It happened today – this day in history – February 6
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1189: Riots in Norfolk spread to Norwich.
1665: Queen Anne (Stuart) is born in St James’ Palace.
1685: The Duke of York becomes King James II of England and VII of Scotland upon the death of his brother Charles II.
1778: Britain declares war on France.
1804: Chemist Joseph Priestley, who discovered oxygen, dies aged 70.
1819: Stamford Raffles founds Singapore as a British trading port.
1832: The first appearance of cholera in Edinburgh.
1851: Robert Schumann’s 3rd Symphony “Rhenisch” premieres in Dusseldorf.
1854: Composer Robert Schumann is saved from a suicide attempt when he throws himself into the River Rhine.
1855: Government formed by Viscount Palmerston.
1862: General Ulysses S Grant captures Fort Henry in Tennessee during the American Civil War.
1894: The bottle opener is patented by William Painter.
1899: Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, dies at 24 in mysterious circumstances. On the same day, the Spanish–American War ends with the peace treaty ratified by the US Senate.
1911: Fire destroys downtown Constantinople (Istanbul).
1918: Britain grants women aged 30 and over the vote. On the same day, Austrian painter Gustav Klimt dies aged 55.
1921: Release of silent film ‘The Kid’ starring Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan.
1922: Cardinal Achille Ratti is elected Pope Pius XI.
1934: Far right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic.
1935: The board game Monopoly goes on sale.
1936: The fourth Winter Olympic Games open in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
1939: The Spanish government flees to France.
1941: British troops conquer Bengazi, Libya.
1952: George VI dies in his sleep at Sandringham aged 56. Princess Elizabeth is informed of her father’s death and her accession to the throne while on a trip to Kenya.
1956: French Prime Minister Guy Mollet is pelted with tomatoes in Algiers.
1958: Seven Manchester United footballers are among 21 dead after an air crash on a snowbound runway in Munich. Manager Matt Busby is himself critically injured and young star Duncan Edwards would die days later. On the same day, George Harrison joins John Lennon’s band The Quarrymen on the recommendation of his friend Paul McCartney.
1961: Spurs captain Danny Blanchflower becomes the first person to turn down being the subject of This Is Your Life on live television.
1964: Great-Britain and France sign an accord over building a channel tunnel.
1965: Sir Stanley Matthews makes his final appearance in the Football League for Stoke against Fulham days after his 50th birthday.
1967: Muhammad Ali pummels Ernie Terrell for 15 rounds to retain his world heavyweight boxing crown at Houston Astrodome.
1968: The tenth Winter Olympic Games opens in Grenoble, France.
1971: The IRA shoots and kills Gunner Robert Curtis, the first British soldier to die during the ‘Troubles’. On the same day, James Saunders (22), a member of the IRA, is shot and killed by the British Army during a gun battle near the Oldpark Road, Belfast and Bernard Watt (28), a Catholic civilian, is shot and killed by the British Army during street disturbances in Ardoyne, Belfast. On the same day, Astronaut Alan Shepard plays golf on the Moon.
On TV tonight (Saturday)
| LONDON WEEKEND | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.55 | RAC Road Report | ||
| 11.00 | Apollo 14 | ||
| 12.45 | News from ITN | ||
| 12.50 | World of Sport | ||
| 17.10 | Stewpot | ||
| 17.40 | News | ||
| 17.50 | The More We Are Together | ||
| 18.20 | The Baron Crime series starring Steve Forest and Sue Lloyd | ||
| 19.15 | The Leslie Crowther Show | ||
| 19.45 | Apollo 14 | ||
| 20.20 – 22.05 | From: North West Passage (1940) King Vidor adventure starring Spencer Tracy | ||
| 22.05 | News | ||
| 22.20 | North West Passage | ||
| 23.00 | Aquarius | ||
| 23.45 | Hogan’s Heroes | ||
| BBC ONE | |||
| 09.35 | Square Two | ||
| 10.00 | Si Dice Cosi | ||
| 10.30 | Apollo 14: Moonwalk | ||
| 12.40 | Weatherman | ||
| 12.45 | Grandstand featuring International Rugby Union Scotland v Wales | ||
| 17.15 | Doctor Who: The Mind Of Evil Part 2 Jon Pertwee as the Doctor | ||
| 17.40 | News | ||
| 17.50 | Here’s Lucy American comedy series starring Lucille Ball | ||
| 18.15 | It’s Cliff Richard With guests Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Olivia Newton John and Clodagh Rodgers sings a Song For Europe | ||
| 18.55 | Dixon of Dock Green Starring Jack Warner | ||
| 19.40 | Apollo 14 Lift-off from the Moon | ||
| 19.55 | Cilla Cilla Black with guests Dudley Moore, Sacha Distel and Derek Nimmo | ||
| 20.40 | Film: State Secret (1950) Thriller starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr as a brain surgeon who has to operate on the leader of a Balkan country. | ||
| 22.10 | News | ||
| 22.20 | Match of the Day David Coleman introduces action, news, analysis and interviews from two of today’s games. | ||
| 23.20 | Braden’s Week With Bernard Braden and Esther Rantzen | ||
| 23.55 | Weatherman: Closedown | ||
| BBC TWO | |||
| 16.15 | Saturday Cinema: All for Mary (1955) Two young bachelors arrive in Switzerland for a ski-ing holiday and fall for the hotel proprietor’s daughter. Comedy starring David Tomlinson. | ||
| 17.30 | Apollo 14 | ||
| 18.55 | Apollo 14: Return to Earth | ||
| 19.10 | Westminster | ||
| 19.30 | News, Sport and Weather | ||
| 19.40 | Rugby Special 1871-1971: RFU Centenary Year series | ||
| 20.20 | The Philpott File Trevor Philpott on the changing face of Dr Barnardo’s. | ||
| 21.10 | Apollo 14: Antares Returns from the Moon | ||
| 21.35 | Jude the Obscure Dramatisation of the Thomas Hardy novel | ||
| 22.20 | Rod McKuen | ||
| 23.05 | News on 2 and Weather | ||
| 23.15 | Shawn Phillips | ||
| 23.30 | Midnight Movie: Stolen Hours (1963) Drama starring Susan Hayward |
1974: The US House of Representatives begins determining grounds for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.
1977: Singles chart:
- Don’t Cry For Me Argentina – Julie Covington
- Don’t Give Up On Us – David Soul
- When I Need You – Leo Sayer
- Sideshow – Barry Briggs
- Isn’t She Lovely – David Parton
- Don’t Leave Me This Way – Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes
- Daddy Cool – Boney M
- Jack In The Box – Moments
- Car Wash – Rose Royce
- Suspicion – Elvis Presley
Album chart:
- Red River Valley – Slim Whitman
- David Soul – David Soul
- Songs In The Key Of Life – Stevie Wonder
- