Goalkeeper Nigel Spink joined Aston Villa in 1977 and made his League debut on Boxing Day 1979 in the defeat at Nottingham Forest. He had to wait until 26th May 1982 for his second appearance in the first team.....playing for Aston Villa in the European Cup Final! He came on as a sub in the 10th minute when injury forced first choice 'keeper Jimmy Rimmer to leave the action against favourites Bayern Munich in the final played in Rotterdam. The goalkeeper played a blinder, keeping a clean sheet while Peter Withe scored the only goal to see Villa crowned as European champions - the sixth season in a row that an English team had won Europe's top club competition.
Football On This Day - 26th May 1989.
On Friday, May 26, 1989, the League Championship was decided in the most dramatic finale to any English top-flight campaign. The two leading teams, Liverpool and Arsenal, met in the very last match of the season. Every other club had completed their programmes (this game had been postponed because of the Hillsborough tragedy six weeks earlier).
Liverpool, with a 24-match unbeaten run, had relentlessly closed a 19-point gap on the Gunners. Already FA Cup winners, the Reds had thrashed West Ham 5-1 in their penultimate match and were now three points ahead of Arsenal.
Uniquely, everything was still at stake for both teams in an all-or-nothing scenario. Anything better than a two-goal defeat for Liverpool and the title would be theirs; victory by two goals for Arsenal would deny the Reds the Double and make George Graham's Gunners champions by virtue of number of goals scored.
Yet Arsenal hadn't won at Anfield for 15 years. Liverpool hadn't lost there by a two-goal margin for three and had only done so nine times in the previous 18 seasons. The momentum of recent results was with Liverpool, as was a tidal wave of emotion. Arsenal's chances of winning had been written off by everyone outside of Highbury.
With the Kop whistling for the end of the game - and the season - the Gunners launched their last attack. John Lukic gave the ball to Lee Dixon, who played a long pass to the tireless Smith some 30 yards from goal. Michael Thomas surged forward in the inside-right channel and Smith lobbed the ball perfectly into his path. According to the clock, 91 minutes and 26 seconds had been played.
Manchester United's attempt to win the Champions League for the first time looked doomed to failure at the Nou Camp, Barcelona. They went behind against Bayern Munich after just six minutes and that was still the score as the final whistle approached. Then amazingly came goals from subs Teddy Sherringham in the first minute of injury time and Ole Gunnar Solskjær a minute later and the Champions League trophy joined the Premier League trophy and FA Cup in the Old Trafford trophy cupboard.
1153 Malcolm IV became King of Scotland. He was noted for his religious zeal and interest in knighthood and warfare. For much of his reign he was in poor health and died, unmarried, at the age of twenty-four.
1657 Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell refused parliament's offer of the title King of England.
1679 Britain passed the Habeas Corpus Act which made it illegal to hold anyone in prison without a trial.
1849 The Great Hall of Euston station in London was opened. It was the first inter-city railway station to be built in London.
1852 The opening of Grimsby Royal Dock. Grisby once had the largest fishing fleet in the world.
1919 Oil was struck at Britain's first on-shore oilfield of three wells, at Hardstoft, near Tibshelf in Derbyshire.
1936 Britain's 80,733 tonne liner Queen Mary left Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York with more than 1800 passengers.
1961 Fiorentina of Italy win 1st European Cup Winner's Cup against Glasgow Rangers 4-2 in Florence (2nd leg).
1972 England’s Alan Ball wound up a 119,325 Hampden Park crowd by wiping his nose on a corner flag bearing the Cross of St Andrew. England beat Scotland 1-0 – Ball scored the goal.
1977 The Sex Pistols release "God Save the Queen", sparking major controversy and leading to a ban on the song by the BBC.
1981 25th European Cup: Liverpool beats Real Madrid 1-0 at Paris.
1985 Britain agrees to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.
1995 Actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition in Culpeper, Virginia.
1998 18 year old Michael Owen became the youngest ever England international goalscorer with the only goal in a 1-0 friendly against Morocco in Casablanca.
2009 UEFA Champions League Final, Rome: Barcelona beat Manchester United, 2-0; first Spanish treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League.
2017 English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London: Arsenal beat Chelsea, 2-1; Aaron Ramsey scores 79' winner as Arsène Wenger becomes most successful manager in FA Cup history, winning his 7th title.
1431 Joan of Arc is accused of relapsing into heresy by donning male clothing again, providing justification for her execution.
1503 James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor were married by Pope Alexander VI. A 'Treaty of Everlasting Peace' between Scotland and England was signed on that occasion. The everlasting peace lasted just ten years.
1533 The Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared that the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn was valid. Shortly afterwards, the Pope decreed sentences of excommunication against both Henry and Cranmer. Subsequently the first break between the Church of England and Rome took place and the Church of England was brought under the King's control.
1588 The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, set sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
1660 King George I was born. He succeeded Queen Anne in 1714 but spent most of his reign in Hanover, never having mastered the English language.
1742 1st indoor swimming pool opens (Goodman's Fields, London).
1830 US President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, a key law leading to the forced removal of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes out of Georgia and surrounding states, setting the stage for the Cherokee Trail of Tears.
1842 Britain's first public library opened, in Frederick Street, Salford.
1907 The first Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) motor cycle races were held. The winner was Charlie Collier on his pedal assisted Matchless, at an average speed of 38.22 mph. It was argued that rival Jack Marshall, riding a Triumph, would have won if he'd fitted pedals, and the following year pedals were banned.
1908 The birth of Ian Fleming, English author of the James Bond novels.
1945 World War II: the English broadcaster of Nazi propaganda, William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) was captured near Hamburg. He was later tried for treason, found guilty, and hanged.
1951 BBC radio broadcast the first edition of The Goon Show, starring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe.
1959 Monkeys Able & Baker zoom 300 miles (500 km) into space on Jupiter missile, become 1st animals retrieved from a space mission.
1967 Sir Francis Chichester arrived in Plymouth on his yacht, Gipsy Moth IV, after completing his solo voyage around the world.
1975 19th European Cup: Bayern Munich beat Leeds United 2-0 at Paris.
1980 24th European Cup: Nottingham Forest beats Hamburg 1-0 at Madrid.
Have managed to acquire a temporary laptop until I buy another one so here's a brief catch up on the days I've missed. Thanks to @goldon for keeping the page going in my absence...
On This Day - 29th May.
1630 Charles II, king of England, was born.
1660 Charles II marched into London and was restored to the throne, 11 years after the execution of his father Charles I.
1871 Whit Monday became the first official Bank Holiday in Britain.
1953 Sir Edmund Hillary and his sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest in the Himalayas.
1968 Manchester United become the first English club to win the European Cup, beating Portuguese side Benfica by four goals to one.
1985 39 football fans were killed and at least another 400 injured when a wall collapsed during crowd violence at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, only minutes before the start of the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus.
On This Day - 30th May.
1431 Joan of Arc, the French peasant girl who became a national heroine leading French troops against the English, was burnt at the stake in Rouen for heresy.
1536 Eleven days after he had his second wife Anne Boleyn beheaded, King Henry VIII married Jane Seymour, former lady-in-waiting to Anne.
1820 The death, aged 33, of William Bradley, often known as Giant Bradley or the Yorkshire Giant. He was the tallest recorded British man, measuring 7 feet 9 inches.
1842 An assassination attempt was made on Queen Victoria as she drove down Constitution Hill in London with her husband Prince Albert. The would-be assassin was John Francis.
1972 The Angry Brigade, a small British anarchist group, went on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom.
On This Day - 31st May.
1578 English explorer Martin Frobisher sailed from Harwich to Frobisher Bay in Canada. Over time he brought home 1500 tons of 'gold ore'. After years of smelting, it was realised that the presumed gold was merely worthless iron pyrite (fool's gold) that was later used to pave streets in London, leading to the myth that the streets of London were paved with gold.
1678 The Godiva Procession, a commemoration of the legendary ride by Lady Godiva (born 990 AD) was instituted On This Day, as part of Coventry fair and was celebrated up to the 1960s. According to the popular story, Lady Godiva took pity on the people of Coventry, who were suffering grievously under her husband's oppressive taxation. Her husband agreed to repeal the taxes if she would strip naked and ride through the streets of the town, clothed only in her long hair. She agreed, conditionally that all persons should stay indoors and shut their windows, but one person, a tailor known ever afterwards as Peeping Tom, disobeyed the proclamation and was struck blind.
1859 The clock in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament was started, with the bell (Big Ben) sounding for the first time on 11th July 1859.
1889 A painting of a small dog listening to a phonograph was shown to the general manager of 'The Gramophone Company' in London by the painter, Francis Barraud. It was of his dog, Nipper. The phonograph was painted out and a gramophone substituted. It soon became the famous trademark for the company 'His Master's Voice'.
1911 The White Star liner Titanic was launched at Belfast. At the ceremony, a White Star Line employee claimed, 'Not even God himself could sink this ship.'
1985 The Football Association, supported by Margaret Thatcher, banned English clubs from playing in Europe following the Heysel stadium tragedy.
On This Day - 1st June.
1495 Friar John Cor recorded the first known batch of Scotch whisky in Lindores Abbey, Fife.
1533 Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's new queen, was crowned.
1648 The Roundheads defeated the Cavaliers at the Battle of Maidstone in the Second English Civil War.
1935 Britain introduced the compulsory use of 'L' plates for learner drivers.
1946 Television licences were issued in Britain for the first time. They cost £2.
1953 Gordon Richards became the first jockey to be knighted. Six days later he won the Derby at his 28th attempt. On This Day in 1977 and 1983, Lester Piggott won his eighth and ninth Derbys.
1957 'ERNIE' drew the first premium bond prizes in Britain. The first prize was £1000.
1977 The maximum speed limits on Britain's roads was changed to 70mph.
On This Day - 2nd June.
