11th FEBRUARY
Elizabeth of York, Queen Consort of Henry VII (b. 1465)
George Washington (b. OS 1732)
William Fox Talbot (b. 1800)
Thomas Edison (b. 1847)
Josh White (b. 1908)
Sir Vivian Fuchs (b. 1908)
Joseph L Mankiewicz (b. 1909)
LTC Rolt (b. 1910)
Sidney Sheldon (b. 1917)
Gene Vincent (b. 1935)
Ian Gow (b. 1937)
Emmengarde, Queen of William I of Scotland (d. 1234)
Elizabeth of York, Queen Consort of Henry VII (d. 1503)
William Shenstone (d. 1763)
Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal (d. 1862)
Jean Foucault (d. 1868)
Honoré Daumier (d. 1879)
John Buchan (d. 1940)
Al Dubin (d. 1945)
Sergei Eisenstein (d. 1948)
Sylvia Plath (d. 1963)
Lee J Cobb (d. 1976)
Eleanor Powell (d. 1982)
Takashi Shimura (d. 1982)
Brian Inglis (d. 1993)
Roger Vadim (d. 2000)
Lord Kitchener (d. 2000)
Barry Foster (d. 2002)
Haydn becomes Freemason at lodge of Mozart, Vienna, 1785
Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria by proxy, 1810
University College (London University) founded, 1826
1st ladies' public flushing lavatory introduced, Bedford St, London, 1852
Miracle of Lourdes (St Bernadette's vision of Virgin), 1858
Meteorological Office issues 1st Weekly weather report, 1878
George Morgan becomes 1st motor-cycle fatality, UK, 1899
Welsh Guard founded, 1915
Vatican City becomes independent Papal State, Rome, 1929
Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean appear in Moscow, 1956
Worst recorded UK earthquake occurs, Midlands, 1957
Beatles record Please Please Me LP, London, 1963
Ringo Starr marries Maureen Cox, UK, 1965
Japan launches 1st earth satellite, 1970
Installation of nuclear arms in sea-bed prohibited beyond 12-mile coastal strip, 1971
Margaret Thatcher becomes 1st UK woman leader of political party, 1975
Islamic revolution takes place, Iran, 1979
British Airways shares 1st traded, UK, 1987
Nelson Mandela released, Paarl, Cape, 1990
BR blames "the wrong kind of snow, like fine talcum powder" on rail chaos, 1991
Kasparov beaten by IBM Deep Blue computer in tournament, Philadelphia PA, 1996
Northern Ireland government stripped of power by UK, 2000

12th FEBRUARY
Thomas Campion (b. 1567)
Jan Ladislav Dušek (b. 1760)
Charles Darwin (b. 1809)
Abraham Lincoln (b. 1809)
Jenny Marx (b. 1814)
George Meredith (b. 1828)
Marie Lloyd (b. 1870)
John L Lewis (b. 1880)
Max Beckmann (b. 1884)
Pink Anderson (b. 1900)
Fred Emney (b. 1900)
Lorne Greene (b. 1915)
Ralph Wilford (d. 1499)
Lady (Jane) Grey (d. 1554)
Charles Le Brun (d. 1690)
Pierre Marivaux (d. 1763)
Immanuel Kant (d. 1804)
Randolph Caldecott (d. 1886)
Hans von Bulow (d. 1894)
Anton Arensky (d. OS 1906)
Lillie Langtry (d. 1929)
Auguste Escoffier (d. 1935)
Charles Voysey (d. 1941)
Grant Wood (d. 1942)
HM Bateman (d. 1970)
Sal Mineo (d. 1976)
Eubie Blake (d. 1983)
Tom Keating (d. 1984)
Henry Hathaway (d. 1985)
Léon Goossens (d. 1988)
Keith Haring (d. 1990)
James Bulger (d. 1993)
Charles M Schultz (d. 2000)
Screaming Jay Hawkins (d. 2000)
Battle of the Herrings, 1429
Santiago founded, Chilé, 1541
Boxing gloves patented by James Broughton, London, 1747
Last UK land invasion, 1,000 French troops beaten back from Pembrokeshire coast, 1797
Chilé proclaims independence, Santiago, 1818
JW Goodrich 1st markets his rubber galoshes, Boston MA, 1831
Australian gold rush begins, Summerhill Creek, New South Wales, 1851
1st interclub football match played, between Sheffield and Hallam, Sheffield, 1861
