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31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in March 2023

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in March 2023

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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.

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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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31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in January 2023

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in January 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 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in January 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 August 2022 and the 2028 edition from April 2023.

1 Jan 1898 – 125 years ago
The modern City of New York was formed when Brooklyn, the County of New York, the County of Richmond, and the western portion of the County of Queens were consolidated. Staten Island was added on 25th January.

2 Jan 1873 – 150 years ago
Birth of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, French Carmelite nun. Also known as Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, The Little Flower of Jesus, or The Little Flower. One of the most popular saints in the history of the Catholic Church.

3 Jan 1983 – 40 years ago
Time magazine put a personal computer on its front cover as ‘Machine of the Year’ instead of its usual ‘Man of the Year’.

4 Jan 1923 – 100 years ago
The first radio network in the USA was created. The ‘WEAF chain’ was created when AT&T linked WEAF (now WFAN) in New York City with WNAC (now WRKO) in Boston, Massachusetts. Only one programme was transmitted from New York to Boston during this trial. A longer three-month trial began on 1st July when WEAF provided programming for WMAF in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Other networks also began operating during that summer.

5 Jan 1948 – 75 years ago
Warner Brothers–Pathé showed the first colour newsreel. It featured the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl football game, both filmed in Pasadena, California, USA on 1st January.

6 Jan 1958 – 65 years ago
The Gibson Guitar Company launched its iconic ‘Flying V’ electric guitar.

7 Jan 1943 – 80 years ago
Death of Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American mechanical and electrical engineer and inventor. He made many important discoveries and developments in the field of electrical power.

8 Jan 1823 – 200 years ago
Birth of Alfred Russel Wallace, British naturalist, biologist and explorer. He independently conceived the theory of evolution. His work led Charles Darwin to publish On the Origin of Species.

9 Jan 1873 –150 years ago
Death of Napoleon III, first President of France (1848–52) and last Emperor of France (1852–70). Nephew of Napoleon I (Napoleon Bonaparte).

10 Jan 1923 – 100 years ago
U.S. President Warren G. Harding ended the U.S. occupation of Germany following the end of WWI, and ordered the final U.S. troops stationed there to return home.

11 Jan 1963 – 60 years ago
The first discotheque in the USA opened: the Whisky-a-Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, California.

12 Jan 1773 – 250 years ago
The Charleston Museum was founded in South Carolina. It is regarded as the first museum in America. It opened to the public in 1824.

13 Jan 1898 – 125 years ago
Dreyfus affair: French writer Émile Zola’s letter J’accuse…! was published in the newspaper L’Aurore. It was addressed to the President of France and accused the government of anti-Semitism and the unlawful imprisonment of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew who had been falsely convicted of treason. (Zola was later convicted of libel and fled to the UK to avoid imprisonment.)

14 Jan 1963 – 60 years ago
George C. Wallace was sworn in as the Governor of Alabama, USA. During his inauguration speech he declared: ‘segregation now; segregation tomorrow; segregation forever!’

15 Jan 1943 – 80 years ago
The Pentagon, in Arlington County, Virginia, USA was dedicated. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, and was the largest office building in the world at that time.

16 Jan 1963 – 60 years ago
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev claimed that the USSR had a 100-megaton nuclear bomb.

17 Jan 1953 – 70 years ago
Chevrolet displayed the first Corvette sports car at the General Motors Motorama show in New York City, USA. It was only a concept car at this stage, but proved so popular that it was put into production in June.

18 Jan 1948 – 75 years ago
The first episode of the talent show The Original Amateur Hour was broadcast on the DuMont Television Network in the USA. It ran for 22 years.

19 Jan 1943 – 80 years ago
Birth of Janis Joplin, American blues/rock singer. (Died 1970.)

20 Jan 1953 – 70 years ago
Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States. It was the first inauguration to be televised live coast to coast.

21 Jan 1948 – 75 years ago
Quebec, Canada officially adopted its flag. The day is now celebrated annually as Quebec Flag Day.

22 Jan 1973 – 50 years ago
Abortion was legalised in the USA. (Supreme Court ruling: Roe v. Wade.)

23 Jan 1983 – 40 years ago
The first episode of the action-adventure television series The A-Team was broadcast on NBC TV in the USA. It ran for five seasons and became a cultural icon.

24 Jan 1848 – 175 years ago
California Gold Rush: the first gold was discovered by construction worker James W. Marshall. He found flakes of gold in the South Fork American River while constructing Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento.

25 Jan 1933 – 90 years ago
The University of Iowa launched the first educational television service in the USA. W9XK was a low-definition station based on a mechanical (spinning disc) TV system.

26 Jan 1823 – 200 years ago
Death of Edward Jenner, British physician and immunologist who created the first vaccine (for smallpox).

27 Jan 1948 – 75 years ago
IBM dedicated the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC) at its world headquarters in New York City, USA. It was the last large electro-mechanical computer to be built. It operated until 1952. One of its tasks was to calculate tables of Moon positions, which were later used by NASA during its Apollo missions.

28 Jan 1953 – 70 years ago
Death of Derek Bentley, British teenager hanged for murdering a police officer after a controversial trial. (Conviction quashed in 1998.) His case was a key part of the campaign to abolish capital punishment in the UK.

29 Jan 1963 – 60 years ago
Britain was refused entry into the European Economic Community (EEC). Its application was vetoed by French President Charles de Gaulle. (Britain eventually joined the EEC on 1st January 1973. The EEC became the European Union (EU), which Britain left in 2020.)

