Published 16/07/2021
Send us your content on all the important dates for the 2022 calendar.
Exact Date Unknown
1962 - 60 years of the Rolling Stones
1892 - 130 years. Ellis Island opens to begin processing immigrants into the United States.
January
1 January 1967 Jeanne-Marie Lanvin was born. 150 years
1 January 1927 - Maurice Béjart was born. 95 years
1 January 1972 - Death of Maurice Chevalier, French actor, singer and entertainer. 50 years.
1 Jan 1992 - Death of Grace Hopper, pioneering American computer scientist, mathematician and naval officer. She played a leading role in the development of the COBOL programming language. 30 years.
1 January 2002 - The euro became the official currency of Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. 20 years.
2 January 1872 - Brigham Young, the leader of the Mormon Church, was arrested for bigamy. He had between 16 and 25 wives simultaneously – possibly more. 150 years.
2 January 1942 - The FBI convicted all 33 members of the Duquesne Spy Ring, in the largest espionage case in U.S. history. The German spies were sentenced to a total of over 300 years in prison. 80 years.
2 January 1942 - World War II: Japanese forces captured Manila, the capital of the Philippines. 80 years.
3 January 1322 - Death of Philip V (Philip the Tall), King of France 1316–22. Succeeded by his brother Charles IV. 700 years.
3 January 1897 - Birth of Pola Negri, Polish-born American stage and film actress. The first European actress contracted to Hollywood. 125 years.
3 January 1942 - Birth of John Thaw, British television actor. Best known for his roles in The Sweeney, Inspector Morse, Kavanagh QC, and many others. (Died 2002.) 80 years.
3 January 1962 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro was excommunicated from the Catholic church by Pope John XXIII after he declared Cuba a communist state. 60 years.
4 January 1847 - "Mexican–American War: the Texas Rangers ordered 1,000 revolvers from U.S. firearms manufacturer Samuel Colt. This allowed Colt to turn his failing business into a hugely successful one." 175 years.
4 January 1972 - Rose Heilbron was appointed as the first female judge at the Old Bailey, London. (She was also the first woman to lead a murder case.) 50 years.
4 January 2007 - Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. 15 years.
5 January 1972 - President Richard Nixon and NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher announced the start of the Space Shuttle program. 50 years.
5 January 1922 - Death of Sir Ernest Shackleton, Irish-born British Antarctic explorer. 100 years.
5 January 1932 - Birth of Umberto Eco, Italian novelist. Best known for The Name of the Rose. (Died 2016.) 90 years.
6 January 1822 - Heinrich Schliemann. 200th birthday
7 January to 9 April 1942 - World War II: the Battle of Bataan, Philippines. Japanese victory. 80 years.
11 January 1972 - East Pakistan became the independent state of Bangladesh. 50 years.
8 January 1942 - Birth of Stephen Hawking, British theoretical physicist and cosmologist. Author of A Brief History of Time. He suffered from motor neurone disease for over 50 years and communicated from his wheelchair via a speech synthesizer. (Died 2018.) 80 years.
8 January 1947 - Birth of David Bowie, British pop/glam rock singer, songwriter and actor. One of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. (Died 2016.) 75 years.
9 January 1522 - Pope Adrian VI was elected. (He is the only Dutch pope.) 500 years.
9 January 197 - The ocean liner RMS Queen Elizabeth was destroyed by fire and sank in Hong Kong harbour. 50 years.
13 January 1962 - Death of Ernie Kovacs, American comedian and actor. (Car crash, aged 42.) 60 years.
14 January 1872 - Death of Greyfriars Bobby, a Scottish Skye terrier dog who famously guarded his owner’s grave for 14 years. 150 years.
14 January 1957 - Death of Humphrey Bogart, American film actor. Noted for his tough-guy roles. His films include The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep, Key Largo, The African Queen and The Caine Mutiny. Husband of the actress Lauren Bacall. 65 years.
14 January 1972 - Death of King Frederick IX of Denmark. Succeeded by his daughter Queen Margrethe II. 50 years.
15 January 1622 - Birth of Molière, French playwright, actor and poet. One of the greatest writers of all time. (Baptised on this date. Probably born a few days earlier.) 400 years.
16 January 1942 - Death of Carole Lombard, American actress. Noted for her comedy roles in a string of successful 1930s Hollywood movies. (Plane crash while promoting war bonds, aged 33.) 80 years.
16 January 1957 - Death of Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor. 65 years.
17 January 1942 - Birth of Muhammad Ali, (previously Cassius Clay), American heavyweight boxing champion. One of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century. 80 years.
20 January 1942 - Holocaust: the infamous Wannsee Conference was held in Germany. Nazi officials met to plan the ‘final solution to the Jewish question – the extermination of European Jews. 80 years.
