Tag: historic anniversaries

30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in September 2023

30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in September 2023

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Here are 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in September 2023 (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 films, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more. (Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 Sep 1923 – 100 years ago
The Great Kanto earthquake, Japan. The deadliest earthquake in Japanese history. Over 140,000 people were killed and 1.9 million made homeless.

2 Sep 1973 – 50 years ago
Death of J. R. R. Tolkien, British fantasy writer, poet, scholar and educator. Best known for his novels The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

3 Sep 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: Italy surrendered to the Allies and signed the Armistice of Cassibile. The Allies invaded Italy the same day (see below). (The armistice was announced to the public on 8th September.)

4 Sep 1998 – 25 years ago
Google, the internet search company, was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both students at Stanford University, California, USA. (The company was initially based in a friend’s garage in Menlo Park.)

5 Sep 1953 – 70 years ago
The world’s first privately operated atomic reactor began operating at North Carolina State University, USA.

6 Sep 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Peter II, last King of Yugoslavia. (Died 1970.)

7 Sep 1923 – 100 years ago
Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organisation, was founded.

8 Sep 2003 – 20 years ago
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed 261 lawsuits against alleged music file-sharers. They included a 12-year-old schoolgirl, whose parents paid $2,000 to settle the case the next day.

9 Sep 1948 – 75 years ago
The People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was established, headed by Kim Il Sung

10 Sep 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Germans occupied Rome, Italy, and took over the protection of the Vatican City.

11 Sep 1973 – 50 years ago
General Augusto Pinochet seized power in Chile in a military coup, overthrowing President Salvador Allende who apparently immediately committed suicide. (Some claim he was killed and the suicide was staged.)

12 Sep 1958 – 65 years ago
The world’s first working integrated circuit was demonstrated by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. (He had built it while the plant was shut down for holidays – as a new employee he was not entitled to holidays.)

13 Sep 1948 – 75 years ago
Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate, and the first to serve in both houses of Congress.

14 Sep 1953 – 70 years ago
Nikita Khrushchev became leader of the Soviet Union.

15 Sep 1963 – 60 years ago
The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, Birmingham, Alabama, USA. A bomb planted by the Ku Klux Klan exploded at the African American church. 4 children were killed and 22 injured.

16 Sep 1963 – 60 years ago
Malaysia was founded when Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore. (Singapore was expelled in 1965.)

17 Sep 1953 – 70 years ago
The first successful separation of Siamese twins where both twins survived. 8-week-old Carolyn Anne and Catherine Anne Mouton were joined at the waist and lower spine and shared a lower intestine. They were separated at the Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA in a three-hour operation.

18 Sep 1873 – 150 years ago
The Panic of 1873. The U.S. bank Jay Cooke & Company failed after overextending its investment in the Northern Pacific Railway. This contributed to the Panic of 1873, which triggered an economic crisis in North America and Europe, and led to the Long Depression – two decades of stagnation. On 20th September (‘Black Friday’) the New York Stock Exchange was forced to close for the first time in its history. It remained closed for 10 days.

19 Sep 1983 – 40 years ago
Saint Kitts and Nevis became independent from the UK.

20 Sep 1848 – 175 years ago
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) was founded. It is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publishes the scientific journal Science.

21 Sep 1993 to 4 Oct – 30 years ago
Russian constitutional crisis. Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspended parliament, attempted to disband the Congress of People’s Deputies and the Supreme Soviet, and called for new elections. He was impeached and replaced by vice president Aleksandr Rutskoy. On 4th October he ordered the Russian Army to storm the Supreme Soviet building with tanks and arrest the leaders of the resistance. Up to 2,000 people were killed (official figure: 187).

22 Sep 1973 – 50 years ago
Henry Kissinger became U.S. Secretary of State. He was the first naturalised citizen to hold the office.

23 Sep 1848 – 175 years ago
The first commercial production of chewing gum. American businessman John B. Curtis produced his batch of chewing gum at his home in Bangor, Maine. He called it State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.

24 Sep 1948 – 75 years ago
The Honda Motor Company was founded.

25 Sep 1963 – 60 years ago
Lord Denning’s report on the Profumo Affair was published in the UK. It found that the former Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, lied to the House of Commons about his relationship with Christine Keeler. She was the alleged mistress of a Russian spy, who was thought to be using their relationship to obtain classified information about British security.

26 Sep 1963 to 13 Oct – 60 years ago
Hurricane Flora, one of the deadliest hurricanes in history, killed 7,193 people in the Caribbean region, especially in Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

27 Sep 1898 – 125 years ago
Birth of Vincent Youmans, American Broadway composer and producer. Best known for the musical No, No Nanette and the song Tea for Two.

28 Sep 1923 – 100 years ago
The first issue of the BBC’s radio and television listings magazine Radio Times was published.

29 Sep 1923 – 100 years ago
The British Mandate for Palestine came into effect. Britain took control of Mandatory Palestine (formerly part of the Turkish Empire) until 1948 when Israel became an independent state.

30 Sep 1948 – 75 years ago
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) froze all outstanding television broadcast licence applications. It was inundated with hundreds of applications and there were several technical hurdles to be overcome, including the development of colour transmissions and interference between adjacent stations’ transmitters. The planned 6-month freeze lasted for 4 years.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The anniversaries are available as PDF ebooks, Excel spreadsheets, and printed paperback books.

The 2028 edition will be available from April 2023. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

How to use the anniversaries:

If you’d like to know more about how to turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines and newspapers, take a look at our free 68-page guide, Ditch Your Day Job: the easiest way to make a living (or earn some extra cash) as a writer.

It has some terrific bonuses too, including a complete month of anniversaries from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, 301 article-writing ideas and tips, plus a 25 percent discount when you buy two or more editions of The Date-A-Base Book.

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31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in August 2023

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in August 2023

Posted on by admin

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in August 2023
(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 films, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more. (Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 Aug 1993 – 30 years ago
1 Apr to Oct The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 peaked on this date. It was one of the most damaging floods in U.S. history. Heavy rainfall began in April and continued into October, with some places under water for nearly 200 days. 1st August is referred to as the flood’s anniversary.

2 Aug 1923 – 100 years ago
Death of Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States (1921–23). Died in office. Succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge.

3 Aug 1948 – 75 years ago
Whittaker Chambers, a former member of the U.S. Communist Party, testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee that Alger Hiss had secretly been a communist while working for the State Department. Hiss denied the charge. On 25th August the hearings were televised and Chambers and Hiss dramatically confronted each other on ‘Confrontation Day’. (In January 1950, Hiss was convicted of perjury and imprisoned for 3.5 years. He maintained his innocence until his death in 1996, and sued Chambers for defamation.) The case is still debated to this day. Many believe Hiss was a Soviet spy, but it is difficult to prove or disprove.

4 Aug 1958 – 65 years ago
Billboard magazine published its first Hot 100 singles chart. It is the music industry’s standard record chart in the USA. The first #1 record on the chart was Poor Little Fool by Ricky Nelson.