Alexander Graham Bell's telephone demonstrated, Boston-Salem, 1877
London County Council established, 1889
Henry Lindfield becomes 1st motorist fatality, London-Brighton, 1898
Labour Party founded, UK, 1906
Manchu dynasty overthrown & China becomes a republic, 1912
1st performance of Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue, New York NY, 1924
European Broadcasting Union formed, 1950
Screaming Jay Hawkins records I Put A Spell On You, New York, 1956
1st yellow no-parking lines appear, Slough, 1956
Manufacture of borazon announced, US, 1957
Dr Albert Crary becomes 1st man to reach both N & S Poles, South Pole, 1961
Beatles audition for BBC, 1961
Beatles complete 1st US tour, Carnegie Hall, 1964
Mick Jagger and Keith Richard charged with drug offences, W Wittering, 1967
Israel shoots down Syrian MIG-21, 1969
Play It Again, Sam, by Woody Allen, opens on Broadway, 1969
1st US prisoners of war released, N Vietnam, 1973
Jimi Hendrix offered honorary high school diploma, Garfield School, 1968
Channel Tunnel treaty signed, Canterbury, 1986
1st 5 die in protest demonstration against Satanic Verses, Pakistan, 1989
Messner & Fuchs become 1st to cross Antarctica without dogs or machinery, 1990
Jamie Bulger (2) abducted and murdered by two 10-year olds, Liverpool, 1993
US NEAR Shoemaker robot lands on asteroid Eros, 2001
Napster instructed to prevent users swapping copyrighted music, 2001

13th FEBRUARY
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (b. 1682)
Lord (Randolph) Churchill (b. 1849)
Feodor Chaliapin (b. 1873)
Eleanor Farjeon (b. 1881)
Elizabeth Truman (b. 1885)
Grant Wood (b. 1891)
Georges Simenon (b. 1903)
Boudleaux Bryant (b. 1920)
Oliver Reed (b. 1938)
Frances Horovitz (b. 1938)
Tip Tipping (b. 1958)
Kenneth I, King of the Scots (d. 858)
Catherine Howard (d. 1542)
Benvenuto Cellini (d. 1571)
Elizabeth of Bohemia, Queen of Frederick V (d. 1662)
Richard Wagner (d. 1883)
Vilhelm Hammershøi (d. 1864)
Rafael Sabatini (d. 1950)
Josephine Tey (d. 1952)
Dame Christabel Pankhurst (d. 1958)
Georges Rouault (d. 1958)
Mae Marsh (d. 1968)
Jean Renoir (d. 1979)
David Janssen (d. 1980)
Zeng Jinglian (d. 1982)
Martin Balsam (d. 1996)
Waylon Jennings (d. 2002)
Sid Weighell (d. 2002)
Boston Public Latin School, oldest public school in US, founded, 1635
William & Mary agree Parliament's Declaration of Rights, 1689
38 die when Campbells massacre Macdonalds, Glencoe, 1692
Asiatic cholera 1st appears, Limehouse & Rotherhithe, 1832
Cheltenham Ladies College, 1st public girls' school, opened, 1854
1st performance of Strauss' The Blue Danube, Venice, 1867
American Society Of Composers, Authors and Publishers founded, New York NY, 1914
Women 1st allowed to become taxi drivers, 1917
Mata Hari arrested by the French as a spy, 1917
Nuffield Foundation for research established, London, 1943
1,300 bombers devastate Dresden, 1945
Dylan makes 1st hoootenanny apparance, Gerde's Folk City, New York NY, 1961
Jimi Hendrix Experience record 1st radio session, Saturday Club, 1967
Alexander Solzhenitsyn expelled from USSR, 1974
The Times taken over by Rupert Murdoch, 1981
Chernenko elected secretary-general of Communist Party, USSR, 1984
Iraqi civilians killed in bunker bombing, Bhagdad, 1991
Take That announce they are to split up, Manchester, 1996
The final Sunday newspaper Peanuts comic strip appears, 2000

14th FEBRUARY