20 January 1962 - Death of Robinson Jeffers, controversial American poet. 60 years.
20 January 2012 - Death of Etta James, American blues/soul/R&B/rock and roll singer. 10 years.
21 January 1922 - Birth of Telly Savalas, American film and television actor. Best known for his role as the TV detective Kojak. (Died 1994.) 100 years.
21 January 1962 - Birth of Marie Trintignant, French actress. (Died 2003.) 60 years.
21 January 2002 - Death of Peggy Lee, American pop and jazz singer and songwriter. 20 years.
22 January 1922 - Death of Pope Benedict XV. Succeeded by Pius XI. 100 years.
22 January 1992 - Roberta Bondar became the first Canadian woman in space, aboard the U.S. space shuttle Discovery. 30 years.
22 January 1997 - Death of Billy Mackenzie, Scottish post-punk/new wave singer (The Associates). (Suicide, aged 39.) 25 years.
23 January 1897 - Birth of Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian nationalist and national hero. He attempted to remove the British from India during WWII with the help of Nazi Germany and Japan. 125 years.
23 January 1947 - Pierre Bonnard - 75th death anniversary
23 January 1962 - François Truffaut’s New Wave film Jules et Jim premièred in France. (USA: 23rd April, UK: 17th May.) 60 years.
24 January 1942 - Citizen Kane, the 1941 American drama film by Orson Welles, and its first feature film, premièred in the UK. 80 years.
25 January 1882 - Adeline Virginia Woolf, English modernist writer, was born. 140 years.
25 January 1947 - Death of Al Capone, famous American gangster. 75 years.
26 January 1962 - Death of Lucky Luciano, Italian-born American gangster. Regarded as the father of modern organised crime in the USA. 60 years.
27 January 1972 - Death of Mahalia Jackson, ‘the Queen of Gospel’, American gospel singer. 50 years.
28 January 2002 - Death of Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children’s writer. Best known for creating the character Pippi Longstocking. 20 years.
30 January 197 - The Troubles in Northern Ireland: Bloody Sunday. British paratroopers opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Londonderry, killing 13 people (plus another who died later) and injuring many others. 50 years.
30 January 1982 - Death of Stanley Holloway, British actor, comedian and singer. Known for his roles in My Fair Lady and many others. 40 years.
31 January 1872 - Birth of Zane Grey, American writer of Western fiction. 150 years.
31 January 1942 - Birth of Derek Jarman, British avant-garde filmmaker. Known for Jubilee, The Tempest, Caravaggio, War Requiem, Edward II, and more. (Died 1994.) 80 years.
February
1 February 1942 - Birth of Terry Jones, Welsh comedy actor, writer, director and historian. A member of the Monty Python team. Later known for his books and documentaries on Medieval history. (Died 2020.) 80 years.
2 February 1882 - James Joyce was born. 140 years.
2 February 1922 - James Joyce’s novel Ulysses was published. 100 years.
2 February 1947 - Birth of Farrah Fawcett, American film and television actress. Best known for her role in the TV series Charlie’s Angels. Wife of the actor Lee Majors and partner of the actor Ryan O’Neal. (Died 2009.) 75 years.
4 February 1992 - Death of Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish fashion model. The world’s first supermodel. Wife of the photographer Irving Penn. 30 years.
6 February 1922 - Pope Pius XI was elected. 100 years.
6 February 1922 - Birth of Patrick Macnee, British-born American actor. Best known for his role as John Steed in the TV series The Avengers and The New Avengers. (Died 2015.) 100 years.
6 February 1932 - Birth of François Truffaut, French film director and producer. (Died 1984.) 90 years.
6 February 1952 - Death of George VI, King of the United Kingdom (1936–52). Succeeded by his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. 70 years.
9 February 2002 - Death of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. Sister of Queen Elizabeth II. 20 years.
11 February 1847 - Birth of Thomas Edison, American inventor and businessman. Best known for inventing the first practical incandescent light bulb, phonograph, the movie camera and projector, and many more. 175 years.
11 February 2012 - Death of Whitney Houston, American singer and film actress. One of the bestselling music artists of all time. (Drowned in a hotel bathtub because of coronary artery disease and drug intoxication, aged 48.) 10 years.
12 February 1942 - Grant Wood, American artist, dies. 80 years.
13 February 2012 - Death of Sophie Desmarets. 10 years.
14 February 2002 - Death of Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz. 20 years.
17 February 1982 - Death of Lee Strasberg, Austria-Hungarian-born American actor, theatre director and teacher. The chief proponent of method acting in the USA. 40 years.
17 February 1867 - The first ship passed through the Suez Canal, 155 years.
20 February 1962 - John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. He made three orbits in the space capsule Friendship 7. 60 years.
22 February 1897 - Death of Charles Blondin, French tightrope walker and acrobat. Best known for crossing Niagara Gorge on a tightrope. 125 years.