5 Aug 1953 to December – 70 years ago
Operation Big Switch. All remaining prisoners taken during the Korean War were repatriated.
(Operation Little Switch in April–May 1953 was the repatriation of sick and wounded prisoners.)

6 Aug 1973 – 50 years ago
Death of Fulgencio Batista, President/dictator of Cuba (1933–44, 1952–59)

7 Aug 1948 – 75 years ago
Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen became the first woman to win four Olympic gold medals (at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London). On 2nd August, when she won the 100 metres, she became the first Dutch athlete to win an Olympic title in athletics.

8 Aug 1963 – 60 years ago
The Great Train Robbery, Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, England. £2.6 million was stolen in one of the UK’s most infamous robberies. The bulk of the money was never recovered.

9 Aug 1898 – 125 years ago
German inventor Rudolf Diesel was granted a U.S. patent for the Diesel internal combustion engine.
(U.S. Patent No. 608,845.)

10 Aug 1948 – 75 years ago
The first episode of the hidden-camera/practical joke television show Candid Camera was broadcast in the USA.
It ran for over 1,000 episodes and ended in 2004. (It began as the radio show Candid Microphone.)

11 Aug 1973 – 50 years ago
Hip-hop (the music genre) was invented by Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc at a back-to-school party in The Bronx, New York City, USA.

12 Aug 1848 – 175 years ago
Death of George Stephenson, (‘the Father of Railways’), British civil and mechanical engineer who developed rail transport and built innovative steam locomotives including the famous Rocket.

13 Aug 1923 – 100 years ago
Gustav Stresemann became Chancellor and Foreign Minister of Germany.

14 Aug 1848 – 175 years ago
Oregon Territory was established in the USA. (It was admitted as a U.S. state in 1859.)

15 Aug 1948 – 75 years ago
The Republic of Korea (South Korea) was established.

16 Aug 1948 – 75 years ago
Death of Babe Ruth, American baseball player.

17 Aug 1953 – 70 years ago
Narcotics Anonymous was founded in California, USA.

18 Aug 1873 – 150 years ago
The first successful ascent of Mount Whitney, California – the highest summit in the contiguous United States.

19 Aug 1923 – 100 years ago
Death of Vilfredo Pareto, Italian economist, sociologist and civil engineer. He made several notable contributions to the field of economics. Best known for the Pareto principle: 80 percent of consequences come from 20 percent of causes.

20 Aug 1923 – 100 years ago
The USA’s first rigid airship, USS Shenandoah, was launched at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, New Jersey.
It made its first flight on 4th September.
It crashed during a storm in September 1925, when fourteen people were killed.

21 Aug 1953 – 70 years ago
The UK première of the romantic comedy film Roman Holiday. It featured Audrey Hepburn in her first starring role.
U.S. première: 27th August. Released: 2nd September.

22 Aug 1933 – 90 years ago
The world’s first televised boxing match: Archie Sexton vs. Laurie Raiteri in London, England.

23 Aug 1973 – 50 years ago
Stockholm syndrome: a bank robber attempted to rob the Kreditbanken in Norrmalmstorg, Stockholm, Sweden. When police entered the bank, he opened fire and took four people hostage. He held them at the bank, with the help of a friend who arrived later, until 28th August, when police used tear gas to force the criminals to surrender.
The hostages developed a psychological bond with their captors and expressed sympathy for them, leading to the term ‘Stockholm syndrome’.

24 Aug 1873 – 150 years ago
The first recorded ascent of the Mount of the Holy Cross in Colorado, USA.
During this ascent, the elusive cross-shaped snowfield that gives the mountain its name was photographed for the first time.

25 Aug 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: British Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten became Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia.

26 Aug 1723 – 300 years ago
Death of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, (‘the father of microbiology’), Dutch microscopist and microbiologist.

27 Aug 1948 – 75 years ago
Death of Charles Evans Hughes, Chief Justice of the United States (1930–41), U.S. Secretary of State (1921–25).

28 Aug 1963 – 60 years ago
March on Washington/I Have a Dream.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr delivered his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., USA during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The civil rights rally was attended by approximately 200,000 supporters.

29 Aug 1898 – 125 years ago
The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was founded in Akron, Ohio, USA.

30 Aug 1963 – 60 years ago
The hotline between the President of the USA and the leader of the Soviet Union went into operation, allowing them to communicate easily during a crisis. The first hotline was a teletype machine, later replaced by fax, then by secure email.
It was first used in 1967 during the Egypt–Israel War.

31 Aug 1998 – 25 years ago
North Korea allegedly launched its first satellite, Kwangmyongsong, and declared it had been successfully placed in orbit.
Officials outside North Korea have never detected this satellite in orbit, and the launch is considered to have failed.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The anniversaries are available as PDF ebooks, Excel spreadsheets, and printed paperback books.

The 2028 edition will be available from April 2023. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

How to use the anniversaries:

If you’d like to know more about how to turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines and newspapers, take a look at our free 68-page guide, Ditch Your Day Job: the easiest way to make a living (or earn some extra cash) as a writer.

It has some terrific bonuses too, including a complete month of anniversaries from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, 301 article-writing ideas and tips, plus a 25 percent discount when you buy two or more editions of The Date-A-Base Book.

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31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in July 2023

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in July 2023

Posted on by admin

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in July 2023
(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 films, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more. (Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 Jul 1948 – 75 years ago
New York International Airport (originally Idlewild Airport) was officially opened.
(It was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1963.)

2 Jul 1973 – 50 years ago
The National Black Network (NBN) launched in the USA. It was the first national radio network wholly owned by African Americans.

3 Jul 1423 – 600 years ago
Birth of Louis XI, King of France (1461–83).

4 Jul 1623 – 400 years ago
Death of William Byrd, English Renaissance composer. Regarded as one of the greatest British composers. Best known for his sacred music.

5 Jul 1948 – 75 years ago
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) began operating.

6 Jul 1933 – 90 years ago
The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game was played, at Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

7 Jul 1948 – 75 years ago
The first six enlisted women were sworn into the regular U.S. Navy.

8 Jul 1933 – 90 years ago
Great Depression: the Public Works Administration (PWA) began operating in the USA. Its purpose was to build large-scale public projects including dams, bridges, schools, hospitals and warships to provide employment and stimulate the economy.

9 Jul 1958 – 65 years ago
Lituya Bay megatsunami, Alaska, USA.
An earthquake caused 90 million tons of rock to fall several hundred metres into the bay. The resulting tsunami destroyed vegetation up to 1,722 feet (525 metres) above the bay and sent a 98- foot (30-metre) wave across the bay.
It remains the largest and most significant megatsunami of modern times.

10 Jul 1973 – 50 years ago
John Paul Getty III, the 16-year-old grandson of the American oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, was kidnapped in Rome, Italy.
In November the kidnappers cut off one of his ears and sent it to a newspaper.
He was released in December after a ransom was paid.
(The kidnapping scarred him for life and he became addicted to drugs and alcohol, leading to an overdose, stroke, and severe disability. He died in 2011, aged 54.)