1953 The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place in Westminster Abbey, London. It was the first British coronation to be televised and was a cold, wet day.
1954 British jockey Lester Piggott, aged 18, became the youngest jockey to win the Derby.
1985 The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced an indefinite ban on English football clubs from taking part in any of the European competitions, after continued hooliganism by their fans when travelling abroad.
On This Day - 3rd June.
1839 In Humen, (China) 1.2 million kg of opium were confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a justification to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.
1865 The birth of George V, King of England from 1910 to 1936 who married Princess May of Teck (Queen Mary) in 1893. He ruled during the First World War and changed the family name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in 1917.
1899 English cricket captain W.G.Grace became the first man to play Test cricket beyond the age of 50. He played his last game against Australia aged 50 and 320 days at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
1931 The Baird Company televised the Epsom Derby, which was transmitted by the BBC.
1937 The Duke of Windsor, (the abdicated King Edward VIII), married American divorcee Mrs Wallis Simpson, privately in a château near Tours, France.
1978 The Guiness Book of Records entered the record books as the most-stolen book from British libraries.
1981 Shergar won the Epsom Derby by a record 10 lengths.
2016 Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay], American boxer (world heavyweight champion 1964-7 74-8), dies of respiratory illness at 74.
1704 The birth of Benjamin Huntsman who experimented in steel manufacture at Handsworth, near Sheffield. The local cutlery manufacturers initially refused to buy his steel as it was harder than the German steel they were accustomed to using. Huntsman did not patent his process, and his secret was discovered by a Sheffield iron-founder called Walker who, according to a popular story, got into Huntsman's works in the disguise of a starving beggar asking to sleep by a fire for the night.
1805 The first official Trooping The Colour took place at Horse Guards Parade in London.
1913 Suffragette Emily Davison ran out in front of King George V's horse, Anmer, at Tattenham Corner on the Epsom racecourse. She was trampled, never regained consciousness and died a few days later.
1927 1st Ryder Cup Golf, Worcester CC: US beats Great Britain, 9½-2½; Walter Hagen first American captain; Ted Ray first GB skipper.
1940 World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ended. British forces completed the evacuation of 300,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivered his famous 'We shall fight on the beaches ... we shall never surrender' speech to the House of Commons.
1944 General Eisenhower cancels planned D-Day invasion on June 5th after receiving unfavourable weather reports.
1962 The Beatles signed a recording contract with EMI Parlophone.
1964 Test Cricket debut of Geoff Boycott v Australia at Trent Bridge.
1977 Five British plane-spotters imprisoned in Greece for alleged spying were released after 10 weeks in jail.
1977 Scottish football fans caused at least £15,000 damage by breaking the goals and digging up the pitch at Wembley after Scotland beat England 2-1.
1984 "Born in the USA" 7th studio album by Bruce Springsteen is released.
1987 American hurdler Edwin Moses' 122 race winning streak which extends to nearly 10 years ends when he is beaten by countryman Danny Harris in Madrid, Spain.
1993 Cricket's "Ball of the Century" - Australian spin bowler Shane Warne bowls England batsman Mike Gatting with his first ball of an Ashes series; Australia wins 1st Test at Old Trafford by 179 runs.
The date of one of the more memorable England v Scotland internationals. Scotland were in the ascendancy at the time. They were the reigning Home International champions and needed a victory over England at Wembley in 1977 to retain that title. And a victory they gained - goals from Gordon McQueen and Kenny Dalglish gave the Scots a comfortable 2-0 lead before a late Mick Channon penalty gave the English a consolation goal. But it was what happened after the match that made most of the headlines. Many Scots in the 98,103 crowd invaded the pitch, digging up turf from the pitch and wrecking the goalposts. It seems that many a Scottish lawn saw the addition of a bit of the Wembley turf after that Saturday afternoon fixture. The Scottish victory was the first at Wembley since 1967 when the Scots became the first country the beat England after they had won the World Cup - and that of course allowed them to claim to be the unofficial world champions!
Before setting off to the Euro Championships in Germany England played a warm-up match against mighty…..Aylesbury United. England beat the Southern League champions 7-0 but didn’t do as well in Germany – they found the opposition was a tad better than non-league standard and lost all three matches.
1718 The birth in Otley, North Yorkshire, of Thomas Chippendale, cabinet-maker and furniture designer.
1829 HMS Pickle, a schooner of 5 guns, was involved in the suppression of the slave trade, and achieved fame for capturing the armed slave ship Voladora off the coast of Cuba.
1916 World War I: British General Lord Kitchener drowned when HMS Hampshire hit a mine off the Orkney Islands during a storm and sank en route to Russia. There were no survivors.
1927 Johnny Weissmuller sets 100-yard & 200-yard free-style swim record. He won five Olympic gold medals across two Olympic games in 1924 and 1928. He later went on to play Tarzan in 12 feature films for which he is justly famous for Tarzan's legendary yell.
1944 World War II: A cafe in the French town of Benouville was the first place to be liberated from German occupation when British paratroopers seized control of a vital canal bridge in advance of the main Allied D-Day landings in Normandy the following morning on 6th June.
1944 World War II: The people of liberated Rome crowded onto the streets to welcome the victorious Allied troops.
1952 Test Cricket debut of Freddie Trueman v India at Headingley.
1963 Secretary of State for War, John Profumo resigned, admitting he lied to Parliament about his relationship with a call girl, Christine Keeler, the reputed mistress of an alleged Soviet spy. His resignation damaged the reputation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's government and Macmillan himself resigned a few months later due to ill health.
1964 Rolling Stones 1st US concert tour (with Bobby Goldsboro & Bobby Vee) debuts in San Bernadino, California.
1964 Davie Jones & King Bees debut "I Can't Help Thinking About Me". The group later disbands but Davie Jones goes on to success as David Bowie.
1964 Blue Streak became Britain's first rocket, taking her into the space age. The 69 ft rocket was launched at Woomera, Australia and was a simplified civilian version that had been designed for research and satellite launching purposes. Blue Streak had originally been planned as Britain’s first nuclear weapon carrier but was scrapped due to costs.
1968 Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan shoots Robert F. Kennedy three times, who dies the next day and wounds 5 others at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
1968 Yugoslavia beat England 1-0 in the Semi-Final of the European Championships in Italy with Alan Mullery becoming the first England player to be sent off.
1972 World leaders attended the funeral in Windsor of the former King Edward VIII who abdicated in 1936.
1975 United Kingdom electorate votes 67% to 33% in a referendum to remain part of the European Common Market.
1981 AIDS Epidemic officially begins when US Centers for Disease Control reports on pneumonia affecting five homosexual men in Los Angeles.
1985 Steve Cauthen wins aboard Slip Anchor at Epsom Downs to become the only jockey to win both the Kentucky Derby (1978) and The Derby.
1988 Longest champagne cork flight, Hein rich Medicus (USA) ejected a cork from an untreated and unheated champagne bottle standing from level ground to a distance of 54.18 m (177 ft 9 in) at the Woodbury Vineyards Winery, New York, USA.
1993 The Holbeck Hall Hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, fell into the sea following a landslide, making news around the world.
1999 After receiving two cautions for two foul tackles Paul Scholes was sent off in the 51st minute of England's Euro 2000 qualifier against Sweden at Wembley. It was the only time an England player was sent off in an international at the old Wembley Stadium.
2005 French Open Men's Tennis: Spaniard Rafael Nadal beats Mariano Puerta of Argentina 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5 to claim his first French title.
2007 The new Olympics 2012 logo received a 'mauling' when it was unveiled to the public. The logo, which took a year to design was designed to 'engage with young people and excite sponsors' said the London 2012 chairman, Sebastian Coe.
2011 French Open Men's Tennis: Defending champion Rafael Nadal wins his 6th French title; beats Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1.
2014 Property experts estimated there could be up to 1,000 JCBs buried underground in London, because it is cheaper to bury them than to lift them to street level following basement extensions. The total value of the JCBs buried underground is thought to be around £5 million.
2016 French Open Men's Tennis: Novak Đoković of Serbia beats Scotsman Andy Murray 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 to win his first French title.
1683 The Ashmolean Museum, on Oxford's Beaumont Street, opened as the world's first university museum.
1820 Caroline, Princess of Wales, whom George IV wished to divorce, triumphantly entered London, demanding her recognition as queen.
1844 The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) was founded in London.
1844 The Factory Act in Britain restricted female workers to a 12-hour day; children between eight and 13 years were limited to six-and-a-half hours.
1896 The birth of Henry Allingham, English First World War veteran, and supercentenarian (i.e. someone who has reached the age of 110 years). For one month, he was verified as the oldest living man in the world. He was also the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland, the last surviving member of the Royal Naval Air Service and the last surviving founding member of the Royal Air Force.
1921 The Southwark Bridge in London was opened to traffic by King George V and Queen Mary.
1936 Gatwick Airport opened in Surrey. Half a century later, it became Britain’s second biggest international airport, and one of the world’s busiest.
1944 World War II: The Battle of Normandy began. D-Day, code named Operation Overlord, commenced with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France to liberate Western Europe from German occupation.The allied soldiers quickly broke through the Atlantic Wall and pushed inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
1949 Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell’s prophetic novel of a world ruled by Big Brother was published.
1956 Björn Borg, Swedish tennis player (11-time Grand Slam winner), born in Stockholm, Sweden.
1958 Mike Gatting, English cricketer was born.
1960 Roy Orbison releases "Only the Lonely".
1962 An unknown British group, The Beatles, played at an audition for EMI record producer George Martin.
1965 Rolling Stones release single "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".
1967 President Nasser closed the Suez Canal, alleging that US and British forces were aiding Israel.
1972 David Bowie releases his breakthrough album "The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars".
1975 Results of a nationwide referendum on 5th June backed the UK's continued membership of the EEC by a large majority.
1976 "The Omen" premieres in the UK.