30 Jan 1873 – 150 years ago
Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in Eighty Days was first published in its entirety. (It was serialised between October and December 1872.)

31 Jan 1958 (1st Feb UTC) – 65 years ago
The USA’s first satellite, Explorer I, was launched. It detected the Van Allen radiation belt. It remained in operation until 23rd May when its batteries were depleted, and it burnt up in the Earth’s atmosphere in 1970.

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, and the 2027 edition will be available from August 2022.
Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

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31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in December 2022

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in December 2022

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 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in December 2022 (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 2022. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions are also available if you work further ahead, and the 2027 edition will be available from August 2022.

1 Dec 1942 – 80 years ago
The British Government published the Beveridge Report, which formed the basis of the welfare state.

2 Dec 1942 – 80 years ago
The first man-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved at the University of Chicago, Illinois, USA by Enrico Fermi and his team. They used Chicago Pile-1, the world’s first nuclear reactor.

3 Dec 1947 – 75 years ago
Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire opened on Broadway.

4 Dec 1872 – 150 years ago
The U.S. cargo ship Mary Celeste was spotted sailing erratically near the Azores. It was found to be dishevelled but seaworthy, had ample supplies, and the crews’ personal belongings were untouched. The lifeboat was missing, and the crew had apparently abandoned the ship nine days earlier, for an unknown reason. They were never heard from again.

5 – 8 Dec 1952 – 70 years ago
The Great Smog of London. Dense, cold, smoke-filled fog brought the city to a standstill for four days. More than 4,000 people died.

6 Dec 1922 – 100 years ago
The Irish Free State was established. It became the Republic of Ireland in 1937.

7 Dec 1982 – 40 years ago
American murderer Charles Brooks Jr. became the first person in the USA to be executed by lethal injection, at the Texas State Penitentiary, Huntsville.

8 Dec 1952 – 70 years ago
Death of Charles Lightoller, British naval commander. Second officer on the Titanic. The most senior officer to survive, and last survivor to be rescued.

9 Dec 1962 – 60 years ago
Petrified Forest National Park was established in Arizona, USA.

10 Dec 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II: the first test flight of Germany’s V-1 flying bomb (also known as the doodlebug or buzz bomb). Thousands of V-1s were launched into England between June and October 1944, and then into Belgium between October 1944 and March 1945.

11 Dec 1922 – 100 years ago
Gabriel Narutowicz became the first President of the Republic of Poland. He was assassinated five days later.

12 Dec 1982 – 40 years ago
30,000 women joined hands around the Greenham Common RAF base in Berkshire, UK to protest against the siting of U.S. Cruise missiles there.

13 Dec 1962 – 60 years ago
NASA launched Relay 1, the first communications satellite to transmit TV broadcasts across the Pacific. It also transmitted fax, telephone and teleprinter signals. It continued operating until February 1965.

14 Dec 1947 – 75 years ago
NASCAR (the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) was founded at Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. The first race was held on 15th February 1948.

15 Dec 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Guadalcanal campaign – the Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse (also known as the Battle of the Gifu). Allied victory.

16 Dec 1947 – 75 years ago
American physicists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain invented the transistor at Bell Telephone Laboratories, New Jersey.
They, along with William Shockley who further refined the invention, were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.

17 Dec 1997 – 25 years ago
Handguns were banned in the UK.

18 – 29 Dec 1972 – 50 years ago
Vietnam War – Operation Linebacker II. The USA’s heaviest bombing of North Vietnam during the war.
This extension to Operation Linebacker (May – October 1972) used heavy bomber aircraft rather than small tactical aircraft.

19 Dec 1932 – 90 years ago
The BBC World Service was launched (as the BBC Empire Service).

20 Dec 1957 – 65 years ago
American singer Elvis Presley received his draft papers at the height of his fame. He was granted a deferment to complete work on the film musical King Creole, and was inducted into the U.S. Army for two years’ service on 24th March 1958.

21 Dec 1872 to 1876 – 150 years ago
The Challenger expedition. A British expedition to explore the world, led by Captain George Nares on HMS Challenger. The expedition made many advances and discoveries, catalogued more than 4,000 new species, and laid the foundations for the field of oceanography.

22 Dec 1962 to 5 Mar 1963 – 60 years ago
The Big Freeze in Britain – one of the coldest winters on record. On 29th – 30th December the south-west of England and Wales were hit by a blizzard, with snow drifts more than 20 feet deep.

23 Dec 1972 – 50 years ago
Death of Andrei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer

24 Dec 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Ava Gardner, American film actress (Mogambo, The Barefoot Contessa, The Night of the Iguana, and many more). (Died 1990.)

25 Dec 1932 – 90 years ago
The first Royal Christmas Message was broadcast on the radio in the UK. King George V addressed the nation live from Sandringham.

26 Dec 1982 – 40 years ago
Time magazine’s Man of the Year award was given to a machine: the computer.

27 Dec 1822 – 200 years ago
Birth of Louis Pasteur, French biologist, microbiologist and chemist. One of the fathers of germ theory. Best known for his discoveries relating to the prevention of diseases, including the pasteurisation process which is named in his honour.

28 Dec 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Stan Lee, American comic book writer, editor and publisher (Marvel Comics). He co-created numerous superhero characters including SpiderMan, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow, the Fantastic Four, Ant-Man, and more. (Died 2018.)

29 Dec 1952 – 70 years ago
The first commercial product to use a transistor went on sale in the USA: the Sonotone 1010 hearing aid. It was a hybrid device because it also included two miniature vacuum tubes. All-transistor models were introduced a few years later when the technology had improved and transistors produced less electrical noise.

