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31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in July 2025

Posted on 01/01/202529/11/2024 by admin

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in July 2025 (listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for ‘On This Day in History’ features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into movies, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more.
(Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly selected an anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2025, which lists more than 3,600 anniversaries. The Date-A-Base Book 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 are also available. The 2030 edition will be published in April 2025.

1 Jul 1775 – 250 years ago
American Revolution: the New England Restraining Act came into effect. The British Parliament forbade its North American colonies from trading with anyone other than Britain, Ireland and the British West Indies. It also prohibited the colonies from fishing in the Atlantic without authorisation.

2 Jul 1900 – 125 years ago
The Zeppelin LZ 1 made its first flight over Lake Constance in southern Germany. It was the world’s first rigid airship. On this first test flight it flew 3.7 miles before one of its engines failed and it had to make an emergency landing for repairs.

3 Jul 1985 – 40 years ago
The time-travel comedy film Back to the Future was released in the USA. (UK: 4^th December.)

4 Jul 1950 – 75 years ago
Cold War: Radio Free Europe made its first broadcast (to Czechoslovakia). Its aim was to bring about the peaceful demise of the Communists.

5 Jul 1950 – 75 years ago
The Law of Return was passed in Israel. It granted all Jews the right to immigrate to Israel.

6 Jul 1925 – 100 years ago
Birth of Bill Haley, American rock and roll singer (Bill Haley and His Comets). Best known for the songs Rock Around the Clock, See You Later, Alligator and Shake, Rattle and Roll. (Died 1981.)

7 Jul 2005 – 20 years ago
The 7^th July London bombings, UK. A coordinated series of four suicide bomb attacks on London’s transport system during the morning rush hour. 56 people were killed, including the four bombers. More than 700 were injured. It was the worst-ever terrorist attack on Britain, and the country’s first attack by suicide bombers. There was a second attack on 21^st July.

8 Jul 1965 – 60 years ago
British Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs escaped from Wandsworth Prison in London. He lived in Brazil until 2001 when he returned to the UK and was re-imprisoned. Released July 2009. Died December 2013.

9 Jul 1960 – 65 years ago
Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev traded threats over Cuba. Khrushchev said the Soviet Union was prepared to use nuclear missiles to protect Cuba from U.S. intervention, and said the USA was no longer an unreachable target. Eisenhower said the USA would not countenance the establishment of a communist regime in the West. The two leaders continued to exchange charges and counter-charges in a bitter war of words.

10 – 21 Jul 1925 – 100 years ago
The Scopes Trial, Dayton, Tennessee, USA. High school science teacher John Scopes was charged with teaching the theory of evolution, in violation of a Tennessee state law (the Butler Act). He was found guilty and fined $100, but the conviction was later over-turned by the Court of Appeal and the trial was declared void. Scopes had agreed to be tried for violating the act. The trial was organised as a publicity stunt to gain attention for the town of Dayton, and was funded by the American Civil Liberties Union. The Butler Act was repealed in 1967.

11 Jul 1950 – 75 years ago
The first episode of the BBC children’s television show Andy Pandy was broadcast in the UK.

12 Jul 1960 – 65 years ago
The Etch-A-Sketch children’s toy first went on sale.

13 Jul 1985 – 40 years ago
Live Aid. Two simultaneous concerts in London and Philadelphia, plus other venues including Sydney and Moscow, raised millions of pounds for famine victims in Africa.

14 – 15 Jul 1965 – 60 years ago
NASA’s Mariner 4 spacecraft flew past Mars and sent back the first close-up photos of another planet.

15 Jul 1955 – 70 years ago
The Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons was signed in Germany by eighteen Nobel Prize laureates. 52 had signed it within a year.

16 Jul 1945 – 80 years ago
The USA detonated the world’s first nuclear weapon (‘Fat Boy’) at the Trinity Site, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

17 Jul 1850 – 175 years ago
The first photo of a star (Vega) was taken by William Bond and John Adams Whipple at Harvard College Observatory in the USA.

18 Jul 1925 – 100 years ago
The first volume of Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf (My Struggle) was published.

19 Jul 1900 – 125 years ago
The Paris Métro in France began operating.

20 Jul 1960 – 65 years ago
The first Polaris missile was successfully test launched from a submerged submarine, the USS George Washington, off Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA.

21 Jul 1925 to Jun 1927 – 100 years ago
The Great Syrian Revolt. French victory.

22 Jul 1950 – 75 years ago
King Leopold III of Belgium returned to the throne after more than five years in exile. His return was marked by violent protests and a general strike, and on 1^st August he announced his abdication. He officially abdicated on 16^th July 1951 and was succeeded by his son Baudouin on 17^th July.

23 Jul 1985 – 40 years ago
The Commodore Amiga 1000 personal computer was released. Its advanced graphics and audio capabilities led to it being called ‘the first multimedia computer’.

24 Jul 1950 – 75 years ago
The first rocket to be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA: the Bumper 2. Its first stage was a captured German V-2 rocket, and its upper stage was a U.S. Army WAC Corporal rocket. It reached a height of 25 miles.

25 Jul 1925 – 100 years ago
TASS, the official news agency of the Soviet Union, was established. It was a successor of the Commercial Telegraph Agency, which was established in 1902.

26 Jul 1775 – 250 years ago
American Revolution: the Second Continental Congress established the United States Post Office, headed by Benjamin Franklin. After the American Revolution, the official United States Post Office Department was established in 1792.

27 Jul 1900 – 125 years ago
Birth of Charles Vidor, Hungarian-born American film director (The Tuttles of Tahiti, The Desperadoes, Gilda, Hans Christian Andersen, A Farewell to Arms, and many more).

28 Jul 2005 – 20 years ago
The IRA ended its thirty-year armed campaign in Northern Ireland and ordered all units to dump their weapons. Its leadership stated that they would continue their campaign exclusively through peaceful means.

29 Jul 1945 – 80 years ago
The BBC Light Programme radio station was launched in the UK. It broadcast mainstream light entertainment and music. It became BBC Radio 2 in 1967.

30 Jul 1975 – 50 years ago
American trade union leader Jimmy Hoffa disappeared from a restaurant car park in Detroit, Michigan. He was never seen again. He was declared dead in July 1982.

31 Jul 1875 – 150 years ago
Death of Andrew Johnson, 17^th President of the United States (1865–69). He was Vice-President to Abraham Lincoln and assumed the presidency after Lincoln was assassinated.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2025.

The 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

Each edition is available as a PDF ebook (with a free Excel spreadsheet) or as a printed paperback book.

“A brilliant resource as usual”

“This book continues to astound me with its meticulous attention to detail and painstaking research. I use it all the time to generate ideas for documentaries and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone else who works in the media.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Chris

“A deeply researched goldmine of ideas”

“For journalists looking to plan ahead, the Date-a-base books offer a goldmine of ideas that are unavailable on the free internet. I’ve already recommended it to fellow colleagues at the BBC.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Richard

“Great reference”

“This is a fantastic and extremely useful book – very well compiled, detailed and organised.

Highly recommended for research or if you’re just curious about ‘on this day’ type history.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Mark

How to use the anniversaries:

How can you turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines, newspapers and websites? How do you get paid for writing them, and how can you make a great living from it?

Download our free guide Ditch Your Day Job. It tells you everything you need to know!

30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in June 2025

Posted on 01/12/202429/11/2024 by admin

Here are 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in June 2025 (listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for ‘On This Day in History’ features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into movies, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more.
(Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly selected an anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2025, which lists more than 3,600 anniversaries. The Date-A-Base Book 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 are also available. The 2030 edition will be published in April 2025.

1 Jun 1935 – 90 years ago
Driving tests became compulsory for all new drivers in Britain. Anyone who had started driving on or after 1^st April 1934 had to pass the test.

2 Jun 1985 – 40 years ago
UEFA banned all English football clubs from playing in European competitions following the Heysel Stadium disaster of 28^th May. On 6^th June FIFA extended the ban to cover all worldwide competitions except friendly matches. It did not apply to the England national team. The ban was lifted after five years.

3 Jun 1875 – 150 years ago
Death of Georges Bizet, French Romantic composer. Best known for his opera Carmen. (Heart attack, aged 36.)

4 Jun 1975 – 50 years ago
The California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975 was signed into law. California became the first U.S. state to give farm-workers collective bargaining rights.

5 Jun 1965 – 60 years ago
The rock song (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones was released in the USA. (UK: 20^th August.)

6 Jun 1925 – 100 years ago
The Chrysler Corporation was founded in the USA.

7 Jun 1825 – 200 years ago
Birth of R. D. Blackmore, British novelist. Best known for Lorna Doone.

8 Jun 1625 – 400 years ago
Birth of Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Italian-born French astronomer, astrologer and engineer. He discovered four of Saturn’s moons, and the divisions in Saturn’s rings. The Cassini Division in the rings was named in his honour, as was the US-European-Italian space mission Cassini-Huygens, which reached Saturn in 2004.

9 Jun 1975 – 50 years ago
The first live radio broadcast of proceedings from Britain’s House of Commons.

10 Jun 1925 – 100 years ago
The United Church of Canada was established.

11 Jun 1935 – 90 years ago
American inventor Edwin Armstrong gave the first public demonstration of FM radio, in Alpine, New Jersey.

12 Jun 1775 – 250 years ago
American Revolution: British general Thomas Gage declared an amnesty and pardon to all colonists who laid down their arms and demonstrated their loyalty to the British Crown (except for Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who would be executed if they were captured). His amnesty had the opposite effect of that intended, as it fired up the colonists with rage and determination. He was recalled to Britain in September.

13 Jun 1525 – 500 years ago
German Protestant Reformer Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, a nun whom he had helped to escape from a convent. He had previously sworn to remain single – mainly because he thought he could be killed at any moment. As a result of his marriage, members of the Protestant clergy were also allowed to marry.

14 Jun 1775 – 250 years ago
American Revolutionary War: the Second Continental Congress established the Continental Army. It later became the United States Army. On 15^th June, George Washington, who would become the first President of the USA, became the Army’s Commander-in-Chief.

15 Jun 1925 – 100 years ago
Birth of Richard Baker, British broadcaster. Best known as a BBC newsreader – he was the first person to read the BBC Television News in 1954 (which was only in voice-over at that time). He also presented radio and TV programmes on classical music, as well as several other radio shows, and he narrated the animated children’s TV series Mary, Mungo and Midge. (Died 2018.)

16 Jun 1925 – 100 years ago
Artek, the Soviet Union’s best-known Young Pioneer camp, was established in Crimea, Ukraine. It is now an international children’s centre.

17 Jun 1950 – 75 years ago
The first human kidney transplant was performed by Dr. Richard H. Lawler at the Little Company of Mary Hospital, Evergreen Park, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

18 Jun 1975 – 50 years ago
The first North Sea oil was pumped ashore in Britain.

19 Jun 1875 to 1878 – 150 years ago
The Herzegovinian uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
The uprising led to the Serbian–Ottoman War and the Montenegrin–Ottoman War, which led to the Russo–Turkish War and the Great Eastern Crisis.

20 Jun 1950 – 75 years ago
The Standards Eastern Automatic Computer (SEAC) went into service in Washington D.C. It was the first fully operational stored-program electronic computer in the USA, and the first all-diode computer.

21 Jun 1965 – 60 years ago
The Byrds’ debut album Mr. Tambourine Man was released. It helped popularise the folk-rock music genre.

22 Jun 1945 to 1947 – 80 years ago
World War II: Operation Paperclip. The USA recruited 1,600 – 1,800 German scientists, engineers and technicians, plus 3,700 family members, and took them to the USA. They would work on government projects that would give the USA an advantage over the Soviet Union in fields such as space exploration. The first recruits left Germany for the USA on this day.

23 Jun 1775 – 250 years ago
The first Thames Regatta was held in London, England.

24 Jun 1950 – 75 years ago
Apartheid: South Africa passed the Group Areas Act. It established separate residential and business sections in urban areas for the different racial groups, and prohibited non-whites from living in the most-developed areas. (Effective from 30th March 1951.)