11 Jul 1848 – 175 years ago
Waterloo railway station in London opened.

12 Jul 1963 – 60 years ago
The Moors Murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, killed their first victim, 16-year-old Pauline Reade, on Saddleworth Moor, north-west England.

13 Jul 1923 – 100 years ago
The Hollywood Sign was officially dedicated in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
(It was originally erected as a temporary advertisement for a housing development, and read ‘Hollywoodland’.)

14 Jul 1983 – 40 years ago
Nintendo released the arcade video game Mario Bros in Japan. (USA: 20th July.)

15 Jul 1948 – 75 years ago
The British branch of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was founded in London.
(Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in the USA in 1935.)

16 Jul 1723 – 300 years ago
Birth of Sir Joshua Reynolds, English portrait artist.

17 Jul 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of John Cooper, British racing car designer. Co-founder of the Cooper Car Company (with his father, Charles). He also designed the Mini Cooper. (Died 2000.)

18 Jul 1948 – 75 years ago
Argentine racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio made his Formula One debut in the 1948 French Grand Prix.
He went on to win the F1 Driver’s Championship five times (1951, 1954–57).

19 to 20 Jul 1848 – 175 years ago
The Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights convention in the USA, was held in Seneca Falls, New York.

20 Jul or 20 Jun 1923 – 100 years ago
Death of Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary and guerrilla leader. (Assassinated).

21 Jul 1873 – 150 years ago
American outlaw Jesse James and the James-Younger gang staged their first train robbery. They derailed a Rock Island Line express train near Adair, Iowa, and stole $3,000 (equivalent to $64,000 today).

22 Jul 1933 – 90 years ago
American aviator Wiley Post completed the first solo flight around the world.
He flew 15,596 miles in 7 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes.

23 Jul 1773 – 250 years ago
Birth of Thomas Brisbane, British Army officer, colonial administrator, and astronomer. Governor of New South Wales (1821–25).
The city of Brisbane, Australia was named in his honour.

24 Jul 1923 – 100 years ago
The Treaty of Lausanne was signed in Switzerland. It was the final treaty of WWI and defined the boundaries of modern Turkey.

25 Jul 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was forced out of office. He was succeeded by Pietro Badoglio (as Prime Minister).
This marked the end of Italy’s alliance with Germany.

26 Jul 1958 – 65 years ago
Debutantes were presented at the British royal court for the last time.

27 Jul 1953 – 70 years ago
The Korean War ended. The Korean Armistice Treaty was signed at Panmunjom and the 38th parallel became the official boundary between communist North Korea and anti-communist South Korea. (Tensions continued unabated.)

28 Jul 1933 – 90 years ago
Western Union delivered the first singing telegram – to American singer Rudy Vallee in New York on his 32nd birthday.

29 Jul 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Jim Marshall, British electrical engineer and businessman. Founder of Marshall Amplification. (Died 2012.)

30 Jul 1898 – 125 years ago
The world’s first advertisement for a motor car appeared in newspapers in the USA.
The ad for the Winton Motor Carriage Company in Cleveland, Ohio invited readers to ‘Dispense with a horse’.

31 Jul 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Ahmet Ertegun, Turkish-born American record company executive. Co-founder and President of Atlantic Records.
He was one of the most significant and influential figures in American popular music, and discovered many leading musicians. (Died 2006.)

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2028 edition will be available from April 2023. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

How to use the anniversaries:

If you’d like to know more about how to turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines and newspapers, take a look at our free 68-page guide, Ditch Your Day Job: the easiest way to make a living (or earn some extra cash) as a writer.

It has some terrific bonuses too, including a complete month of anniversaries from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, 301 article-writing ideas and tips, plus a 25 percent discount when you buy two or more editions of The Date-A-Base Book.

Share this:

30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in June 2023

30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in June 2023

Posted on by admin

Here are 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in June 2023
(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 films, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more. (Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 Jun 1998 – 25 years ago
The European Central Bank was established in Frankfurt, Germany.

2 Jun 1953 – 70 years ago
The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, London.
This was also the first event where the British TV audience (20 million) was greater than the radio audience (12 million).

3 Jun 1898 – 125 years ago
Death of Samuel Plimsoll, British politician and social reformer. Best known for devising the Plimsoll line on a ship’s hull that indicates the minimum safe distance between the deck and the water line.

4 Jun 1948 – 75 years ago
Daniel François Malan (commonly known as D. F. Malan) became Prime Minister of South Africa.
He championed Afrikaner nationalism, and his government implemented apartheid.

5 Jun 1963 – 60 years ago
Profumo affair: British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, resigned after it was revealed he had lied to the House of Commons about his affair with dancer/showgirl Christine Keeler.

6 Jun 1948 – 75 years ago
Death of Louis Lumière, French inventor, photographic pioneer and film-maker. He developed an early film camera and projector with his brother, Auguste, and made the first-ever movie.

7 Jun 1963 – 60 years ago
The Rolling Stones released their first single – a cover version of Chuck Berry’s song Come On.

8 Jun 1948 – 75 years ago
The first Porsche sports car (model 356) was completed. The hand-built aluminium prototype was road-certified on this date, entered into its first race, and won its class. The Porsche 356 would become the company’s first production car, and remained in production until 1965.

9 Jun 1898 – 125 years ago
Britain leased Hong Kong from China for 99 years and it became a British Crown Colony.
(It was transferred back to China in 1997.)

10 Jun 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Robert Maxwell, Czech-born British newspaper publisher, media proprietor and politician.
(Died 1991, after which serious discrepancies were found in his company’s finances, and he was found to have misappropriated the Mirror Group pension fund.)

11 Jun 1998 – 25 years ago
Death of Catherine Cookson, British novelist. Known for her stories set in the industrial north-east of England.
At the time of her death she was Britain’s most widely read novelist.

12 Jun 1948 – 75 years ago
The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was enacted in the USA. It enabled women to serve as regular members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
The first women were sworn in on 7th July. (Before this, women could only serve as nurses in the military, except during times of war.)

13 Jun 1773 – 250 years ago
Birth of Thomas Young, British scientist. He made several notable contributions to science, including the wave theory of light, and studies of eyesight, physiology, language and musical harmony. He also helped translate Egyptian hieroglyphs.
His work influenced later scientists including William Herschel, James Clerk Maxwell and Albert Einstein.

14 Jun 1923 – 100 years ago
American inventor Charles Francis Jenkins transmitted the first moving silhouette images using an experimental wireless television system, which he called ‘Radiovision’.

15 Jun 1993 – 30 years ago
Death of James Hunt, British racing driver, sports writer and television commentator. Formula One world champion in 1976.

16 Jun 1723? – 300 years ago
Birth of Adam Smith, (‘the Father of Economics’), Scottish economist and philosopher.
Known for his book The Wealth of Nations – the first modern work on economics.
(Baptised on this date – his date of birth is unknown.)

17 Jun 1873 – 150 years ago
Women’s suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony was found guilty of voting in the 1872 U.S. presidential election, in which only men were allowed to vote.
She was fined $100 (equivalent to about $2,500 today).

