Tag: historical anniversaries

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in March 2024

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in March 2024

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Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in March 2024 (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 picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2024, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 Mar 1974 – 50 years ago
A national speed limit of 55 mph came into effect in the USA because of the oil crisis.
The limit was partially lifted in 1987 and fully repealed in 1995.

2 Mar 1949 – 75 years ago
U.S. Air Force Captain James Gallagher completed the first non-stop round-the-world flight.
He landed his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas, having taken off from there 94 hours and one minute earlier.

3 Mar 1849 – 175 years ago
The United States Department of the Interior was formed.

4 to 10 Mar 1899 – 125 years ago
Cyclone Mahina hit Bathurst Bay in Queensland, Australia, killing between 300 and 400 people.
It was the deadliest cyclone in Australian history, and may have been the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. It produced the largest-recorded storm surge of 43 feet (13 metres) which swept up to 3 miles (5 km) inland.

5 Mar 1984 to Mar 1985 – 40 years ago
The 1984 miners’ strike, UK.
6,000 coal miners in Yorkshire, England began a strike to protest against pit closures and job losses.
On 6th March the National Coal Board announced that 20 mines in the north of England, Scotland and Wales would close, with the loss of 20,000 jobs. On 12th March the strike in Yorkshire became a national one involving tens of thousands of miners.

6 Mar 1964 – 60 years ago
American world heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay was given the name Muhammad Ali after joining the Nation of Islam.

7 Mar 1274 – 750 years ago
Death of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Italian Dominican friar, Catholic priest, philosopher and theologian.

8 Mar 1974 – 50 years ago
Charles de Gaulle Airport opened in Paris, France.

9 Mar 1824 –200 years ago
Birth of Leland Stanford, American industrialist and politician.
Co-founder (with his wife) of Stanford University.
Governor of California (1862–63). U.S. Senator from California (1885–93).

10 Mar 1949 – 75 years ago
American Nazi wartime broadcaster ‘Axis Sally’ (Mildred Gillars) was found guilty of treason by a jury in Washington D.C., USA
She was sentenced to 10 – 30 years in prison and fined $10,000. She was released in June 1961.

11 Mar 1824 – 200 years ago
The Bureau of Indian Affairs was established in the USA. It is now a federal agency within the Department of the Interior.
It is responsible for laws and policies relating to American Indians and Alaska Natives.

12 Mar 1964 – 60 years ago
New Hampshire became the first U.S. state to legally sell lottery tickets.

13 Mar 1974 – 50 years ago
The U.S. Senate voted to restore the death penalty, which had been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1972.
The death penalty was restored in 1976.

14 Mar 1964 – 60 years ago
Jack Ruby, the American nightclub owner who shot Lee Harvey Oswald after he was arrested for assassinating U.S. President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.
He appealed, but died of lung cancer less than three years later.

15 Mar 1874 – 150 years ago
The Second Treaty of Saigon was signed by France and Vietnam. It effectively made Vietnam a French protectorate.

16 Mar 1774 – 250 years ago
Birth of Matthew Flinders, British navigator and cartographer.
He led the first inshore navigation of Australia, and was the first person to call the country by that name. He was also part of the expedition that confirmed that Tasmania was an island.

17 Mar 1899 – 125 years ago
The first radio distress signal was sent. It was transmitted by the East Goodwin Lightship to the South Foreland Lighthouse to summon a lifeboat when the merchant ship Elbe ran aground on the Goodwin Sands off the coast of Kent, England.

18 Mar 1899 – 125 years ago
Saturn’s moon Phoebe was discovered by American astronomer William Henry Pickering while he was studying photographic plates taken in Peru in August 1898. It was the first moon to be discovered from photos.

19 Mar 1524 – 500 years ago
Florentine explorer Giovanni de Varrazano became the first European to reach the Atlantic coast of North America.
He reached Pamlico Sound, North Carolina on this date, continued north to New Brunswick in Canada, and then sailed southwards, exploring and surveying the coast to Florida.

20 Mar 1974 – 50 years ago
Britain’s Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips escaped from an attempted kidnapping in London.
The would-be kidnapper shot and wounded three people who tried to intervene.

21 Mar 1999 – 25 years ago
Death of Ernie Wise, British comedian and actor (Morecambe and Wise).

22 Mar 1934 – 90 years ago
The first Masters Tournament was held at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, USA.

23 Mar 1924 – 100 years ago
Birth of Bette Nesmith Graham, American typist and artist. The inventor of Liquid Paper correction fluid.
Mother of the musician Michael Nesmith (The Monkees). (Died 1980.)