22 February 1987 - Andy Warhol, leading figure of Pop art, dies. 35 years.
24 February 1922 - Birth Richard Hamilton, pop artist. 100 years
26 February 1922 - Birth of Margaret Leighton, British stage, film and television actress. (Died 1976.) 100 years.
26 February 1932 - Birth of Johnny Cash, American country singer and songwriter. (Died 2003.) 90 years.
27 February 1622 - Birth of Carel Fabritius, Dutch artist. A student of Rembrandt’s.(Killed in the Delft gunpowder magazine explosion in October 1654, which also destroyed his studio and most of his works.) 400 years.
27 February 1897 - Birth of Marian Anderson, American contralto. As well as being a world-famous singer, she broke several major barriers for black artists in the USA and was the first black person to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. 125 years.
27 February 1932 - Birth of Elizabeth Taylor, British-born American actress, humanitarian and businesswoman. A major Hollywood star. She was famously married eight times, was the first celebrity to release a perfume brand, and was a leading campaigner for HIV/AIDS research. (Died 2011.) 90 years.
28 February 1942 - Birth of Brian Jones, British rock musician (Rolling Stones). (Died 1969.) 80 years.
29 February 2012 - Death of Davy Jones, British pop singer and actor (The Monkees). 10 years.
March
1 March 1872 - Yellowstone National Park was established as the first national park in the USA, and probably also the first in the world. 150 years.
1 March 1932 - American aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh’s infant son was kidnapped from his home in Hopewell, New Jersey. The Lindberghs paid a $50,000 ransom but their son was found dead on 12th May. 90 years.
2 March 1942 - Birth of Lou Reed, American alternative rock/glam rock singer, songwriter, poet and musician. Known for founding the rock band The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, particularly the song Walk on the Wild Side and the album Transformer. (Died 2013.) 80 years.
2 March 1982 - Death of Philip K. Dick, American science fiction writer. Several of his stories became popular films, including Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report. 40 years.
3 March 1847 - Birth of Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born American engineer and scientist. Credited with inventing the first practical telephone. Co-founder of AT&T. President of the National Geographic Society (1898–1903). 175 years.
4 March 1897 - William McKinley was inaugurated as the 25th President of the United States. 125 years.
4 March 1922 - The silent German Expressionist horror film Nosferatu was released in Germany. (USA: 3rd June 1929.) 100 years.
7 March 1872 - Birth of Piet Mondrian, Dutch abstract artist. Regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Best known for his paintings of simple geometric shapes in red, yellow, blue, black and white. 150 years.
7 March 1932 - Death of Aristide Briand, Prime Minister of France several times between 1909 and 1929. Joint winner of the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize. 90 years.
10 March 1922 - Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi was arrested and charged with sedition for his campaign of non-cooperation against the British Indian government. He was sentenced to six years in prison but was released after two years as he required surgery for appendicitis. 100 years.
11 March 1952 - Birth of Douglas Adams, British comedy writer and dramatist. Best known for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. (Died 2001.) 70 years.
12 March 1922 - Birth of Jack Kerouac, American ‘Beat’ novelist and poet. (Died 1969.) 100 years.
12 March 1942 - Death of Robert Bosch, German engineer and industrialist. Founder of the Bosch company which developed the spark plug and magneto and later became one of the world’s largest engineering and electronics companies. 80 years.
14 March 1997 - Death of Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-born American film director (High Noon, From Here to Eternity, Oklahoma!, A Man For All Seasons, The Day of the Jackal, and more). 25 years.
14 March 1992 - Death of the French actor Jean Poiret. 30 years.
15 March 1932 - Birth of Alan Bean, American astronaut (Apollo 12 and Skylab). The fourth person to walk on the Moon. (Died 2018.) 90 years.
16 March 1822 - Bicentenary of the birth of Marie Rosalie Bonheur, known as Rosa Bonheur. 200 years.
19 March 1997 - Death of Willem de Kooning, Dutch-born American Abstract Expressionist artist. Known for his Action paintings. A member of the New York School, which included Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. 25 years.
24 March 1962 - Death of Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist who explored the upper atmosphere by balloon and the depths of the sea by bathyscaphe, both of which he designed himself. Several of his descendants and relatives also became notable explorers. 60 years.
25 March 1942 - Birth of Aretha Franklin, ‘the Queen of Soul’, American soul/R&B/pop/ gospel singer. Known for her many hit songs including Respect and I Say A Little Prayer. (Died 2018.) 80 years.
25 March 1957 - Treaty of Rome. 65 years.
26 March 1952 - Birth of Didier Pironi, French racing driver. (Died 1987.) 70 years.
27 March 2002 - Death of Billy Wilder, Austrian-born American film director and producer (Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, The Lost Weekend, The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, and more). 20 years.
30 March 2002 - Death of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, mother of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. 20 years.
31 March 1872 - Birth of Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet impresario, patron and art critic. Founder of the Ballets Russes. 150 years.
April
1 April 1922 - Death of Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychologist and psychoanalyst. Best known for developing the Rorschach inkblot test which was widely used as a means of diagnosing mental disorders. 100 years.