18 Jun 1923 – 100 years ago
The first Checker Cab taxi rolled off the production line in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA.

19 Jun 1623 – 400 years ago
Birth of Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, inventor, theologian and philosopher. He invented one of the first mechanical calculators.
The computer programming language Pascal was named in his honour.

20 Jun 1923 or 20 July – 100 years ago
Death of Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary and guerilla leader. (Assassinated.)

21 Jun 1948 – 75 years ago
The ship HMT Empire Windrush docked in London, bringing the first large group of immigrants from the West Indies to the UK.

22 Jun 1983 – 40 years ago
The U.S. space shuttle Challenger retrieved a satellite from orbit for the first time.

23 Jun 1993 – 30 years ago
Lorena Bobbitt of Virginia, USA cut off her husband John’s penis with a kitchen knife after he sexually assaulted her. She then drove off and threw the severed penis out of her car window. (It was found and successfully reattached. At her trial the jury found her not guilty due to insanity. She also accused him of raping her, and of causing her actual harm and threatening harm, but he was acquitted.)

24 Jun 1948 to 12 May 1949 – 75 years ago
Cold War: The Berlin Blockade and Airlift.
The Soviet Union began a rail, road and canal blockade of Berlin, cutting off all routes between West Germany and West Berlin.
The Allies launched a massive airlift – over 200,000 flights – to take in nearly 9,000 tons of supplies each day. One plane laden with supplies landed every minute.

25 Jun 1973 – 50 years ago
Watergate scandal: White House Counsel John Dean, testifying before the Watergate committee, became the first official to implicate U.S. President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. He told the committee about an ‘enemies list’ that the White House kept.

26 Jun 1963 – 60 years ago
U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin, West Germany, and made his famous declaration ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ (I am a Berliner) to demonstrate the USA’s support.

27 Jun 2003 – 20 years ago
The USA’s National Do Not Call Registry was launched. It allowed residential phone users to opt out of receiving telemarketing calls.

28 Jun 1973 – 50 years ago
Elections were held for the Northern Ireland Assembly. It began operating on 1st January 1974, but collapsed in May.
It was re-established in 1998 but collapsed again in 2017. The current Assembly was established in 2020.

29 Jun 1933 – 90 years ago
Death of Fatty Arbuckle, American actor, comedian and film director.

30 Jun 1948 – 75 years ago
The invention of the transistor was officially announced.
It was invented by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain at the Bell Telephone Laboratory in Murray Hill, New Jersey, USA in December 1947.
They were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2028 edition will be available from April 2023. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

How to use the anniversaries:

If you’d like to know more about how to turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines and newspapers, take a look at our free 68-page guide, Ditch Your Day Job: the easiest way to make a living (or earn some extra cash) as a writer.

It has some terrific bonuses too, including a complete month of anniversaries from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, 301 article-writing ideas and tips, plus a 25 percent discount when you buy two or more editions of The Date-A-Base Book.

Share this:

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in May 2023

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in May 2023

Posted on by admin

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in May 2023
(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 films, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more. (Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 May 1873 – 150 years ago
Death of David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer. Best known for his search for the sources of the Nile, and for going missing (and being found) in Africa.

2 May 1933 – 90 years ago
The first modern sighting of Scotland’s Loch Ness monster was reported in the Inverness Courier.

3 May 1923 – 100 years ago
U.S. Army Air Service Lieutenants Oakley G. Kelly and John Arthur Macready made the first non-stop coast-to-coast flight across the USA. They flew from New York to San Diego in 26 hours and 50 minutes.

4 May 2003 – 20 years ago
The first member of the horse family to be cloned: a mule named Idaho Gem was born at the University of Idaho, USA.

5 May 1948 – 75 years ago
The Organization of American States was officially founded.

6 May 1953 – 70 years ago
The first successful open-heart surgery on a human, using a heart-lung machine, was performed by John Gibbon in Pennsylvania, USA.

7 May 1963 – 60 years ago
The USA launched the Telstar 2 communications satellite. It transmitted the first colour transatlantic television broadcasts. It was shielded against the radiation that had damaged its predecessor, Telstar 1.

8 May 1933 – 90 years ago
Polythene was discovered (by accident) by chemists Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett at ICI in Wallerscote, Cheshire, UK.

9 May 1873 – 150 years ago
Birth of Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (1931–33).
(Shot in 1933 during an assassination attempt on U.S. President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. He died three weeks later – but most likely from ulcerative colitis rather than the wound.)

10 May 1933 – 90 years ago
The Nazis staged massive public burnings of ‘un-German’ books outside Berlin University.

11 May 1998 – 25 years ago
India exploded three atomic bombs underground – its first nuclear tests for 24 years – violating a global ban on testing and shocking the world. It carried out a second round of tests on 13th May. In response, Pakistan exploded five underground nuclear bombs on 28th May.

12 to 25 May 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Trident Conference (also called the Third Washington Conference) took place in the USA. Delegations led by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made plans for the next phase of the war. Topics included planning for the Allied invasion of Sicily, setting the date of the Normandy Landings (Operation Overlord/D-Day – 1st May 1944 but later delayed to 6th June), and the progress of the Pacific Campaign.

13 May 1973 – 50 years ago
The first Battle of the Sexes tennis match: Bobby Riggs v. Margaret Court, in Ramona, California, USA. Riggs won the two-set exhibition match.
(On 20th September 1973 Riggs played Billie Jean King in the three-set Battle of the Sexes II. King won.
In 1992, Jimmy Connors played Martina Navratilova in the Battle of the Sexes III. Connors won.)

14 May 1973 – 50 years ago
NASA launched Skylab – the USA’s first manned space station. The first manned mission launched on 25th May, and included three space walks to repair damage that Skylab suffered during launch.

15 May 1948 – 75 years ago
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War began when the Arab states of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq invaded Israel in support of the Palestinians.
Saudi Arabia joined the invasion on 18th May.

16 to 17 May 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Dambusters Raid.
Britain’s RAF launched Operation Chastise, deploying bouncing bombs (invented by Barnes Wallace) to bypass anti-torpedo nets and breach dams, causing catastrophic flooding in Germany’s Ruhr Valley.

17 May 1973 – 50 years ago
The Watergate hearings began in the U.S. Senate, and were televised nationally.

18 May 1958 – 65 years ago
Italian racing driver Maria Teresa de Filippis became the first woman to compete in a Formula One Grand Prix.

19 May 1898 – 125 years ago
Death of William Ewart Gladstone, British Prime Minister (1868–74, 1880–85, 1886, 1892–94).

20 May 1873 – 150 years ago
American businessman Levi Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis were granted a U.S. patent for blue jeans.

21 May 1898 – 125 years ago
Birth of Armand Hammer, American business magnate and art collector. Best known as the chairman of Occidental Petroleum (1957–90). He was also known for his close ties with the Soviet Union and for advocating citizen diplomacy.

