even though he never won the World Championship. He won 16 of the 66 Formula 1 races he competed in (between 1951 and 1961) and in 1955, at Aintree, he became the first British driver to win a home grand prix.
1570 The birth of Guy Fawkes at this house, now the Guy Fawkes Inn, in York, He was also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries. Guy Fawkes belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot at the Houses of Parliament in 1605.
1668 The appointment of the first Poet Laureate - John Dryden.
1732 The birth of Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guildford. As Lord North, he levied the tax on tea that so incensed the American colonists that it provoked the so called ‘Boston Tea Party’.
1741 Britain's Royal Military Academy was established at Woolwich. It is now at Sandhurst.
1796 First elephant arrives in US from India.
1892 The birth of Sir Arthur Travers Harris, Royal Air Force Bomber commander, nicknamed 'Bomber' Harris by the press, and often within the RAF as 'Butcher' Harris. He instituted the mass bombing raids over Germany, including the controversial blanket bombing of Dresden.
1912 The formation of the Royal Flying Corps (later incorporated into the RAF).
1935 Imperial Airways and QANTAS inaugurated their London to Australia air service.
1936 Luton Town footballer Joe Payne in his first match as a centre-forward aged 22, set a goal scoring record when he scored ten goals in one match against Bristol Rovers.
1962 Animal Magic, presented by Johnny Morris, was first broadcast.
1970 Apollo 13 announces "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here", as Beech-built oxygen tank explodes en route to Moon.
1980 44th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: 23 year old Spaniard Seve Ballesteros wins his first Masters.
1986 50th Masters Golf Tournament: Jack Nicklaus wins his record 18th major with a 1-stroke victory over Greg Norman and Tom Kite; shoots final round 65 (−7); at 46 the oldest Masters winner.
1992 Neil Kinnock resigned as Labour Party leader. He blamed the Conservative backed press for his party's defeat at the general election.
1996 Fergie came out with some great excuses for poor Manchester United displays with one of the most bizarre coming at half-time in the Premier League match against Southampton at the Dell on April 13th 1996. He blamed the 3-0 deficit at the break on the grey kit United were wearing saying that his players couldn't pick each other out against the background of the crowd. He ordered them to change into a blue strip for the second half and to be fair United scored the only goal in the second period. Mind you United wore blue when they visited the Dell the following season - and lost 3-6!
1997 61st US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Tiger Woods wins his first major title, a record 12 strokes ahead of Tom Kite; 4-round total 270 (−18) is tournament record.
2019 World's largest plane by wingspan at 117m (385 ft), the Stratolaunch, built as a flying launch pad for satellites, takes its first flight from Mojave, California.
1471 The Yorkists defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Barnet. Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, ‘the Kingmaker’, was slain in the battle. He had put Henry VI on the throne but Edward IV returned from exile in Holland to reclaim the crown.
1841 1st detective story published, Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders in Rue Morgue".
1865 US President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington; he dies a day later.
1912 The British built luxury liner Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic shortly before midnight, and sank in the early hours of the next morning. 1500 passengers and crew were killed.
1927 The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1931 The Ministry of Transport issued the first Highway Code, a set of guidelines and rules for drivers.
1935 Black Sunday: Severe dust storm ravages the US Midwest, led to the region being named "the Dust Bowl".
1939 The birth of Trevor Locke, a policeman who was taken hostage while on guard duty outside the Iranian Embassy in London. He tackled the terrorist leader as the SAS stormed the building saving the life of the first SAS man on the scene.
1950 Comic strip hero Dan Dare the pilot of a space ship made his first appearance in the first edition of the comic, the Eagle.
1983 The first cordless telephone capable of operating up to 600 feet from base was introduced. It was made by Fidelity and British Telecom and sold for £170.
1985 The death of Noele Gordon, English film and television actress. She was credited as the first woman to be seen on colour television sets, as she took part in the BBC's early tests in colour broadcasting in the 1940s. In 'Crossroads', she took the role of motel owner Meg Richardson (later Meg Mortimer) and was the only member of the Crossroads cast who had a permanent contract.
1989 Police in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, revealed that violent prisoners were being put into a bright pink cell which seemed to have a calming effect. The colour was named Baker-Miller Pink after the police chief and psychologist who thought up the idea.
