On this day

1559 - Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England at the age of 26. She was the daughter of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn and the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.

1759 - The opening of the British Museum, at Montague House, London. Its permanent collection numbers some eight million works and is amongst the finest, most comprehensive, and largest in existence.

1859 - The National Portrait Gallery opened to the public in Great George Street. There were only 56 portraits and viewing was by appointment on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

1889 – The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is originally incorporated in Atlanta.

1892 – James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball.

1943 - Work was completed on The Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense.

1947 – The brutalized corpse of Elizabeth Short (Black Dahlia) is found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles.

1962 - The centigrade, or Celsius, scale was used in the British Meteorological Office weather forecasts for the first time, more than 200 years after the death of the Swedish scientist who invented it.

1967 – The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10

1974 - Happy Days premiered on american television.

1991 – Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth Realm to institute its own separate Victoria Cross award in its own honours system.

2001 – Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.

27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.

1412 – The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.

1547 – Ivan IV of Russia aka Ivan the Terrible becomes Czar of Russia.

1707 – The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.

1909 - Ernest Shackleton’s British expedition reached the area of the South Magnetic Pole.

1920 - Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America took effect, it was later repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.

1945 - Adolf Hitler moved into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker. It became the epicentre of the Nazi regime and it was here during the last week of April 1945 that Hitler married Eva Braun shortly before they committed suicide.

1957 - The Cavern Club opened in Liverpool. It provided a showcase for many young rock ‘n’ roll musicians, among them the Beatles.

1969 – Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of manned spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.

1978 - NASA named 35 candidates to fly on the space shuttle, including Sally K. Ride, who became America's first woman in space.

1982 - Britain and the Vatican resumed full diplomatic relations after a break of exactly 447 years.

1991 - Operation 'Desert Storm' began against Iraq, for its invasion of Kuwait.

2002 – The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban.

1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Highlanders won at the battle of Falkirk.

1773 - Captain Cook and his crew, aboard Resolution, became the first Europeans to sail below the Antarctic Circle.

1893 - Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown by a group of American businessmen and sugar planters, forcing Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate.

1912 - Captain Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole, only to find that the Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten him by one month.

1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.

1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.

1946 – The UN Security Council holds its first session.

1966 – A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea in the Palomares incident.

1995 - More than 6000 people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 devastated the city of Kobe, Japan.

2000 - British pharmaceutical companies Glaxo Wellcome PLC and SmithKline Beecham PLC agreed to a merger that would create the world's largest drugmaker.

2008 – British Airways Flight 38 crash lands just short of London Heathrow Airport in England with no fatalities. It is the first complete hull loss of a Boeing 777.

(17-01-2012 14:00 )skully Wrote:  1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.

It would be another four years before the Fleischer brothers brought Popeye to the screens. Although it looks dated now, the Fleischer's animation techniques and ideas were revolutionary at the time (David Fleischer's mantra was "if it can happen in real life it's not animation"). You can see a great example with the train whistle towards the end of this, the first ever Popeye cartoon (at 6m 47), released in 1933, albeit under the "Betty Boop" label to give it more publicity on its launch.

The Fleischers also had no qualms in taking on the OFCOMs of their day, sneaking in risque shots up Betty Boop's skirt and in this first cartoon Bluto cops a feel of Olive Oyl's breast (at 5m 17 for those of you who don't want to watch the whole thing!!).

1486 - After 30 years of civil war the Royal Houses of Lancaster and York were united by the marriage of Henry VII to Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Edward IV.

1670 - Henry Morgan captured Panama. Morgan was a privateer, and a pirate, who made a name for himself in the Caribbean and was one of the most notorious and successful privateers of all time, and one of the most ruthless.

1778 - English navigator Captain James Cook became the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands.

1788 - A British fleet of eleven ships and 800 convicts landed at Botany Bay, Australia. They created the first British penal colony, in Port Jackson - Sydney.

1911 - The first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely flew onto the deck of the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco harbor.

1919 - Bentley Motors Limited was founded by Walter Owen Bentley, but the manufacturer did not make a complete car for 27 years, only engines and chassis.

1934 - The first arrest was made in Britain as a result of issuing pocket radios to police. A Brighton shoplifter was arrested just 15 minutes after stealing three coats.

1967 - Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the Boston Strangler, was convicted in Massachusetts of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. He was sentenced to life and killed by a fellow inmate in 1973.

2003 - A bushfire kills four people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.

1419 - Rouen surrendered to Henry V in the Hundred Years' War, completing Henry's reconquest of Normandy.

1788 – The second group of ships of the First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay.

1825 - Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett patented a process for canning food in tin containers.

1840 – Captain Charles Wilkes circumnavigates Antarctica, claiming what became known as Wilkes Land for the United States.

1915 - More than 20 people were killed when German zeppelins bombed England for the first time. The bombs were dropped on Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn.

1937 - Millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles, California to Newark, New Jersey, in seven hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

1963 - The first disco, called "Whiskey-a-go-go," opened in Los Angeles.

1969 – Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire 3 days earlier in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turned into another major protest.

1977 – Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that snow has fallen. It also fell in the Bahamas.

1988 - Christopher Nolan, a 22-year-old Irish writer, won the £20,000 Whitbread Book of the Year Award for his autobiography, Under the Eye of the Clock. Completely paralysed, Nolan used a ‘unicorn’ attachment on his forehead to write the novel at a painfully slow speed.

1999 – British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.

2006 – The New Horizons probe is launched by NASA on the first mission to Pluto.