25 Jun 1925 – 100 years ago
The Vitaphone Company was founded by Warner Brothers and Western Electric to develop sound-on-disc technology for cinemas. The first Vitaphone film was Don Juan, which was released on 5^th August 1926. It had a musical score and sound effects, but no dialogue.

26 Jun 1945 – 80 years ago
The United Nations Charter was signed in San Francisco, California, USA by representatives from fifty countries. The United Nations was established on 24^th October.

27 Jun 1775 to Oct 1776 – 250 years ago
American Revolutionary War: the Invasion of Quebec (now in Canada). The newly formed Continental Army attempted to take control of the British Province of Quebec, but were unable to overcome the British. This may have been the first use of biological warfare: the British sent smallpox-infected prostitutes and civilians to the American front lines. At least 5,000 Americans were infected and many died.

28 Jun 1950 – 75 years ago
Korean War – the Bodo League massacre. The President of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, ordered the execution of communist members of the Bodo League and the South Korean Workers Party. Between 60,000 and 200,000 people were killed.

29 Jun 1925 – 100 years ago
Canada House opened in London, England.

30 Jun 1945 – 80 years ago
The first description of the logical design for an electronic, digital, stored-program computer was published by Hungarian-American physicist John von Neumann. His document, The First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, described what is now known as the von Neumann architecture.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2025.

The 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

Each edition is available as a PDF ebook (with a free Excel spreadsheet) or as a printed paperback book.

“A brilliant resource as usual”

“This book continues to astound me with its meticulous attention to detail and painstaking research. I use it all the time to generate ideas for documentaries and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone else who works in the media.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Chris

“A deeply researched goldmine of ideas”

“For journalists looking to plan ahead, the Date-a-base books offer a goldmine of ideas that are unavailable on the free internet. I’ve already recommended it to fellow colleagues at the BBC.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Richard

“Great reference”

“This is a fantastic and extremely useful book – very well compiled, detailed and organised.

Highly recommended for research or if you’re just curious about ‘on this day’ type history.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Mark

How to use the anniversaries:

How can you turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines, newspapers and websites? How do you get paid for writing them, and how can you make a great living from it?

Download our free guide Ditch Your Day Job. It tells you everything you need to know!

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in May 2025

Posted on 01/11/202425/10/2024 by admin

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in May 2025 (listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for ‘On This Day in History’ features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into movies, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more.
(Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly selected an anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2025, which lists more than 3,600 anniversaries. The Date-A-Base Book 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 are also available. The 2030 edition will be published in April 2025.

1 May 1875 – 150 years ago
Alexandra Palace in London, England officially opened. It originally opened in 1873 but burnt down two weeks later. It became the home of BBC Television in 1935, and the world’s first high-definition (405-line) broadcasts were made from there in 1936.

2 May 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Battle of Berlin, Germany ended. Allied victory which led to the surrender of all German forces outside Berlin by 9^th May, and the end of the war in Europe. Soviet forces took control of the Reichstag (parliament building) and raised the Soviet flag.

3 May 2000 – 25 years ago
The sport of geocaching began, the day after the USA stopped deliberately degrading the GPS system that was available to the public. The first cache was hidden by Dave Ulmer in Beavercreek, Oregon, USA.

4 May 2000 – 25 years ago
Ken Livingstone became the first mayor of London.

5 May 1925 – 100 years ago
The Scopes Trial: American science teacher John Scopes was arrested and charged with teaching the theory of evolution at a high school in Dayton, Tennessee, in violation of the Butler Act.

6 May 1935 – 90 years ago
New Deal: the Works Progress Administration was established in the USA. It employed millions of unemployed workers on public works projects during the Great Depression. It operated until 1943.

7 May 1825 – 200 years ago
Death of Antonio Salieri, Italian composer, conductor and educator. He helped develop opera, and taught composers including Liszt, Schubert, Beethoven, and Mozart. He was rumoured to have poisoned his ‘bitter rival’ Mozart, but this was later proven to be false.

8 May 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II: VE day (Victory in Europe) – celebrated as a public holiday.

9 May 1955 – 70 years ago
The first television appearance of Jim Henson and the Muppets, in the series Sam and Friends, broadcast in the Washington D.C. area of the USA.

10 May 1975 – 50 years ago
Sony launched the Betamax video cassette recorder in Japan. (USA: November.)
It lost the videotape format war to its rival, VHS, though Betamax recorders remained on sale until 2002.

11 May 1985 – 40 years ago
The Bradford City stadium fire, UK.
56 football fans were killed and at least 265 injured when a flash fire swept through the main stand during a match against Lincoln City.

12 May 2000 – 25 years ago
The Tate Modern art gallery opened in London.

13 May 1950 – 75 years ago
The first Formula One World Championship race was held, at Silverstone, England.
(This race is also known as the 1950 British Grand Prix.)

14 May 1925 – 100 years ago
Death of H. Rider Haggard, British novelist. Known for his adventure stories set mainly in Africa. Best known for King Solomon’s Mines.

15 May 1955 – 70 years ago
The first successful ascent of Makalu, the world’s fifth-highest mountain, by French climbers Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy.

16 May 1960 – 65 years ago
The first working laser was demonstrated by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California, USA.

17 May 1875 – 150 years ago
The first Kentucky Derby horse race was held, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

18 May 2000 – 25 years ago
Boo.com, a short-lived high-profile British online fashion retailer went into receivership. It had burnt through more than £125 million of venture capital in just six months, and is regarded as one of the greatest failures of the dot-com bust. Its failure was attributed to excessive marketing costs, over-ambitious growth plans, and its complicated website that took several minutes to load. It also had a much higher than anticipated rate of product returns.

19 May 1925 – 100 years ago
Birth of Malcolm X, controversial African American Muslim leader and human rights activist. (Assassinated in 1965.)

20 May 1925 – 100 years ago
Birth of Alexei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer.
Best known for leading the development of the Tupolev Tu-144, the first supersonic passenger jet (which closely resembled the Anglo–French Concorde), and for helping to design the Buran space shuttle (which closely resembled the U.S. space shuttle). (Died 2001.)