30 Dec 1922 – 100 years ago
The Soviet Union was founded. (Officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – USSR.) It was dissolved in 1991.

31 Dec 1997 – 25 years ago
Quaker Oats and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) agreed to pay $1.85 million to the former residents of a state school in Massachusetts, USA. They were used in radioactivity and nutrition experiments in the 1940s and 1950s. As students they were fed radiation-laced breakfast cereal without their knowledge or consent.

More anniversaries:

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

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30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in November 2022

30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in November 2022

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 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in November 2022 (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 2022. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions are also available if you work further ahead, and the 2027 edition will be available from August 2022.

1 Nov 1952 – 70 years ago
The USA carried out the first successful detonation of a hydrogen bomb, in a test on the Pacific island of Elugelab, Marshall Islands. The island was completely destroyed and no longer exists.

2 Nov 1772 – 250 years ago
The Morning Post newspaper was first published in the UK. It ran until 1937 when it merged with The Daily Telegraph.

3 Nov 1957 – 65 years ago
The Soviet Union launched its Sputnik 2 spacecraft. It was the second spacecraft launched into orbit, and the first to carry a living animal – a dog named Laika, who died from overheating after a few hours. The spacecraft re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and burnt up in April 1958.

4 Nov 1922 – 100 years ago
British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen. On 26th November he reached a second sealed doorway and discovered the famous treasures.

5 Nov 1872 – 150 years ago
Women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony voted in the U.S. presidential election (in which the incumbent Ulysses S. Grant was re-elected). She was arrested (on 18th November) and fined $100, generating national controversy. This was a key moment in the women’s suffrage movement.

6 Nov 1947 – 75 years ago
The first episode of the news/current affairs television show Meet the Press was broadcast on NBC in the USA. It is still running and is the world’s longest-running TV programme.

7 Nov 1932 – 90 years ago
The first episode of the science fiction series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was broadcast on CBS radio in the USA.

8 Nov 1622 – 400 years ago
Birth of Charles X Gustav, King of Sweden (1654–60).

9 Nov 1872 – 150 years ago
The Great Boston Fire, Massachusetts, USA. Most of the downtown and financial districts were destroyed and 13 people were killed. It caused $1.4 billion worth of damage (in today’s money).

10 Nov 1982 – 40 years ago
Death of Leonid Brezhnev, leader of the Soviet Union (1964–82). Succeeded by Yuri Andropov.

11 Nov 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist, playwright and short story writer. (Died 2007.)

12 Nov 1992 – 30 years ago
The first episode of the TV comedy series Absolutely Fabulous was broadcast in the UK.

13 Nov 1982 – 40 years ago
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., USA was dedicated.

14 Nov 1922 – 100 years ago
The BBC launched its daily radio service on the radio station 2LO.

15 Nov 2002 – 20 years ago
Death of Myra Hindley, British serial killer. One of the notorious ‘Moors Murderers’, along with Ian Brady.

16 Nov 1272 – 750 years ago
Death of Henry III, King of England (1216–72). Succeeded by his son Edward I.

17 Nov 1962 – 60 years ago
Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., USA was dedicated.

18 Nov 1922 – 100 years ago
Death of Marcel Proust, French novelist. Best known for his 7-volume novel In Search of Lost Time (or Remembrance of Things Past).

19 Nov 2007 – 15 years ago
Amazon released its first Kindle e-book reader.

20 Nov 1947 – 75 years ago
The marriage of Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London.

21 Nov 1897 – 125 years ago
Birth of Vito Genovese, Italian-born American mobster. He played a leading role in the rise of the Mafia and organised crime in the USA, and was a Mafia enforcer.

22 Nov 1997 – 25 years ago
Death of Michael Hutchence, Australian rock singer and songwriter (INXS). (Found hanged, aged 37.)

23 Nov 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II: the U.S. Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPARS) was established.

24 Nov 1947 – 75 years ago
The ‘Hollywood Ten’ were blacklisted by film studios for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. A wider ‘Hollywood Blacklist’ came into effect on 25th November.

25 Nov 1947 – 75 years ago
New Zealand became a fully independent sovereign state when the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act received Royal Assent.

26 Nov 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Charles M. Schulz, American cartoonist. Creator of the Peanuts comic strip, which ran for almost 50 years. (Died 2000.)

27 Nov 1942 – 80 years ago
Birth of Jimi Hendrix, American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. (Died 1970.)

28 Nov 1942 – 80 years ago
Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The nightclub was destroyed and 492 people were killed.

29 Nov 1972 – 50 years ago
Pong, the first commercially successful video game, was released by Atari as a coin-operated arcade game. The first machine was installed without any fanfare in a bar in Sunnyvale, California, USA.

30 Nov 1982 – 40 years ago
Michael Jackson’s album Thriller was released.

More anniversaries:

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

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31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in October 2022

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in October 2022

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 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in October 2022 (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 2022. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2026 edition will be available in April 2022 and the 2027 edition will be available from July 2022.

1 Oct 1982 – 40 years ago
The world’s first compact disc (CD) player (the Sony CDP-101) went on sale in Japan. (North America/Europe: March 1983.)

2 Oct 1872 – 150 years ago
In Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in Eighty Days, Phileas Fogg sets off from London on this day to begin his round-the-world journey. He must return by 21st December to win his £20,000 bet.

3 Oct 1872 – 150 years ago
The first Bloomingdale’s department store opened in New York City, USA. (It was named Bloomingdale’s Great East Side Bazaar.)