24 Mar 1874 – 150 years ago
Birth of Harry Houdini, Hungarian-born American escape artist, illusionist and stunt performer.

25 Mar 1924 – 100 years ago
Greece became a republic. The monarchy was abolished and the Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed.
Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis became its first president.

26 Mar 1934 – 90 years ago
Driving tests were introduced in Britain. They were voluntary until June 1935.

27 Mar 1899 – 125 years ago
The first international radio transmission.
Italian inventor and electrical engineer Guglielmo Marconi broadcast a radio telegraph message across the English channel from Wimereux in northern France to the South Foreland Lighthouse in England. The message was addressed to The Times newspaper and reported the success of his trials.

28 Mar 1964 – 60 years ago
Radio Caroline, Britain’s first off-shore pirate radio station, began broadcasting.

29 Mar 1974 – 50 years ago
The Terracotta Army was discovered in Shaanxi, China by a group of farmers who were digging a well.
The 8,000 life-sized warriors, plus chariots and horses were buried with the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (247 BC – 221 BC), to protect him in the afterlife. Non-military figures were later discovered in nearby pits. They included government officials, acrobats, musicians and strongmen.

30 Mar 1964 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the television quiz show Jeopardy! was broadcast on NBC in the USA.

31 Mar 1949 – 75 years ago
The first 7-inch 45 rpm vinyl single record was released. The first single was PeeWee the Piccolo, released by RCA Victor.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2024. The 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The anniversaries are available as PDF ebooks, Excel spreadsheets, and printed paperback books.

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, hundreds of article-writing tips and ideas, plus a 25 percent discount when you buy two or more editions of The Date-A-Base Book.

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29 newsworthy historical anniversaries in February 2024

29 newsworthy historical anniversaries in February 2024

Posted on by admin

Here are 29 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in February 2024 (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 picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2024, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 Feb 1964 – 60 years ago
The Beatles’ song I Want to Hold Your Hand became their first #1 hit on the USA’s Billboard Hot 100 chart.

2 Feb 1964 – 60 years ago
The action figure G.I. Joe was launched in the USA. (It was launched in the UK in 1966 as Action Man.)

3 Feb 1924 – 100 years ago
Death of Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States (1913–21).

4 Feb 1974 – 50 years ago
The Patty Hearst kidnapping. The granddaughter of American newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. After two months as a hostage, she joined her captors and helped them further their cause, and served two years in prison for bank robbery. She was later pardoned by U.S. President Bill Clinton.

5 Feb 1924 – 100 years ago
BBC Radio broadcast the ‘six-pips’ Greenwich Time Signal for the first time.

6 Feb 1959 – 65 years ago
Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed the first U.S. patent for an integrated circuit. Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor had a similar idea and filed his patent in the spring. Noyce’s patent was granted first, in April 1961, while Kilby’s application was still being analysed. Both men are now jointly recognised as the inventors of the integrated circuit.

7 Feb 1964 – 60 years ago
Beatlemania: the British rock band the Beatles arrived in New York City for their first U.S. tour, and were met by thousands of screaming fans. On 9th February they made their first live appearance on American television, on The Ed Sullivan Show, where they performed for an audience of 73 million people.

8 Feb 1924 – 100 years ago
The first coast-to-coast radio broadcast in the USA. General John Joseph Carty of Bell Telephone in Chicago, Illinois spoke to an estimated 50 million listeners.

9 Feb 1949 – 75 years ago
The world’s first Department of Space Medicine was established, at the U.S. Air Force School of Aviation Medicine in Texas. Hubertus Strughold became the first Professor of Space Medicine.

10 Feb 1824 – 200 years ago
Birth of Samuel Plimsoll, British politician and social reformer. Best known for creating the Plimsoll line which indicates a ship’s maximum safe draught. Plimsoll athletic shoes are so named because of their similar appearance to the Plimsoll lines on ships.

11 Feb 824 – 1200 years ago
Death of Pope Paschal I. Succeeded by Eugene II on 4th June.

12 Feb 1924 – 100 years ago
George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was performed for the first time, in New York City, USA.

13 Feb 1849 – 175 years ago
Birth of Lord Randolph Churchill, British politician. Chancellor of the Exchequer (1886), Leader of the House of Commons (1886–87), Secretary of State for India (1885–86). Father of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

14 Feb 1924 – 100 years ago
The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company was renamed the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

15 Feb 1874 – 150 years ago
Birth of Sir Ernest Shackleton, Irish-born British polar explorer. One of the leading explorers during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. He led three British expeditions to the Antarctic.