1 April 1922 - Death of Charles I, last Emperor of Austria. (Also known as King Charles IV of Hungary.) 100 years.
1 April 1932 - Birth of Debbie Reynolds, American stage, film and television actress and dancer (Singin’ in the Rain, How the West Was Won, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Charlotte’s Web, Will & Grace [TV series]). Mother of the actress Carrie Fisher. (Died 2016.) 90 years.
1 April 1947 - Death of King George II of Greece. Succeeded by his brother Paul. 75 years.
2 April 1872 - Death of Samuel Morse, American artist and inventor who helped develop commercial single-wire telegraph systems and co-developed Morse code. 150 years.
3 April 1897 - Vienna Secession was founded. 125 years.
3 April 1897 - Death of Johannes Brahms, German composer, piano virtuoso and conductor. 125 years.
3 April 1922 - Joseph Stalin became leader of the Soviet Union, succeeding Vladimir Lenin. 100 years.
4 April 1932 - Birth of Anthony Perkins, American stage and film actor and singer. Best known for his role as Norman Bates in the film Psycho. (Died 1992.) 90 years.
5 April 1997 - Death of Allen Ginsberg, American ‘Beat movement’ poet. 25 years.
7 April 1947 - Death of Henry Ford, American industrialist, car manufacturer and inventor. Founder of the Ford Motor Company. He revolutionised factory production by introducing assembly lines and brought motorised transport to the masses. 75 years.
8 April 1992 - American tennis star Arthur Ashe announced that he had AIDS, acquired from a blood transfusion during heart surgery. He died 10 months later. 30 years.
9 April 1872 - Birth of Léon Blum, Prime Minister of France (1936–37, 1938, 1946–47). 150 years.
10 April 1847 - Birth of Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian-born American newspaper publisher and philanthropist. The annual Pulitzer Prizes were established in 1917 following his $2 million endowment to Columbia University. He also pioneered ‘yellow journalism’ which favoured eye-catching head- lines over quality journalism and research in order to attract more readers. 175 years.
10 April 1932 - Paul von Hindenburg was elected President of Germany for a second term, defeating Adolf Hitler. Hindenburg had intended retiring, but was persuaded to stand for election as the only person who could defeat Hitler. 90 years.
10 April 1932 - Birth of Omar Sharif, Egyptian film and television actor (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Funny Girl, and more). He was also a leading contract bridge player. (Died 2015.) 90 years.
10 April 1962 - Death of Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-born American film director (The Adventures of Robin Hood, Angels with Dirty Faces, Casablanca, White Christmas, and many more). He is also credited with discovering film stars including Errol Flynn and Doris Day. 60 years.
14 April 1962 - Georges Pompidou became Prime Minister of France. 60 years.
15 April 1772 - Birth of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French naturalist. 250 years.
16 April 1972 - NASA launched Apollo 16 to the Moon. This was the fifth manned landing and the first in the lunar highlands, although it was nearly aborted after an engine crisis. 50 years.
17 April 1897 - Birth of Thornton Wilder, American playwright and novelist. 125 years.
18 April 1942 - Birth of Jochen Rindt, German-born Austrian racing driver. Formula One world champion in 1970. (Title awarded posthumously following his death in a crash while practising earlier in the season.) 80 years.
19 April 1932 - Birth of Jayne Mansfield, American stage and film actress and singer. One of Hollywood’s leading blonde bombshells of the 1950s. (Died 1967.) 90 years.
20 April 1942 - The Prime Minister of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, gave a radio address to the French people, saying that ‘a policy of understanding and true reconciliation with Germany must be loyally carried out’. He was executed in 1945 for collaborating with the enemy and plotting against the security of the state. 80 years.
23 April 1932 - The Royal Shakespeare Theatre opened in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, replacing the one that burnt down in 1926. 90 years.
23 April 1942 - Birth of Sandra Dee, American film and TV actress and model. (Died 2005.) 80 years.
25 April 1472 - Leone Battista Alberti died - 550 years
27 April 1822 - Birth of Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (1869–77). 200 years.
27 April 1922 - Fritz Lang’s silent film Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (Dr. Mabuse the Gambler) was released in Germany. 100 years.
27 April 1992 - Death of Olivier Messiaen, French composer, organist and teacher. 30 years.
28 April 1992 - Francis Bacon, British painter, dies. 30 years.
May
2 May 1972 - Death of J. Edgar Hoover, American director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and its predecessor the Bureau of Investigation. 50 years.
2 May 1982 - Falklands War: the British submarine HMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano. Over 300 Argentine sailors were killed. 40 years.
6 May 1992 - Death of Marlene Dietrich, German-born American stage and film actress and singer. 3 years.
8 May 1982 - Death of Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian racing driver. (Crashed during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, aged 32.) 40 years.
9 May 2012 - Death of Vidal Sassoon, British-American hairdresser and businessman. Noted for repopularising the bob cut. 10 years.