1991 55th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Welshman Ian Woosnam wins his only major title, 1 stroke ahead of José María Olazábal; 4th straight year the Masters champion is from the UK.
1996 60th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Englishman Nick Faldo wins his 3rd Masters and 6th and final major title, 5 strokes ahead of Greg Norman of Australia.
2000 Kenneth Noye, who carried out a 'road rage' killing on the M25 began a life sentence after being convicted of murder at the Old Bailey in London. He fled to the Costa del Sol after the attack and was arrested in 1998 by British police.
2010 Icelandic Volcano Eyjafjallajökull begins erupting from the top crater in the centre of the glacier.
2013 The Wizard of Oz song, 'Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead' which was at the centre of an online campaign by opponents of Baroness Thatcher, reached number two in the 'charts' after selling 52,605 copies. Rival campaign song 'I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher' entered at number 35.
2014 Seventeen new Scout badges were introduced across all age groups of the Scout movement. New tasks range from the ability to assess disability access at public buildings, to geocaching, sending emails and posting photographs on the Internet appropriately.
2018 171st Grand National: Davey Russell wins aboard 10/1 Tiger Roll in a photo finish from Pleasant Company.
2019 83rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Tiger Woods wins his 5th Masters title, it's Woods' 15th major and first in 11 years.
February 20, 1817 — Two leading English actors went head to head at London’s Drury Lane theatre on this day in a thespian battle to decide which of the two was the nation’s finest actor. It was a contest that led indirectly to the death of one of America’s most famous presidents.
Junius Brutus Booth and Edmund Kean were outstanding Shakespearean actors, each with their own band of supporters known as Boothites and Keanites. In this clash, Kean played Othello while Booth performed as Iago.
It seems that Kean took the acting laurels in the production, but the rivalry between the two continued until 1821 when Booth finally called it a day and emigrated to the United States. There, the ninth of his ten children – John Wilkes Booth – was to become the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.
JW Booth himself became an actor, making his debut at the age of 17 with a part in Richard III at Baltimore. He then toured the country with a Shakespearean acting company.
In 1862, he made his New York debut, this time as the lead in Richard III and the New York Herald described him as a "veritable sensation."
The following year, Booth was struck down by a respiratory illness and had to give up the stage – for a while at least.
It was at a time when the American Civil War was raging and the young actor – said to suffer from emotional instability – was not only a vigorous supporter of the Southern cause but a critic of Lincoln with a vehemence that bordered on hatred.
In March 1865, he became involved in a plot to kidnap the President. Booth and six Southern sympathisers, with Lincoln held hostage, would demand either peace or the release of Confederate soldiers as a ransom.
But the President failed to appear at the location where the kidnap was to take place and the plot had to be abandoned.
Frustrated, Booth looked for new ways to get at the President. And on the morning of April 14, 1865, he learned that Lincoln was to attend an evening performance of the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford’s theatre in Washington.
As a famous and popular actor Booth had free access to the theatre and took a seat for the performance. Then, during the play’s third act he went to the outer door of the presidential box and found Lincoln and his guests essentially unguarded.
Entering the box, he drew a gun and shot Lincoln through the back of the head.
Booth then swung himself over the balustrade and leapt to the stage, shouting, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (“Thus always to tyrants!”). He broke his leg when he landed but was able to make his escape to an alley where he had a horse waiting.
He was tracked down to a farm 12 days later and shot dead when he refused to give himself up.
Although Junius Brutus Booth was the father of a notorious assassin, another of his sons – Edwin Thomas Booth – became a great Shakespearean actor who toured throughout America and the major capitals of Europe.
Some theatrical historians consider him the finest American actor of the 19th century, and certainly the greatest Hamlet.
1534 Thomas Cromwell is appointed Chief Secretary to King Henry VIII of England.
1755 Dr Samuel Johnson's dictionary 'A Dictionary of the English Language' was first published, in London. It contained explanations and meanings for 40,000 different words and had taken him almost 9 years to compile, although he had claimed he could finish it in three. He was paid the sum of 1,500 guineas, equivalent to about £230,000 in today's money.
1793 The Bank of England issued the first £5 notes.
1802 William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy saw a 'long belt' of daffodils, inspiring him to pen 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud'.
1896 1st modern Summer Olympic Games close in Athens, Greece; USA wins gold medal count, 11; Greece wins total medal count, 46; IOC has retroactively assigned gold, silver & bronze medals to 3 best placed athletes in each event.
1900 An early 50 mile race is won by an electric car in over 2 hrs.
1901 The birth of Joe Davis, world snooker and billiards champion from 1927-1946.
1901 The first motor hearse appeared on the streets of Britain when it carried the body of William Drakeford to his burial in Coventry. His employer, the Daimler Motor Company, had adapted one of their cars for the occasion.
1912 The British built Titanic luxury ocean liner that had collided earlier with an iceberg about 400 miles from Newfoundland sank at 2:20 a.m. More than 1,500 people drowned or froze to death in the icy waters. Most of the 700 survivors were women and children. As the ship sank, the band played music to calm the passengers and all the musicians went down with the ship. They were recognized for their heroism and bandleader Wallace Hartley aged 33, from Colne in Lancashire, is commemorated in a memorial in the town's centre. The words 'Nearer My God To Thee', the alleged last song that the band played on RMS Titanic, are engraved on the plinth along with a violin and bow.
1925 Author James Barrie donated his copyright fee for the story of Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London.
1941 The Belfast Blitz, during which two-hundred bombers of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attacked Belfast in Northern Ireland, killing one thousand people.
1942 The people of the British colony of Malta were awarded the George Cross in recognition of their heroic war time struggle against enemy attack.
1945 British troops entered the Belsan concentration camp after negotiating a truce with the German commandant. Soldiers found piles of dead and rotting corpses and thousands of sick and starving prisoners. Freddie Gilroy, a former miner and 23 year old soldier from County Durham was one of the first allied troops to enter Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The oversized Freddie Gilroy and the Belsen Stragglers statue at Scarborough 'represents ordinary people pulled out of ordinary lives because of war'. A picture of a normal sized adult alongside the oversized sculture.
1955 Ray Kroc opens first McDonald's Inc. fast food restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.
1961 England thumped Scotland 9-3 at Wembley. Jimmy Greaves scored a hat-trick and Scotland ‘keeper Frank Haffey had a nightmare.
1964 Both George Best and Pat Jennings made their senior international debuts for Northern Ireland on this day in a 3-2 victory over Wales in the British Home Championship match at the Vetch Field in Swansea. Jennings went on to make a record 119 appearances for his country but Best sadly not making enough with just 37 caps to his name.
1984 Tommy Cooper, English comedian, collapsed and died from a heart attack in front of millions of television viewers, midway through his act on the London Weekend Television variety show Live From Her Majesty's.
1989 Britain's worst football disaster at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. 96 football fans were crushed to death shortly after the start of the FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
2000 A white farmer in Zimbabwe became the first white farmer to be killed in land confrontations involving President Robert Mugabe's ruling party.
2010 All flights in and out of the UK and several other European countries were suspended as ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland moved south. The cloud triggered the UK's worst airspace restriction in living memory and brought much of Europe to a standstill.
2011 "Black Friday" for online poker in the US: indictment United States v. Scheinberg shuts down sites, accusing companies of fraud and money laundering.
2013 Boston Marathon bombings: 3 people are killed and 183 injured after two explosions near the finish line.
2019 Paris cathedral Notre Dame catches fire, toppling its spire and destroying its roof.
1705 Queen Anne of England knighted the scientist Isaac Newton at Trinity College, Cambridge.
1746 Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was defeated at the Battle of Culloden Moor by an English Army under the the command of William, Duke of Cumberland. The **** battle earned the Duke the name ‘Butcher Cumberland’. The Young Pretender Charles Stuart escaped and was later helped by Flora Macdonald to flee the country.
1889 Charlie Chaplin, English-born film actor and director was born.
1912 American Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel. She took off from Dover, en route to Calais, France and made the flight in 59 minutes, landing about 25 miles from Calais, on a beach.
1918 Spike Milligan, English comedian and writer was born.
1939 The Soviet Union proposes an alliance with Britain and France to counter Nazi Germany; the Soviets would later sign a secret agreement with the N azis.