1979 200th running of horse's Derby in England.
1983 "Octopussy", 13th James Bond film, starring Roger Moore, Maud Adams and Louis Jourdan premieres in London.
1984 Video game Tetris is first released in the Soviet Union by Alexey Pajitnov.
1986 For the first time England played an African nation in the World Cup, against Morocco in a group match at the 1986 finals in Mexico. A disappointing 0-0 draw was marked by the first sending off of an England player in a World Cup finals match when Ray Wilkins threw the ball at Paraguayan ref Gabriel Gonzalez. England qualified from the group in second place with group winners Morocco becoming the first African nation to qualify for the knock-out stages.
1987 French Open Women's Tennis: 17 year old German Steffi Graf beats World #1 Martina Navratilova 6-4, 4-6, 8-6; Graf's first Grand Slam victory.
1988 Queen Elizabeth II stripped champion jockey Lester Piggott of his OBE after he was jailed for tax evasion.
1991 Test Cricket debut of Graeme Hick, v West Indies at Headingley.
1994 West Indian cricket batsman Brian Lara hits world 1st-class record 501 not out and 390 runs in 1 day for Warwickshire vs Durham at Edgbaston; only quintuple-hundred in first-class history. Warwickshire score 4 for 810 declared against Durham.
2010 French Open Men's Tennis: Rafael Nadal wins 5th French title; defeats Robin Söderling of Sweden 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
2015 Convicted killers Richard Matt and David Sweat break out of Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.
1329 Robert I 'the Bruce', king of Scotland died. He earned a place in Scottish history for his legendary victory over the English at Bannockburn in 1314.
1557 England declares war on France.
1665 Great Plague of London: Samuel Pepys writes in his diary of houses marked with a red cross in London's Drury Lane, meaning somebody inside is infected with the plague and must be locked in for 40 days or until death.
1778 The birth of George Bryan Brummell, commonly known as 'Beau' Brummell. He was an iconic figure in Regency England and is credited with introducing, and establishing as fashion, the modern men's suit, worn with a tie. He claimed he took five hours to dress, and recommended that boots be polished with champagne.
1862 The United Kingdom and the United States agreed to suppress the slave trade.
1906 Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania was launched at the John Brown Shipyard at Clydebank, Glasgow. At the time she was the world's fastest and largest liner.
1939 King George VI became the first British monarch to visit the United States of America.
1940 The birth in Pontypridd, of the entertainer Tom Jones. He has sold over 100 million records and has had thirty six Top 40 hits in the United Kingdom and nineteen in the United States.
1969 "Johnny Cash Show" debuts on ABC-TV.
1970 England ‘keeper Gordon Banks makes the ‘greatest ever save’ from Pele in an England v Brazil World Cup group match in Mexico. But Brazil inflicted a 1-0 defeat on World Cup holders England.
1975 Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder for sale to the public.
1977 More than one million people lined the streets of London to watch the Royal Family on their way to St. Paul's at the start of the Queen's silver jubilee celebrations.
1977 During the Queen's Jubilee, the Sex Pistols attempt to perform on a boat on the River Thames, but are forced to stop by the police.
1981 French Open Men's Tennis: Björn Borg of Sweden wins 11th and final career Grand Slam title; Open era record 6th French title; beats Ivan Lendl 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
1986 French Open Women's Tennis: Chris Evert beats Martina Navratilova 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 for her 18th and final Grand Slam title and record 7th French singles crown.
1989 23 year old olympic barefoot South African runner Zola Budd retires.
1990 France, West Germany and Italy lifted a ban on British beef-on-the-bone after reaching a deal in Brussels.
1993 Singer Prince celebrates his birthday by changing his name to a symbol.
2001 Tony Blair's Labour Party wins another landslide victory in the General Election.
2017 Police warn bald men against attacks in Mozambique after 5 men murdered for the gold believed to be in their heads.
2019 Theresa May officially stepped down as the leader of the Conservative Party, but remained as Prime Minister until 22nd July when her successor was announced.
2020 Black Lives Matter Protests continue worldwide in large numbers, In Bristol England statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston pulled down.
793 Vikings raided the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria. The event is commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England.
1042 Harthacnut, King of England and Denmark, died. He was succeeded in England by his adopted heir, Edward the Confessor, and in Denmark by Magnus, King of Norway.
1376 The death of Edward of Woodstock known as Edward the Black Prince, the eldest son of Edward III. He was the hero of Crecy and Poitiers and the upholder of the liberties of the English people.
1536 The English Parliament met and settled the succession on the future children of Henry VIII by Jane Seymour. The Princesses Mary and Elizabeth were declared illegitimate.
1779 Admiral Horatio Nelson and Captain Thomas Hardy on HMS Foudroyant set sail against Spanish fleet.
1786 Commercially made ice cream 1st advertised (Mr Hall in NYC).
1812 Robert Jenkinson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after Spencer Perceval's assassination.
1896 First car thief; Baron de Zuylen’s Peugeot is stolen by his mechanic in Paris.
1901 The opening of Cromer Pier a Grade II listed seaside pier on the north coast of the county of Norfolk. There are records of a pier in Cromer dating back as far as 1391.
1924 The last sighting of English climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine; 800 feet from the summit of Mount Everest during the third attempt to become the first men to conquer the world's highest mountain. Their fate was unknown for 75 years, until Mallory's body was discovered in 1999 by an expedition that had set out to search for the climbers' remains. Whether or not Mallory and Irvine reached the summit before they died remains a subject of speculation and continuing research.
1949 Siam changes name to Thailand.
1963 Dr. Stephen Ward, a London osteopath and friend of 'call girl' Christine Keeler, was arrested and charged with living on immoral earnings.
1968 James Earl Ray, wanted for the murder of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, was arrested in London, travelling under an assumed name.
1969 The Rolling Stones fire founding member Brian Jones, whose relationship with his bandmates has deteriorated beyond repair. Brian Jones tells the press he is leaving to "play my kind of music." Less than a month later, he is found dead at his home.
1969 Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor replaces Brian Jones.
1972 Test Cricket debut of Tony Greig, v Australia at Old Trafford.
1974 Keyboardist Rick Wakeman quits rock group "Yes" (for the first time).
1974 Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" goes to #1 on the Country chart. Nearly two decades later, Whitney Houston's R&B version tops the Hot 100 and becomes one of the best-selling singles of all time.
1982 Up to fifty British servicemen were killed in an Argentine air attack on two supply ships in the Falklands. Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram were anchored at Bluff Cove when they were hit by missiles in a surprise raid by five Argentine Skyhawks.
1983 "Trading Places", American comedy film, is released.
1984 "Ghostbusters", American supernatural comedy film, directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson is released.
1984 "Gremlins", American comedy horror film, is released.
1985 All Ireland united behind Barry McGuigan as he won the world featherweight title at Loftus Road, London.
1999 Ex-cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken was jailed for 18 months after admitting he lied during a libel action.
2002 French Open Women's Tennis: Serena Williams wins her first French title; beats older sister Venus Williams 7-5, 6-3
2009 Labour suffered its worst post-war election result after it was beaten into third place by UKIP and saw the BNP gain its first seats in the European elections.
2017 British General Election results in a hung parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May and the Conservative party lose their majority.
2018 World's most powerful supercomputer, Summit, can process 200,000 trillion calculations per second, launched at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, by IBM and NVidia.
England played an international under floodlights for the first time. At New York’s Yankee Stadium against USA. two goals apiece from Tom Finney and Nat Lofthouse helped England to a 6-3 victory.
Football On This Day – 8th June 1990.
The opening match at the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy produced one of the shock results in the history of the competition and confirmed that success in the footballing world was no longer confined to European and South American sides. Reigning world champions Argentina were beaten 1-0 by Cameroon at the San Siro stadium in Milan despite the winners finishing the match with only nine players on the pitch. Cameroon became the first African nation south of the Sahara to win a match at a World Cup finals and then they went on to become the first African nation to reach the quarter finals where they suffered a narrow loss to England. By contrast the country Cameroon defeated in that opening match, Argentina, only progressed to the knock-out stages as the best third-place side in a group but then went on to reach the final again where they were beaten by West Germany.
Sepp Blatter replaced João Havelange as President of FIFA. He beat Lennart Johansson of Sweden in a straight vote in Paris but there have been allegations that votes were being bought even then. You have to wonder how different world football would now be if Blatter had lost that vote 111-80 rather than defeating the Swede by that margin!
68 Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging.
1667 The Raid on the Medway, sometimes called the Battle of Chatham began. It lasted for five days and resulted in a decisive victory for the Dutch over the English in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch bombarded and then captured the town of Sheerness and sailed up the River Medway to Chatham, where they burned ten naval vessels and towed away the HMS Unity and the HMS Royal Charles, the pride of the English fleet. It was the worst defeat in the Royal Navy's history.
1803 British explorer Matthew Flinders arrives in Sydney becoming the first person to circumnavigate Australia, proving it is one continent.
1870 Charles Dickens, English novelist died at his home - Gad's Hill Place, Kent. Dickens rocketed to fame with his 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. His other notable works are Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.
1873 Alexandra Palace in London burned down, after being open for only 16 days. It was built as a public centre of recreation, education and entertainment and as North London's counterpart to the Crystal Palace in South London. With typical Victorian vigour, the palace was quickly rebuilt and it reopened on 1st May 1875.
1898 An agreement was signed under which Hong Kong was leased to Britain, by China, for a period of 99 years.
1899 Boxer Bob Fitzsimmons, the first British world heavyweight champion, lost his title to American James Jeffries at Coney Island, New York.