11 May 1962 - Antonio Segni became President of Italy. 60 years.
12 May 1992 - Death of the French actress Française Jacqueline Maillan. 30 years.
13 May 1972 - Death of Dan Blocker, American television actor. Best known for playing Hoss Cartwright in the Western series Bonanza. (Pulmonary embolism following surgery, aged 43.) 50 years.
15 May 1567 - Birth of Italian composery Claudio Monteverdi 455 years.
16 May 2007 - Nicolas Sarkozy became President of France. 15 years.
17 May 2012 - Death of Donna Summer, the ‘Queen of Disco’, American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her many hit songs, including I Feel Love, Love to Love You Baby, MacArthur Park, Hot Stuff, On the Radio, and more. 10 years.
18 May 1872 - Birth of Bertrand Russell, Welsh philosopher, mathematician, historian and writer. Winner of the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature. 150 years.
18 May 1897 - Birth of Frank Capra, Italian-born American film director, producer and screenwriter (It Happened One Night, You Can’t Take It with You, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, It’s a Wonderful Life, and more). 125 years.
20 May 2012 - Death of Robin Gibb, British singer, songwriter and record producer (the Bee Gees). 10 years.
21 May 1932 - American aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. 90 years.
22 May 1972 - Death of Margaret Rutherford, British stage and film actress. Best known for her role as Miss Marple in several films based on Agatha Christie’s novels. She also starred in film adaptations of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, and other roles. 50 years.
27 May 1922 - Birth of Christopher Lee, British film actor and singer. Best known for his many Hammer Horror films, particularly for his role as Count Dracula. He also played a leading role in The Wicker Man and appeared in the later Star Wars films, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and many more. (Died 2015.) 100 years.
29 May 1942 - Death of John Barrymore, American stage and film actor. A member of the Barrymore theatrical dynasty. 80 years.
29 May 1982 - Death of Romy Schneider, Austrian-born German-French film actress. 40 years.
30 May 1922 - The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., USA was dedicated. 100 years.
30 May 1932 - The National Theatre of Greece was founded in Athens. It was originally the Royal Theatre (opened in 1900, closed in 1932 after a period of decline). 90 years.
31 May 1962 - Death of Adolf Eichmann, German Nazi leader who organised the identification and transportation of Jews from occupied Europe to extermination camps. (Executed.) 60 years.
June
5 June 1947 - The Marshall Plan is drafted. 75 years.
9 June 1672 - Birth of Peter the Great (1672 - 1725) - 350 years.
10 June 1922 - Birth of Judy Garland, American actress and singer. Best known for the films The Wizard of Oz and Meet Me in St. Louis. Mother of the actress and singer Liza Minnelli. (Died 1969.) 100 years.
17 June 1972 - The Watergate Scandal began when five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex, Washington D.C., USA. 50 years.
17 June 1982 - Death of Roberto Calvi, Italian banker. Known as ‘God’s Banker’ because of his close association with the Vatican. Found dead in London. His death was initially ruled to be suicide, but a second inquest ruled that he had been murdered. 40 years.
19 June 1947 - Birth of Salman Rushdie. 75 years.
20 June 1887 - Birth of Kurt Schwitters (1887 - 1948). 135 years.
20 June 1947 - Death of Bugsy Siegel, American mobster. The driving force behind the Las Vegas Strip, he helped finance some of the original casinos and completed the Flamingo Hotel when the developer ran out of funds. (Shot dead by an unknown assailant, aged 41.) 75 years.
21 June 1982 - Birth of Prince William of Wales, second in line to the British throne. Son of Charles and Diana, the Prince and Princess of Wales. 40 years.
25 June 1852 - Antoni Gaudí, Spanish Catalan architect and the best-known practitioner of Catalan Modernism, was born. 170 years.
25 June 1997 - Death of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, French oceanographer and filmmaker who pioneered marine conservation and co-developed the aqua-lung. 25 years.
26 June 1922 - Death of Albert I, Prince of Monaco (1889–1922). Succeeded by his son, Louis II. 100 years.
28 June 1922 to May 1923 - Irish Civil War. Pro-Treaty victory leading to confirmation of the Irish Free State. 100 years.
29 June 1982 - Death of the fashion designer Pierre Balmain. 40 years.
29 June 922 - Robert I became King of France (for 1 year). He was killed at the Battle of Soissons in June 923. 1100 years.
July
1 July 1872 - 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. 150 years.
1 July 1972 - The first Gay Pride march in Britain took place in London. 50 years.
1 July 1997 - Death of Robert Mitchum, American film actor. Best known for his roles as a gritty anti-hero. 25 years.
2 July 1932 - Death of Manuel II, last King of Portugal. 90 years.
3 July 2012 - Death of Andy Griffith, American actor, comedian and singer. Best known for his roles as Andy Taylor in the TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show and Ben Matlock in the legal drama series Matlock. 10 years.