22 May 1923 – 100 years ago
Stanley Baldwin became British Prime Minister after Bonar Law was diagnosed with terminal cancer and immediately retired.

23 May 1873 – 150 years ago
The North-West Mounted Police was founded in Canada. It became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920.

24 May 1948 – 75 years ago
Benjamin Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera was performed for the first time, in Cambridge, England.

25 May 1973 – 50 years ago
The album Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield was released. It was the first album released by Virgin Records.

26 to 27 May 1923 – 100 years ago
The first Le Mans 24 hours endurance motor race was held.

27 May 2003 – 20 years ago
WordPress, the blogging/content management system, was released.

28 May 1993 – 30 years ago
British nurse Beverley Allitt was convicted of killing four children and attacking nine others between February and April 1991 in the children’s ward at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire. She was sentenced to 13 concurrent life sentences in a secure hospital and is unlikely to be released.

29 May 1953 – 70 years ago
New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

30 May 1848 – 175 years ago
The Mexican–American War officially ended when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo came into effect.

31 May 1898 – 125 years ago
Birth of Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman, writer, speaker, and advocate of positive thinking.
Best known for his book The Power of Positive Thinking.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2028 edition will be available from April 2023. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

How to use the anniversaries:

If you’d like to know more about how to turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines and newspapers, take a look at our free 68-page guide, Ditch Your Day Job: the easiest way to make a living (or earn some extra cash) as a writer.

It has some terrific bonuses too, including a complete month of anniversaries from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, 301 article-writing ideas and tips, plus a 25 percent discount when you buy two or more editions of The Date-A-Base Book.

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30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in April 2023

30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in April 2023

Posted on by admin

Here are 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in April 2023 (so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for “On This Day in History” features, biographies and anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with readers and viewers, and editors and producers love them. They’re easy to research too. And you can easily turn them into newspaper and magazine articles, TV/radio features, films, documentaries, and more.

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which features more than 3,000 anniversaries. . The 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

1 Apr 1948 – 75 years ago
The Big Bang theory was first proposed in a paper by the Russian-born American theoretical physicist and cosmologist George Gamow and his associates. It was published in the magazine Physical Review.

2 Apr 1963 – 60 years ago
The Soviet Union launched its Luna 4 spacecraft on a mission to the Moon. It missed the Moon by over 5,000 miles after failing to make a mid-course correction.

3 Apr 1948 – 75 years ago
The USA’s Marshall Plan for European recovery after WWII went into effect.

4 Apr 1923 – 100 years ago
Death of John Venn, British logician and philosopher. Best known for inventing the Venn diagram.

5 Apr 1923 – 100 years ago
Death of George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, British aristocrat and Egyptologist who financed the search/excavation of Tutankhamen’s Tomb.

6 Apr 1993 – 30 years ago
Tomsk-7 nuclear accident, Seversk, Russia. A tank at a nuclear waste reprocessing facility exploded while being cleaned, releasing a cloud of highly radioactive gas. Several villages became permanently uninhabitable as a result.

7 Apr 1933 – 90 years ago
Prohibition in the USA: the Cullen–Harrison Act came into effect, legalising the sale of low alcohol beer and wine (up to 3.2% alcohol by weight) for the first time since 1920.

8 Apr 1973 – 50 years ago
Death of Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist. Co-founder of the Cubism movement. One of the greatest artists of the 20th century.

9 Apr 1963 – 60 years ago
Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was proclaimed the first Honorary Citizen of the United States.

10 Apr 1998 – 25 years ago
The Good Friday Agreement was signed in Northern Ireland.

11 Apr 1958 – 65 years ago
Birth of Stuart Adamson, Scottish punk/rock/new wave singer, guitarist and songwriter (Skids, Big Country). (Died 2001.)

12 Apr 1898 – 125 years ago
Birth of Lily Pons, French-born American operatic soprano.

13 Apr 1873 – 150 years ago
The Colfax Massacre, Louisiana, USA. More than 60 black men (some sources say 150) were killed by a white Southern militia in a racially motivated attack.

14 Apr 2003 – 20 years ago
The Human Genome Project was successfully completed, with over 99% of the human genome sequenced and mapped, including all of the genes.

15 Apr 1923 – 100 years ago
Insulin became generally available for the treatment of diabetes.

16 Apr 1943 – 80 years ago
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first discovered the hallucinogenic effects of LSD after accidentally absorbing some through his fingertips during an experiment at the Sandoz pharmaceutical research laboratory. On 19th April he deliberately took the drug to determine its true effects, but underestimated its potency and experienced an intense psychotic reaction.

17 Apr 1973 – 50 years ago
FedEx, the courier service, began operating (as Federal Express).

18 Apr 1973 – 50 years ago
The première of the dystopian thriller film Soylent Green in Los Angeles, California, USA. (New York première: 19th April, released: 9th May. UK: June 1973.)

19 Apr 1943 to 16 May – 80 years ago
Holocaust: the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Poland. The Jewish resistance revolted against Nazi Germany’s efforts to transport those who remained in the ghetto to Treblinka extermination camp.

20 Apr 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Tito Puente, American Latin jazz/mambo musician, songwriter and record producer. He helped popularise Latin dance music and jazz in the USA.

21 Apr 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Sir John Mortimer, British barrister, playwright, novelist, screenwriter and short story writer. Best known for creating Rumpole of the Bailey, and for the stage play A Voyage Round My Father. (Died 2009.)

22 Apr 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Aaron Spelling, American television and film producer (Charlie’s Angels, T. J. Hooker, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart, Beverly Hills 90210 and many more). (Died 2006.)

23 Apr 1998 – 25 years ago
Death of James Earl Ray, American criminal convicted of assassinating the civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

24 Apr 1993 – 30 years ago
An IRA truck bomb exploded in the Bishopsgate financial district in London. One person was killed (a press photographer) and 44 injured. It was the last major IRA bombing in England. Reconstruction cost £350 million.

25 Apr 1873 – 150 years ago
Birth of Walter de la Mare, British poet, children’s writer, short story writer and novelist.

26 Apr 1933 – 90 years ago
The Gestapo, Nazi Germany’s secret police force, was established.

27 Apr 1848 – 175 years ago
Slavery was abolished in the French colonies.

28 Apr 1923 – 100 years ago
Wembley Stadium in London opened (as the British Empire Exhibition Stadium, commonly known as the Empire Stadium). It was demolished in 2003. The new Wembley Stadium opened on the same site in March 2007.

29 Apr 1993 – 30 years ago
Queen Elizabeth II announced that Buckingham Palace would open to the public for the first time, to raise funds to repair fire damage at Windsor Castle.

30 Apr 1948 – 75 years ago
The Land Rover, a British all-terrain vehicle, was officially launched at the Amsterdam Motor Show in the Netherlands.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2028 edition will be available from April 2023. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

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30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in April 2023 (U.S. Edition)

30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in April 2023 (U.S. Edition)

Posted on by admin

Here are 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in April 2023 (so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for “On This Day in History” features, biographies and anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with readers and viewers, and editors and producers love them. They’re easy to research too. And you can easily turn them into newspaper and magazine articles, TV/radio features, films, documentaries, and more.