1904 Musicians who left the Henry Wood Orchestra after a disagreement, formed the London Symphony Orchestra.
1933 Baird demonstrated high definition television at his Long Acre studio in London, showing the difference between the previous 30-line picture and the new 120-line tubes.
1934 1st appearance of Donald Duck in a cartoon, "The Wise Little Hen".
1958 The Queen opened an extended airport at Gatwick, south of London, modernised at a cost of £7m.
1960 It was announced that one of Britain's oldest quality cars, the Armstrong Siddeley, was to go out of production.
1975 The first live transmission from the House of Commons was broadcast by BBC Radio and commercial stations.
1978 Larry Holmes beats Ken Norton in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1983 Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party won a landslide second term election victory.
1984 French Open Women's Tennis: Martina Navratilova beats Chris Evert 6-3, 6-1; 2nd women in Open Era to hold all 4 Grand Slam titles at once.
1993 An embarrassing result for England against the USA. Paul Ince captained the side for the first time at the Foxboro Stadium in Boston but the 2-0 defeat saw the headline in the Sun – ‘Yanks 2 Planks 0’.
2013 French Open Men's Tennis: Rafael Nadal beats fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; first man to win same Grand Slam title 8 times.
2014 The death of the comedian, actor and writer Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall aged 56. He played the anarchist Rick in The Young Ones.
2017 Gene Simmons of Kiss files a trademark application for the devil horns hand gesture, which he claims he invented in 1974.
2019 French Open Men's Tennis: Rafael Nadal beats Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1; 3rd straight French singles title; 12th overall; first to win 12 singles titles at same Grand Slam; 18th major.
2019 1st UEFA Nations League Final, Porto: Guedes scores as Portugal win inaugural tournament final, 1-0 over the Netherlands.
1692 The first victim of the Salem witch trials, Bridget Bishop, is hanged for witchcraft in the colony of Massachusetts.
1719 The Battle of Glen Shiel, in the West Highlands of Scotland took place 'On This Day' between British government troops and an alliance of Jacobites and Spaniards, resulting in a victory for the government forces. It was the last close engagement of British and foreign troops on mainland Great Britain.
1752 Benjamin Franklin tests the lightning conductor with his kite-flying experiment.
1768 British customs officials seize John Hancock's ship, "The Liberty", on the suspicion that Hancock had illegally unloaded cargo without paying duties a month earlier.
1829 The Oxford team won the first-ever Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
1845 USA President Andrew Jackson's African Grey parrot "Poll" is removed from his funeral for swearing at The Hermitage, Tennessee. Funeral attendee William Menefee Norment recorded: "Before the sermon and while the crowd was gathering, a wicked parrot that was a household pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people and had to be carried from the house”.
1864 Cricket authorities in England legalised over-arm bowling.
1921 Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth was born; as Philippos Schleswig- Holstein Soenderburg-Glücksburg on the Greek island of Corfu.
1923 The birth of Robert Maxwell, Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament. His unexplained death (at sea, around the Canary Islands) revealed huge discrepancies in his companies' finances, including the Mirror Group pension fund, which Maxwell had fraudulently misappropriated.
1933 John Dillinger robs his first bank, in New Carlisle, Ohio. He takes $10, 600.
1935 In Akron, Ohio, Dr. Robert H. Smith (Dr. Bob) from Akron & Bill Wilson from New York City form Alcoholics Anonymous (date of Smith's last drink).
1940 Italy declares war on France and Great Britain as part of its Axis alliance with Nazi Germany.
1942 **** kill all inhabitants of Lidice, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now Czech Republic) which had been implicated in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi controller of Bohemia and Moravia, to “teach the Czechs a final lesson of subservience and humility”; over 170 adult men were executed by firing squad on site, women and children were sent to concentration camp gas chambers and the village was burned down and plowed under.
1947 Saab produces its first automobile.
1965 A de Havilland jet airliner made the first automatic landing, relying entirely on instruments, at Heathrow Airport.
1977 An elusive goldfish eating perch with a prodigious appetite was finally netted after two years on the rampage in a Kent pond. The fish, nicknamed Jaws, was caught by two Southern Water Board engineers equipped with a rowing boat, a fishing net and a 240v stun rod. Jaws was accused of eating 3,000 goldfish in a breeding lake near Canterbury.
1981 Sebastian Coe of England sets 800m record (1:41.73) in Florence.
1984 French Open Men's Tennis: Czech star Ivan Lendl wins 1st career Grand Slam title; beats John McEnroe 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.
1989 After an era of 157 years, Britain's last lightship was towed away from its position north-west of the Channel Island of Guernsey.
1990 A British Airways pilot survived after being partly sucked out of the cockpit at 23,000 feet above London.
1993 The death of Manchester born comedian Les Dawson. He is remembered for his deadpan style, grumpy on stage personality, and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife.
2000 London's new Millennium Bridge was closed for safety checks after large crowds caused it to sway violently.
2004 Ray Charles dies at age 73 of liver disease.
2007 "The Sopranos" series finale on HBO (infamous "cut to black" ending).
2012 Hundreds of tourists were left to survey the wreckage of their holiday homes after floodwater devastated campsites and villages around Aberystwyth. The heavy rain continued throughout the summer, making 2012 the second wettest year in the UK since records began in 1910 and the wettest ever in England. Scotland fared much better as it was only their 17th wettest.
2013 A Dornier 17 German World War II bomber was raised from the bottom of the English Channel. The aircraft was shot down off the Kent coast during the Battle of Britain and is believed to be the only intact example of its kind in the world.
1381 Wat Tyler led the peasants of Southern England in a march to London; the first popular rebellion in English history. His leadership proved one of the chief factors in the success of protest against the harsh taxation of the poorer classes.
1488 James III of Scotland was murdered by rebellious Scottish nobles and was succeeded by his 15 year old son, James IV.
1509 Eighteen year old King Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon, the first of his six wives. When Catherine failed to produce a male heir Henry divorced her against the will of the Roman Catholic Church, thus precipitating the Protestant Reformation in England.
1770 Captain James Cook, in his ship Endeavour, ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef during his first voyage of exploration. The ship was badly damaged and his voyage was delayed for almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach. When he eventually arrived at Possession Island, he claimed the entire coastline he had just explored as British territory.
1776 John Constable, English landscape painter was born. He is best known for his paintings representing his native valley of the River Stour, an area that came to be known as 'Constable country'.
1907 Gloucestershire dismissed Northamptonshire for 12 runs. It was the lowest total in English county cricket. George Dennett (a left arm spin bowler) took 8 wickets for 9 runs and the other 2 were caught by England Test Player Gilbert Jessop.
1938 Dennis Compton scores 1st Test Cricket ton (102 v Aust) aged 20 yrs 19 days.
1949 ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard is born in Frankston, Texas.
Ironically, Beard was long known as the only member of ZZ Top not to have a luxuriant beard despite his name, unlike bandmates Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill, but put an end to this long-running quirky fact circa 2013 by growing one.
1952 English cricketer Denis Compton hit his 100th century.
1955 Eighty three people were killed and at least 100 were injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collided at the 24 Hours Le Mans race. The race was continued, officially in order to prevent departing spectators from crowding the roads and slowing down ambulances. Britain's Mike Hawthorn and the Jaguar team, led by motorsport manager Lofty England won the race with teammate Bueb. As a mark of respect, the pair did not indulge in wild celebration. Funeral services for the dead were held the next day at the cathedral in the town of Le Mans. It was the deadliest ever accident in motorsports.
1959 The Hovercraft, invented by Christopher Cockerell was officially demonstrated for the first time, at Southampton.
1962 Brothers John and Clarence Anglin and fellow inmate Frank Morris escape from Alcatraz Island prison, the only ones to do so.
1963 The Buddhist crisis in Vietnam throughout 1963 precipitated the downfall and assassination of South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm. It began with the shooting of nine civilians in Hue who were protesting the ban on the Buddhist flag.
The monk Thích Quảng Đức sat down at a busy Saigon intersection, doused himself in petrol and set himself alight. He did not utter a sound as he died.
John F. Kennedy said that "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one." Malcolm Browne, the photographer, won a Pulitzer Prize for the image.
1965 It was announced that all four members of the British group The Beatles, would be awarded MBE's in Queen Elizabeth II's birthday honours list. John Lennon returned his MBE to the Queen on 25th November 1969, as an act of protest against the Vietnam war.
1966 French and German media mistakenly report death of Roger Daltry. European radio is abuzz with rumors that Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, has been killed in an auto accident days earlier. In fact, guitarist Pete Townshend was in the wreck, but survived with minor injuries.
1968 During a recording session while The Rolling Stones are working on "Sympathy For The Devil," a fire breaks out in the studio. While many are quick to blame Lucifer the blaze is actually caused by a light being used by a camera crew documenting the sessions.
1982 "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore, is released
1987 Margaret Thatcher declared she was 'raring to go' after winning a record third term as Prime Minister.
1989 French Open Men's Tennis: American Michael Chang wins lone career Grand Slam title; beats Stefan Edberg of Sweden 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; at 17 years, 110 days, becomes youngest male to win a Grand Slam singles title.
1993 "Jurassic Park", directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum opens, sets box office weekend record of $502 million.
1997 The British House of Commons voted for a total ban on handguns in a free vote.
2009 The World Health Organization declares H1N1 swine flu to be a global pandemic, the first such incident in over forty years.
2012 Downing Street admitted that David Cameron had left his eight year old daughter in the pub after a Sunday lunch two months previously, because of a mix-up with his wife Samantha. The story proved embarrassing for the Prime Minister, as it came on the same day that the government relaunched its £450m 'Troubled Families Programme'.