21 May 2000 – 25 years ago
Death of Dame Barbara Cartland, British author of more than 700 romantic novels.

22 May 1965 – 60 years ago
Death of Christopher Stone, the first radio DJ in the UK (in 1927).

23 May 1995 – 30 years ago
The first version of the computer programming language Java was released.

24 May 1925 – 100 years ago
Birth of Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress and film director. (Died 1994.)

25 May 1945 – 80 years ago
British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clark privately circulated a document in which he proposed using geostationary satellites as telecommunications relays. (His idea was first made public in the October 1945 issue of Wireless World magazine. The first commercial geostationary communications satellite, Intelsat I, was launched in April 1965.)

26 May 725 – 1300 years ago
Death of The Venerable Bede (Saint Bede the Venerable), English Benedictine monk, historian, linguist, translator and teacher. ‘The father of English history’. He helped popularise the idea of dating years from the birth of Christ (Anno Domini – A.D.)

27 May 1975 – 50 years ago
The Dibble’s Bridge coach crash, Hebden, North Yorkshire, UK.
32 people were killed and 13 injured when a coach’s brakes failed on a steep hill. It remains the worst road accident in the UK, by fatalities.

28 May 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II: American-born Nazi propaganda broadcaster William Joyce (‘Lord Haw-Haw’) was captured near the Danish border and taken to Britain to face trial, as he had a British passport. He was convicted of treason against the British Crown, and was sentenced to death on 19^th September. He was hanged on 3^rd January 1946, and was the last person to be executed for treason in Britain.

29 May 1985 – 40 years ago
The Heysel Stadium disaster, Brussels, Belgium.
39 football fans were crushed to death during rioting at the European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus. All English football clubs were subsequently banned from playing in European competitions until 1990.

30 May 1975 – 50 years ago
The European Space Agency (ESA) was founded when the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) merged with the European Launch Development Organisation (ELDO).

31 May 1955 – 70 years ago
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of schools ‘with all deliberate speed’.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2025.

The 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

Each edition is available as a PDF ebook (with a free Excel spreadsheet) or as a printed paperback book.

“A brilliant resource as usual”

“This book continues to astound me with its meticulous attention to detail and painstaking research. I use it all the time to generate ideas for documentaries and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone else who works in the media.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Chris

“A deeply researched goldmine of ideas”

“For journalists looking to plan ahead, the Date-a-base books offer a goldmine of ideas that are unavailable on the free internet. I’ve already recommended it to fellow colleagues at the BBC.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Richard

“Great reference”

“This is a fantastic and extremely useful book – very well compiled, detailed and organised.

Highly recommended for research or if you’re just curious about ‘on this day’ type history.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Mark

How to use the anniversaries:

How can you turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines, newspapers and websites? How do you get paid for writing them, and how can you make a great living from it?

Download our free guide Ditch Your Day Job. It tells you everything you need to know!

30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in April 2025

Posted on 01/10/202427/09/2024 by admin

Here are 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in April 2025 (listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for ‘On This Day in History’ features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into movies, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more.
(Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly selected an anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2025, which lists more than 3,600 anniversaries. The Date-A-Base Book 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 are also available.

1 Apr 1925 – 100 years ago
Danmarks Radio (now DR), the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, was founded.

2 Apr 1725 – 300 years ago
Birth of Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer and writer.
Noted for his many affairs with women.

3 to 26 Apr 1975 – 50 years ago
Vietnam War: Operation Babylift.
The USA evacuated more than 3,300 orphaned children from South Vietnam to the USA, Canada, Australia, France and West Germany, where they were adopted. The first mission, on 4^th April, crashed shortly after take-off when the locks on the loading bay door failed, causing explosive decompression. 138 people were killed, including 78 children.

4 Apr 1975 – 50 years ago
Microsoft, the computer software/hardware company, was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

5 Apr 1900 – 125 years ago
Birth of Spencer Tracy, American stage and film actor.
One of the greatest Hollywood actors.

6 Apr 1925 – 100 years ago
Imperial Airways introduced in-flight movies on scheduled flights.
The first film shown was The Lost World on a flight from London to Paris.
(The first in-flight movie was shown in the USA when Aeromarine Airways passengers flying around Chicago, Illinois were shown a film called Howdy Chicago.)

7 Apr 1955 – 70 years ago
Death of Theda Bara, (‘The Vamp’), American stage and silent film actress.
One of cinema’s first sex symbols.

8 Apr 1950 – 75 years ago
Death of Vaslav Nijinsky, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer.
His career was ended by schizophrenia.

9 Apr 1965 – 60 years ago
The Beatles’ song Ticket to Ride was released in UK. (USA: 19^th April.)

10 Apr 1925 – 100 years ago
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby was published.

11 Apr 1945 – 80 years ago
Holocaust: U.S. forces liberated Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.

12 Apr 1925 – 100 years ago
Birth of Oliver Postgate, British animator, puppeteer and writer.
He co-founded Smallfilms with Peter Firmin, and created, wrote and narrated several popular children’s television shows including Bagpuss, Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, The Clangers, and Pogles’ Wood. (Died 2008.)

13 Apr 2000 – 25 years ago
The American rock band Metallica filed a lawsuit against Napster, Inc., a file-sharing company that distributed MP3 music files online.
The band claimed that Napster was guilty of copyright infringement and racketeering. Napster lost the case and shut down its network in July 2001. It was also ordered to pay $26 million to copyright holders. Napster was forced into liquidation in September 2002. Its brand and logo were sold at auction, and the current Napster has no connection with the original company.

14 Apr 1775 – 250 years ago
The Pennsylvania Abolition Society was established in the USA (as the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage). It was the first abolition society in North America.

15 Apr 1850 – 175 years ago
The city of San Francisco, California, USA was incorporated.
Its population at that time was about 25,000. It is now around 875,000.