1943 Swiss scientist Dr. Albert Hofmann discovers the psychedelic effects of LSD.
1945 Colditz Castle, the high-security prisoner of war camp in Germany, is liberated by American troops.
1948 Organization for European Economic Cooperation (EEC) forms in Paris.
1953 Queen Elizabeth II launched the Royal Yacht Britannia at Clydeside. She was used by the British Royal Family for state visits and diplomatic missions for the next 45 years and is now permanently moored as an exhibition ship at Ocean Terminal, Leith - Edinburgh.
1964 Twelve members of the Great Train Robbery gang were sentenced to a total of 307 years.
1982 Queen Elizabeth proclaimed the new Canadian constitution, severing Canada's last colonial links with Britain.
1986 Brewery heiress Jennifer Guiness was released in Dublin after being kidnapped and held hostage for 7 days.
1993 Jury reaches guilty verdict in federal case against police officers (two convicted, two acquitted) who beat Rodney King, but the verdict is not read until April 17th.
1996 The Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, announced that they were to divorce.
2007 Virginia Tech massacre: The deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. The gunman, Seung-**** Cho, kills 32 people and injures 23 others before committing suicide.
2008 It was announced that Karen Matthews (aged 32, from Dewsbury) was to stand trial alongside Michael Donovan, charged with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of her 9 year old daughter Shannon who disappeared on 19th February. On 23rd January 2009, Matthews and Donovan were sentenced to eight years in prison by Mr. Justice McCombe.
2017 World record for gathering of Charlie Chaplin lookalikes - 662 at Manoir de Ban, Chaplin museum in Vevey, Switzerland.
2020 Shortly before 06:00 this morning, Tom Moore, a 99-year-old war veteran from Bedfordshire, who is walking 100 laps of his garden with the aid of a walking frame before he turns 100, had raised nearly £12million for the NHS. More than 600,000 people from around the world donated money to his fundraising page since it was set up the previous week.
Newcastle United's Malcolm Macdonald scored all of England’s goals in the 5-0 defeat of Cyprus in a Euro qualifier at Wembley.
Football On This Day - 16th April 1983.
Oxford United owner Robert Maxwell announced that he had bought a controlling interest in Reading FC and that he intended to merge the clubs and play under the name of Thames Valley Royals.
Football On This Day - 16th April 1994.
Duncan Ferguson of Rangers became the first professional player in Britain to be jailed for a incident on the football pitch. In a Scottish League match at Ibrox on 16th April 1994 he head-butted visiting Raith Rovers defender Jock McStay and although the clash wasn't noticed by the match officials it was caught on camera and he ended up in court charged with assault. He was found guilty and with previous convictions (although not from footballing incidents) he was sentenced to 3 months in prison. He eventually served 44 days in Barlinnie prison after which he became an Everton player.
1387 Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" characters begin their pilgrimage to Canterbury.
1397 Geoffrey Chaucer told the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.
1492 Christopher Columbus signs a contract with the Spanish monarchs to find the "Indies" with the stated goal of converting people to Catholicism. This promises him 10% of all riches found, and the governorship of any lands encountered.
1860 The first world title boxing match took place near Farnborough, Hampshire, when Briton Tom Sayers took on American John Heenan. Despite being 46 lb lighter, Sayers forced a draw after 42 rounds of bare-knuckle fighting lasting 2 hours 27 minutes.
1875 Modern Snooker invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain, a bored British officer in Jabalpur, India.
1888 The formation of the English Football League took place at a formal meeting in the Royal Hotel, Manchester.
1912 1st unofficial gold record (Al Jolson's "Ragging The Baby To Sleep").
1940 The birth in Liverpool of Billy Fury. He equalled The Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s, and spent 332 weeks in the UK charts, without ever reaching Number One.
1949 At midnight 26 Irish counties officially left the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushered in the Republic of Ireland.
1951 Designated as a National Park in December 1950, the Peak District was officially confirmed as the United Kingdom's first National Park.
1956 Premium Bonds were introduced into Britain by the Conservative Chancellor, Harold Macmillan. They were described as a ‘squalid raffle’ and as a ‘cold, inhuman activity’. 750,000 Methodists were urged by their church leaders to boycott the scheme.