16 Feb 1824 – 200 years ago
The Athenaeum Club was founded in London.

17 – 22 Feb 1944 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Pacific Campaign – the Battle of Eniwetok Atoll.
U.S. victory.

18 Feb 1954 – 70 years ago
The Church of Scientology was founded in Los Angeles, California, USA.

19 Feb 1924 – 100 years ago
Birth of Lee Marvin, American film actor. Known for his tough-guy roles (The Big Heat, The Wild One, The Dirty Dozen, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Cat Ballou and more.) (Died 1987.)

20 Feb 1524 – 500 years ago
Death of Tecun Uman, Mayan ruler.
One of the last rulers of the K’iche’ people in what is now Guatemala.
Killed in battle by a Spanish conquistador.

21 Feb 1849 – 175 years ago
Second Anglo–Sikh War – the Battle of Gujrat (now in Pakistan).
British victory over the Sikh Empire.
As a result, the British won the war (which ended on 30th March) and annexed the Punjab.

22 Feb 1924 – 100 years ago
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge gave the first Presidential radio address, to an audience of around 5 million people.

23 Feb 1954 – 70 years ago
The first field test of the polio vaccine began in Pittsburgh, USA.
The trial initially involved just two schools, but in April a year-long national trial began, involving 1.8 million children.

24 Feb 1874 – 150 years ago
Birth of Honus Wagner, American baseball player.

25 Feb 1964 – 60 years ago
American boxer Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) became world heavyweight champion after beating Sonny Liston.

26 Feb – 1 Apr 1924 – 100 years ago
Adolf Hitler went on trial in Germany for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923. He was convicted of treason and sentenced to five years in prison, but served only nine months. While he was in prison, he dictated his autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf.

27 Feb 1999 – 25 years ago
The first pay-per-view football match was broadcast in the UK: Oxford United versus Sunderland.
Sky TV subscribers could watch the match live for £7.95.

28 Feb 1994 – 30 years ago
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (commonly known as the Brady Act or the Brady Bill) came into effect in the USA. It imposed a five-day waiting period and federal background checks on purchasers of firearms.
(The National Instant Criminal Background Check System was introduced in 1998 and the five-day waiting period was scrapped.)

29 Feb 2004 – 20 years ago
The President of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted in a coup after a three-week uprising. He was forced into exile in South Africa. He was succeeded by Boniface Alexandre who became the provisional president until May 2006.
(Aristide was allowed to return to Haiti in 2011.)

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2024. The 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The anniversaries are available as PDF ebooks, Excel spreadsheets, and printed paperback books.

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, hundreds of article-writing tips and ideas, 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 January 2024

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in January 2024

Posted on by admin

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in January 2024 (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 picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2024, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 Jan 1874 – 150 years ago
The Bronx was annexed by New York City.

2 Jan 1974 – 50 years ago
The maximum national speed limit in the USA was reduced to 55 MPH to conserve fuel during the OPEC oil embargo. The oil embargo was lifted in March 1974, but the speed limit remained in force and was made permanent in January 1975. It was repealed in 1995.

3 Jan 1624 – 400 years ago
Birth of William Tucker, the first African-American born in America.

4 Jan 1944 to 30 Apr 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II: Operation Carpetbagger. The U.S. Army Air Forces dropped weapons and supplies to resistance fighters in France, Italy and the Low Countries.

5 Jan 1949 – 75 years ago
U.S. President Harry S. Truman unveiled his Fair Deal programme in his State of the Union address.

6 Jan 1949 – 75 years ago
Genes were photographed for the first time, by Daniel C. Pease and Richard F. Baker at the University of Southern California, USA.

7 Jan 1934 – 90 years ago
The first Flash Gordon comic strip was published. It was created by Alex Raymond to compete with the Buck Rogers comic strip.

8 Jan 1324 – 700 years ago
Death of Marco Polo, Venetian/Italian merchant, explorer and writer. Best known for his book The Travels of Marco Polo, which details his travels along the Silk Road in Asia.

9 Jan 1949 – 75 years ago
Death of Tommy Handley, British radio comedian. Best known for It’s That Man Again (ITMA).

10 Jan 1924 – 100 years ago
Columbia Pictures, the American film studio and production company, was established. The company was originally founded as the Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales Corporation in 1918.

11 Jan 1964 – 60 years ago
The U.S. Surgeon General, Luther L. Terry, published a report which concluded that cigarette smoking caused lung cancer and chronic bronchitis. This was the first official U.S. government report on the health issues of smoking. Warnings were placed on packaging from January 1965. (An earlier report, published in the UK in March 1962, had reached the same conclusion.)

12 Jan 1959 – 65 years ago
The Motown record label was founded in Detroit, Michigan, USA by Berry Gordy. (It was initially known as Tamla Records.)

13 Jan 1964 – 60 years ago
Bob Dylan’s album The Times They Are A-Changin’ was released.

14 Jan 1994 – 30 years ago
U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the Kremlin Accords. They agreed to stop pre-targeting nuclear missiles at any nation, and to dismantle Russia’s nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

15 Jan 1924 – 100 years ago
The BBC broadcast the first play written specifically for radio: A Comedy of Danger by Richard Hughes.

16 Jan 1874 – 150 years ago
Birth of Robert W. Service, (‘the Bard of the Yukon’), British-born Canadian poet, writer and traveller. Best known for his poems about the Klondike Gold Rush.

17 Jan 1874 – 150 years ago
Death of Chang and Eng Bunker, Thai-American conjoined twins. The original Siamese twins.

18 Jan 1974 – 50 years ago
The first regular episode of the science fiction-action television series The Six Million Dollar Man was broadcast on ABC in the USA. It ran for five seasons until March 1978.

19 Jan 1949 – 75 years ago
Birth of Robert Palmer, British rock singer. His songs included Addicted to Love, Simply Irresistible and Bad Case of Loving You. (Died 2003.)

20 Jan 1964 – 60 years ago
The first Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue was published.

21 Jan 1924 – 100 years ago
Death of Vladimir Lenin, Russian communist leader. Architect and first head of the Soviet Union.

22 Jan 1984 – 40 years ago
The first Apple Macintosh computer went on sale.

23 Jan 1849 – 175 years ago
Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the USA to receive a medical degree.

24 Jan 1949 – 75 years ago
Birth of John Belushi, American comedian and actor (Saturday Night Live, The Blues Brothers). (Died 1982.)

25 Jan to 5 Feb 1924 – 100 years ago
The first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France.

26 Jan 1934 – 90 years ago
The Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York City, USA re-opened and began accepting black performers for the first time. It launched the careers of many popular singers and entertainers.

27 Jan 1984 – 40 years ago
American pop singer Michael Jackson suffered serious burns to his scalp when his hair caught fire while filming a Pepsi commercial.

28 Jan 1999 – 25 years ago
Yahoo! acquired the web hosting service GeoCities. The acquisition was hugely unpopular with users, and many of them left. The U.S. service shut down in 2009.

29 Jan 1944 – 80 years ago
The U.S. Navy battleship USS Missouri was launched. It was the last battleship built by the USA. Japan signed its surrender document on board it at the end of WWII in September 1945.

30 Jan to 2 Feb 1944 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Battle of Cisterna (Italy). German victory.

31 Jan 1954 – 70 years ago
Death of Edwin H. Armstrong, American inventor and electrical engineer who developed FM radio. (Suicide, aged 63.)

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2024. The 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The anniversaries are available as PDF ebooks, Excel spreadsheets, and printed paperback books.

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, hundreds of article-writing tips and ideas, 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 December 2023

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in December 2023

Posted on by admin

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in December 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 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 picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 Dec 1948 – 75 years ago
The board game Scrabble was copyrighted and trademarked, and the first sets went on sale. It was designed by James Brunot of Connecticut, USA. It was a revised version of an earlier game by Alfred Mosher Butts.

2 Dec 1823 – 200 years ago
U.S. President James Monroe issued his ‘Monroe Doctrine’. It stated that European interference in any state in the Americas would be treated as an act of hostility against the USA. This was a warning to European countries that were seeking to annex Latin American countries as they gained independence from Spain and Portugal. The doctrine also declared that the USA would remain neutral in European conflicts, and would not interfere in European affairs, but its sphere of interest included the entire Western Hemisphere.

3 Dec 1998 – 25 years ago
The first commercially successful MP3 player, the Diamond Rio PMP300 went on sale in the USA after an injunction filed by the RIAA was lifted. (It was not the first MP3 player, but it was the first successful one, selling around 200,000 units.)

4 Dec 1973 – 50 years ago
The U.S. space probe Pioneer 10 made its closest approach to Jupiter and sent back the first close-up images of the planet.