16 Apr to 2 May 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Battle of Berlin, Germany.
Soviet victory resulting in the surrender of German forces in the city, Hitler’s suicide, and the end of WWII in Europe on 8^th May. Soviet forces captured the Reichstag (parliament building) on 30^th April.

17 Apr 1875 – 150 years ago
The game of snooker was invented by British Army officer Sir Neville Chamberlain while he was stationed in India.

18 Apr 1775 – 250 years ago
American Revolutionary War: American silversmith and folk hero Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride on horseback from Charleston to Lexington to warn residents that the British were about to attack. (Numerous other riders also helped spread the word.)

19 Apr 1965 – 60 years ago
Moore’s Law: in an article published in Electronics Magazine in the USA, Gordon Moore, the Head of Research and Development at Fairchild Semiconductor, predicted that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit would double every year for the next ten years. His prediction proved correct, and the number continues to double roughly every two years.

20 Apr 1935 – 90 years ago
The first episode of Your Hit Parade was broadcast on NBC radio in the USA.
It ran until 1953. A television version ran from 1950 to 1959.

21 Apr 1985 – 40 years ago
Death of Tancredo Neves, President-elect of Brazil.
He became seriously ill on the eve of his inauguration and never took office. Vice-President-elect José Sarney became President in his place.

22 Apr 1925 – 100 years ago
Birth of Aaron Spelling, American film and television producer.
The leading TV producer of his era (Charlie’s Angels, T. J. Hooker, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Charmed, and more).

23 Apr 1775 – 250 years ago
Birth of J. M. W. Turner, British artist.
Known for his landscapes and turbulent marine paintings.

24 Apr 2005 – 20 years ago
Birth of Snuppy, the world’s first cloned dog, at Seoul National University, South Korea.

25 Apr 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II: Elbe Day.
An important milestone near the end of the war in Europe. U.S. forces advancing from the west and Soviet forces advancing from the east met at the River Elbe, effectively cutting Nazi Germany in two.

26 Apr 1900 – 125 years ago
Birth of Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist.
Best known for creating the Richter scale which measured the magnitude of earthquakes.
The Richter scale was superseded by the moment magnitude scale in 1979.

27 Apr 1950 – 75 years ago
Apartheid in South Africa. The Group Areas Act was passed, formally segregating races and barring people from living, operating businesses or owning land outside the areas designated for their race.

28 Apr 1945 – 80 years ago
Death of Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister/fascist dictator of Italy (1922–43).
(Executed by partisans, along with his mistress, Clara Petacci.)

29 Apr to 7 May 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II – Operation Manna. The British RAF dropped thousands of tons of food into the German-occupied Netherlands to help feed starving civilians. The U.S. Air Force also took part – Operation Chowhound. Both operations proved insufficient and were supplemented by Operation Faust, in which 1,000 tons of food per day were sent by truck from the non-occupied section of the Netherlands.

30 Apr 1975 – 50 years ago
The Vietnam War ended with the fall of Saigon.
South Vietnam surrendered to the North. North Vietnam established the Republic of South Vietnam. Vietnam was reunified as a communist state on 2nd July 1976.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2025.

The 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

Each edition is available as a PDF ebook (with a free Excel spreadsheet) or as a printed paperback book.

“A brilliant resource as usual”

“This book continues to astound me with its meticulous attention to detail and painstaking research. I use it all the time to generate ideas for documentaries and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone else who works in the media.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Chris

“A deeply researched goldmine of ideas”

“For journalists looking to plan ahead, the Date-a-base books offer a goldmine of ideas that are unavailable on the free internet. I’ve already recommended it to fellow colleagues at the BBC.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Richard

“Great reference”

“This is a fantastic and extremely useful book – very well compiled, detailed and organised.

Highly recommended for research or if you’re just curious about ‘on this day’ type history.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Mark

How to use the anniversaries:

How can you turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines, newspapers and websites? How do you get paid for writing them, and how can you make a great living from it?

Download our free guide Ditch Your Day Job. It tells you everything you need to know!

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in March 2025

Posted on 01/09/202430/08/2024 by admin

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in March 2025 (listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for ‘On This Day in History’ features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into movies, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more.
(Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly selected an anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2025, which lists more than 3,600 anniversaries. The Date-A-Base Book 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 are also available.

1 Mar 1995 – 30 years ago
The internet search company Yahoo! was founded.
Its search engine was launched on 5^th March.

2 Mar 1950 – 75 years ago
Birth of Karen Carpenter, American singer and drummer (The Carpenters). (Died 1983.)

3 Mar 1875 – 150 years ago
The first recorded indoor ice hockey game was played, at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal, Canada.
It is now recognised by the International Ice Hockey Federation as the first organised ice hockey game.

4 Mar 1825 – 200 years ago
John Quincy Adams was inaugurated as the 6^th President of the United States.
He was appointed President in a contingent election after no candidates won a majority in the 1824 presidential election.

5 Mar 1975 – 50 years ago
The Homebrew Computer Club held its first meeting in Menlo Park, California, USA.
It is considered to have started the personal computer revolution. Several notable computer pioneers and entrepreneurs were members, including the founders of Apple.

6 Mar 1985 – 40 years ago
American boxer Mike Tyson’s first professional fight, at the age of 18.
He knocked out Hector Mercedes in the first round.

7 Mar 1875 – 150 years ago
Birth of Maurice Ravel, French composer. Best known for Boléro.

8 Mar 1950 – 75 years ago
Volkswagen launched the Type 2 Transporter van – also known as the VW Camper, Bus, microbus, or Kombi.
It became the best-selling van in history, and early versions remain much-loved icons of the counterculture/hippie movement.

9 to 10 Mar 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II – Operation Meetinghouse (the Bombing of Tokyo, Japan). Considered to be the most destructive air raid in history.
330 U.S. B-29 bombers carried out low-altitude incendiary bomb attacks on Tokyo, destroying a quarter of the city and killing over 100,000 people.

10 Mar 1960 – 65 years ago
The UK’s first Top 50 record chart was published by the music trade magazine Record Retailer (now Music Week).

11 Mar 1955 – 70 years ago
Death of Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish bacteriologist.
Joint winner of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering penicillin.