1963 The opening of the Hilton Hotel in London.
1964 The British pop group The Rolling Stones released their first album. The debut album was called The Rolling Stones! It was released a month later in the US with the title 'England’s Newest Hit Makers'.
1964 Ford Mustang formally introduced ($2,368 base).
1969 The age at which a person was eligible to vote in Britain was lowered from 21 to 18.
1979 British tennis star John Lloyd married the American tennis star Chris Evert.
1984 WPC Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead during an anti Gadaafi protest outside the Libyan People’s Bureau in London. Ten others were wounded and the events led to an 11-day siege of the building. Diplomatic relations with Libya were severed on 23rd April and her killer escaped under the cloak of diplomatic immunity.
1986 British journalist John McCarthy was kidnapped in Beirut. He was not released until August 1991.
2011 "Game of Thrones", based on the fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin premieres on HBO.
2013 The funeral of Baroness Margaret Thatcher. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and the first woman to have held the office.
2015 James Anderson becomes the highest wicket-taking bowler in England's test cricket history.
2021 The funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II for more than 70 years.
Hooliganism was an ever-present problem in the 70s with one particularly bad incident at Elland Road in April 1971. Leeds were involved in a tight battle with Arsenal for the League title and in a crucial match against WBA referee Ray Tinkler allowed a clearly off-side goal. The ref was jostled during a pitch invasion which followed. Leeds lost the match 1-2 and were pipped by a point by Arsenal for the title. Their punishment for the incident was a four-match banishment from Elland Road at the start of the 1971/72 season.
1970-71 Leeds v West Bromwich Albion, full highlights not just THAT goal.
Plenty more went on in this match. 2 goals ruled out for offside, a linesman hit, Alan Merrick had a close encounter with some chairs!
Bremner, Hunter & Charlton were their usual unpleasant selves. Watch out for the smiling St.John's ambulance man after Astle's goal. Obviously not a fan of Revies bullies!
1689 The death of Lord Chief Justice George Jeffreys known as the Hanging Judge. He led the Taunton Assize trials that came in the aftermath of the Battle of Sedgemoor, the battle that ended the Monmouth Rebellion in England. Of more than 500 prisoners brought before the court, 144 were hanged and their remains displayed around the county.
1740 The birth of Sir Francis Baring, English merchant banker. Barings was the oldest merchant bank in London until it collapsed in 1995 after one of the bank's employees, Nick Leeson, lost £827 million on speculative investing.
1775 At the start of the War of American Independence, US patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes left Boston, bound for Concord, to warn people that British troops were advancing.
1783 Fighting ceases in the American Revolution, eight years to the day when it began.
1809 First run of 2,000 guineas horse race at Newmarket, England.
1881 The Natural History Museum in London was opened.
1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire kills nearly 4,000 while destroying 75% of the city.
1912 The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brought 705 survivors to New York from the RMS Titanic that had sunk on on 15th April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton.
1930 BBC news announcer announces "there is no news" at 20:45 news bulletin, plays music instead.
1949 The Republic of Ireland Act came into force as Eire (Southern Ireland) became a Republic and left the British Commonwealth.
1949 The first 'Bob-a-Job week' began when 440,000 British Scouts started a nationwide campaign to raise the £22,000 needed to cover the deficits of the Scout movement. In the first year £60,000 was raised. The variety of jobs undertaken included a 13 year old who spent four hours cleaning the silver at 10 Downing Street.
1960 At least 60,000 demonstrators gathered in Trafalgar Square to mark the end of the Aldermaston to London 'ban the bomb' march.
1968 London Bridge was sold for £1m to American oil tycoon Robert McCullough. He decided to knock it down brick by brick and have it re-built at Lake Havasu in the United States.
1980 Rhodesia became Zimbabwe at midnight and independent from Britain. Canaan Banana was the President and Robert Mugabe the Prime Minister.
1985 Wham become the first western pop act to release an album in China.
1986 Guinness the giant brewery business won their battle to take over the equally large spirits combine, the Distillers Group. The manner of the takeover was later investigated by the Director of Public Prosecutions and led to arrests of top financial figures including the Guinness chief executive, James Saunders.