5 Dec 1933 – 90 years ago
Prohibition was repealed in the USA after more than 13 years.

6 Dec 1923 – 100 years ago
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge gave the first presidential address to be broadcast on radio.

7 Dec 1963 – 60 years ago
Videotaped instant replay was first used in a live sports broadcast in the USA. CBS broadcast an instant replay of a touchdown during the Army-Navy football game.
(Replays had been used since 1955, using film rather than tape, but it had taken several minutes to process them.)

8 Dec 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: Colossus Mark I, the world’s first programmable, electronic, digital computer, was completed, tested, and found to work satisfactorily. It was then dismantled and shipped (on 18th January 1944) to Britain’s secret cryptanalysis headquarters at Bletchley Park. It began operating there on 5th February, helping with the cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher.

9 Dec 1953 – 70 years ago
Red Scare: General Electric announced that all communist employees would be fired.

10 Dec 1898 – 125 years ago
The Spanish–American War officially ended when the USA and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris.
Spain relinquished its sovereignty of Cuba, and ceded Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the USA.
The USA paid compensation of $20 million in exchange for the Philippines.

11 Dec 1993 – 30 years ago
The novelty song Mr Blobby reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart. It was also the Christmas No. 1 single in the UK that year. It is regarded as one of the worst pop songs ever recorded.

12 Dec 1963 – 60 years ago
Kenya became independent from the UK. Jomo Kenyatta became its first president.

13 Dec 1948 – 75 years ago
Birth of Lillian Board, South African-born British athlete. 400 m and 800 m sprinter whose career was cut short when she developed cancer and died in 1970, aged 22.

14 Dec 1948 – 75 years ago
Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr and Estle Ray Mann were granted a U.S. patent for their ‘Cathode Ray Amusement Device’ – the first electronic game. (U.S. Patent No. 2,455,992). They built a few prototypes, but it was never produced commercially.

15 Dec 1973 – 50 years ago
The American Psychiatric Association declared that homosexuality was not a mental illness, and removed it from its list of mental disorders.

16 Dec 1773 – 250 years ago
The Boston Tea Party, Massachusetts, USA.
American patriots boarded ships and threw chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company into Boston Harbor, in a protest against the British Parliament’s tax on tea.

17 Dec 1983 – 40 years ago
An IRA car bomb exploded outside Harrods department store in London, killing 3 police officers and 3 members of the public.

18 Dec 1898 – 125 years ago
The first officially recognised land speed record (39.24 mph) was set by Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat of France in a Jeantaud Duc electric car.

19 Dec 1848 – 175 years ago
Death of Emily Brontë, British novelist and poet. Best known for her only novel Wuthering Heights. (Tuberculosis, aged 30.)

20 to 24 Dec 1963 – 60 years ago
Cyprus Crisis: Bloody Christmas.
Intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. 174 Greek Cypriots and 364 Turkish Cypriots were killed. About 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 104 villages were displaced into enclaves, and their houses were ransacked or destroyed.

21 Dec 1963 – 60 years ago
The Daleks made their first appearance on the British science fiction TV series Doctor Who.

22 Dec 1943 – 80 years ago
Death of Beatrix Potter, British children’s writer and illustrator. She created animal characters including Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, Jemima Puddle-Duck, and many more.

23 Dec 1823 – 200 years ago
The poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (commonly known as The Night Before Christmas) was first published (anonymously) in the Sentinel newspaper in Troy, New York, USA. It was written by Clement Clarke Moore.

24 Dec 1923 – 100 years ago
The USA’s first National Christmas Tree was lit up in the grounds of the White House.

25 Dec 1223 – 800 years ago
St. Francis of Assisi created the first nativity scene, in Greccio, Italy, after visiting Jesus’s birthplace in the Holy Land.
It proved enormously popular and inspired other communities to stage their own nativity scenes.

26 Dec 1933 – 90 years ago
The Nissan Motor Company was founded in Tokyo, Japan.

27 Dec 1923 – 100 years ago
Death of Gustave Eiffel, French civil and structural engineer and architect. Best known for designing the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France and the framework for the Statue of Liberty in New York City, USA.

28 Dec 1958 – 65 years ago
The 1958 National Football League (NFL) Championship Game – widely known as ‘the greatest football game ever played’.
The Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants 23 – 17 in sudden-death overtime.
It was the first championship game to go into overtime, and marked the beginning of NFL’s surge in popularity.

29 Dec 1923 – 100 years ago
Russian-born inventor Vladimir K. Zworykin filed a U.S. patent for the first electronic television system. (It was not granted until 1938.)