12 Mar 1950 – 75 years ago
The Llandow air disaster, Sigingstone, Wales.
A privately hired plane stalled and crashed during a return flight from Ireland, killing 75 passengers and all five crew. Three passengers survived. It was the world’s worst air disaster at that time.

13 Mar 1955 – 70 years ago
Death of Tribhuvan, King of Nepal (1911–50, 1951–55). Died in mysterious circumstances.
Succeeded by Mahendra.

14 Mar 1925 – 100 years ago
Death of Walter Camp, (‘the Father of American Football’), American football player, coach and sports writer.

15 Mar 1985 – 40 years ago
The first .com internet domain name was registered (symbolics.com).

16 Mar 1935 – 90 years ago
Driving tests were introduced in Britain.
They were voluntary until 1^st June. From that date anyone who had started to drive on or after 1^st April 1934 had to pass the test.

17 Mar 1950 – 75 years ago
The creation of the chemical element Californium (Cf – atomic no. 98) was announced by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.

18 Mar 1850 – 175 years ago
American Express, the multinational financial services company, was founded in Buffalo, New York, USA.

19 Mar 1975 – 50 years ago
The film Tommy, a musical based on The Who’s rock opera album Tommy, was released in the USA.
(UK: 26^th March.)

20 Mar 1900 – 125 years ago
Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla was granted a U.S. patent for the wireless transmission of electric power.
(U.S. Patent 645,576.)

21 Mar 1925 – 100 years ago
The Butler Act was signed into law in Tennessee, USA.
Tennessee became the first U.S. state to ban the teaching of the theory of evolution. It led to the Scopes Trial in July 1925.

22 Mar 1960 – 65 years ago
The first laser was patented by American physicists Arthur Schawlow and Charles Townes of Bell Telephone Laboratories.
(U.S. Patent 2,929,922.)

23 Mar 1775 – 250 years ago
American Revolution: Patrick Henry, a Founding Father of the United States, gave a famous speech at the Second Virginia Convention. He called for America’s independence from Britain, saying: ‘Give me liberty, or give me death!’

24 Mar 1935 – 90 years ago
The first episode of the radio talent show Major Bowes Amateur Hour was broadcast on NBC in the USA.
(It began in April 1934 as a New York-only show but was broadcast nationally on this date. It transferred to CBS in September 1936. There was also a television version from 1948.)

25 Mar 1965 – 60 years ago
Martin Luther King Jr. led the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march in Alabama, USA.
This was the third, and finally successful, attempt to march to the state capitol. The first attempt was aborted because mobs and police violently attacked the demonstrators (known as ‘Bloody Sunday’). The second attempt was blocked by a court injunction.

26 Mar 1995 – 30 years ago
The Schengen Treaty came into effect in the European Union.
Seven nations (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) eliminated their internal border controls and tightened their external borders.

27 Mar 1625 – 400 years ago
Death of James VI and I, King of England and Ireland (1603–25) as James I, King of Scotland (1567–1625) as James VI.
Succeeded by Charles I.

28 Mar 1960 – 65 years ago
The first permanent star was installed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California, USA.
It honoured film director Stanley Kramer. Eight temporary stars, two of which honoured actress Joanne Woodward and actor Burt Lancaster, had been installed in 1958 to show what the Walk of Fame might eventually look like.

29 Mar 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II: the last German V-1 flying bomb hit Britain (in Datchworth, Hertfordshire).
On the same day, the Allies captured the last German V-1 launch site, preventing any further attacks.

30 Mar 1775 – 250 years ago
American Revolution: Britain passed the New England Restraining Act, prohibiting its colonies in New England from trading with any country except Britain, Ireland and the British West Indies (from 1^st July 1775).
In April the Act was extended to include colonies outside of New England.

31 Mar 1900 – 125 years ago
The first advertisement for an automobile appeared in the USA.
The W. E. Roach Company’s advertisement in the Saturday Evening Post simply claimed that Roach automobiles ‘give satisfaction’.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2025.

The 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

Each edition is available as a PDF ebook (with a free Excel spreadsheet) or as a printed paperback book.

“A brilliant resource as usual”

“This book continues to astound me with its meticulous attention to detail and painstaking research. I use it all the time to generate ideas for documentaries and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone else who works in the media.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Chris

“A deeply researched goldmine of ideas”

“For journalists looking to plan ahead, the Date-a-base books offer a goldmine of ideas that are unavailable on the free internet. I’ve already recommended it to fellow colleagues at the BBC.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Richard

“Great reference”

“This is a fantastic and extremely useful book – very well compiled, detailed and organised.

Highly recommended for research or if you’re just curious about ‘on this day’ type history.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Mark

How to use the anniversaries:

How can you turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines, newspapers and websites? How do you get paid for writing them, and how can you make a great living from it?

Download our free guide Ditch Your Day Job. It tells you everything you need to know!

29 newsworthy historical anniversaries in February 2025

Posted on 01/08/202426/07/2024 by admin

Here are 29 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in February 2025 (listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for ‘On This Day in History’ features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into movies, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more.
(Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly selected an anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2025, which lists more than 3,600 anniversaries. The Date-A-Base Book 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 are also available.

1 Feb 1925 – 100 years ago
Ahmet Zogu was inaugurated as the first President of Albania. (Albania’s monarchy was established in 1928 and he became King Zog I.)

2 Feb 1935 – 90 years ago
A lie detector (polygraph) machine was used in court for the first time. Its inventor, Leonarde Keeler, tested two suspects in a criminal case in Portage, Wisconsin, USA. The machine showed they were guilty, the court agreed to accept its results, and they were convicted.

3 to 5 Feb 1825 – 200 years ago
The February flood of 1825 (known as the Great Hallig Flood in Germany). The North Sea coasts of the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany flooded. Around 800 people were killed.

4 Feb 2000 – 25 years ago
The first version of the life-simulation video game The Sims was released. It became one of the best-selling video game series in history.