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which features more than 3,000 anniversaries. . The 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

Apr 1, 1948 – 75 years ago
The Big Bang theory was first proposed in a paper by the Russian-born American theoretical physicist and cosmologist George Gamow and his associates. It was published in the magazine Physical Review.

Apr 2, 1963 – 60 years ago
The Soviet Union launched its Luna 4 spacecraft on a mission to the Moon. It missed the Moon by over 5,000 miles after failing to make a mid-course correction.

Apr 3, 1948 – 75 years ago
The USA’s Marshall Plan for European recovery after WWII went into effect.

Apr 4, 1923 – 100 years ago
Death of John Venn, British logician and philosopher. Best known for inventing the Venn diagram.

Apr 5, 1923 – 100 years ago
Death of George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, British aristocrat and Egyptologist who financed the search/excavation of Tutankhamen’s Tomb.

Apr 6, 1993 – 30 years ago
Tomsk-7 nuclear accident, Seversk, Russia. A tank at a nuclear waste reprocessing facility exploded while being cleaned, releasing a cloud of highly radioactive gas. Several villages became permanently uninhabitable as a result.

Apr 7, 1933 – 90 years ago
Prohibition in the USA: the Cullen–Harrison Act came into effect, legalizing the sale of low alcohol beer and wine (up to 3.2% alcohol by weight) for the first time since 1920.

Apr 8, 1973 – 50 years ago
Death of Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist. Co-founder of the Cubism movement. One of the greatest artists of the 20th century.

Apr 9, 1963 – 60 years ago
Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was proclaimed the first Honorary Citizen of the United States.

Apr 10, 1998 – 25 years ago
The Good Friday Agreement was signed in Northern Ireland.

Apr 11, 1958 – 65 years ago
Birth of Stuart Adamson, Scottish punk/rock/new wave singer, guitarist and songwriter (Skids, Big Country). (Died 2001.)

Apr 12, 1898 – 125 years ago
Birth of Lily Pons, French-born American operatic soprano.

Apr 13, 1873 – 150 years ago
The Colfax Massacre, Louisiana, USA. More than 60 black men (some sources say 150) were killed by a white Southern militia in a racially motivated attack.

Apr 14, 2003 – 20 years ago
The Human Genome Project was successfully completed, with over 99% of the human genome sequenced and mapped, including all of the genes.

Apr 15, 1923 – 100 years ago
Insulin became generally available for the treatment of diabetes.

Apr 16, 1943 – 80 years ago
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first discovered the hallucinogenic effects of LSD after accidentally absorbing some through his fingertips during an experiment at the Sandoz pharmaceutical research laboratory. On April 19th he deliberately took the drug to determine its true effects, but underestimated its potency and experienced an intense psychotic reaction.

Apr 17, 1973 – 50 years ago
FedEx, the courier service, began operating (as Federal Express).

Apr 18, 1973 – 50 years ago
The premiere of the dystopian thriller movie Soylent Green in Los Angeles, California, USA. (New York premiere: April 19th, released: May 9th. UK: June 1973.)

Apr 19 to May 16, 1943 – 80 years ago
Holocaust: the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Poland. The Jewish resistance revolted against Nazi Germany’s efforts to transport those who remained in the ghetto to Treblinka extermination camp.

Apr 20, 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Tito Puente, American Latin jazz/mambo musician, songwriter and record producer. He helped popularize Latin dance music and jazz in the USA.

Apr 21, 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Sir John Mortimer, British barrister, playwright, novelist, screenwriter and short story writer. Best known for creating Rumpole of the Bailey, and for the stage play A Voyage Round My Father. (Died 2009.)

Apr 22, 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Aaron Spelling, American television and film producer (Charlie’s Angels, T. J. Hooker, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Hart to Hart, Beverly Hills 90210 and many more). (Died 2006.)

Apr 23, 1998 – 25 years ago
Death of James Earl Ray, American criminal convicted of assassinating the civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Apr 24, 1993 – 30 years ago
An IRA truck bomb exploded in the Bishopsgate financial district in London. One person was killed (a press photographer) and 44 injured. It was the last major IRA bombing in England. Reconstruction cost over $400 million.

Apr 25, 1873 – 150 years ago
Birth of Walter de la Mare, British poet, children’s writer, short story writer and novelist.

Apr 26, 1933 – 90 years ago
The Gestapo, Nazi Germany’s secret police force, was established.

Apr 27, 1848 – 175 years ago
Slavery was abolished in the French colonies.

Apr 28, 1923 – 100 years ago
Wembley Stadium in London opened (as the British Empire Exhibition Stadium, commonly known as the Empire Stadium). It was demolished in 2003. The new Wembley Stadium opened on the same site in March 2007.

Apr 29, 1993 – 30 years ago
Queen Elizabeth II announced that Buckingham Palace would open to the public for the first time, to raise funds to repair fire damage at Windsor Castle.

Apr 30, 1948 – 75 years ago
The Land Rover, a British all-terrain vehicle, was officially launched at the Amsterdam Motor Show in the Netherlands.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2028 edition will be available from April 2023. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

Share this:

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in March 2023

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in March 2023

Posted on by admin

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in March 2023 (so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for “On This Day in History” features, biographies and anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with readers and viewers, and editors and producers love them. They’re easy to research too. And you can easily turn them into newspaper and magazine articles, TV/radio features, films, documentaries, and more.

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which features more than 3,000 anniversaries. . The 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

1 Mar 1873 – 150 years ago
Remington began producing the first practical typewriter – the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, also known as the Remington No. 1. It went on sale on 1st July 1874.

2 Mar 1933 – 90 years ago
The première of the film King Kong, in New York City, USA. (Released 7th April.)

3 Mar 1923 – 100 years ago
The first issue of Time magazine was published in the USA.

4 Mar 1933 – 90 years ago
Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States.

5 Mar 1623 – 400 years ago
The first American temperance law came into effect in the Colony of Virginia in an effort to control the consumption of alcohol.

6 Mar 1973 – 50 years ago
Death of Pearl S. Buck, American writer. The first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1938).

7 Mar 1848 – 175 years ago
The Great Mahele, Hawaii. The land of Hawaii was divided to protect it from foreign ownership. 1/3 was given to the Crown, 1/3 to the chiefs and managers, and 1/3 to the common people. The law required people to claim their land within two years. Many did not make a claim and the land was sold.

8 Mar 1723 – 300 years ago
Death of Sir Christopher Wren, English architect. Best known for designing St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

9 Mar 1993 – 30 years ago
Death of C. Northcote Parkinson, British historian and writer. Noted for his books on naval history and for formulating Parkinson’s Law (work expands to fill the time available for its completion).

10 Mar 1933 – 90 years ago
The Long Beach earthquake, California, USA. 120 people were killed.

11 Mar 1948 – 75 years ago
Reginald Weir became the first African American to play in an official United States Lawn Tennis Association event, after several years of lobbying to be accepted. His acceptance paved the way for Althea Gibson to take part the following year.