Comments
Goalkeeper Nigel Spink joined Aston Villa in 1977 and made his League debut on Boxing Day 1979 in the defeat at Nottingham Forest. He had to wait until 26th May 1982 for his second appearance in the first team.....playing for Aston Villa in the European Cup Final! He came on as a sub in the 10th minute when injury forced first choice 'keeper Jimmy Rimmer to leave the action against favourites Bayern Munich in the final played in Rotterdam. The goalkeeper played a blinder, keeping a clean sheet while Peter Withe scored the only goal to see Villa crowned as European champions - the sixth season in a row that an English team had won Europe's top club competition.
Football On This Day - 26th May 1989.
On Friday, May 26, 1989, the League Championship was decided in the most dramatic finale to any English top-flight campaign. The two leading teams, Liverpool and Arsenal, met in the very last match of the season. Every other club had completed their programmes (this game had been postponed because of the Hillsborough tragedy six weeks earlier).
Liverpool, with a 24-match unbeaten run, had relentlessly closed a 19-point gap on the Gunners. Already FA Cup winners, the Reds had thrashed West Ham 5-1 in their penultimate match and were now three points ahead of Arsenal.
Uniquely, everything was still at stake for both teams in an all-or-nothing scenario. Anything better than a two-goal defeat for Liverpool and the title would be theirs; victory by two goals for Arsenal would deny the Reds the Double and make George Graham's Gunners champions by virtue of number of goals scored.
Yet Arsenal hadn't won at Anfield for 15 years. Liverpool hadn't lost there by a two-goal margin for three and had only done so nine times in the previous 18 seasons. The momentum of recent results was with Liverpool, as was a tidal wave of emotion. Arsenal's chances of winning had been written off by everyone outside of Highbury.
With the Kop whistling for the end of the game - and the season - the Gunners launched their last attack. John Lukic gave the ball to Lee Dixon, who played a long pass to the tireless Smith some 30 yards from goal. Michael Thomas surged forward in the inside-right channel and Smith lobbed the ball perfectly into his path. According to the clock, 91 minutes and 26 seconds had been played.
Football On This Day – 26th May 1999.
Manchester United's attempt to win the Champions League for the first time looked doomed to failure at the Nou Camp, Barcelona. They went behind against Bayern Munich after just six minutes and that was still the score as the final whistle approached. Then amazingly came goals from subs Teddy Sherringham in the first minute of injury time and Ole Gunnar Solskjær a minute later and the Champions League trophy joined the Premier League trophy and FA Cup in the Old Trafford trophy cupboard.
1153 Malcolm IV became King of Scotland. He was noted for his religious zeal and interest in knighthood and warfare. For much of his reign he was in poor health and died, unmarried, at the age of twenty-four.
1657 Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell refused parliament's offer of the title King of England.
1679 Britain passed the Habeas Corpus Act which made it illegal to hold anyone in prison without a trial.
1849 The Great Hall of Euston station in London was opened. It was the first inter-city railway station to be built in London.
1852 The opening of Grimsby Royal Dock. Grisby once had the largest fishing fleet in the world.
1919 Oil was struck at Britain's first on-shore oilfield of three wells, at Hardstoft, near Tibshelf in Derbyshire.
1936 Britain's 80,733 tonne liner Queen Mary left Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York with more than 1800 passengers.
1961 Fiorentina of Italy win 1st European Cup Winner's Cup against Glasgow Rangers 4-2 in Florence (2nd leg).
1972 England’s Alan Ball wound up a 119,325 Hampden Park crowd by wiping his nose on a corner flag bearing the Cross of St Andrew. England beat Scotland 1-0 – Ball scored the goal.
1977 The Sex Pistols release "God Save the Queen", sparking major controversy and leading to a ban on the song by the BBC.
1981 25th European Cup: Liverpool beats Real Madrid 1-0 at Paris.
1985 Britain agrees to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.
1995 Actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition in Culpeper, Virginia.
1998 18 year old Michael Owen became the youngest ever England international goalscorer with the only goal in a 1-0 friendly against Morocco in Casablanca.
2009 UEFA Champions League Final, Rome: Barcelona beat Manchester United, 2-0; first Spanish treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League.
2017 English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London: Arsenal beat Chelsea, 2-1; Aaron Ramsey scores 79' winner as Arsène Wenger becomes most successful manager in FA Cup history, winning his 7th title.
1431 Joan of Arc is accused of relapsing into heresy by donning male clothing again, providing justification for her execution.
1503 James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor were married by Pope Alexander VI. A 'Treaty of Everlasting Peace' between Scotland and England was signed on that occasion. The everlasting peace lasted just ten years.
1533 The Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared that the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn was valid. Shortly afterwards, the Pope decreed sentences of excommunication against both Henry and Cranmer. Subsequently the first break between the Church of England and Rome took place and the Church of England was brought under the King's control.
1588 The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, set sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
1660 King George I was born. He succeeded Queen Anne in 1714 but spent most of his reign in Hanover, never having mastered the English language.
1742 1st indoor swimming pool opens (Goodman's Fields, London).
1830 US President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, a key law leading to the forced removal of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes out of Georgia and surrounding states, setting the stage for the Cherokee Trail of Tears.
1842 Britain's first public library opened, in Frederick Street, Salford.
1907 The first Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) motor cycle races were held. The winner was Charlie Collier on his pedal assisted Matchless, at an average speed of 38.22 mph. It was argued that rival Jack Marshall, riding a Triumph, would have won if he'd fitted pedals, and the following year pedals were banned.
1908 The birth of Ian Fleming, English author of the James Bond novels.
1945 World War II: the English broadcaster of Nazi propaganda, William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) was captured near Hamburg. He was later tried for treason, found guilty, and hanged.
1951 BBC radio broadcast the first edition of The Goon Show, starring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe.
1959 Monkeys Able & Baker zoom 300 miles (500 km) into space on Jupiter missile, become 1st animals retrieved from a space mission.
1967 Sir Francis Chichester arrived in Plymouth on his yacht, Gipsy Moth IV, after completing his solo voyage around the world.
1975 19th European Cup: Bayern Munich beat Leeds United 2-0 at Paris.
1980 24th European Cup: Nottingham Forest beats Hamburg 1-0 at Madrid.
1982 Falklands War: British troops re-captured Port Darwin and Goose Green, taking almost 1500 Argentine prisoners.
2011 UEFA Champions League Final, London: FC Barcelona beat Manchester United, 3-1; 4th title for Barça.
2018 Coco-Cola launches its first alcoholic drink - Lemon-Dou on island of Kyushu, Japan.
On This Day - 29th May.
1630 Charles II, king of England, was born.
1660 Charles II marched into London and was restored to the throne, 11 years after the execution of his father Charles I.
1871 Whit Monday became the first official Bank Holiday in Britain.
1953 Sir Edmund Hillary and his sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest in the Himalayas.
1968 Manchester United become the first English club to win the European Cup, beating Portuguese side Benfica by four goals to one.
1985 39 football fans were killed and at least another 400 injured when a wall collapsed during crowd violence at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, only minutes before the start of the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus.
On This Day - 30th May.
1431 Joan of Arc, the French peasant girl who became a national heroine leading French troops against the English, was burnt at the stake in Rouen for heresy.
1536 Eleven days after he had his second wife Anne Boleyn beheaded, King Henry VIII married Jane Seymour, former lady-in-waiting to Anne.
1820 The death, aged 33, of William Bradley, often known as Giant Bradley or the Yorkshire Giant. He was the tallest recorded British man, measuring 7 feet 9 inches.
1842 An assassination attempt was made on Queen Victoria as she drove down Constitution Hill in London with her husband Prince Albert. The would-be assassin was John Francis.
1972 The Angry Brigade, a small British anarchist group, went on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom.
On This Day - 31st May.
1578 English explorer Martin Frobisher sailed from Harwich to Frobisher Bay in Canada. Over time he brought home 1500 tons of 'gold ore'. After years of smelting, it was realised that the presumed gold was merely worthless iron pyrite (fool's gold) that was later used to pave streets in London, leading to the myth that the streets of London were paved with gold.
1678 The Godiva Procession, a commemoration of the legendary ride by Lady Godiva (born 990 AD) was instituted On This Day, as part of Coventry fair and was celebrated up to the 1960s. According to the popular story, Lady Godiva took pity on the people of Coventry, who were suffering grievously under her husband's oppressive taxation. Her husband agreed to repeal the taxes if she would strip naked and ride through the streets of the town, clothed only in her long hair. She agreed, conditionally that all persons should stay indoors and shut their windows, but one person, a tailor known ever afterwards as Peeping Tom, disobeyed the proclamation and was struck blind.
1859 The clock in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament was started, with the bell (Big Ben) sounding for the first time on 11th July 1859.
1889 A painting of a small dog listening to a phonograph was shown to the general manager of 'The Gramophone Company' in London by the painter, Francis Barraud. It was of his dog, Nipper. The phonograph was painted out and a gramophone substituted. It soon became the famous trademark for the company 'His Master's Voice'.
1911 The White Star liner Titanic was launched at Belfast. At the ceremony, a White Star Line employee claimed, 'Not even God himself could sink this ship.'
1985 The Football Association, supported by Margaret Thatcher, banned English clubs from playing in Europe following the Heysel stadium tragedy.
On This Day - 1st June.
1495 Friar John Cor recorded the first known batch of Scotch whisky in Lindores Abbey, Fife.
1533 Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's new queen, was crowned.
1648 The Roundheads defeated the Cavaliers at the Battle of Maidstone in the Second English Civil War.
1935 Britain introduced the compulsory use of 'L' plates for learner drivers.
1946 Television licences were issued in Britain for the first time. They cost £2.
1953 Gordon Richards became the first jockey to be knighted. Six days later he won the Derby at his 28th attempt. On This Day in 1977 and 1983, Lester Piggott won his eighth and ninth Derbys.
1957 'ERNIE' drew the first premium bond prizes in Britain. The first prize was £1000.