1988 In the House of Commons, the 16th-century symbol of the Speaker’s authority, the Mace, was damaged by Ron Brown, Labour MP for Leith, when he flung it to the floor during a debate. It was described by his own supporters as ‘a childish stunt’ and led to his 20 day suspension.
1993 The Coca-Cola (League Cup) final at Wembley saw Arsenal beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 with the winner being a rare goal from Steve Morrow. After the final whistle Arsenal captain Tony Adams tried to lift Morrow on to his shoulders in celebration of his part in the victory - but dropped him! While his team-mates were collecting their winners' medals the unfortunate Morrow was on his way to hospital with a broken arm. He did get a Wembley presentation of his medals though, in May before Arsenal's FA Cup final against - ironically - Sheffield Wednesday which they won after a replay.
1994 West Indian batsman Brian Lara broke the record for the highest individual score in Test Cricket when he scored 375 against England in Antigua.
2017 British Prime Minister Teresa May announces she will seek a "snap" election.
1587 The English naval commander Sir Francis Drake sailed a small number of ships into Cadiz Harbour and sank most of the Spanish fleet. The incident became known as 'singeing the King of Spain's beard'.
1770 Explorer Captain James Cook sighted the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
1775 The "Shot Heard Round the World" took place in Concord.The start of the American War of Independence against Britain when fighting began at Lexington and Concord.
1880 The Times war correspondent telephoned a report of the Battle of Ahmed Khel (part of the Second Afghan War). It was the first time that news had been sent from a field of battle in this manner.
1882 Charles Darwin, the English biologist who developed the theory of evolution, died at his home in Kent.
1883 At a meeting in Liverpool to establish a home for dogs, the proposer, T.F. Agnew, suggested it should perhaps be turned into a home for children as he had seen the work of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to children. On the evening of this day, the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed. Later, it would become the National Society (NSPCC).
1897 1st Boston Marathon (B.A.A. Road Race), won by John J. McDermott in 2:55:10; the world's oldest annual marathon inspired by success of the first marathon at the 1896 Summer Olympics.
1927 Actress Mae West found guilty of “obscenity and corrupting the morals of youth” in a New York stage play entitled "Sex". She is sentenced to 10 days in prison and fined $500, the resulting publicity launches her Hollywood career.
1928 The 125th and final section of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.
1933 'Dickie' Bird, (Harold Dennis Bird) English cricket umpire, was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire.
1935 The birth of Dudley Moore, English actor, comedian and composer.
1951 The first Miss World Contest was won by Kiki Haakonson, a 21 year old from Sweden. There were 30 contestants and 25 came from Britain, although all nations could enter. The contest was devised by Mecca publicity officer, Eric Morley, as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations.
1958 The legendary English footballer Bobby Charlton made the first of his 106 appearances for England against Scotland and scored the first of his record 49 goals for his country.
1963 Johnny Cash releases his single "Ring Of Fire".
1971 Charles Manson sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Sharon Tate.
1980 25th Eurovision Song Contest: Johnny Logan for Ireland wins singing "What's Another Year" in The Hague.
1986 Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1991 Evander Holyfield beats George Foreman in 12 for heavyweight boxing title.
1993 After a 51 day siege by the FBI 76 Branch Davidians die in a fire near Waco Texas (accident, suicide, tear gas are disputed causes).
1994 Rodney King awarded $3,800,000 compensation by the Los Angeles County for his police beating.
1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Timothy McVeigh sets a truck bomb at Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 and injuring 500.
1995 The first television advert for football pools was screened in a £1.5m Littlewood's campaign. The ban on such commercials was lifted after the company protested to the government that the National Lottery was hitting their profits.
2004 The death of Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder (along with Ross McWhirter) of the Guinness Book of Records.
2014 For the first time Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho suffered a Premier League defeat at Stamford Bridge. After 61 wins and 16 draws in his first 77 league matches at the ground in his two spells at the club along came bottom club Sunderland to win 2-1 against title chasing Chelsea. In his after-match interview he praised his players, he praised Sunderland and then had this to say about the referee who had turned down several Chelsea penalty appeals but awarded one to Sunderland. "Third point, I want to congratulate again Mike Dean. I think his performance was unbelievable and I think when referees have unbelievable performances I think it's fair that as managers we give them praise. So, fantastic performance. He came here with one objective. To make a fantastic performance. And he did that.” Yes he was being sarcastic and yes he was fined, £10,000.