4 Oct 1822 – 200 years ago
Birth of Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (1877–81).

5 Oct 1962 – 60 years ago
The UK première of the first James Bond film Dr. No. (Released 10th October. USA: May 1963.)

6 Oct 1992 – 30 years ago
Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre was published (under the pen name Currer Bell).

7 Oct 1922 – 100 years ago
Death of Marie Lloyd, (the ‘Queen of the Music Hall’) British music hall singer, comedian and actress.
Known for songs including My Old Man (Said Follow the Van), The Boy I Love Is Up in the Gallery and Oh Mr Porter What Shall I Do.

8 Oct 1982 – 40 years ago
Solidarity and all other trade unions in Poland were banned.

9 Oct 1962 – 60 years ago
Uganda gained its independence from the UK.

10 Oct 1957 – 65 years ago
Windscale nuclear reactor fire, Cumbria, UK.
The Windscale (now Sellafield) reactor caught fire and spread radioactive contamination across the UK and Europe. It was the world’s first major nuclear accident and is thought to have caused at least 240 cancer cases.

11 Oct 1922 – 100 years ago
Alaska P. Davidson was appointed as the first female FBI special agent in the USA.

12 Oct 1997 – 25 years ago
Death of John Denver, American singer and songwriter. His hit songs include Leaving on a Jet Plane, Take Me Home, Country Roads, Rocky Mountain High, and more). (Plane crash.)

13 Oct 1997 – 25 years ago
British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was the first Prime Minister to meet Sinn Féin’s leadership since David Lloyd George in the 1920s. Blair controversially shook hands with Adams, outraging Northern Ireland’s Protestants.

14 Oct 1947 – 75 years ago
The first supersonic flight was made by U.S. Air Force pilot Charles (‘Chuck’) Yeagar in a rocket-powered Bell XS-1 plane. The flight took place over what is now Edwards Air Force Base in California.

15 Oct 1932 – 90 years ago
Tata Airlines (later Air India then Indian Airlines) made its first flight, carrying air mail.

16 Oct 1922 – 100 years ago
The Simplon II railway tunnel was opened. It passes under the Alps, linking Switzerland and Italy.

17 Oct 1962 – 60 years ago
The Beatles performed on television for the first time, on Granada TV’s magazine show People and Places. They first appeared on national TV in the UK in January 1963.

18 Oct 1922 – 100 years ago
The BBC was officially founded as the British Broadcasting Company (now the British Broadcasting Corporation).

19 Oct 1897 – 125 years ago
Death of George Pullman, American engineer and businessman who invented the railway sleeping car. His Pullman Car Company manufactured and operated sleeping cars on most railways in the USA.

20 – 28 Oct 1947 – 75 years ago
The U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated suspected communist infiltration of the Hollywood film industry. It compiled a blacklist of artists, writers and directors who had (or were suspected of having) communist or fascist beliefs, or refused to testify. One of those who testified was Walt Disney (on 24th October). He named Disney employees that he believed were communists.

21 Oct 1772 – 250 years ago
Birth of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, British poet. Co-founder (with William Wordsworth) of the Romantic Movement. Best known for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan.

22 Oct 1947 to 1 Jan 1949 – 75 years ago
Indo–Pakistani War of 1947–1948 (also known as the First Kashmir War). Following a UN-mandated ceasefire, the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir was dissolved. Pakistan took control of one-third of it while India retained the rest.

23 Oct 1972 – 50 years ago
Access credit cards were launched in the UK as a rival to Barclaycard (launched in 1966). Access was taken over by MasterCard in 1996.

24 Oct 1922 – 100 years ago
Death of George Cadbury, British businessman and philanthropist. He transformed his father’s chocolate and cocoa business into one of the world’s most successful companies. He also provided low-cost housing and improved working conditions for his employees.

25 Oct 1997 – 25 years ago
The Million Woman March took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

26 Oct 1972 – 50 years ago
Death of Igor Sikorsky, Russian-born American aircraft designer. Best known for his pioneering work in developing the helicopter.

27 Oct 1922 – 100 years ago
The first film with synchronised sound, Audion, was presented at Yale University in the USA. It was originally a silent cartoon, but it was given a musical score recorded onto a disk. The projector had to be hand-cranked to keep it (approximately) synchronised with the sound.

28 – 29 Oct 1922 – 100 years ago
Mussolini’s March on Rome. Italian fascist leader Benito Mussonini and 30,000 fascist troops marched into the city, demanded the prime minister’s resignation, and seized power in a bloodless coup. Mussolini became Prime Minister of Italy on 31st October.

29 Oct 1942 – 80 years ago
Birth of Bob Ross, American artist, teacher and host of the television series The Joy of Painting. (Died 1995.)

30 Oct 1997 – 25 years ago
British au pair Louise Woodward was convicted of second-degree murder for the death of eight-month-old Matthew Eappen in Massachusetts, USA in February. On 10th November the verdict was reduced to involuntary manslaughter and her sentence was reduced to time served (279 days) and she was released.

31 Oct 1982 – 40 years ago
The Thames barrier in London was raised for the first time. It protects the city from floods.

More anniversaries:

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

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30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in September 2022

30 newsworthy historical anniversaries in September 2022

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 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in September 2022 (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 2022. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2026 edition will be available from the end of March 2022 and the 2027 edition will be available from June 2022.

1 Sep 1897 – 125 years ago
The oldest subway system in North America opened: the Tremont Street Subway in Boston, Massachusetts.