4 July 1872 - Birth of Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (1923–29). 150 years.
4 July 1942 - World War II: the Siege of Sevastopol ended. Axis forces captured the Crimean port city which they had first attacked in October 1941. 80 years.
5 July 1872 - Birth of Édouard Herriot, Prime Minister of France (1924–25, 1926, 1932). 150 years.
5 July 1962 - Algeria gained its independence from France. 60 years.
6 July 1932 - Death of Kenneth Grahame, Scottish children’s writer. Best known for his novel The Wind in the Willows. 90 years.
6 July 1962 - Death of William Faulkner, American novelist and short story writer. Winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature. 60 years.
9 July 1947 - Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten. 75 years.
9 July 2002 - Death of Rod Steiger, American stage, film and television actor (On the Waterfront, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, and more). 20 years.
11 July 1957 - Death of Aga Khan III, Imam of Nizari Ismailism. Succeeded by his grandson, Aga Khan IV. 65 years.
12 July 1982 - Death of Kenneth More, British film, stage and television actor. 40 years.
12 July 1997 - The body of Argentine-born Cuban guerilla leader Che Guevara was returned to Cuba from Bolivia after it was discovered buried under the airstrip at Vallegrande. (He was shot dead in Bolivia in 1967.) 25 years.
13 July 1772 - British explorer and navigator Captain James Cook set sail on HMS Resolution on his second voyage to explore the Pacific. 250 years.
13 July 1897 - 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.) 125 years.
14 July 1862 - Gustav Klimt, Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement, was born. 160 years.
15 July 1897 - The Klondike gold rush began when prospectors from San Francisco, California, USA set off en masse for the Yukon in north-western Canada. 125 years.
15 July 1997 - Death of Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer. (Shot dead by American serial killer Andrew Cunanan, who killed himself on 23rd July.) 25 years.
18 July 1872 - Death of Benito Juárez, President of Mexico (1858–72 – died in office). Succeeded by Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. 150 years.
20 July 1847 - Birth of Max Liebermann, German painter and printmaker (1847 - 1935) - 175 years.
20 July 1822 - Birth of Gregor Mendel, Austrian/Czech friar, botanist and geneticist who discovered the laws of heredity and created the science of genetics. 200 years.
21 July 1897 - The Tate Britain art museum opened in London, England. 125 years.
23 July 1952 - Egyptian Revolution: King Farouk I of Egypt was overthrown and forced to abdicate (on 26th July) in favour of his infant son, in a military coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. (In June 1953 the monarchy was abolished and Egypt was declared a republic.) 70 years.
23 July 2012 - Death of Sally Ride, American astronaut and physicist. The first American woman to travel into space. 10 years.
24 July 1897 - Birth of Amelia Earhart, American aviation pioneer. The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. (Disappeared over the Pacific in 1937, aged 39.) 125 years.
26 July 1922 - Birth of Blake Edwards, American film producer and director (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Days of Wine and Roses, 10, Victor/Victoria, the Pink Panther film series). Husband of the actress Julie Andrews. (Died 2010.) 100 years.
26 July 1922 - Birth of Jason Robards, American stage, film and TV actor. (Died 2000.) 100 years.
26 July 1952 - Death of Eva Perón (‘Evita’), First Lady of Argentina (1946–52). (Cancer, aged 33.) 70 years.
28 July 1887 - Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp, French painter and sculptor, was born. 135 years.
28 July 1922 - 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.) 100 years.
28 July 1942 - Death of Sir (William Matthew) Flinders Petrie, British archaeologist and Egyptologist. A pioneer of sequence dating and systematic methodology. 80 years.
31 July 1947 - Birth of Richard Griffiths, British stage, film and television actor. Best known for his roles as Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films, Uncle Morty in Withnail and I, Henry Crabbe in the TV series Pie in the Sky, and for his award-winning performance in the stage show The History Boys. (Died 2013.) 75 years.
August
2 August 1922 - Death of Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born American audiologist and inventor. Credited with developing the first practical telephone. 100 years.
4 August 1962 - Death of Marilyn Monroe. 60 years.
7 August 1867 - Emil Nolde, one of the first Expressionists and member of Die Brücke, was born. 155 years.
7 August 1957 - Death of Oliver Hardy, American comedy film actor (Laurel and Hardy). 65 years.
7 August 2012 - Death of Michel Polac. 10 years.
8 August 1902 - James Tissot died. 120 years.
9 August 1962 - Death of Hermann Hesse, German-born Swiss novelist and poet. Winner of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature. 60 years.
10 August 1932 - Death of Rin Tin Tin, American German Shepherd dog who appeared in 27 Hollywood films. 90 years.
11 August 1897 - Birth of Enid Blyton, enormously popular 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. 125 years.
11 August 1942 - Austrian-born American actress Hedy Lamarr and American composer George Antheil were granted a U.S. patent for their frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system. They developed it as part of the U.S. war effort to prevent radio-controlled torpedoes from being jammed by the enemy. The system later became the basis for wireless phones and Wi-Fi computer networking. 80 years.