Leon Battista Alberti (b. 1404)
Francesco Cavalli (b. 1602)
Claude Prosper Crébillon (b. 1707)
Thomas Malthus (b. 1766)
Christopher Sholes (b. 1819)
Quintin Hogg (b. 1845)
Frank Harris (b. 1856)
Jack Benny (b. 1894)
Vic Morrow (b. 1932)
Magic Sam (b. 1937)
Tim Buckley (b. 1947)
St Valentine (d. 270)
Richard II (d. 1400)
John Hadley (d. 1744)
James Cook (d. 1779)
William Dyce (d. 1864)
William Sherman (d. 1891)
J Frank Duryea (d. 1967)
Kenneth Horne (d. 1969)
Thelma Ritter (d. 1969)
PG Wodehouse (d. 1975)
Sir Julian Huxley (d. 1975)
Frederick Loewe (d. 1988)
James Bond (d. 1989)
Norman Parkinson (d. 1990)
Bob Paisley (d. 1996)
Buddy Knox (d. 1999)
Margery Brews sends 1st Valentine, to John Paston, Norfolk, 1477
William III announces discovery of Sir John Fenwick's assassination plot, 1696
Battle of St Vincent, off SW Portugal, 1777
Matthew Brady takes 1st photograph of US President, James Polk, New York NY, 1849
Oregon, the Beaver state, becomes 33rd State of the Union, 1859
Alexander Graham Bell files application for patent for telephone, 1876
The Importance of Being Earnest 1st performed, St James Th, 1895
Arizona, the Apache state, becomes 48th State of the Union, 1912
Mamie Smith becomes 1st blues singer to record, US, 1920
Marconi begins 1st regular radio broadcasts, 2MT, Writtle, Essex, 1922
7 members of Bugs Moran gang killed, St Valentine's Day massacre, Chicago IL, 1929
UK naval base opened, Singapore, 1938
Bismarck launched, Germany, 1939
Bank of England nationalised, 1946
ENIAC computer begins work, University of Pennsylvania, 1946
Kruschev denounces Stalinist policies, 1956
Lawrencium, Element 103, 1st produced, Berkeley CA, 1961
Harold Wilson becomes leader of Labour Party, UK, 1963
The Who record live LP, University of Leeds, 1970
Dylan & the Band complete tour and record live LP, The Forum, Los Angeles CA, 1974
Lou Reed marries Sylvia Morales, Greenwich Village NY, 1980
Billy Idol leaves Generation X, 1981
Torvill & Dean win Olympic gold medal, 1984
Ayatollah Khomeini orders a fatwa on Salman Rushdie, 1989
Smoking banned on London buses, 1991
Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid marry, US, 1991
Oscar Wilde's name admitted to Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, 1995
Talk Radio launched, UK, 1995
Prince marries Mayte Garcia, Minneapolis MN, 1996
Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein, Beverly Hills CA, 1998
NEAR satellite goes into orbit around Eros, 2000
Final Reliant Robin leaves production line, UK, 2001

15th FEBRUARY
Louis XV, King of France (b. 1710)
Jeremy Bentham (b. 1748)
Henry Steinway (b. 1797)
Charles Tiffany (b. 1812)
Susan B Anthony (b. 1820)
Sir Ernest Shackleton (b. 1874)
John Barrymore (b. 1882)
Sax Rohmer (b. 1883)
HM Bateman (b. 1887)
Gale Sondergaard (b. 1899)
Georges Auric (b. 1899)
Christmas Humphreys (b. 1901)
Kokomo Arnold (b. 1901)
Harold Arlen (b. 1905)
Cesar Romero (b. 1907)
Sidney Gilliat (b. 1908)
Lois Maxwell (b. 1927)
Graham Hill (b. 1929)
Lal Waterson (b. 1943)
Alexander Borodin (d. OS 1887)
Lew Wallace (d. 1905)
Lord (Herbert Henry) Asquith (d. 1928)
Nat (King) Cole (d. 1965)
Little Walter (d. 1968)
Pee Wee Russell (d. 1969)
Lord (Hugh) Dowding (d. 1980)
Mike Bloomfield (d. 1981)
Ethel Merman (d. 1984)
Margaret Courtenay (d. 1996)
Great Eclipse of the Sun, Dark Saturday, 1597
1st shipment of frozen meat leaves New Zealand for England, SS Dunedin, 1882