12 Mar 1933 – 90 years ago
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the first of his ‘fireside chats’ – a radio address to the nation. His first chat was about the banking crisis.

13 Mar 1933 – 90 years ago
Joseph Goebbels became the German Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

14 Mar 1983 – 40 years ago
OPEC agreed to cut oil prices for first time since it was founded in 1961.

15 Mar 1998 – 25 years ago
Death of Dr Benjamin Spock, American paediatrician and writer. Known for his best-selling book Baby and Child Care.

16 Mar 1898 – 125 years ago
Death of Aubrey Beardsley, British illustrator. His black ink drawings, influenced by Japanese woodcuts, contributed to the development of Art Nouveau.

17 Mar 1973 – 50 years ago
The new London Bridge opened in the UK.

18 Mar 1963 – 60 years ago
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Miranda decision: states must provide defendants in criminal cases with a lawyer if they are unable to afford their own. This led to the creation of the public defender system.

19 Mar 1848 – 175 years ago
Birth of Wyatt Earp, legendary American lawman, gambler and gunfighter of the Old West. Noted for his role in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881.

20 Mar 1993 – 30 years ago
An IRA bomb exploded at a shopping mall in Warrington, England. Two children were killed and more than 50 people were injured.

21 Mar 1963 – 60 years ago
The U.S. Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, closed.

22 Mar 1933 – 90 years ago
The first Nazi concentration camp opened in Dachau, Germany. The Nazis eventually established over 1,000 concentration camps throughout occupied Europe.

23 Mar 1983 – 40 years ago
U.S. President Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (’Star Wars’) system, which would use satellites to detect and destroy enemy missiles.

24 Mar 1953 – 70 years ago
Death of Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, (Mary of Teck), Queen Consort of King George V. Mother of King Edward VIII and King George VI. Grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II.

25 Mar 1948 – 75 years ago
The first official tornado forecast/warning. U.S. Air Force Captain Robert C. Miller and Major Ernest Fawbush predicted a high risk of a tornado strike at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Two large tornadoes struck the base that evening, damaging or destroying aircraft and buildings.

26 Mar 1923 – 100 years ago
BBC radio began broadcasting a daily weather forecast.

27 Mar 1963 – 60 years ago
Dr Richard Beeching, the chairman of British Railways, issued a report (The Reshaping of British Railways) which led to the closure of thousands of miles of railway lines and stations across the country – about a third of the rail network.

28 Mar 1963 – 60 years ago
The première of Alfred Hitchcock’s horror-thriller film The Birds, in New York City, USA. (Released: 29th March. UK première: 10th September, released 12th September.)

29 Mar 1948 – 75 years ago
Death of Harry Price, British psychic investigator. Best known for his investigation of the supposedly haunted Borley Rectory in Essex.

30 Mar 1953 – 70 years ago
Albert Einstein’s equations for a revised Unified Field Theory were published. They represented the relationship between the forces of gravity and electromagnetism, and their relationship to space, time and physical forces.

31 Mar 1973 – 50 years ago
The racehorse Red Rum won Britain’s Grand National steeplechase for the first time. The tightly fought battle for the finish is considered one of the greatest sporting moments. It was also a record-breaking time.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2028 edition will be available from April 2023. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

Share this:

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in March 2023 (U.S. edition)

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in March 2023 (U.S. edition)

Posted on by admin

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in March 2023 (so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for “On This Day in History” features, biographies and anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with readers and viewers, and editors and producers love them. They’re easy to research too. And you can easily turn them into newspaper and magazine articles, TV/radio features, films, documentaries, and more.

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which features more than 3,000 anniversaries. . The 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

Mar 1, 1873 – 150 years ago
Remington began producing the first practical typewriter – the Sholes and Glidden typewriter, also known as the Remington No. 1. It went on sale on July 1, 1874.

Mar 2, 1933 – 90 years ago
The premiere of the movie King Kong, in New York City, USA. (Released April 7th.)

Mar 3, 1923 – 100 years ago
The first issue of Time magazine was published in the USA.

Mar 4, 1933 – 90 years ago
Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States.

Mar 5, 1623 – 400 years ago
The first American temperance law came into effect in the Colony of Virginia in an effort to control the consumption of alcohol.

Mar 6, 1973 – 50 years ago
Death of Pearl S. Buck, American writer. The first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1938).

Mar 7, 1848 – 175 years ago
The Great Mahele, Hawaii. The land of Hawaii was divided to protect it from foreign ownership. 1/3 was given to the Crown, 1/3 to the chiefs and managers, and 1/3 to the common people. The law required people to claim their land within two years. Many did not make a claim and the land was sold.

Mar 8, 1723 – 300 years ago
Death of Sir Christopher Wren, English architect. Best known for designing St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Mar 9, 1993 – 30 years ago
Death of C. Northcote Parkinson, British historian and writer. Noted for his books on naval history and for formulating Parkinson’s Law (work expands to fill the time available for its completion).

Mar 10, 1933 – 90 years ago
The Long Beach earthquake, California, USA. 120 people were killed.

Mar 11, 1948 – 75 years ago
Reginald Weir became the first African American to play in an official United States Lawn Tennis Association event, after several years of lobbying to be accepted. His acceptance paved the way for Althea Gibson to take part the following year.

Mar 12, 1933 – 90 years ago
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the first of his “fireside chats” – a radio address to the nation. His first chat was about the banking crisis.

Mar 13, 1933 – 90 years ago
Joseph Goebbels became the German Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

Mar 14, 1983 – 40 years ago
OPEC agreed to cut oil prices for first time since it was founded in 1961.

Mar 15, 1998 – 25 years ago
Death of Dr Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician and writer. Known for his best-selling book Baby and Child Care.

Mar 16, 1898 – 125 years ago
Death of Aubrey Beardsley, British illustrator. His black ink drawings, influenced by Japanese woodcuts, contributed to the development of Art Nouveau.

Mar 17, 1973 – 50 years ago
The new London Bridge opened in the UK.

Mar 18, 1963 – 60 years ago
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Miranda decision: states must provide defendants in criminal cases with a lawyer if they are unable to afford their own. This led to the creation of the public defender system.

Mar 19, 1848 – 175 years ago
Birth of Wyatt Earp, legendary American lawman, gambler and gunfighter of the Old West. Noted for his role in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881.

Mar 20, 1993 – 30 years ago
An IRA bomb exploded at a shopping mall in Warrington, England. Two children were killed and more than 50 people were injured.

Mar 21, 1963 – 60 years ago
The U.S. Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, closed.

Mar 22, 1933 – 90 years ago
The first Nazi concentration camp opened in Dachau, Germany. The Nazis eventually established over 1,000 concentration camps throughout occupied Europe.

Mar 23, 1983 – 40 years ago
U.S. President Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (“Star Wars”) system, which would use satellites to detect and destroy enemy missiles.

Mar 24, 1953 – 70 years ago
Death of Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, (Mary of Teck), Queen Consort of King George V. Mother of King Edward VIII and King George VI. Grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II.