5 to 6 Feb 1975 – 50 years ago
Limazo riots, Lima, Peru. The local police force went on strike after being offered a pay rise that was well below what they had asked for. They barricaded themselves into police stations. Students marched through the streets in support of the police, looting, setting fires, vandalising property, and causing more than $27 million worth of damage. The Peruvian military was sent in to quell the unrest. 100 people were killed, 500 injured, and 1,300 arrested.

6 Feb 1945 – 80 years ago
Birth of Bob Marley, Jamaican reggae/ska/rock steady singer, songwriter, musician and cultural icon. (Died 1981.)

7 Feb 1995 – 30 years ago
IBM discontinued its formal dress code in favour of casual wear. Many other U.S. companies followed suit.

8 Feb 1725 – 300 years ago
Death of Peter I, (Peter the Great), Tsar (Emperor) of Russia (1682–1725). (Bladder infection, aged 52.) Succeeded by his wife, Catherine I.

9 Feb 1950 – 75 years ago
Red Scare – the beginning. U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy announced that he had a list of ‘known communists’ who worked in the U.S. State Department, fuelling Cold War tensions. He went on to make further sensational claims of communists, Soviet spies and sympathisers in the federal government, U.S. Army, and elsewhere – none of which he could substantiate. (His actions were condemned by the U.S. Senate in 1954 and his career was ruined. He died in 1957.)

10 Feb 2005 – 20 years ago
Charles, Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) and Camilla Parker Bowles announced their engagement. They were married on 9^th April 2005.

11 Feb 1975 – 50 years ago
Margaret Thatcher became the first female leader of the Conservative Party in the UK. She became Britain’s first female Prime Minister in 1979.

12 Feb 2000 – 25 years ago
Death of Charles M. Schulz, American cartoonist. Creator of the Peanuts comic strip.

13 to 15 Feb 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Bombing of Dresden, Germany. The Allies carried out four massive bombing raids, completely destroying the inner city and killing about 25,000 people.

14 Feb 1950 – 75 years ago
China and the Soviet Union signed the Sino–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance. (When it expired in 1979, China launched an immediate attack on Vietnam – a Soviet ally.)

15 Feb 1775 – 250 years ago
Pius VI was elected Pope.

16 Feb 1985 – 40 years ago
The Islamic militant group and political party Hezbollah was founded in Lebanon.

17 Feb 1965 – 60 years ago
NASA launched the space probe Ranger 8 on a mission to take close-up photos of the surface of the Moon, ahead of a manned Apollo mission. After sending back more than 7,000 photographs it was deliberately crashed into the Moon on 20^th February.

18 Feb 2005 – 20 years ago
Hunting wild mammals with dogs was banned in England and Wales. Hunting foxes with dogs had already been banned in Scotland.

19 Feb to 26 Mar 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japanese Volcano Islands. U.S. victory.
The iconic photo of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on top of Mount Surabachi was taken on 23^rd February.

20 Feb 1985 – 40 years ago
The sale of contraceptives was legalised in Ireland following a highly controversial vote in the Irish parliament, and condemnation by the Catholic Church.

21 Feb 1875 – 150 years ago
Birth of Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian with the longest verified human lifespan. She died in 1997, aged 122.

22 Feb 1925 – 100 years ago
Birth of Edward Gorey, American writer, illustrator and poet. Noted for his unsettling Victorian- and Edwardian-style pen-and-ink drawings. (Died 2000.)

23 Feb 1950 – 75 years ago
United Kingdom General Election. Prime Minister Clement Attlee (Labour Party) was re-elected, but his majority was reduced from 146 seats to just five. This was the first General Election where the results were covered by BBC TV.
(Another election was held in 1951. It was won by the Conservatives.)

24 Feb 1825 – 200 years ago
Death of Thomas Bowdler, British editor, censor and physician. Best known for producing expurgated (‘bowdlerised’) versions of Shakespeare’s plays to make them more suitable for a family audience.

25 Feb 1925 – 100 years ago
Glacier Bay National Monument (now Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve) was established in Alaska, USA.

26 Feb 1935 – 90 years ago
British radio engineer Robert Watson-Watt demonstrated a working radar system for the first time, in Daventry, UK.

27 Feb 1525 – 500 years ago
Death of Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec Emperor (1520–21). (Executed.)

28 Feb 1935 – 90 years ago
Nylon was first produced by a team led by Wallace Carothers at DuPont’s research station in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.

29 Feb 1960 – 65 years ago
The first Playboy Club opened, in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2025.

The 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

Each edition is available as a PDF ebook (with a free Excel spreadsheet) or as a printed paperback book.

“A brilliant resource as usual”

“This book continues to astound me with its meticulous attention to detail and painstaking research. I use it all the time to generate ideas for documentaries and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone else who works in the media.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Chris

“A deeply researched goldmine of ideas”

“For journalists looking to plan ahead, the Date-a-base books offer a goldmine of ideas that are unavailable on the free internet. I’ve already recommended it to fellow colleagues at the BBC.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Richard

“Great reference”

“This is a fantastic and extremely useful book – very well compiled, detailed and organised.

Highly recommended for research or if you’re just curious about ‘on this day’ type history.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Mark

How to use the anniversaries:

How can you turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines, newspapers and websites? How do you get paid for writing them, and how can you make a great living from it?

Download our free guide Ditch Your Day Job. It tells you everything you need to know!

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in January 2025

Posted on 01/07/202428/06/2024 by admin

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in January 2025 (listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for ‘On This Day in History’ features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into movies, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more.
(Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly selected an anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2025, which lists more than 3,600 anniversaries. The Date-A-Base Book 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 are also available.

1 Jan 1985 – 40 years ago
New York became the first U.S. state to introduce a mandatory seat-belt law. All car drivers, front-seat passengers and children under ten were required to wear them, or face a $50 fine.

2 Jan 1955 – 70 years ago
Death of José Antonio Remón, President of Panama (1952–55). (Assassinated). He was succeeded by José Ramón Guizado, who was swiftly deposed when it was discovered that he had been involved in the assassination.

3 Jan 1825 – 200 years ago
The first technological university in the English-speaking world, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, opened in Troy, New York, USA (as Rensselaer School).