2 Sep 1957 – 65 years ago
The Everly Brothers’ best-known song Wake Up Little Susie was released.

3 Sep 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II: Jewish uprising in the Lakhva Ghetto, Belarus. Thought to be the first ghetto uprising of the war.

4 Sep 2002 – 20 years ago
Kelly Clarkson won the first season of the television singing competition American Idol.

5 Sep 1972 – 50 years ago
Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic Village in Munich, West Germany during the 1972 Olympic Games and took eleven members of the Israeli team hostage. All of the hostages were killed, as well as five of the eight terrorists and a German police officer, when a rescue attempt failed.

6 Sep 1522 – 500 years ago
Spanish navigator Juan de Elcano returned to Spain and became the first person to circumnavigate the world. His ship, the Victoria, was the only vessel to survive Ferdinand Magellan’s 1519 expedition to the Spice Islands. (Magellan was killed in the Philippines in 1521.)

7 Sep 1822 – 200 years ago
Brazil declared its independence from Portugal.

8 Sep 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Sid Caesar, American actor, comedian and writer. Best known for the television comedy shows Your Show of Shows and Caesar’s Hour. He also had roles in numerous films and TV shows.

9 Sep 1947 – 75 years ago
Reputed to be the first case of an actual computer bug. The Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA was experiencing problems, and a moth was found lodged in one of its relays. The computer was successfully ‘debugged’ by removing it.

10 Sep 1897 – 125 years ago
The world’s first drunk-driving arrest. Taxi driver George Smith crashed into a building in London, UK while under the influence of alcohol. He was fined 25 shillings.

11 Sep 1972 – 50 years ago
The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system began operating in San Francisco, California, USA.

12 Sep 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Laconia Incident. The British troopship Laconia was hit by a German torpedo and sank off the coast of West Africa, killing around 1,400 men. This had far-reaching consequences as the ship was carrying 1,500 Italian prisoners-of-war. When the Germans realised this they launched a rescue mission, but were then bombed by the Americans, despite displaying the Red Cross flag.

13 Sep 1922 – 100 years ago
The highest temperature ever recorded in the world: 57.7°C (136°F) in Al ‘Aziziyah, Libya. (Unofficial record.)

14 Sep 1982 – 40 years ago
Death of Princess Grace of Monaco, formerly the American film and television actress Grace Kelly. (Car crash, aged 52.)

15 Sep 1982 – 40 years ago
The first issue of the newspaper USA Today was published.

16 Sep 1992 – 30 years ago
Black Wednesday sterling crisis. The UK crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), raised interest rates from 10% to 15%, and spent billions of pounds buying up sterling that was being frantically disposed of on international markets.

17 Sep 1972 – 50 years ago
The first episode of the television series MAS*H was broadcast on NBC in the USA. (UK: 20th May 1973.)

18 Sep 1947 – 75 years ago
The U.S. National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were established, the Department of Defense began operating, and the U.S. Air Force was established as a separate branch of the military.

19 Sep 1982 – 40 years ago
American computer scientist Scott Fahlman designed the first documented emoticons and posted them on Carnegie Mellon University’s bulletin board system. The emoticons were 🙂 and 🙁

20 Sep 1952 – 70 years ago
American biologists Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase conducted their famous ‘blender’ experiment. It confirmed that genetic material is stored in DNA rather than in proteins as had been previously thought.

21 Sep 1922 – 100 years ago
U.S. President Warren G. Harding signed the Lodge–Fish joint resolution of approval to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

22 Sep 1947 – 75 years ago
A U.S. Air Force plane made the first wholly automated flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The take-off, flight and landing were controlled by autopilot throughout the entire journey.

23 Sep 1962 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the animated television series The Jetsons was broadcast on ABC in the USA. (It was the first colour programme on ABC.)

24 Sep 1947 – 75 years ago
Majestic 12, a secret committee of scientists, military leaders and government officials, was allegedly established in the USA. Its purpose was to investigate and recover alien spacecraft following the Roswell incident. (The U.S. government denies it ever existed, and some sources say it may have been a fictional committee invented by the Soviet Union.)

25 Sep 1897 – 125 years ago
Birth of William Faulkner, American writer. Winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature and two Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction (1955 and 1963).

26 Sep 1962 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the television series The Beverly Hillbillies was broadcast on CBS in the USA. (UK: 1st February 1963.)

27 Sep 1822 – 200 years ago
French orientalist Jean-François Champollion announced that he had successfully deciphered the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta stone.

28 Sep 2002 – 20 years ago
Death of Patsy Mink, American politician. The first Asian American woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

29 Sep 1982 – 40 years ago
Tylenol murders, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Seven people died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol painkiller capsules that had been laced with cyanide.

30 Sep 1947 – 75 years ago
Birth of Marc Bolan, British glam rock singer, songwriter, guitarist and poet (T. Rex). (Died 1977.)

More anniversaries:

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

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31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in August 2022

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in August 2022

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 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in August 2022 (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 2022. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2026 edition will be available from the end of March 2022 and the 2027 edition will be available from June 2022.

1 Aug 1972 – 50 years ago
The Washington Post newspaper published the first article that exposed U.S. President Richard Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate scandal. The article by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein revealed that $25,000 of Nixon’s re-election campaign fund had been paid into the bank account of one of the men recently arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee Headquarters.

2 Aug 1922 – 100 years ago
Death of Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born American audiologist and inventor. Credited with developing the first practical telephone.

3 Aug 1872 – 150 years ago
Birth of Haakon VII, King of Norway (1905–57)

4 – 8 Aug 1997 – 25 years ago
The capital of Montserrat was destroyed by a further series of eruptions of the Soufriere Hills volcano. The town became uninhabitable and the 4,000 residents were evacuated. Most of them resettled in the UK.