1653 Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament. It had followed the Long Parliament that had governed during the Civil War.
1657 The Spanish Fleet was destroyed in the Battle at Santa Cruz by an English Fleet commanded by Admiral Blake.
1689 The siege of Londonderry began when supporters of James II attacked the city. The population nearly starved to death before the siege was raised on 30th July.
1879 The first mobile home (horse-drawn) was used in a journey from London to Cyprus.
1887 Georges Bouton wins the world’s 1st motor race on a steam-powered quadricycle, a 'test' organised by French newspaper Le Velocipede.
1912 The Irish-born writer Bram Stoker, author of Count Dracula, died at his London home.
1918 Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
1931 British House of Commons agrees for sports play on Sunday.
1949 The Badminton Horse Trials were held for the first time, at Badminton, Gloucestershire.
1949 Jockey Bill (Willie) Shoemaker wins his 1st race, in Albany, California.
1964 BBC Two launched, with a power cut because of a fire at Battersea Power Station.
1968 The Conservative right-winger, Enoch Powell, made a hard-hitting speech attacking the government's immigration policy. Mr Powell said Britain had to be mad to allow in 50,000 dependents of immigrants each year. He compared it to watching a nation busily engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre. "Like the Roman, I seem to see the river Tiber foaming with much blood."
1969 British troops guarded public utilities in N. Ireland after post offices were bombed.
1974 The conflict in Northern Ireland claimed its 1,000th victim, a petrol station owner from County Fermanagh.
1981 Steve Davis became the world snooker champion at 23 years of age, beating Doug Mountjoy at Sheffield. On 17th April 2016 he announced his retirement, aged 58. Davis won six world titles and 28 ranking titles.
1989 Scientists said that the Earth had narrowly missed being struck by a passing asteroid weighing 400 million tons.
1992 Benny Hill, English comedian died. Between the end of World War II and the dawn of television he worked as a radio performer. His film credits included parts in nine films such as Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Italian Job. His world famous Benny Hill Show Hill ran for nearly four decades and remained a cult series in much of the world long after Hill's death.
1999 Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School, Colorado.
2010 The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes, killing 11 and causing the rig to sink, causing a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and an environmental disaster.
2016 The Queen visited the Royal Mail Windsor delivery office to mark the 500th anniversary of the postal service. (Additional note - In 1516, Henry VIII knighted Brian Tuke, the first Master of the Posts, in an act that was the catalyst for the creation of the Royal Mail).
2020 Price of US oil turns negative for the 1st time in history - West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for US oil, falls as low as minus $37.63 a barrel as worldwide demand falls.
A then world-record crowd for a football match at the Crystal Palace for the FA Cup final between Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur. The official attendance was 110.802 although thousands more gained entrance to witness a 2-2 draw. The replay, played a week later at Bolton's Burnden Park, saw Southern League Spurs become the only non-league side to win the FA Cup since the Football League was founded in 1888 with a 3-1 victory.
Football On This Day – 20th April 1986.
Robert Maxwell perhaps wasn't the most popular of club chairman but under his control Oxford United did enjoy its most successful period. As a First Division club - the top tier in those days - on this day in 1986 Oxford beat favourites QPR in front of 90,396 at Wembley to win the Milk Cup (League Cup). Twenty years later they were relegated to the Conference
Football On This Day - 20th April 2018.
Arsène Wenger announces he will leave London EPL club Arsenal after 22 years as manager.
753 BC Romulus and Remus found Rome (traditional date).
1509 Henry VIII became King of England following the death of his father, Henry VII.
1536 Thomas Cromwell begins to plot Anne Boleyn's downfall while feigning illness.
1671 The birth of John Law, Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth in itself. He was a gambler and a brilliant mental calculator who was known to win card games by mentally calculating the odds.
1689 William III and Mary II were crowned joint king and queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1750 Peter Dollond opened a small optical business in Vine Street, near Hatton Garden in London. In 1927 Dollond & Co merged with Aitchison & Co, to form Dollond & Aitchison. On 29th January 2009, it was announced that Boots Opticians were to merge with D&A, forming a chain of 690 stores and 5,000 staff after Boots purchased a controlling share in D&A.