12 August 1982 - Death of Henry Fonda, American stage and film actor (Fort Apache, 12 Angry Men, Once Upon a Time in the West, On Golden Pond, and more). 40 years.
12 August 1992 - Death of John Cage, American avant-garde composer. 30 years.
15 August 1947 - Independence of India - 75 years.
18 August 1952 - Birth of Patrick Swayze, American film and television actor and dancer. Best known for the films Dirty Dancing and Ghost. (Died 2009.) 70 years.
21 August 1872 - Birth of Aubrey Beardsley (1872 - 1898) - 150 years.
21 August 1952 - Birth of Joe Strummer, British punk/rock singer, guitarist and songwriter (The Clash). (Died 2002.) 70 years.
24 August 1932 - American aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly non-stop across the USA. 90 years.
25 August 1822 - 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. 200 years.
25 August 1942 - Death of Prince George, Duke of Kent. Son of King George V of the United Kingdom. Younger brother of Edward VIII and George VI. Noted for his scandalous lifestyle. (Plane crash during WWII – the first member of the British royal family to die in active service for 400 years.) 80 years.
25 August 2012 - Death of Neil Armstrong, American astronaut (Apollo 11). The first person to walk on the Moon. 10 years.
29 August 1982 - Death of Ingrid Bergman, Swedish film actress (Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gaslight, Spellbound, Notorious, and many more). 40 years.
31 August 1422 - Death of Henry V, King of England (1413–22). (Heatstroke or dysentery, aged 35.) Succeeded by his son, Henry VI. 600 years.
31 August 1867 - Charles Baudelaire, French poet, died. 155 years.
31 August 1997 - Death of Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Fayed, and their driver, in a car crash in the Place de l’Alma underpass in Paris, France. 25 years.
September
1 September 1952 - Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Old Man and the Sea was published. 70 years.
4 September 1997 - Death of Aldo Rossi, Italian architect and designer. 25 years.
5 September 1622 - French clergyman and statesman Cardinal Richelieu became a cardinal. 400 years.
5 September 1847 - Birth of Jesse James, American outlaw, bank robber and train robber. 175 years.
5 September 1997 - Death of Mother Teresa, Macedonian-born/Albanian Indian nun and humanitarian. Founder of the Missionaries of Charity. Winner of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. Beatified in October 2003. 25 years.
6 September 1997 - The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in Westminster Abbey, London. 25 years.
7 September 1822 - Independence of Brazil. 200 years.
12 September 1897 - Birth of Irène Joliot-Curie, French chemist and physicist. Daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie. Joint winner (with her husband Frédéric Joliot) of the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for synthesizing new radioactive elements. 125 years.
14 September 1822 - Jean François Champollion deciphered the Rosetta Stone. 200 years.
14 September 1982 - Death of Princess Grace of Monaco, formerly the American film and television actress Grace Kelly. (Car crash, aged 52.) 40 years.
15 September 2012 - Death of Pierre Mondy (French actor). 10 years.
20 September 1957 - Death of Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer. 65 years.
26 September 1897 - Birth of Pope Paul VI (1963–78). 125 years.
27 September 1822 - French orientalist Jean-François Champollion announced that he had successfully deciphered the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta stone. 200 years.
29 September 1997 - Death of Roy Lichtenstein, American artist. One of the founders of the Pop Art movement. 25 years.
October
1 October. 1982 - Helmut Kohl became Chancellor of West Germany, succeeding Helmut Schmidt who lost a vote of no confidence. 40 years.
4 October 1472 - Birth of Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472 – 1553) - 550 years.
4 October 1947 - Death of Max Planck, German theoretical physicist. Winner of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics for originating quantum theory. 75 years.
9 October 1967 - Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Argentine Marxist revolutionary leader, dies. 55 years
11 October 1872 - Birth of Emily Davison, British suffragette. A militant fighter for her cause. (Died after being hit by the King’s horse at the 1913 Derby.) 150 years.
13 October 1822 - Death of Antonio Canova (1757 - 1822) - 200 years.
16 October 1962 – 28 October 1962 - Cuba Missile Crisis - 60 years.
18 October 1922 - The BBC was officially founded as the British Broadcasting Company (now the British Broadcasting Corporation). 100 years.
18 October 1962 - American molecular biologist James D. Watson, and British molecular biologists Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the double-helix structure of DNA. 60 years.
20 October 1822 - Birth of Thomas Hughes, British novelist, lawyer, judge and politician. Best known for his novel Tom Brown’s School Days. 200 years.
21 October 1422 - Death of Charles VI, (the Beloved, the Mad), King of France (1380–1422). Succeeded by his son, Charles VII. (This succession is disputed as Charles VI had disowned his son in 1420 and recognised Henry V of England as his successor.) 600 years.