1977 The maximum speed limits on Britain's roads was changed to 70mph.
On This Day - 2nd June.
1953 The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place in Westminster Abbey, London. It was the first British coronation to be televised and was a cold, wet day.
1954 British jockey Lester Piggott, aged 18, became the youngest jockey to win the Derby.
1985 The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced an indefinite ban on English football clubs from taking part in any of the European competitions, after continued hooliganism by their fans when travelling abroad.
On This Day - 3rd June.
1839 In Humen, (China) 1.2 million kg of opium were confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a justification to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.
1865 The birth of George V, King of England from 1910 to 1936 who married Princess May of Teck (Queen Mary) in 1893. He ruled during the First World War and changed the family name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in 1917.
1899 English cricket captain W.G.Grace became the first man to play Test cricket beyond the age of 50. He played his last game against Australia aged 50 and 320 days at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
1931 The Baird Company televised the Epsom Derby, which was transmitted by the BBC.
1937 The Duke of Windsor, (the abdicated King Edward VIII), married American divorcee Mrs Wallis Simpson, privately in a château near Tours, France.
1978 The Guiness Book of Records entered the record books as the most-stolen book from British libraries.
1981 Shergar won the Epsom Derby by a record 10 lengths.
2016 Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay], American boxer (world heavyweight champion 1964-7 74-8), dies of respiratory illness at 74.
1704 The birth of Benjamin Huntsman who experimented in steel manufacture at Handsworth, near Sheffield. The local cutlery manufacturers initially refused to buy his steel as it was harder than the German steel they were accustomed to using. Huntsman did not patent his process, and his secret was discovered by a Sheffield iron-founder called Walker who, according to a popular story, got into Huntsman's works in the disguise of a starving beggar asking to sleep by a fire for the night.
1805 The first official Trooping The Colour took place at Horse Guards Parade in London.
1913 Suffragette Emily Davison ran out in front of King George V's horse, Anmer, at Tattenham Corner on the Epsom racecourse. She was trampled, never regained consciousness and died a few days later.
1927 1st Ryder Cup Golf, Worcester CC: US beats Great Britain, 9½-2½; Walter Hagen first American captain; Ted Ray first GB skipper.
1940 World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ended. British forces completed the evacuation of 300,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivered his famous 'We shall fight on the beaches ... we shall never surrender' speech to the House of Commons.
1944 General Eisenhower cancels planned D-Day invasion on June 5th after receiving unfavourable weather reports.
1962 The Beatles signed a recording contract with EMI Parlophone.
1964 Test Cricket debut of Geoff Boycott v Australia at Trent Bridge.
1977 Five British plane-spotters imprisoned in Greece for alleged spying were released after 10 weeks in jail.
1977 Scottish football fans caused at least £15,000 damage by breaking the goals and digging up the pitch at Wembley after Scotland beat England 2-1.
1984 "Born in the USA" 7th studio album by Bruce Springsteen is released.
1987 American hurdler Edwin Moses' 122 race winning streak which extends to nearly 10 years ends when he is beaten by countryman Danny Harris in Madrid, Spain.
1993 Cricket's "Ball of the Century" - Australian spin bowler Shane Warne bowls England batsman Mike Gatting with his first ball of an Ashes series; Australia wins 1st Test at Old Trafford by 179 runs.
The date of one of the more memorable England v Scotland internationals. Scotland were in the ascendancy at the time. They were the reigning Home International champions and needed a victory over England at Wembley in 1977 to retain that title. And a victory they gained - goals from Gordon McQueen and Kenny Dalglish gave the Scots a comfortable 2-0 lead before a late Mick Channon penalty gave the English a consolation goal. But it was what happened after the match that made most of the headlines. Many Scots in the 98,103 crowd invaded the pitch, digging up turf from the pitch and wrecking the goalposts. It seems that many a Scottish lawn saw the addition of a bit of the Wembley turf after that Saturday afternoon fixture. The Scottish victory was the first at Wembley since 1967 when the Scots became the first country the beat England after they had won the World Cup - and that of course allowed them to claim to be the unofficial world champions!
Football On This Day – 4th June 1988.
Before setting off to the Euro Championships in Germany England played a warm-up match against mighty…..Aylesbury United. England beat the Southern League champions 7-0 but didn’t do as well in Germany – they found the opposition was a tad better than non-league standard and lost all three matches.
1718 The birth in Otley, North Yorkshire, of Thomas Chippendale, cabinet-maker and furniture designer.
1829 HMS Pickle, a schooner of 5 guns, was involved in the suppression of the slave trade, and achieved fame for capturing the armed slave ship Voladora off the coast of Cuba.
1916 World War I: British General Lord Kitchener drowned when HMS Hampshire hit a mine off the Orkney Islands during a storm and sank en route to Russia. There were no survivors.
1927 Johnny Weissmuller sets 100-yard & 200-yard free-style swim record. He won five Olympic gold medals across two Olympic games in 1924 and 1928. He later went on to play Tarzan in 12 feature films for which he is justly famous for Tarzan's legendary yell.
1944 World War II: A cafe in the French town of Benouville was the first place to be liberated from German occupation when British paratroopers seized control of a vital canal bridge in advance of the main Allied D-Day landings in Normandy the following morning on 6th June.
1944 World War II: The people of liberated Rome crowded onto the streets to welcome the victorious Allied troops.
1952 Test Cricket debut of Freddie Trueman v India at Headingley.
1963 Secretary of State for War, John Profumo resigned, admitting he lied to Parliament about his relationship with a call girl, Christine Keeler, the reputed mistress of an alleged Soviet spy. His resignation damaged the reputation of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's government and Macmillan himself resigned a few months later due to ill health.
1964 Rolling Stones 1st US concert tour (with Bobby Goldsboro & Bobby Vee) debuts in San Bernadino, California.
1964 Davie Jones & King Bees debut "I Can't Help Thinking About Me". The group later disbands but Davie Jones goes on to success as David Bowie.
1964 Blue Streak became Britain's first rocket, taking her into the space age. The 69 ft rocket was launched at Woomera, Australia and was a simplified civilian version that had been designed for research and satellite launching purposes. Blue Streak had originally been planned as Britain’s first nuclear weapon carrier but was scrapped due to costs.
1968 Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan shoots Robert F. Kennedy three times, who dies the next day and wounds 5 others at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
1968 Yugoslavia beat England 1-0 in the Semi-Final of the European Championships in Italy with Alan Mullery becoming the first England player to be sent off.
1972 World leaders attended the funeral in Windsor of the former King Edward VIII who abdicated in 1936.
1975 United Kingdom electorate votes 67% to 33% in a referendum to remain part of the European Common Market.
1981 AIDS Epidemic officially begins when US Centers for Disease Control reports on pneumonia affecting five homosexual men in Los Angeles.
1985 Steve Cauthen wins aboard Slip Anchor at Epsom Downs to become the only jockey to win both the Kentucky Derby (1978) and The Derby.
1988 Longest champagne cork flight, Hein rich Medicus (USA) ejected a cork from an untreated and unheated champagne bottle standing from level ground to a distance of 54.18 m (177 ft 9 in) at the Woodbury Vineyards Winery, New York, USA.
1993 The Holbeck Hall Hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, fell into the sea following a landslide, making news around the world.
1999 After receiving two cautions for two foul tackles Paul Scholes was sent off in the 51st minute of England's Euro 2000 qualifier against Sweden at Wembley. It was the only time an England player was sent off in an international at the old Wembley Stadium.
2005 French Open Men's Tennis: Spaniard Rafael Nadal beats Mariano Puerta of Argentina 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 7-5 to claim his first French title.
2007 The new Olympics 2012 logo received a 'mauling' when it was unveiled to the public. The logo, which took a year to design was designed to 'engage with young people and excite sponsors' said the London 2012 chairman, Sebastian Coe.
2011 French Open Men's Tennis: Defending champion Rafael Nadal wins his 6th French title; beats Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1.
2014 Property experts estimated there could be up to 1,000 JCBs buried underground in London, because it is cheaper to bury them than to lift them to street level following basement extensions. The total value of the JCBs buried underground is thought to be around £5 million.
2016 French Open Men's Tennis: Novak Đoković of Serbia beats Scotsman Andy Murray 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 to win his first French title.
1683 The Ashmolean Museum, on Oxford's Beaumont Street, opened as the world's first university museum.
1820 Caroline, Princess of Wales, whom George IV wished to divorce, triumphantly entered London, demanding her recognition as queen.
1844 The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) was founded in London.
1844 The Factory Act in Britain restricted female workers to a 12-hour day; children between eight and 13 years were limited to six-and-a-half hours.
1896 The birth of Henry Allingham, English First World War veteran, and supercentenarian (i.e. someone who has reached the age of 110 years). For one month, he was verified as the oldest living man in the world. He was also the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland, the last surviving member of the Royal Naval Air Service and the last surviving founding member of the Royal Air Force.
1921 The Southwark Bridge in London was opened to traffic by King George V and Queen Mary.
1936 Gatwick Airport opened in Surrey. Half a century later, it became Britain’s second biggest international airport, and one of the world’s busiest.
1944 World War II: The Battle of Normandy began. D-Day, code named Operation Overlord, commenced with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France to liberate Western Europe from German occupation.The allied soldiers quickly broke through the Atlantic Wall and pushed inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
1949 Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell’s prophetic novel of a world ruled by Big Brother was published.
1956 Björn Borg, Swedish tennis player (11-time Grand Slam winner), born in Stockholm, Sweden.
1958 Mike Gatting, English cricketer was born.
1960 Roy Orbison releases "Only the Lonely".
1962 An unknown British group, The Beatles, played at an audition for EMI record producer George Martin.
1965 Rolling Stones release single "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".
1967 President Nasser closed the Suez Canal, alleging that US and British forces were aiding Israel.
1972 David Bowie releases his breakthrough album "The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars".
1975 Results of a nationwide referendum on 5th June backed the UK's continued membership of the EEC by a large majority.
1976 "The Omen" premieres in the UK.
