February 1st

National Day

• Car Insurance Day
• Change Your Password Day
• Dark Chocolate Day
• Abolition of Slavery Day

Birthdays

• 1982 – Gavin Henson, Welsh former professional rugby union player (Swansea RFC, London Welsh,
• Bath, Bristol and the Dragons), born in Pencoed, Bridgend, Wales.
•  1994 – Harry Styles, English singer (One Direction – “What Makes You Beautiful”, “Story of My Life”),
• born in Redditch, Worcestershire.

On This Day

• 1939 – A British White Paper proposing the formation of the Home Guard (which became better known as
• Dad’s Army because of the average age of the volunteers) was published. The hugely popular TV series of
• Dad’s Army was first aired on 31st July 1968 and ran for 9 series until 13th November 1977. The 2016
• Dad’s Army film had its premiere on 26th January 2016. Principal filming took place on the beach at North
• Landing (Flamborough Head) and at nearby Bridlington.
• 1952 – The first TV detector van was demonstrated. It enabled the BBC to track down users of unlicensed
• television sets in Britain.
• 1965 – Prescriptions on the NHS became free of charge and remained so until June 1968.
• 1974 – Escaped Great Train Robber Ronald Biggs was arrested by Brazilian police in Rio. He escaped
• extradition because he was the father of a child by his Brazilian girlfriend.

Music

• 2008 – US space agency Nasa announced that ‘Across the Universe’ by The Beatles was to become the first song ever to be beamed directly into space. The track would be transmitted through the Deep Space Network – a network of antennas – on the 40th anniversary of the song being recorded, being aimed at the North Star, Polaris, 431 light-years from Earth. In a message to NASA, Paul McCartney said the project was an “amazing” feat.”Well done, Nasa,” he added. “Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul.”
• 2009 – Bruce Springsteen started a two week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Working on a Dream’ his 16th studio album.
• 2013 – Coldplay’s ‘Clocks’ topped a list by BBC Radio 6 Music’s top 100 tracks of the past 10 years. More than 100,000 votes were cast in the poll which looked back over the 10 years since the station began in 2002. The Arctic Monkeys’ ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ was voted into second place, and Elbow’s ‘One Day Like This’ in third.

History

• 1327 – Fourteen year old Edward III was crowned King of England, but the country was ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
• 1587 – Under pressure from her Council, Queen Elizabeth I of England signed the warrant authorising the execution of Mary Queen of Scots.
• 1709 – Scotsman Alexander Selkirk was rescued from an uninhabited desert island (Mas à Tierra, off the coast of Chile), inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Defoe lived in Gateshead for 4 years and it is thought that he lived at Hillgate around 1710 with a bookseller named Joseph Button.
• 1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary was published. James Murray was its most famous editor but he had only reached the letter T after working 44 hours per week for 35 years, so hundreds of people sent in their own contributions.
• 1910 – The first 80 Labour Exchanges opened in Britain to try and find jobs for the unemployed.