Welcome to This Day in History

Newspaper

This Day in History aims to bring the past to life, reliving events and famous Birthdays of days gone by. History has been made every day since the dawn of time so we have trawled through the old newspapers and archives to find those poignant moments that live long in the memory.

What was happening in the world in past years on the day you were born? Who do you share your Birthday with? We have events and Birthdays listed for every day of the year including historical events on 29 February.

Just choose your month below then all the dates are listed in order:

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Random Historical Events


Accusations of witchcraft

January 17

Events

  • 1775 – Nine old women were burnt after being accused of being witches, they were believed to have caused bad harvests in Kalisk, Poland.
  • 1912 – English explorer and former naval officer, Robert Falcon Scott led the fateful Terra Nova expedition to reach the South Pole, only to discover that the Norwegian Roald Amundsen had reached the pole before on 14th December 1911.
  • 1929 – Popeye makes his first appearance, in the comic strip, Thimble Theatre.

Birthdays

  • 1706 - Benjamin Franklin - was born in Boston, US. He became one of the founding fathers of the United States of America he was also a scientist (amongst many other abilities) and developed theories and discoveries regarding electricity.
  • 1899 – Al Capone – was born in Brooklyn, New York, became a gangster and became infamous for bootlegging, smuggling and other illegal activities, from the early 1920’s, he was jailed in the then new prison called Alcatraz.
  • 1942 – Muhammad Ali - formerly known as Cassius Clay was born in Louisville, US, he became a heavyweight champion boxer, he was crowned sportsman of the century in 1999.

Waterloo Bridge Opens

June 18

Events

  • 1817 – Waterloo Bridge opens. It spans the Thames river in London and was designed by Scottish civil engineer John Rennie.
  • 1928 – Kansas born Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean as she completed a flight from Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland to Burry Port in Wales.
  • 1983 – American Physicist Sally Ride becomes the first US woman and the then youngest American at the age of 32 to enter space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger.

Birthdays

  • 1886 – George Mallory born in Cheshire was a teacher and famous mountaineer. One of the memorable quotes that has stood the test of time was his answer to “Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?”. He replied with “Because it’s there”.
  • 1946 – Fabio Capello born in San Canzian d’Isonzo, Italy has had a distinguished career as a football player and latterly as a coach and manager
  • 1942 – (James) Paul McCartney born in Liverpool, England is a singer and songwriter. He is most famously associated as one part of the fab four…The Beatles.