1979 200th running of horse's Derby in England.
1983 "Octopussy", 13th James Bond film, starring Roger Moore, Maud Adams and Louis Jourdan premieres in London.
1984 Video game Tetris is first released in the Soviet Union by Alexey Pajitnov.
1986 For the first time England played an African nation in the World Cup, against Morocco in a group match at the 1986 finals in Mexico. A disappointing 0-0 draw was marked by the first sending off of an England player in a World Cup finals match when Ray Wilkins threw the ball at Paraguayan ref Gabriel Gonzalez. England qualified from the group in second place with group winners Morocco becoming the first African nation to qualify for the knock-out stages.
1987 French Open Women's Tennis: 17 year old German Steffi Graf beats World #1 Martina Navratilova 6-4, 4-6, 8-6; Graf's first Grand Slam victory.
1988 Queen Elizabeth II stripped champion jockey Lester Piggott of his OBE after he was jailed for tax evasion.
1991 Test Cricket debut of Graeme Hick, v West Indies at Headingley.
1994 West Indian cricket batsman Brian Lara hits world 1st-class record 501 not out and 390 runs in 1 day for Warwickshire vs Durham at Edgbaston; only quintuple-hundred in first-class history. Warwickshire score 4 for 810 declared against Durham.
2010 French Open Men's Tennis: Rafael Nadal wins 5th French title; defeats Robin Söderling of Sweden 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.
2015 Convicted killers Richard Matt and David Sweat break out of Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.
2015 236th Epsom Derby: Golden Horn ridden by Frankie Dettori wins.
1329 Robert I 'the Bruce', king of Scotland died. He earned a place in Scottish history for his legendary victory over the English at Bannockburn in 1314.
1557 England declares war on France.
1665 Great Plague of London: Samuel Pepys writes in his diary of houses marked with a red cross in London's Drury Lane, meaning somebody inside is infected with the plague and must be locked in for 40 days or until death.
1778 The birth of George Bryan Brummell, commonly known as 'Beau' Brummell. He was an iconic figure in Regency England and is credited with introducing, and establishing as fashion, the modern men's suit, worn with a tie. He claimed he took five hours to dress, and recommended that boots be polished with champagne.
1862 The United Kingdom and the United States agreed to suppress the slave trade.
1906 Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania was launched at the John Brown Shipyard at Clydebank, Glasgow. At the time she was the world's fastest and largest liner.
1939 King George VI became the first British monarch to visit the United States of America.
1940 The birth in Pontypridd, of the entertainer Tom Jones. He has sold over 100 million records and has had thirty six Top 40 hits in the United Kingdom and nineteen in the United States.
1969 "Johnny Cash Show" debuts on ABC-TV.
1970 England ‘keeper Gordon Banks makes the ‘greatest ever save’ from Pele in an England v Brazil World Cup group match in Mexico. But Brazil inflicted a 1-0 defeat on World Cup holders England.
1975 Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder for sale to the public.
1977 More than one million people lined the streets of London to watch the Royal Family on their way to St. Paul's at the start of the Queen's silver jubilee celebrations.
1977 During the Queen's Jubilee, the Sex Pistols attempt to perform on a boat on the River Thames, but are forced to stop by the police.
1981 French Open Men's Tennis: Björn Borg of Sweden wins 11th and final career Grand Slam title; Open era record 6th French title; beats Ivan Lendl 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
1986 French Open Women's Tennis: Chris Evert beats Martina Navratilova 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 for her 18th and final Grand Slam title and record 7th French singles crown.
1989 23 year old olympic barefoot South African runner Zola Budd retires.
1990 France, West Germany and Italy lifted a ban on British beef-on-the-bone after reaching a deal in Brussels.
1993 Singer Prince celebrates his birthday by changing his name to a symbol.
2001 Tony Blair's Labour Party wins another landslide victory in the General Election.
2017 Police warn bald men against attacks in Mozambique after 5 men murdered for the gold believed to be in their heads.
2019 Theresa May officially stepped down as the leader of the Conservative Party, but remained as Prime Minister until 22nd July when her successor was announced.
2020 Black Lives Matter Protests continue worldwide in large numbers, In Bristol England statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston pulled down.
793 Vikings raided the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria. The event is commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England.
1042 Harthacnut, King of England and Denmark, died. He was succeeded in England by his adopted heir, Edward the Confessor, and in Denmark by Magnus, King of Norway.
1376 The death of Edward of Woodstock known as Edward the Black Prince, the eldest son of Edward III. He was the hero of Crecy and Poitiers and the upholder of the liberties of the English people.
1536 The English Parliament met and settled the succession on the future children of Henry VIII by Jane Seymour. The Princesses Mary and Elizabeth were declared illegitimate.
1779 Admiral Horatio Nelson and Captain Thomas Hardy on HMS Foudroyant set sail against Spanish fleet.
1786 Commercially made ice cream 1st advertised (Mr Hall in NYC).
1812 Robert Jenkinson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after Spencer Perceval's assassination.
1896 First car thief; Baron de Zuylen’s Peugeot is stolen by his mechanic in Paris.
1901 The opening of Cromer Pier a Grade II listed seaside pier on the north coast of the county of Norfolk. There are records of a pier in Cromer dating back as far as 1391.
1924 The last sighting of English climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine; 800 feet from the summit of Mount Everest during the third attempt to become the first men to conquer the world's highest mountain. Their fate was unknown for 75 years, until Mallory's body was discovered in 1999 by an expedition that had set out to search for the climbers' remains. Whether or not Mallory and Irvine reached the summit before they died remains a subject of speculation and continuing research.
1949 Siam changes name to Thailand.
1963 Dr. Stephen Ward, a London osteopath and friend of 'call girl' Christine Keeler, was arrested and charged with living on immoral earnings.
1968 James Earl Ray, wanted for the murder of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, was arrested in London, travelling under an assumed name.
1969 The Rolling Stones fire founding member Brian Jones, whose relationship with his bandmates has deteriorated beyond repair. Brian Jones tells the press he is leaving to "play my kind of music." Less than a month later, he is found dead at his home.
1969 Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor replaces Brian Jones.
1972 Test Cricket debut of Tony Greig, v Australia at Old Trafford.
1974 Keyboardist Rick Wakeman quits rock group "Yes" (for the first time).
1974 Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" goes to #1 on the Country chart. Nearly two decades later, Whitney Houston's R&B version tops the Hot 100 and becomes one of the best-selling singles of all time.
1982 Up to fifty British servicemen were killed in an Argentine air attack on two supply ships in the Falklands. Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram were anchored at Bluff Cove when they were hit by missiles in a surprise raid by five Argentine Skyhawks.
1983 "Trading Places", American comedy film, is released.
1984 "Ghostbusters", American supernatural comedy film, directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson is released.
1984 "Gremlins", American comedy horror film, is released.
1985 All Ireland united behind Barry McGuigan as he won the world featherweight title at Loftus Road, London.
1999 Ex-cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken was jailed for 18 months after admitting he lied during a libel action.
2002 French Open Women's Tennis: Serena Williams wins her first French title; beats older sister Venus Williams 7-5, 6-3
2009 Labour suffered its worst post-war election result after it was beaten into third place by UKIP and saw the BNP gain its first seats in the European elections.
2017 British General Election results in a hung parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May and the Conservative party lose their majority.
2018 World's most powerful supercomputer, Summit, can process 200,000 trillion calculations per second, launched at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, by IBM and NVidia.
England played an international under floodlights for the first time. At New York’s Yankee Stadium against USA. two goals apiece from Tom Finney and Nat Lofthouse helped England to a 6-3 victory.
Football On This Day – 8th June 1990.
The opening match at the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy produced one of the shock results in the history of the competition and confirmed that success in the footballing world was no longer confined to European and South American sides. Reigning world champions Argentina were beaten 1-0 by Cameroon at the San Siro stadium in Milan despite the winners finishing the match with only nine players on the pitch. Cameroon became the first African nation south of the Sahara to win a match at a World Cup finals and then they went on to become the first African nation to reach the quarter finals where they suffered a narrow loss to England. By contrast the country Cameroon defeated in that opening match, Argentina, only progressed to the knock-out stages as the best third-place side in a group but then went on to reach the final again where they were beaten by West Germany.
Football On This Day – 8th June 1998.
Sepp Blatter replaced João Havelange as President of FIFA. He beat Lennart Johansson of Sweden in a straight vote in Paris but there have been allegations that votes were being bought even then. You have to wonder how different world football would now be if Blatter had lost that vote 111-80 rather than defeating the Swede by that margin!
68 Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging.
1667 The Raid on the Medway, sometimes called the Battle of Chatham began. It lasted for five days and resulted in a decisive victory for the Dutch over the English in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The Dutch bombarded and then captured the town of Sheerness and sailed up the River Medway to Chatham, where they burned ten naval vessels and towed away the HMS Unity and the HMS Royal Charles, the pride of the English fleet. It was the worst defeat in the Royal Navy's history.
1803 British explorer Matthew Flinders arrives in Sydney becoming the first person to circumnavigate Australia, proving it is one continent.
1870 Charles Dickens, English novelist died at his home - Gad's Hill Place, Kent. Dickens rocketed to fame with his 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. His other notable works are Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.
1873 Alexandra Palace in London burned down, after being open for only 16 days. It was built as a public centre of recreation, education and entertainment and as North London's counterpart to the Crystal Palace in South London. With typical Victorian vigour, the palace was quickly rebuilt and it reopened on 1st May 1875.