(19-01-2012 14:41 )skully Wrote:  1825 - Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett patented a process for canning food in tin containers.

Thomas Kensett, who emigrated to the United States from the UK, established the first U.S. canning facility for oysters, meats, fruits and vegetables in New York in 1812. Some sources say that Ezra Daggett was his uncle, others his father-in-law. More than 50 years later, Louis Pasteur provided the explanation for canning's effectiveness when he was able to demonstrate that the growth of microorganisms is the cause of food spoilage.

The basic principles of canning have not changed dramatically since the process was developed nearly 200 years ago. Heat sufficient to destroy microorganisms is applied to foods packed into sealed, or "airtight" containers. The canned foods are then heated under steam pressure at temperatures of 240-250° Fahrenheit (116-121° Celsius). The amount of time needed for processing is different for each food, depending on the food's acidity, density and ability to transfer heat. For example, tomatoes require less time than green beans, while corn and pumpkin require far more time.

However, it wasn't until 1858 that Ezra Warner patented the first tin opener! (The first can with a key on the side appeared in 1866 and the first fly-wheel can opener in 1870)

1265 - The first English parliament met in Westminster Hall, convened by the Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort.

1356 - Edward Balliol abdicated as King of Scotland in favour of Edward III and in exchange for an English pension.

1649 - Charles I went on trial for treason and other 'high crimes'. He was beheaded ten days later.

1783 - Great Britain signed a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the American Revolutionary War.

1788 – The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides that Botany Bay is unsuitable for the location of a penal colony, and decides to move to Port Jackson.

1887 - The U.S. Senate approved an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.

1936 – Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.

1961 - John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President of the United States of America.

1981 – Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated, at age 69 the oldest man ever to be inaugurated as U.S. President, Iran releases 52 American hostages.

1982 - Five companies agreed to cooperate on the construction of a camcorder: Hitachi, JVC, Philips, Matsushita, and Sony.

1987 – Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.

1999 – The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use, aimed especially at Internet cafés.

2006 – Witnesses report seeing a bottlenose whale swimming in the River Thames, the first time the species had been seen in the Thames since records began in 1913.

2007 – A three-man team, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1958 and for the first time ever without mechanical assistance.

1950: Acclaimed author George Orwell dies
The writer, George Orwell, has died after a three-year battle against tuberculosis.
Until the last, news had been positive and it was hoped Mr Orwell was improving.

On Friday morning he had a long talk with a friend about his plans for the future.

However, a few hours later he suffered a fatal haemorrhage in a London hospital.

But illness had not dimmed George Orwell's enthusiasm for writing.

His last novel, 1984, published last summer was written in between periods spent in hospital.

The controversial book - like Animal Farm - was widely viewed as an attack on the Communist system.

However, it brought George Orwell widespread critical acclaim including the award of £357 by the influential Partisan Review for the year's most significant contribution to literature.

Pseudonym

George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in June 1903 into a family of relatively prosperous civil servants working in India on behalf of the British Empire.

He is said to have assumed his pseudonym, inspired by the River Orwell, near his parent's house in Suffolk, to spare his family embarrassment.

Orwell's early writings often drew on his own experiences of poverty which were in marked contrast to his privileged background.

He spent time living as a tramp in the East End of London and as a dishwasher in Paris - events which inspired his first book in 1933, Down and Out in London and Paris.

It was followed in 1934 by his first novel, Burmese Days.

And in 1938 after returning wounded after fighting for the socialists in the Spanish Civil War he wrote Homage to Catalonia.

But it was only five years ago that the book which made him world-famous, Animal Farm, appeared.

In reaction to the sudden glare of fame, Orwell moved to the island of Jura, off the coast of Scotland.

The move aggravated his tuberculosis which had developed after his return from Spain.


E-mail this story to a friend





George Orwell was a BBC journalist as well as a writer



In Context
George Orwell's work has remained popular over the years, especially Animal Farm and 1984.
He began writing 1984 after resigning from the BBC World Service in September 1943 where he had been employed writing and producing news for India.

It was his increasing frustration with the Ministry of Information, which censored the news during World War II, which led to his resignation and subsequently became the central theme of 1984.

Words and phrases from the novel have passed into everyday usage, particulary "Big Brother".

The book was also made into a film released in 1984.

George Orwell's name itself has become an adjective -"Orwellian" - meaning an oppressive system.

1984 and Animal Farm frequently appear in lists of the world's best-ever selling novels.


Stories From 21 Jan
1981: Tehran frees US hostages after 444 days
1992: UN threatens Libya with sanctions
1950: Acclaimed author George Orwell dies
1997: Carers accused in child abuse inquiry
1966: Future of Monte Carlo rally in doubt

1785 - Chippewa, Delaware, Ottawa, and Wyandot Indians signed the treaty of Fort McIntosh, ceding present-day Ohio to the United States.

1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.

1799 - Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccination was introduced. His continuing work on vaccination prevented him from continuing with his ordinary medical practice. Supported by his colleagues and the King he petitioned Parliament and was granted £10,000 for his work on vaccination. In 1806 he was granted another £20,000 for his continuing work in microbiology.

1807 - Streets in London were first illuminated by gaslight when Pall Mall was lit up.

1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.

1937 - Marcel Boulestin became the first television cook when he presented the first of the Cook’s Night Out programmes on BBC.

1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.

1976 - The first Concorde jets carrying commercial passengers simultaneously took off, at 11:40 a.m. from Heathrow Airport and Orly Airport Paris.

1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.

1999 – War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board.

2004 – NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.

2008 – Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 11 September 2001, and Asian stocks drop as much as 14%.