4 Jan 1965 – 60 years ago
U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced the details of his Great Society program in his State of the Union Address. Its main goal was to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. The programmes included Medicare, Medicaid, Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Food Stamps, Public Broadcasting, Clean Air and Water Legislation, Consumer Protection, and several more.

5 Jan 1875 – 150 years ago
The Palais Garnier (also known as the Opéra Garnier) opened in Paris, France. It is one of the world’s most famous opera houses.

6 Jan 1945 – 80 years ago
The cartoon character Pepé Le Pew made his first appearance, in the Warner Bros. cartoon Odor-able Kitty.

7 Jan 1950 – 75 years ago
The Mercy Hospital fire, Davenport, Iowa, USA. A fire broke out in St. Elizabeth’s ward, which housed 62 female patients. The doors were locked because it was a psychiatric ward, the windows were barred, there was no evacuation plan, and no sprinkler system in the 80-year-old building (though the fire department had recommended installing one for more than 25 years). 40 patients and a nurse were killed.

8 Jan 1825 – 200 years ago
Death of Eli Whitney, American inventor of the cotton gin – one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution.

9 Jan 1995 – 30 years ago
Russian cosmonaut Valeri Poliakov became the first person to spend an entire year in space in a single mission. His mission to the Mir space station lasted for a total of 437 days.

10 Jan 1985 – 40 years ago
The Sinclair C5 electric tricycle was launched in the UK. Immediate concerns were raised about its safety in traffic, and it was ridiculed in the media. It was not a commercial success.

11 Jan 1935 – 90 years ago
American aviator Amelia Earhart became the first person to make a solo flight from Hawaii to California, USA.

12 Jan 1965 – 60 years ago
Death of Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright. Known for A Raisin in the Sun – the first play by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway.

13 Jan 2005 – 20 years ago
Britain’s Prince Harry was forced to apologise after being photographed at a costume party wearing a Nazi uniform. The photograph was published in The Sun newspaper.

14 Jan 1900 – 125 years ago
The première of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca, in Rome, Italy.

15 Jan 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Soviet Red Army liberated the city of Krakow, Poland.

16 Jan 1995 – 30 years ago
The Troubles in Northern Ireland: the British Army ended daylight patrols of Belfast streets after 25 years.

17 Jan 1985 – 40 years ago
British Telecom officially retired Britain’s iconic red telephone boxes.

18 Jan 1975 – 50 years ago
The first episode of the television sitcom The Jeffersons was broadcast on CBS in the USA. It ran for eleven seasons until 1985. It was a spin-off series from the sitcom All in the Family, which was based on the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part.

19 Jan 1955 – 70 years ago
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the first televised presidential news conference. The conference was filmed in the morning and broadcast on television that evening. The first live conference was given by John F. Kennedy in January 1961.

20 Jan 1775 – 250 years ago
Birth of André-Marie Ampère, French physicist, mathematician and educator. One of the founders of electromagnetism. Inventor of the solenoid. The SI unit of electric current, the ampere, was named in his honour.

21 Jan 1950 – 75 years ago
Death of George Orwell, British novelist, journalist and critic. Best known for his novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four.

22 Jan 1975 – 50 years ago
NASA launched the Earth Resources Technology Satellite Landsat 2 to capture images of the Earth.

23 Jan 1960 – 65 years ago
The U.S. Navy’s bathyscaphe Trieste descended to the deepest point in the Pacific Ocean – the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench near Guam. 35,797 feet (10,911 meters).

24 Jan 1935 – 90 years ago
The first canned beer went on sale, in Virginia, USA. The beers were Krueger’s Cream Ale and Krueger’s Finest Beer. They were an immediate success.

25 Jan 1945 – 80 years ago
Grand Rapids, Michigan became the first city in the USA to fluoridate its drinking water to prevent tooth decay.

26 Jan to 2 Feb 1925 – 100 years ago
The serum run to Nome, Alaska, USA (also known as the Great Race of Mercy). With a diphtheria epidemic threatening the city of Nome and no planes available to carry an anti-toxin, dog-sledders worked in relays to carry a canister of serum 674 miles in five days. This event is now commemorated in the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

27 Jan 1975 – 50 years ago
The U.S. Senate established the Church Committee to investigate abuses by the FBI, CIA, NSA and IRS. It uncovered several shocking abuses, including Operation MKULTRA – the drugging and torture of unwitting people during experiments on mind control. It published its full report in April 1976.

28 Jan 1985 – 40 years ago
The supergroup USA for Africa recorded the hit single We Are the World to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. The song was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and was released on 7^th March. It raised over $63 million.

29 Jan 1985 – 40 years ago
Oxford University refused to award Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher an honorary doctorate after she cut funding for higher education.

30 Jan 1925 – 100 years ago
Birth of Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist, engineer and inventor. Best known for inventing the computer mouse. He also helped found the field of human-computer interaction and developed hypertext, computer networks, and early graphical user interfaces. (Died 2013.)

31 Jan 1950 – 75 years ago
U.S. President Harry S. Truman announced that he had ordered the Atomic Energy Commission to develop a hydrogen bomb. The first prototype, ‘Ivy Mike’, was detonated in November 1952.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2024.

The 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

Each edition is available as a PDF ebook (with free Excel spreadsheet) or as a printed paperback book.

“A brilliant resource as usual”

“This book continues to astound me with its meticulous attention to detail and painstaking research. I use it all the time to generate ideas for documentaries and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone else who works in the media.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Chris

“A deeply researched goldmine of ideas”

“For journalists looking to plan ahead, the Date-a-base books offer a goldmine of ideas that are unavailable on the free internet. I’ve already recommended it to fellow colleagues at the BBC.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Richard

“Great reference”

“This is a fantastic and extremely useful book – very well compiled, detailed and organised.

Highly recommended for research or if you’re just curious about ‘on this day’ type history.”

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— Mark

How to use the anniversaries:

How can you turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines, newspapers and websites? How do you get paid for writing them, and how can you make a great living from it?

Download our free guide Ditch Your Day Job. It tells you everything you need to know!

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