30 Dec 1948 – 75 years ago
The musical Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter opened on Broadway.
It ran for a total of 1,077 performances.
In 1949 it won the first Tony Award presented for Best Musical.

31 Dec 1923 – 100 years ago
The BBC broadcast the chimes of Big Ben for the first time, to welcome in the New Year. The tradition continues to this day.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The anniversaries are available as PDF ebooks, Excel spreadsheets, and printed paperback books.

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, hundreds of article-writing tips and ideas, 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 November 2023

30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in November 2023

Posted on by admin

Here are 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in November 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 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 picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 Nov 1848 – 175 years ago
The first railway bookstall was opened by W. H. Smith at Euston Station, London, UK.

2 Nov 1948 – 75 years ago
Harry S. Truman was re-elected as U.S. President for a second term, in the greatest election upset in U.S. history. Every prediction had indicated that Thomas E. Dewey would win. The Chicago Daily Tribune famously (and erroneously) announced Dewey’s ‘victory’ on the front page of its 3rd November issue.

3 Nov 1983 – 40 years ago
In a referendum, the white citizens of South Africa voted to approve the Tricameral Parliament. Indian and coloured South Africans would be represented by new, separate parliamentary chambers, while blacks would continue to be excluded. The new parliament was established in September 1984 and remained in effect until 1994.

4 Nov 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Alfred (‘Freddy’) Heineken, Dutch brewery executive. He turned Heineken into a worldwide brand using innovative marketing methods. (Died 2002.)

5 Nov 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Vatican City was bombed – the only time this happened during the war. The perpetrators remained a mystery for decades, but it is now known that Italian Fascists dropped five bombs from an unmarked plane in an attempt to knock out the radio station, which they believed was broadcasting military messages to the enemy. Four of the bombs exploded, causing some damage, but no deaths were reported.

6 Nov 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Soviet Red Army recaptured Kiev (now in Ukraine) from the Germans. The Germans had destroyed numerous historic buildings.

7 Nov 1973 – 50 years ago
The War Powers Resolution came into effect in the USA. It limits the President’s power to commit the country to an armed conflict without congressional approval.

8 Nov 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Jack Kilby, American electrical engineer. Joint winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for co-inventing the integrated circuit. He also designed the first pocket calculator. (Died 2005.)

9 Nov 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Alice Coachman, American athlete. The first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal (1948, high jump).

10 Nov 1983 – 40 years ago
American computer student Fred Cohen demonstrated the first computer virus at a computer security seminar. He had created the virus with computer scientist Len Adleman on 3rd November.

11 Nov 1923 – 100 years ago
The eternal flame at the tomb of the unknown solder under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France was lit. It was the first modern-day eternal flame in Europe.

12 Nov 1933 – 90 years ago
The first known photographs of the Loch Ness Monster were taken by Hugh Gray, a local man, during one of his regular Sunday walks. (1 photo was later confirmed to be a hoax, and 4 of the others were blank.)

13 Nov 1973 – 50 years ago
Britain declared a state of emergency as a strike by coal miners caused supplies to dwindle. A 3-Day Week was introduced to conserve supplies.

14 Nov 1948 – 75 years ago
Birth of King Charles III of the United Kingdom.

15 Nov 1963 – 60 years ago
The island of Surtsey, off the coast of Iceland, was ‘born’ when an under-water volcano erupted and rose above the surface of the sea.

16 Nov 1873 – 150 years ago
Birth of W. C. Handy, (‘the Father of the Blues’), American blues/jazz composer and trumpet player who introduced Delta blues to a national audience.

17 Nov 1873 – 150 years ago
Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, was formed when the cities of Buda, Pest and Óbuda merged.

18 Nov 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Alan B. Shepard, American astronaut. The first American in space. (Died 1998).

19 Nov 1523 – 500 years ago
Pope Clemens VII was elected.

20 Nov 1923 – 100 years ago
American inventor Garrett Morgan was granted a U.S. patent for the three-position traffic light. (U.S. Patent No. 1,475,024.)

21 Nov 1953 – 70 years ago
British scientists revealed that the fossilised skull of ‘Piltdown Man’, discovered in England in 1912 and thought to be from one of the earliest humans, was a hoax constructed from the skulls of 3 different species.

22 Nov 1963 – 60 years ago
U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas by suspected gunman Lee Harvey Oswald. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President.

23 Nov 1963 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the science fiction television series Doctor Who was broadcast in the UK. It is the longest-running and most successful science fiction TV series in the world.