23 October 1942 - Birth of Michael Crichton, American novelist and screenwriter. Best known for The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Disclosure, and the TV series ER. (Died 2008.) 80 years.
24 October 1957 - Death of Christian Dior, French fashion designer. 65 years.
26 October 1952 - Death of Hattie McDaniel, American actress. Best known for her role as Mammy in the film Gone With the Wind. She was the first African American to win an Academy Award. 70 years.
27 October 1952 - Birth of Roberto Benigni. 70 years.
27 October 1932 - Birth of Sylvia Plath, American poet and novelist. (Died 1963.) 90 years.
28 – 29 October 1922 - Mussolini’s March on Rome. Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini 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. 100 years.
29 October 1957 - Death of Louis B. Mayer, Russian-born American film producer and studio executive. Head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). 65 years.
30 October 1932 - Birth of Louis Malle, French film director. (Died 1995.) 90 years.
30 October 1992 - Death of Joan Mitchell, American painter and printmaker. 30 years.
November
1 November 1952 - First detonation of the H-Bomb (Ivy Mike). 70 years.
1 November 1972 - Death of Ezra Pound, American poet and critic. 50 years.
3 November 1992 - 1992 U.S. presidential election. Bill Clinton was elected as the 42nd President of the United States. (Inaugurated 20th January 1993.) 30 years.
4 November 1847 - Death of Felix Mendelssohn, German composer, pianist, organist and conductor. 175 years.
4 November 1922 - 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. 100 years.
4 November 1952 - 1952 U.S. presidential election. Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected as the 34th President of the United States. (Inaugurated 20th January 1953.) 70 years.
5 November 1982 - Death of Jacques Tati, French film director and actor. Best known for his role as Monsieur Hulot in a series of popular comedy films. 40 years.
7 November 1867 - Marie Curie, Polish and French physicist and chemist is born. 155 years.
7 November 1962 - Death of Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (1933–45). Wife of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 60 years.
8 November 1847 - Birth of Bram Stoker, Irish-born British writer. Best known for his Gothic horror novel Dracula. He also managed the Lyceum Theatre in London. 175 years.
9 November 1922 - Birth of Dorothy Dandridge, American film actress and singer. (Died 1965.) 100 years.
10 November 1932 - Birth of Roy Scheider, American film and television actor (Jaws, Jaws 2, The French Connection, All That Jazz, Klute, Marathon Man, and the science fiction TV series SeaQuest DSV). (Died 2008.) 90 years.
11 November 1922 - Birth of Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist, playwright and short-story writer. (Died 2007.) 100 years.
15 November 1887 - Birth of Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist. 135 years.
18 November 1922 - Death of Marcel Proust, French novelist. Best known for his 7-volume novel In Search of Lost Time (or Remembrance of Things Past). 100 years.
18 November 1962 - Death of Niels Bohr, Danish physicist. Winner of the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on atomic and molecular structure, and quantum mechanics. 60 years.
18 November 2002 - Death of James Coburn, American film and television actor (The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Our Man Flint, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, and more). 20 years.
20 November 1947 - The marriage of Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London. 75 years.
24 November 1897 - Birth of Lucky Luciano, Italian-born American gangster. Regarded as the father of modern organised crime in the USA. 125 years.
24 November 1997 - Death of Barbara, French singer and songwriter. 25 years.
27 November 1942 - Birth of Jimi Hendrix, American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. (Died 1970.) 80 years.
29 November 1932 - Birth of Jacques Chirac, President of France (1995–2007). (Died 2019.) 90 years.
29 November 2002 - The death of Daniel Gélin. 20 years.
December
1 December 1997 - Death of Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist. 25 years.
5 December 2012 - Death of Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect. A key figure in the development of modern architecture. He co-designed the headquarters of the United Nations, designed the cathedral and civil buildings in Brasilia, Brazil, and many more. 10 years.
6 December 1942 - Birth of Peter Handke, one of the most important but also the most controversial German-speaking writers. In 2019 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature together with the Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk. 80 years.
8 December 1922 - Birth of Lucian Freud, German-born British figurative artist and draughts- man. One of the leading portrait artists of the 20th century. (Died 2011.) 100 years.
9 December 1992 - The separation of Charles and Diana, the Prince and Princess of Wales, was announced. 30 years.
13 December 1947 - Death of Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947) - painter and guru - 75 years.
20 December 1922 - Birth of Tony Vaccaro - 100 years.
20 December 1982 - Death of Artur Rubinstein, Polish-born American virtuoso pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. 40 years.
22 December 1867 - Death of Théodore Rousseau, French painter. 155 years.
24 December 1982 - Death of the author Louis Aragon. 40 years.
24 December 1922 - Birth of Ava Gardner, American film actress (Mogambo, The Barefoot Contessa, The Night of the Iguana, and many more). (Died 1990.) 100 years.
26 December 1972 - Death of Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (1945–53). 50 years.
27 December 1822 - 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. 200 years.
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