5 Aug 1962 – 60 years ago
Death of Marilyn Monroe, American film actress, model and singer (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, The Seven-Year Itch, Bus Stop, and more). (Overdose of sleeping pills – probable suicide, aged 36.)

6 – 21 Aug 1932 – 90 years ago
The first Venice Film Festival was held in Italy.

7 Aug 1947 – 75 years ago
Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl’s raft Kon-Tiki reached Polynesia after a 101-day journey across the Pacific from South America. This demonstrated that people from pre-Columbian South America could have made the journey and settled there.

8 Aug 1942 – 80 years ago
The world première of Walt Disney’s animated film Bambi, in London. (U.S. première: 13th August, released: 21st August. UK: 1st January 1943.)

9 Aug 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Philip Larkin, British poet. (Died 1985.)

10 Aug 1897 – 125 years ago
The Royal Automobile Club was founded in the UK.
(The section of the club that offered roadside assistance and motor insurance was incorporated as a separate company in 1978 and sold in 1999 – it is now known as RAC Ltd.)

11 Aug 1897 – 125 years ago
Birth of Enid Blyton, British children’s writer who created Noddy, the Famous Five, and the Secret Seven. She is among the world’s bestselling writers. More than 600 million copies of her books have been sold. She sometimes wrote 50 books a year.

12 Aug 1922 – 100 years ago
Death of Arthur Griffith, President of the Irish Republic (1922 – died in office). Founder of Sinn Fein. Succeeded by W. T. Cosgrave.

13 Aug 1997 – 25 years ago
The first episode of the animated comedy television series South Park was broadcast on Comedy Central in the USA.

14 Aug 1947 – 75 years ago
Pakistan gained its independence from the UK.
Pakistan and India both officially became independent at midnight on 15th August, but Pakistan held its independence ceremony 30 minutes early and now celebrates 14th August as its independence day.

15 Aug 1952 – 70 years ago
Lynmouth flood, Devon, UK. A flash flood swept through the village. 34 people were killed, and buildings and bridges were devastated.

16 Aug 1962 – 60 years ago
The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein fired drummer Pete Best and replaced him with Ringo Starr

17 Aug 1962 – 60 years ago
Peter Fechter, aged 18, became the first person to be shot dead by border guards as he attempted to climb over the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.

18 Aug 1947 – 75 years ago
The American technology company Hewlett-Packard was incorporated.

19 Aug 1772 – 250 years ago
Swedish Revolution: King Gustav III staged a coup d’état, assumed power and introduced absolute monarchy.

20 – 22 Aug 1962 – 60 years ago
The first nuclear-powered ship, the NS Savannah made her maiden voyage from Yorktown, Virginia, to Savannah, Georgia, USA. The ship was conceived by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower as part of his Atoms for Peace programme. It operated until 1972, and is now a museum ship.

21 Aug 1897 – 125 years ago
The Oldsmobile automobile company was founded in Lansing, Michigan, USA (as Olds Motors Works). It later became a division of General Motors, but was closed down in 2004.

22 Aug 1922 – 100 years ago
Death of Michael Collins, Irish nationalist politician. A leading figure in Ireland’s fight for independence. He directed a guerrilla warfare campaign against the British. (Killed in an ambush by anti-treaty forces, aged 31.)

23 Aug 1942 to 2 Feb 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Battle of Stalingrad (Soviet Union). Soviet victory. The turning point of the war in Europe.
Regarded as the largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare, and one that the Germans never recovered from.

24 Aug 1932 – 90 years ago
American aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly non-stop across the USA.

25 Aug 1822 – 200 years ago
Death of William Herschel, German-born British astronomer. He discovered the planet Uranus and infrared radiation, conducted the first deep sky surveys, and was the first president of the Royal Astronomical Society.

26 Aug to 10 Sep 1972 – 50 years ago
The 1972 Summer Olympic Games were held in Munich, West Germany.
The event was overshadowed by the kidnapping and deaths of 11 members of the Israeli team by Palestinian terrorists on 5th September.

27 Aug 1962 – 60 years ago
NASA launched its Mariner 2 space probe to Venus. (It flew past Venus in December, becoming the first space probe to fly past another planet.)

28 Aug 1922 – 100 years ago
The world’s first radio commercial was broadcast on WEAF in New York City, USA. The first commercial was for an apartment complex.

29 Aug 1952 – 70 years ago
American avant-garde composer John Cage’s best-known work 4’ 33” (four minutes and thirty-three seconds) was performed for the first time, at Woodstock, New York, USA. Performers are instructed not to play a single note throughout the entire piece.

30 Aug 1922 – 100 years ago
Turkish War of Independence – Greco–Turkish War – the Battle of Dumlupinar, Turkey. Turkey won the final battle of the war.
This day is now celebrated as Victory Day in Turkey.

31 Aug 1422 – 600 years ago
Death of Henry V, King of England (1413–22). (Heatstroke or dysentery, aged 35.) Succeeded by his son, Henry VI.

More anniversaries:

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

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31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in August 2022 (U.S. edition)

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in August 2022 (U.S. edition)

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/theater shows, and more.

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in August 2022 (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 2022. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2026 edition will be available from the end of March 2022 and the 2027 edition will be available from June 2022.

Aug 1, 1972 – 50 years ago
The Washington Post newspaper published the first article that exposed U.S. President Richard Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate scandal. The article by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein revealed that $25,000 of Nixon’s re-election campaign fund had been paid into the bank account of one of the men recently arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee Headquarters.