24 Nov 1923 – 100 years ago
Radio Belgium began broadcasting.

25 Nov 1923 – 100 years ago
The first two-way transatlantic radio broadcast. Amateur radio enthusiast Leon Deloy from Nice, France conversed with two other amateur radio operators, Fred Schnell and with John Reinartz, in the USA. They sent Morse code messages using shortwave radios.

26 Nov 1948 – 75 years ago
The first Polaroid instant cameras (the model 95 Land Camera) went on sale, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

27 Nov 1998 – 25 years ago
The Sega Dreamcast video games console was released in Japan. It was Sega’s last games console. (North America: 9th September 1999, Europe: 14th October 1999.)

28 Nov 1958 – 65 years ago
The USA carried out its first successful full-range flight of an Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).
The Soviet Union had already fully tested its first ICBM (the R-7) in August 1957.

29 Nov 1898 – 125 years ago
Birth of C. S. Lewis, Irish-born British novelist, theologian and broadcaster. Best known for The Chronicles of Narnia.

30 Nov 1993 – 30 years ago
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (commonly known as the Brady Bill) was signed into law in the USA by U.S. President Bill Clinton. It required a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases, and background checks of prospective buyers.
(Effective from 28th February 1994.)

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The anniversaries are available as PDF ebooks, Excel spreadsheets, and printed paperback books.

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, hundreds of article-writing tips and ideas, 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 October 2023

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in October 2023

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Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in October 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 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 picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 Oct 1873 – 150 years ago
Death of Edwin Landseer, British artist and sculptor. Known for his animal paintings, and for the lion sculptures at the base of Nelson’s Column in London.

2 Oct 1973 – 50 years ago
Death of Paavo Nurmi, Finnish middle- and long-distance runner. Olympic gold medallist (9 times). He set 25 world records.

3 – 4 Oct 1993 – 30 years ago
Somali Civil War – the Battle of Mogadishu. Also known as the First Battle of Mogadishu, the Battle of the Black Sea, or the Black Hawk Down incident. After the battle, the Somalis dragged dead U.S. soldiers through the streets – an event that was broadcast on U.S. television. This led to a public outcry and is thought to have influenced the USA’s decision not to intervene in the Rwandan genocide.

4 Oct 1958 – 54 years ago
The French Fifth Republic was established.

5 Oct 1948 – 75 years ago
The Ashgabat earthquake, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (now Turkmenistan). 110,000 people were killed (some sources say 176,000). It was one of the deadliest earthquakes in human history. Some have speculated that it was caused by Soviet atomic bomb tests.

6 Oct 1923 – 100 years ago
The Soviet Union adopted the ‘Eternal Calendar’. Each week had 5 days, there were 6 weeks to a month, and all months had 30 days. The remaining 5 days were national holidays and were given names rather than dates. In 1931 the calendar was replaced with one with 6-day weeks. It used the Gregorian calendar from 1940 onwards.

7 Oct 1943 – 80 years ago
Death of Radclyffe Hall, British writer and poet. Best known for her controversial novel The Well of Loneliness, which was banned in Britain because of its descriptions of lesbianism.

8 Oct 1873 – 150 years ago
Indiana Women’s Prison opened in Indianapolis (as the Indiana Reformatory Institute). It was the first women’s correctional facility in the USA.

9 Oct 1873 – 150 years ago
Birth of Charles Rudolph Walgreen, American pharmacist and businessman. Founder of the Walgreens chain of pharmacies.

10 Oct 1973 – 50 years ago
U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after being charged with tax evasion. He was succeeded by Gerald Ford on 6th December.

11 Oct 1983 – 40 years ago
The last hand-cranked telephones in the USA (in the village of Bryant Pond, Maine) went out of service as the local exchange was upgraded to a modern direct-dial system.

12 Oct 1773 – 250 years ago
The first psychiatric hospital in the USA opened in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Public Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds is now known as Eastern State Hospital.

13 Oct 1923 – 100 years ago
Ankara became the capital of Turkey.

14 Oct 1963 – 60 years ago
The French-language folk song Dominique by The Singing Nun was released. It became a worldwide hit throughout December, while the world was reeling from the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

15 Oct 1963 – 60 years ago
The term ‘Beatlemania’ first appeared in the Daily Mirror newspaper in the UK. It described the intense, frenzied reaction of fans of the Beatles.

16 Oct 1923 – 100 years ago
The Walt Disney Company was founded by Walt and Roy Disney (as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio).