1816 Charlotte Bronte, eldest of the three literary sisters, was born in Thornton, West Yorkshire. .Her publisher rejected her first novel, 'The Professor,' but she went on to write her masterpiece, 'Jane Eyre'.
1828 Lexicographer Noah Webster compiled a two volume work entitled 'The American dictionary of the English language'. It was the first attempt to standardize the the American language and distinguish it from the English of the British.
1907 Political clubs in Ireland merged to form the Sinn Fein League.
1916 Roger Casement, the Irish-born British consular official, landed in Ireland from a German submarine prepared to lead the Sinn Fein rebellion, but was arrested as the ‘Easter Uprising’ took place. The rebellion against the British in Dublin reached its worst level as Irish republicans took over sections of the city, while a Royal Navy gunboat bombarded them from the River Liffey.
1918 Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the legendary German ace pilot who had destroyed 80 Allied aircraft, was shot down by an RAF fighter and died from the crash behind British lines. He was known as the ‘Red Baron’ because of his distinctive red Fokker tri-plane.
1926 Queen Elizabeth II was born. On 23rd Janury 2015, (following the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz), the Queen became the oldest reigning monarch in the world and on 21st April 2016 she became the first 90 year old head of state of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms.
1934 The 'Surgeon's Photograph', the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, was published in the Daily Mail. In 1999, it was revealed to be a hoax.
1955 National newspapers were published for the first time in nearly a month following the end of the maintenance workers' strike.
1956 Elvis Presley's 1st hit record, "Heartbreak Hotel", becomes #1.
1959 English ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn was jailed for a day in Panama while the police looked for her Panamanian husband, accused of plotting a coup.
1963 Beatles meet The Rolling Stones for the 1st time.
1964 BBC television launched Playschool as the opening programme of their second channel. BBC2 actually opened a day late due to a major power failure the previous day.
1981 US furnish $1 billion in arms to Saudi-Arabia.
1983 One pound coins replaced notes in England and Wales.
1984 After 37 weeks Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" is knocked off as top album by movie soundtrack for "Footloose".
1984 Centers for Disease Cont says virus discovered in France causes AIDS.
1984 Franz Weber of Austria skis downhill at a record 128 mph.
1986 Bob Hering sets Formula One power boat record (165.338 mph, Ariz).
1989 Thousands of Chinese crowd into Beijing's Tiananmen Square cheering students demanding greater political freedom.
1995 British sitcom "Father Ted" written by Arthur Mathews & Graham Linehan, starring Dermot Morgan premieres on Channel 4.
2016 US President Barack Obama begins a 4 day visit to the UK with Michelle Obama.
2019 Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks at a Extinction Rebellion protest in London amid city-wide climate protests where Waterloo Bridge was occupied over four days.
Liverpool Luis Suarez hit the headlines after biting the arm of Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic in a feisty encounter at Anfield on this day in 2013.
The Uruguay international endured an eventful afternoon after finding himself at the centre of several of the game’s key moments.
He conceded the 57th-minute penalty for handball, from which Eden Hazard fired the visitors ahead for the second time after Daniel Sturridge had cancelled out Oscar’s first-half opener, and he then scored a controversial equaliser seven minutes into stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw.
However, it was what happened in between which defined his day and earned him a 10-game ban.
Suarez appeared to sink his teeth into the upper arm of Ivanovic as the pair battled or possession. The incident was not spotted at the time by match referee Kevin Friend, but television replays left the striker with nowhere to hide.
He apologised to Ivanovic for his “inexcusable behaviour” via his Twitter account and then in a statement on his club’s website, and later revealed he had been fined by his employers and asked that the money be donated to the Hillsborough Family Support Group.
Two days after the game, he accepted a Football Association charge of violent conduct, but challenged the governing body’s view that a standard three-game suspension represented insufficient punishment.
The frontman, who had previously sat out seven matches for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal during his time at Ajax and eight after being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra, was handed a 10-game ban, much to Liverpool’s dismay, and did not play for the club again until September 25 that year.
Suarez, however, did not learn his lesson and was sent home from the 2014 World Cup finals after being banned for nine international matches and from all football for four months for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini. He left Anfield in a £75milion switch to Barcelona less than two weeks later.