Aug 2, 1922 – 100 years ago
Death of Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born American audiologist and inventor. Credited with developing the first practical telephone.

Aug 3, 1872 – 150 years ago
Birth of Haakon VII, King of Norway (1905–57)

Aug 4 – 8, 1997 – 25 years ago
The capital of Montserrat was destroyed by a further series of eruptions of the Soufriere Hills volcano. The town became uninhabitable and the 4,000 residents were evacuated. Most of them resettled in the UK.

Aug 5, 1962 – 60 years ago
Death of Marilyn Monroe, American film actress, model and singer (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, The Seven-Year Itch, Bus Stop, and more). (Overdose of sleeping pills – probable suicide, aged 36.)

Aug 6 – 21, 1932 – 90 years ago
The first Venice Film Festival was held in Italy.

Aug 7, 1947 – 75 years ago
Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl’s raft Kon-Tiki reached Polynesia after a 101-day journey across the Pacific from South America. This demonstrated that people from pre-Columbian South America could have made the journey and settled there.

Aug 8, 1942 – 80 years ago
The world premiere of Walt Disney’s animated film Bambi, in London. (U.S. premiere: August 13th, released: August 21st. UK: January 1, 1943.)

Aug 9, 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Philip Larkin, British poet. (Died 1985.)

Aug 10, 1897 – 125 years ago
The Royal Automobile Club was founded in the UK.
(The section of the club that offered roadside assistance and motor insurance was incorporated as a separate company in 1978 and sold in 1999 – it is now known as RAC Ltd.)

Aug 11, 1897 – 125 years ago
Birth of Enid Blyton, British children’s writer who created Noddy, the Famous Five, and the Secret Seven. She is among the world’s best-selling writers. More than 600 million copies of her books have been sold. She sometimes wrote 50 books a year.

Aug 12, 1922 – 100 years ago
Death of Arthur Griffith, President of the Irish Republic (1922 – died in office). Founder of Sinn Fein. Succeeded by W. T. Cosgrave.

Aug 13, 1997 – 25 years ago
The first episode of the animated comedy television series South Park was broadcast on Comedy Central in the USA.

Aug 14, 1947 – 75 years ago
Pakistan gained its independence from the UK.
Pakistan and India both officially became independent at midnight on August 15th, but Pakistan held its independence ceremony 30 minutes early and now celebrates August 14th as its independence day.

Aug 15, 1952 – 70 years ago
Lynmouth flood, Devon, UK. A flash flood swept through the village. 34 people were killed, and buildings and bridges were devastated.

Aug 16, 1962 – 60 years ago
The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein fired drummer Pete Best and replaced him with Ringo Starr

Aug 17, 1962 – 60 years ago
Peter Fechter, aged 18, became the first person to be shot dead by border guards as he attempted to climb over the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.

Aug 18, 1947 – 75 years ago
The American technology company Hewlett-Packard was incorporated.

Aug 19, 1772 – 250 years ago
Swedish Revolution: King Gustav III staged a coup d’état, assumed power and introduced absolute monarchy.

Aug 20 – 22, 1962 – 60 years ago
The first nuclear-powered ship, the NS Savannah made her maiden voyage from Yorktown, Virginia, to Savannah, Georgia, USA. The ship was conceived by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower as part of his Atoms for Peace program. It operated until 1972, and is now a museum ship.

Aug 21, 1897 – 125 years ago
The Oldsmobile automobile company was founded in Lansing, Michigan, USA (as Olds Motors Works). It later became a division of General Motors, but was closed down in 2004.

Aug 22, 1922 – 100 years ago
Death of Michael Collins, Irish nationalist politician. A leading figure in Ireland’s fight for independence. He directed a guerrilla warfare campaign against the British. (Killed in an ambush by anti-treaty forces, aged 31.)

Aug 23, 1942 to Feb 2, 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Battle of Stalingrad (Soviet Union). Soviet victory. The turning point of the war in Europe.
Regarded as the largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare, and one that the Germans never recovered from.

Aug 24, 1932 – 90 years ago
American aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly non-stop across the USA.

Aug 25, 1822 – 200 years ago
Death of William Herschel, German-born British astronomer. He discovered the planet Uranus and infrared radiation, conducted the first deep sky surveys, and was the first president of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Aug 26 to Sep 10, 1972 – 50 years ago
The 1972 Summer Olympic Games were held in Munich, West Germany.
The event was overshadowed by the kidnapping and deaths of 11 members of the Israeli team by Palestinian terrorists on September 5th.

Aug 27, 1962 – 60 years ago
NASA launched its Mariner 2 space probe to Venus. (It flew past Venus in December, becoming the first space probe to fly past another planet.)

Aug 28, 1922 – 100 years ago
The world’s first radio commercial was broadcast on WEAF in New York City, USA. The first commercial was for an apartment complex.

Aug 29, 1952 – 70 years ago
American avant-garde composer John Cage’s best-known work 4’ 33” (four minutes and thirty-three seconds) was performed for the first time, at Woodstock, New York, USA. Performers are instructed not to play a single note throughout the entire piece.

Aug 30, 1922 – 100 years ago
Turkish War of Independence – Greco–Turkish War – the Battle of Dumlupinar, Turkey. Turkey won the final battle of the war.
This day is now celebrated as Victory Day in Turkey.

Aug 31, 1422 – 600 years ago
Death of Henry V, King of England (1413–22). (Heatstroke or dysentery, aged 35.) Succeeded by his son, Henry VI.