Relief of Kimberley, 1900
1st edition of Oxford English Dictionary completed, 1928
Guiseppe Zangara fails to assassinate Roosevelt, Miami FL, 1933
Singapore surrenders to Japan, 1942
Monte Cassino destroyed by Allied bombing, 1944
UK troops reach R Rhine, forcing German retreat, 1945
Funeral of King George VI takes place, Windsor, 1952
Canada's maple leaf flag 1st unfurled, Ottawa, 1965
Beatles fly to India to study Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Yogi, 1968
Decimal currency introduced, UK, 1971
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em 1st broadcast, BBC, 1973
Sid Vicious joins Sex Pistols, 1977
England cricket team 1st loses to New Zealand, 1978
England rioters force match with Ireland to be abandoned, Dublin, 1995
The Angel Of The North sculpture arrives on site, near Gateshead, 1998

16th FEBRUARY
Galileo Galilei (b. OS 1564)
Giambattista Bodoni (b. 1740)
Heinrich Barth (b. 1821)
Octave Mirbeau (b. 1850)
Will Fyffe (b. 1885)
Katherine Correll (b. 1893)
Louis Calhern (b. 1895)
Reinhold Ebertin (b. 1901)
John Schlesinger (b. 1926)
Otis Blackwell (b. 1932)
Sonny Bono (b. 1935)
Margaux Hemingway (b. 1954)
Giosuè Carducci (d. 1906)
Octave Mirbeau (d. 1917)
Angela Carter (d. 1992)
Brownie McGhee (d. 1996)
Evelyn Laye (d. 1996)
William Masters (d. 2001)
Doris Troy (d. 2004)
Sheridan Morley (d. 2007)
Spanish Inquisition sentences whole of Netherlands to death, 1568
Nicholas Vanacker writes 1st known cheque drawn on UK bank, 1659
Pitt the Younger resigns as prime minister, UK, 1801
France invades Spain, 1808
Athenaeum Club founded, London, 1824
Confederates surrender Fort Grant to Grant, 1862
Ladies' Home Journal 1st published, 1883
1st airplane flight from Los Angeles CA to San Francisco CA, 1914
1st broadcast drama, from Julius Caesar, BBC Radio, 1923
Fianna Fail win general election, Ireland, 1932
Popular Front wins general election, Spain, 1936
Nylon patented by WH Carothers, 1937
US forces take Bataan, Philippines, 1945
1st commercially designed helicopter tested, Bridgewater CT, 1946
Chaim Weizmann sworn in as 1st President of State of Israel, Jerusalem, 1949
1st 6_5 Special broadcast, UK, 1957
Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba, 1959
USS Triton begins underwater round-the-world trip, US, 1960
1st satellite placed in orbit by all-solid propellant rocket, Wallops Island VA, 1961
Beeching Report, halving size of British Railways, published, UK, 1965

17th FEBRUARY
Arcangelo Corelli (b. 1653)
AB (Banjo) Paterson (b. 1864)
Thomas J Watson Sr (b. 1874)
Arthur Kennedy (b. 1914)
Elleston Trevor (b. 1920)
Lord (Nicholas) Ridley (b. 1929)
Fay Godwin (b. 1931)
Sir Alan Bates (b. 1934)
Gene Pitney (b. 1941)
Charles Axton (b. 1941)
Huey Newton (b. 1942)
Bernie Grant (b. 1944)
John Chibadura (b. 1957)
Alison Hargreaves (b. 1962)
Tamerlane the Great (d. 1405)
Giordano Bruno (d. 1600)
Molière (d. 1673)
John Martin (d. 1854)
Heinrich Heine (d. 1856)
Christopher Sholes (d. 1890)
Henry Olcott (d. 1907)
Geronimo (d. 1909)
Sir Donald Wolfit (d. 1968)
Graham Sutherland (d. 1980)
Lee Strasberg (d. 1982)
Thelonius Monk (d. 1982)
Jiddu Krishnamurti (d. 1986)
Guy Laroche (d. 1989)
Scotland's gypsies given recognition by James V, 1540
A Baltimore street becomes 1st in US to be lit with gas, 1817
Draisine, forerunner of bicycle, patented by Baron Karl von Drais, 1818
HMS Perilous is 1st ship to pass through Suez Canal, 1867