1898 An agreement was signed under which Hong Kong was leased to Britain, by China, for a period of 99 years.
1899 Boxer Bob Fitzsimmons, the first British world heavyweight champion, lost his title to American James Jeffries at Coney Island, New York.
1904 Musicians who left the Henry Wood Orchestra after a disagreement, formed the London Symphony Orchestra.
1933 Baird demonstrated high definition television at his Long Acre studio in London, showing the difference between the previous 30-line picture and the new 120-line tubes.
1934 1st appearance of Donald Duck in a cartoon, "The Wise Little Hen".
1958 The Queen opened an extended airport at Gatwick, south of London, modernised at a cost of £7m.
1960 It was announced that one of Britain's oldest quality cars, the Armstrong Siddeley, was to go out of production.
1975 The first live transmission from the House of Commons was broadcast by BBC Radio and commercial stations.
1978 Larry Holmes beats Ken Norton in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
1983 Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party won a landslide second term election victory.
1984 French Open Women's Tennis: Martina Navratilova beats Chris Evert 6-3, 6-1; 2nd women in Open Era to hold all 4 Grand Slam titles at once.
1993 An embarrassing result for England against the USA. Paul Ince captained the side for the first time at the Foxboro Stadium in Boston but the 2-0 defeat saw the headline in the Sun – ‘Yanks 2 Planks 0’.
2013 French Open Men's Tennis: Rafael Nadal beats fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; first man to win same Grand Slam title 8 times.
2014 The death of the comedian, actor and writer Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall aged 56. He played the anarchist Rick in The Young Ones.
2017 Gene Simmons of Kiss files a trademark application for the devil horns hand gesture, which he claims he invented in 1974.
2019 French Open Men's Tennis: Rafael Nadal beats Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1; 3rd straight French singles title; 12th overall; first to win 12 singles titles at same Grand Slam; 18th major.
2019 1st UEFA Nations League Final, Porto: Guedes scores as Portugal win inaugural tournament final, 1-0 over the Netherlands.
1692 The first victim of the Salem witch trials, Bridget Bishop, is hanged for witchcraft in the colony of Massachusetts.
1719 The Battle of Glen Shiel, in the West Highlands of Scotland took place 'On This Day' between British government troops and an alliance of Jacobites and Spaniards, resulting in a victory for the government forces. It was the last close engagement of British and foreign troops on mainland Great Britain.
1752 Benjamin Franklin tests the lightning conductor with his kite-flying experiment.
1768 British customs officials seize John Hancock's ship, "The Liberty", on the suspicion that Hancock had illegally unloaded cargo without paying duties a month earlier.
1829 The Oxford team won the first-ever Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
1845 USA President Andrew Jackson's African Grey parrot "Poll" is removed from his funeral for swearing at The Hermitage, Tennessee. Funeral attendee William Menefee Norment recorded: "Before the sermon and while the crowd was gathering, a wicked parrot that was a household pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people and had to be carried from the house”.
1864 Cricket authorities in England legalised over-arm bowling.
1921 Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth was born; as Philippos Schleswig- Holstein Soenderburg-Glücksburg on the Greek island of Corfu.
1923 The birth of Robert Maxwell, Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament. His unexplained death (at sea, around the Canary Islands) revealed huge discrepancies in his companies' finances, including the Mirror Group pension fund, which Maxwell had fraudulently misappropriated.
1933 John Dillinger robs his first bank, in New Carlisle, Ohio. He takes $10, 600.
1935 In Akron, Ohio, Dr. Robert H. Smith (Dr. Bob) from Akron & Bill Wilson from New York City form Alcoholics Anonymous (date of Smith's last drink).
1940 Italy declares war on France and Great Britain as part of its Axis alliance with Nazi Germany.
1942 **** kill all inhabitants of Lidice, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now Czech Republic) which had been implicated in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi controller of Bohemia and Moravia, to “teach the Czechs a final lesson of subservience and humility”; over 170 adult men were executed by firing squad on site, women and children were sent to concentration camp gas chambers and the village was burned down and plowed under.
1947 Saab produces its first automobile.
1965 A de Havilland jet airliner made the first automatic landing, relying entirely on instruments, at Heathrow Airport.
1977 An elusive goldfish eating perch with a prodigious appetite was finally netted after two years on the rampage in a Kent pond. The fish, nicknamed Jaws, was caught by two Southern Water Board engineers equipped with a rowing boat, a fishing net and a 240v stun rod. Jaws was accused of eating 3,000 goldfish in a breeding lake near Canterbury.
1981 Sebastian Coe of England sets 800m record (1:41.73) in Florence.
1984 French Open Men's Tennis: Czech star Ivan Lendl wins 1st career Grand Slam title; beats John McEnroe 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5.
1989 After an era of 157 years, Britain's last lightship was towed away from its position north-west of the Channel Island of Guernsey.
1990 A British Airways pilot survived after being partly sucked out of the cockpit at 23,000 feet above London.
1993 The death of Manchester born comedian Les Dawson. He is remembered for his deadpan style, grumpy on stage personality, and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife.
2000 London's new Millennium Bridge was closed for safety checks after large crowds caused it to sway violently.
2004 Ray Charles dies at age 73 of liver disease.
2007 "The Sopranos" series finale on HBO (infamous "cut to black" ending).
2012 Hundreds of tourists were left to survey the wreckage of their holiday homes after floodwater devastated campsites and villages around Aberystwyth. The heavy rain continued throughout the summer, making 2012 the second wettest year in the UK since records began in 1910 and the wettest ever in England. Scotland fared much better as it was only their 17th wettest.
2013 A Dornier 17 German World War II bomber was raised from the bottom of the English Channel. The aircraft was shot down off the Kent coast during the Battle of Britain and is believed to be the only intact example of its kind in the world.
1381 Wat Tyler led the peasants of Southern England in a march to London; the first popular rebellion in English history. His leadership proved one of the chief factors in the success of protest against the harsh taxation of the poorer classes.
1488 James III of Scotland was murdered by rebellious Scottish nobles and was succeeded by his 15 year old son, James IV.
1509 Eighteen year old King Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon, the first of his six wives. When Catherine failed to produce a male heir Henry divorced her against the will of the Roman Catholic Church, thus precipitating the Protestant Reformation in England.
1770 Captain James Cook, in his ship Endeavour, ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef during his first voyage of exploration. The ship was badly damaged and his voyage was delayed for almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach. When he eventually arrived at Possession Island, he claimed the entire coastline he had just explored as British territory.
1776 John Constable, English landscape painter was born. He is best known for his paintings representing his native valley of the River Stour, an area that came to be known as 'Constable country'.
1907 Gloucestershire dismissed Northamptonshire for 12 runs. It was the lowest total in English county cricket. George Dennett (a left arm spin bowler) took 8 wickets for 9 runs and the other 2 were caught by England Test Player Gilbert Jessop.
1938 Dennis Compton scores 1st Test Cricket ton (102 v Aust) aged 20 yrs 19 days.
1949 ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard is born in Frankston, Texas.
Ironically, Beard was long known as the only member of ZZ Top not to have a luxuriant beard despite his name, unlike bandmates Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill, but put an end to this long-running quirky fact circa 2013 by growing one.
1952 English cricketer Denis Compton hit his 100th century.
1955 Eighty three people were killed and at least 100 were injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collided at the 24 Hours Le Mans race. The race was continued, officially in order to prevent departing spectators from crowding the roads and slowing down ambulances. Britain's Mike Hawthorn and the Jaguar team, led by motorsport manager Lofty England won the race with teammate Bueb. As a mark of respect, the pair did not indulge in wild celebration. Funeral services for the dead were held the next day at the cathedral in the town of Le Mans. It was the deadliest ever accident in motorsports.
1959 The Hovercraft, invented by Christopher Cockerell was officially demonstrated for the first time, at Southampton.
1962 Brothers John and Clarence Anglin and fellow inmate Frank Morris escape from Alcatraz Island prison, the only ones to do so.
1963 The Buddhist crisis in Vietnam throughout 1963 precipitated the downfall and assassination of South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm. It began with the shooting of nine civilians in Hue who were protesting the ban on the Buddhist flag.
The monk Thích Quảng Đức sat down at a busy Saigon intersection, doused himself in petrol and set himself alight. He did not utter a sound as he died.
John F. Kennedy said that "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one." Malcolm Browne, the photographer, won a Pulitzer Prize for the image.
1965 It was announced that all four members of the British group The Beatles, would be awarded MBE's in Queen Elizabeth II's birthday honours list. John Lennon returned his MBE to the Queen on 25th November 1969, as an act of protest against the Vietnam war.
1966 French and German media mistakenly report death of Roger Daltry. European radio is abuzz with rumors that Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, has been killed in an auto accident days earlier. In fact, guitarist Pete Townshend was in the wreck, but survived with minor injuries.
1968 During a recording session while The Rolling Stones are working on "Sympathy For The Devil," a fire breaks out in the studio. While many are quick to blame Lucifer the blaze is actually caused by a light being used by a camera crew documenting the sessions.
1982 "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore, is released
1987 Margaret Thatcher declared she was 'raring to go' after winning a record third term as Prime Minister.
1989 French Open Men's Tennis: American Michael Chang wins lone career Grand Slam title; beats Stefan Edberg of Sweden 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; at 17 years, 110 days, becomes youngest male to win a Grand Slam singles title.
1993 "Jurassic Park", directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum opens, sets box office weekend record of $502 million.
1997 The British House of Commons voted for a total ban on handguns in a free vote.
2009 The World Health Organization declares H1N1 swine flu to be a global pandemic, the first such incident in over forty years.
2012 Downing Street admitted that David Cameron had left his eight year old daughter in the pub after a Sunday lunch two months previously, because of a mix-up with his wife Samantha. The story proved embarrassing for the Prime Minister, as it came on the same day that the government relaunched its £450m 'Troubled Families Programme'.