More anniversaries:

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

Share this:

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in July 2022

31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in July 2022

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 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in July 2022 (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 2022. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2023 and 2024 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2025 edition will also be available in a week or two.

1 Jul 1872 – 150 years ago
Birth of Louis Blériot, French inventor and aviation pioneer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars, used the money to build the first successful powered monoplane, developed the modern aircraft control system, and became the first person to fly across the English Channel.

2 Jul 1922 – 100 years ago
Water skiing was invented by Ralph Samuelson at Lake Pepin, Minnesota, USA.

3 Jul 1997 – 25 years ago
The U.S. state of Mississippi settled a landmark $3.4 billion health care lawsuit against the tobacco industry. It was the first state to do so.

4 Jul 1872 – 150 years ago
Birth of Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (1923–29).

5 Jul 1962 – 60 years ago
Algeria gained its independence from France

6 Jul 1942 – 80 years ago
Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in a secret annex at her father’s workplace in Amsterdam.

7 Jul 1952 – 70 years ago
The U.S. ocean liner SS United States became the fastest passenger ship to cross the Atlantic. The record of 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes still stands.

8 Jul 1822 – 200 years ago
Death of Percy Bysshe Shelley, British poet. (Drowned, aged 29.)

9 Jul 1947 – 75 years ago
Florence Blanchfield was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, becoming the first woman in the USA to hold a permanent military rank.

10 Jul 1962 – 60 years ago
The American communications satellite Telstar was launched. It transmitted the first transatlantic TV signal to Europe later that day. The first official broadcast was on 23rd July. It could only relay a signal for 20 minutes per orbit.

11 Jul 1922 – 100 years ago
The Hollywood Bowl amphitheatre/music venue opened in Los Angeles, California, USA.

12 Jul 1962 – 60 years ago
The British rock band the Rolling Stones played their first live performance, at the Marquee Club in London.

13 Jul 1897 – 125 years ago
Italian inventor and electrical engineer Guglielmo Marconi was granted a U.S. patent for his wireless telegraph system. (He was also granted a UK patent on 2nd July.)

14 Jul 1992 – 30 years ago
The Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA was destroyed by fire.

15 Jul 1897 – 125 years ago
The Klondike gold rush began when prospectors from San Francisco, California, USA set off en masse for the Yukon in north-western Canada.

16 Jul 622 – 1400 years ago
The beginning of the Islamic calendar. Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina to escape religious persecution (an event known as the Hegira), and established the first Muslim community.

17 Jul 1997 – 25 years ago
The internet broke down when a system operator at Network Solutions in Virginia, USA accidentally uploaded a corrupt database to the root domain servers. On the same day, a construction company sliced through a fibre optic cable, affecting millions of users in the eastern states. These incidents proved that the internet was not as robust as had been claimed.

18 Jul 1947 – 75 years ago
U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act into law. It defined the line of succession in the event that neither the President nor the Vice-President could fulfill their duties. Next in line would be the Speaker of the House, then the President pro tempore, followed by the Presidential Cabinet Secretaries and Officers in the order in which their respective departments were created.

19 Jul 1947 – 75 years ago
Death of Aung San, Burmese nationalist leader. Considered the father of modern Burma (now Myanmar). Father of politician Aung San Suu Kyi. (Assassinated along with six of his cabinet ministers.)

20 Jul 1822 – 200 years ago
Birth of Gregor Mendel, Austrian/Czech friar, botanist and geneticist who discovered the laws of heredity and created the science of genetics.

21 Jul 1897 – 125 years ago
The Tate Britain art museum opened in London, England.

22 Jul 1932 – 90 years ago
Death of Florenz (‘Flo’) Ziegfeld, American theatrical producer and impresario. Best known for his Ziegfeld Follies revue shows, and stage shows such as Show Boat.

23 Jul 1962 – 60 years ago
The first live transatlantic television broadcast. It was hosted by Walter Cronkite in the USA and broadcast to the UK and France via the Telstar 1 satellite.

24 Jul 1847 – 175 years ago
Salt Lake City in Utah, USA was founded. Mormon pioneers led by Brigham Young arrived there after a 17-month journey and established a settlement where they would be free from religious persecution. At the time, the area was part of Mexico.

25 Jul 1952 – 70 years ago
The current Constitution of Puerto Rico came into effect. It established Puerto Rico as a commonwealth in union with the United States.

26 Jul 1947 – 75 years ago
U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act into law. It led to the creation of the Department of Defense, the National Military Establishment, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It also separated the Army Air Forces into its own service – the Department of the Air Force. (Effective from 18th September 1947.)

27 Jul 2002 – 20 years ago
Ukraine air show disaster. A military jet crashed into the crowd at an air show in Lviv, western Ukraine, killing more than 80 people and injuring over 100. It was the world’s worst air show disaster.

28 Jul 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Jacques Piccard, Belgian-born Swiss oceanographer and engineer. Best known for developing deep-sea submarines including the Challenger Deep in which he and Don Walsh became the first people to reach the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on Earth. (Died 2008.)

29 Jul 1957 – 65 years ago
The International Atomic Energy Agency was established. It promotes the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

30 Jul 1942 – 80 years ago
The song White Christmas by Bing Crosby was released. It became the bestselling single of all time, selling more than 50 million copies worldwide.

31 Jul 1942 – 80 years ago
The charity Oxfam was founded in the UK (as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief).

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2022. The 2023 and 2024 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2025 edition will be released in the next week or two, with the 2026 and 2027 editions following in March and June 2022. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

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