Sardines 1st canned, Eastport ME, 1876
Vacant/engaged lavatory sign patented by A Ashwell, Herne Hill, 1883
RSPB founded, Didsbury, 1889
Inner tomb of Tutenkhamun officially opened by Lord Carnarvon team, Luxor, 1923
1st in-flight movie shown, Universal Airlines, St Paul MN-Chicago IL, 1929
1st public transmission of Baird colour TV, Crystal Palace-Dominion Th, 1938
John and Fanny Cradock's Kitchen Magic 1st broadcast, 1955
1st episode of The Adventures of Robin Hood broadcast, 1956
Percy Sledge records When A Man Loves A Woman, Quinvy Studios AL, 1966
Commons votes in favour of joining European Common Market, 1972
Volkswagon sell record 15,007,034th Beetle, 1972
Richey Edwards' abandoned car found near Severn Bridge, 1995
NEAR-Shoemaker launched on voyage to Eros, Cape Canaveral FL, 1996
David Henderson (107) is oldest man to be fitted with a pacemaker, UK, 1997
Manic Street Preachers perform to audience including Fidel Castro, Cuba, 2001
1st UK congestion charges introduced, London, 2003

18th FEBRUARY
Mary I, Queen of England (b. 1516)
Edward Hyde, Lord Clarendon (b. 1609)
Alessandro Volta (b. 1745)
Ramakrishna (b. 1836)
Louis Tiffany (b. 1848)
Nikos Kazantzakis (b. 1885)
Wendell Willkie (b. 1892)
André Breton (b. 1896)
Jack Palance (b. 1919)
Ned Sherrin (b. 1931)
Mary Ure (b. 1933)
Skip Battin (b. 1934)
Ciaran Bourke (b. 1936)
Fra Angelico (d. 1455)
George Plantaganet, Duke of Clarence (d. 1478)
Cornelius Agrippa (d. 1535)
Martin Luther (d. 1546)
Michelangelo (d. 1564)
Charles Tiffany (d. 1902)
James Corbett (d. 1933)
Catherine Carswell (d. 1946)
Gustave Charpentier (d. 1956)
Robert Oppenheimer (d. 1967)
Dame Ngaio Marsh (d. 1982)
Eugene Fodor (d. 1991)
Leslie Norman (d. 1993)
Sir Nicholas Fairbairn (d. 1995)
Denny Cordell (d. 1995)
Balthus (d. 2001)
Alain Robbe-Grillet (d. 2008)
Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress 1st published, 1678
1st airmail flight made, with 6,000 letters and cards, Allahabad-Naini, 1911
Germany begins submarine blockade of Britain, 1915
Pluto discovered by Clyde Tombaugh, Flagstaff AZ, 1930
Golden Gate International Exposition opens, San Francisco CA, 1939
Bwana Devil, 1st 3-D film, premiered, New York NY, 1953
The Gambia becomes independent within Commonwealth, 1965
Dave Gilmour joins the Pink Floyd, 1968
Sniffin' Glue ceases publication, 1978
Karadzic declares siege of Sarajevo is over, 1994

19th FEBRUARY
Nicolaus Copernicus (b. 1473)
David Garrick (b. 1717)
Luigi Boccherini (b. 1743)
Sir Cedric Hardwicke (b. 1893)
Merle Oberon (b. 1911)
Dick Emery (b. 1915)
Carson McCullers (b. 1917)
Lee Marvin (b. 1924)
Ibrahim Ferrer (b. 1927)
John Frankenheimer (b. 1930)
Karen Silkwood (b. 1946)
Falco (b. 1957)
Justin Fashanu (b. 1961)
Charles Blondin (d. 1897)
Vyvyan Deacon (d. 1938)
André Gide (d. 1947)
Knut Hamsun (d. 1952)
John Grierson (d. 1972)
Lee Morgan (d. 1972)
Sir Hugh Greene (d. 1987)
René Char (d. 1988)
Michael Powell (d. 1990)
Derek Jarman (d. 1994)
Brenda Bruce (d. 1996)
Deng Xiaoping (d. 1997)
Stanley Kramer (d. 2001)
Teo Macero (d. 2008)
Earl of Essex brought to trial and condemned to death, 1601
New Netherlands (New York) becomes British, Peace of Westminster, 1674
Napoleon becomes First Consul, France, 1800
Liverpool bread riots take place, 1855
Thomas Edison patents phonograph, 1878
Women's Institute founded by Mrs Hoodless, Ontario, 1897
Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co. founded by William Kellogg, US, 1906
Manchester Utd play 1st Football League game at new ground, Old Trafford, 1910
National Savings certificates 1st on sale, UK, 1916
International Drug Convention signed, Geneva, 1924
Japanese make air raid on Port Darwin, Australia, 1942
US marines invade Iwo Jima, Battle of Iwo Jima, 1945
Emergency Ward 10 1st broadcast, ITV, 1957
USSR agrees to withdraw from Cuba, 1963
Iceland breaks off diplomatic relations with UK (Cod War), 1976
Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (Tokyo Rose), 1977
Harrison ruled to have subconsciously plagiarised He's So Fine, New York NY, 1981
John DeLorean's sports car firm goes into receivership, 1982
1st EastEnders broadcast, 1985
Jarvis Cocker disrupts Michael Jackson's performance at Brit Awards, London, 1996
Björk attacks female reporter, Thailand Airport, 1996
Virgin awarded 15-year franchise to run InterCity West Coast railway, 1997

20th FEBRUARY
Marie-Alexandre Guérin (b. 1744)
Charles Auguste de Bériot (b. 1802)
Honoré Daumier (b. 1808)
Joseph Jefferson (b. 1829)
Lucien Pissarro (b. 1863)
Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley (b. 1887)
Hesketh Pearson (b. 1887)
Dame Marie Rambert (b. 1888)
Enzo Ferrari (b. 1898)
Ansel Adams (b. 1902)
Ella Maillart (b. 1903)
Julian Trevelyan (b. 1910)
Margot Grahame (b. 1911)
Robert Altman (b. 1925)
David Ackles (b. 1937)
Alan Hull (b. 1945)
Tony Wilson (b. 1950)
Randy California (b. 1951)
Kurt Cobain (b. 1967)
Lord (William) Douglas (d. 1452)
Gentile Bellini (d. 1507)
Johann Ambrosius Bach (d. 1695)
Aurangzeb (d. OS 1707)
Joseph Hume (d. 1855)
Robert Peary (d. 1920)
Laurence Housman (d. 1959)
Sir Leonard Woolley (d. 1960)
Percy Grainger (d. 1961)
Bon Scott (d. 1980)
Vincent Crane (d. 1989)
Ferruccio Lamborghini (d. 1993)
Robert Bolt (d. 1995)
Hunter S Thompson (d. 2005)
Sandra Dee (d. 2005)
Orkneys and Shetland annexed to crown of Scotland, 1472
Edward VI, 9, crowned, Westminster Abbey, 1547
Blake defeats Dutch fleet, off Portsmouth, 1653
Austria declares itself bankrupt, 1811
Storm blows away steeple, Chichester Cathedral, 1861
Storm damages Crystal Palace, Sydenham, 1861
1st films publically shown in UK, Polytechnic Inst, London, 1896
1st Manifesto of Futurism issued, 1909
Independence of Trans-Jordan recognised by UK, 1928
1st automoble/airplane combination tested, Santa Monica CA, 1937
Anthony Eden resigns as Foreign Secretary, UK, 1938
Nylon stockings 1st go on sale, New York NY, 1939
Big Week of US daylight raids on Germany begins, 1944
Mountbatten appointed last Viceroy of India, 1947
Jeanette Altwegg wins 1st UK skating Olympic medal, Oslo, 1952
Jimi Hendrix plays 1st gig at high school, Seattle WA, 1960
John Glenn becomes 1st American to orbit Earth, Friendship 7, 1962
Redesigned £10 note issued, 1975
11 members of UVF Shankill Butchers sentenced for 19 murders, 1979
175 die from volcanic fumes, Java, 1979
Peter Sutcliffe, Yorkshire Ripper, charged with 13 murders, UK, 1981
Sale of contraceptives is made legal, Ireland, 1985
Mir Space Station launched, 1986
Hundreds die in torrential rain and landslides, Rio de Janeiro, 1988
Tara Lipinski becomes youngest gold medallist, Winter Olympics, Nagano, 1998
1st evidence of foot-and-mouth plague discovered, Northumberland, 2001
Alistair Cooke delivers his last Letter From America, 2004




Last updated: March 23, 2008