17 Oct 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Burma Railway (also known as the Thailand–Burma Railway or the Death Railway) was completed. The Japanese built it using Asian labourers and Allied prisoners-of-war, thousands of whom died.
(One of the railway bridges is the famous Bridge over the River Kwai.)

18 Oct 1958 – 65 years ago
The world’s first video game, Tennis for Two, was introduced. It was developed by American physicist William Higinbotham at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The display screen was an oscilloscope. At the time, it was only known inside the lab, and was shown to visitors on open days.

19 Oct 1943 – 80 years ago
The antibiotic streptomycin was first isolated by Albert Schatz at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. It was the first effective cure for tuberculosis. (The discovery was originally credited to his supervisor, Selman Waksman, who was awarded a Nobel Prize for his work. The discovery was the subject of a litigation case and they are both now listed as co-discoverers.)

20 Oct 1973 – 50 years ago
Sydney Opera House in Australia was opened by Queen Elizabeth II.

21 Oct 1923 – 100 years ago
The world’s first planetarium projector (made by Zeiss) opened at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany.

22 Oct 1983 – 40 years ago
Two correctional officers were killed by inmates at the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. The prison went into indefinite lockdown for the next 23 years, with prisoners isolated in their cells for 23 hours per day. This inspired the ‘supermax’ model of prisons.

23 Oct 1998 – 25 years ago
Swatch Internet Time was introduced. It divides each day into 1,000 ‘beats’.

24 Oct 1933 – 90 years ago
Birth of Ronnie and Reggie Kray, (the Kray twins), British gangsters who ruled the East End of London in the 1950s and 60s.
(Died 1995 and 2000 respectively.)

25 Oct 1983 – 40 years ago
Microsoft Word 1.0 was released. It was the first version of the popular word processor, and Microsoft’s first full-featured application.

26 Oct 1958 – 65 years ago
The Boeing 707, the USA’s first jet airliner, went into commercial service with Pan American World Airways.
The first flight was from New York to Paris, France.

27 Oct 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Roy Lichtenstein, American Pop artist. Known for his comic book-style paintings. (Died 1997.)

28 Oct 1943 – 80 years ago
The Philadelphia Experiment. A U.S. Navy escort ship, the USS Eldridge, was apparently rendered invisible while work was being carried out to hide it from enemy radar. Some claim the ship travelled through time and was seen briefly over 200 miles away.
The story is widely regarded as a hoax, but has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories and a Hollywood film.

29 Oct 1923 – 100 years ago
The Republic of Turkey was proclaimed. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became its first president.

30 Oct 1983 – 40 years ago
The online videotext service Viewtron was launched in the USA. Although it was primarily a news service, most subscribers used it for email and live chat, and it never made a profit. It was discontinued in March 1986.

31 Oct 1993 – 30 years ago
Death of Federico Fellini, Italian film director and screenwriter.

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 5th April 2023.

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, hundreds of article-writing tips and ideas, 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 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.

Share this:

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.

Share this:

The Date-A-Base Book Spreadsheet Edition

The Date-A-Base Book Spreadsheet Edition

Posted on by admin

Introducing
The Date-A-Base Book
Excel spreadsheet edition

The Date-A-Base Book 2023 Spreadsheet Edition

It was your most-requested new feature … and it’s finally here!

The 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027 ebook editions all now include an Excel spreadsheet edition*.

So now you can sort, group and search the anniversaries your way.

The Excel spreadsheet is included with every ebook edition at no extra charge (for a limited time).

(*It will also work with most other spreadsheet applications, including Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, OpenOffice, Libre Office, and more.)

Already bought your copy and didn’t get the spreadsheet?
Send us a message at mail@ideas4writers.com and we’ll send you the link to download it.

Bought the printed copy not the ebook?
Send us your proof of purchase from Amazon and we’ll send you the link to download it.

Need copies for other years?
Order yours at ideas4writers.com

Extra features!

The 2023 and 2024 spreadsheets include four additional columns:

the Type of anniversary (e.g. Birth, Military Operation, Space Launch)
the Subtype (e.g. Actor, Civil War, Satellite)
the Location (e.g. UK, USA, Australia)
and the Region (e.g. London, California, Queensland).

The 2025, 2026 and 2027 spreadsheets do not yet have these additional columns, but we’ll add them as and when we can.
If you buy these editions, we’ll send you the updated versions as soon as they become available.

We’ve also started work on the 2028 edition, which should be available from April.

Happy New Year from ideas4writers!

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:

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