Mar 25, 1948 – 75 years ago
The first official tornado forecast/warning. U.S. Air Force Captain Robert C. Miller and Major Ernest Fawbush predicted a high risk of a tornado strike at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Two large tornadoes struck the base that evening, damaging or destroying aircraft and buildings.

Mar 26, 1923 – 100 years ago
BBC radio began broadcasting a daily weather forecast.

Mar 27, 1963 – 60 years ago
Dr. Richard Beeching, the chairman of British Railways, issued a report (The Reshaping of British Railways) which led to the closure of thousands of miles of railroad lines and stations across the country – about a third of the railroad network.

Mar 28, 1963 – 60 years ago
The premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s horror-thriller movie The Birds, in New York City, USA. (Released: March 29th. UK premiere: September 10th, released September 12th.)

Mar 29, 1948 – 75 years ago
Death of Harry Price, British psychic investigator. Best known for his investigation of the supposedly haunted Borley Rectory in Essex.

Mar 30, 1953 – 70 years ago
Albert Einstein’s equations for a revised Unified Field Theory were published. They represented the relationship between the forces of gravity and electromagnetism, and their relationship to space, time and physical forces.

Mar 31, 1973 – 50 years ago
The racehorse Red Rum won Britain’s Grand National steeplechase for the first time. The tightly fought battle for the finish is considered one of the greatest sporting moments. It was also a record-breaking time.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2028 edition will be available from April 2023. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

Share this:

29 newsworthy historical anniversaries in February 2023

29 newsworthy historical anniversaries in February 2023

Posted on by admin

Historical anniversaries are great for “On This Day in History” features and anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with readers and viewers, editors and producers love them, they’re easy to research, and you can easily turn them into newspaper and magazine articles, films, TV/radio/theatre shows, and more.

Here are 29 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in February 2023 (so you have time to write about them!)

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2027 edition will be available from 8th August 2022 and the 2028 edition from April 2023.

1 Feb 1948 – 75 years ago
The Federation of Malaya was established.

2 Feb 1923 – 100 years ago
Ethyl gasoline (leaded petrol) was first sold, in Dayton, Ohio, USA.

3 Feb 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Four Chaplains incident (also known as the Immortal Chaplains). The U.S. Army transport ship SS Dorchester was hit by a German torpedo in the North Atlantic and began to sink. There were not enough life jackets for all on board. Four U.S. Army chaplains removed theirs, handed them to soldiers, and went down with the ship.

4 Feb 1983 – 40 years ago
Death of Karen Carpenter, American singer and drummer (The Carpenters). (Anorexia, aged 32.)

5 Feb 1953 – 70 years ago
Walt Disney’s animated movie Peter Pan was released in the USA. (UK première: 17th April, released 27th July.)

6 Feb 1958 – 65 years ago
The Munich air disaster, Germany. A plane carrying the Manchester United football team (the ‘Busby Babes’), plus support staff and journalists, crashed while attempting to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich–Riem Airport. 23 people were killed, including 8 players.

7 Feb 1823 – 200 years ago
Death of Ann Radcliffe, British novelist. A pioneer of Gothic fiction. The most popular British writer of her era.

8 Feb 1983 – 40 years ago
The champion racehorse Shergar was kidnapped in Ireland and a £2 million ($2.75 million) ransom demanded. The horse’s fate remains unknown.

9 Feb 1773 – 250 years ago
Birth of William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (for one month in 1841). He died 31 days into his term and remains the shortest-serving U.S. President. He was also the first U.S. President to die in office.

10 Feb 1923 – 100 years ago
Death of Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist. Winner of the first Nobel Prize in Physics (1901) for discovering X-rays.

11 Feb 1963 – 60 years ago
Death of Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist and short story writer who wrote about alienation, death and self-destruction. Wife of the British poet Ted Hughes. (Suicide, aged 30.)

12 Feb 1993 – 30 years ago
Two 10-year-old boys abducted two-year-old James Bulger from a shopping centre in Liverpool, UK. His mutilated body was found on a nearby railway line two days later. They were charged with his abduction and murder on 20th February.

13 Feb 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Chuck Yeager, U.S. Air Force test pilot. The first pilot to break the sound barrier. (Died 2020.)

14 Feb 1933 – 90 years ago
The world’s first automated telephone speaking clock service was launched in France.

15 Feb 1898 – 125 years ago
The U.S. battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor, Cuba during a mission to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban War of Independence. 260 people were killed. Her sinking led to the Spanish–American War, which began on 21st April 1898. The cause of the explosion is unknown. Initially a mine was suspected, but some believe gases in the coal bunker may have spontaneously ignited.

16 Feb 1923 – 100 years ago
British archaeologist Howard Carter opened the sealed doorway to Tutankhamen’s tomb in Thebes, Egypt. The following day he entered the burial chamber and discovered a wealth of treasures.

17 Feb 2003 – 20 years ago
London’s Congestion Charge scheme began.

18 Feb 1848 – 175 years ago
Birth of Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist and designer.

19 Feb 1973 – 50 years ago
The pop song Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando was released. It became a worldwide hit.

20 Feb 1898 – 125 years ago
Birth of Enzo Ferrari, Italian racing driver and businessman. Founder of Ferrari.

21 Feb 1948 – 75 years ago
NASCAR was founded at Daytona Beach, Florida, USA.

22 Feb 1848 to 2 Dec – 175 years ago
The French Revolution of 1848, Paris, France. King Louis-Philippe was overthrown and the monarchy was abolished. The French Second Republic was established, but it collapsed in 1851.

23 Feb 1998 – 25 years ago
Osama bin Laden issued a fatwa against all Jews and Crusaders.

24 Feb 2008 – 15 years ago
The President of Cuba, Fidel Castro, resigned. He had ruled Cuba as Prime Minister (1959–76) and President (1976–2008). He was succeeded by his brother Raúl.

25 Feb 1963 – 60 years ago
British rock group the Beatles released their first single in the USA: Please Please Me.

26 Feb 1943 – 80 years ago
Death of Theodor Eicke, German Nazi SS general. One of the key figures in the establishment of concentration camps in Germany.
(Plane shot down during the Third Battle of Kharkov in WWII.)

27 Feb 1933 – 90 years ago
The German Reichstag (parliament building) in Berlin was destroyed by fire. The Nazis blamed the communists and used the opportunity to suspend civil liberties and freedom of expression (under the Reichstag Fire Decree of 28th February 1933).
Marinus van der Lubbe, a young Dutch communist, claimed responsibility, but the fire was almost certainly started by the Nazis themselves.

28 Feb 1953 – 70 years ago
British scientists Francis Crick and James D. Watson announced that they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA.
(The official announcement was published in Nature magazine on 25th April.)

29 Feb 2008 – 15 years ago
Prince Harry of the United Kingdom was immediately withdrawn from active service in Afghanistan after the media revealed he was secretly serving a tour of duty with British troops there.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2027 edition will be available from 8th August 2022. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

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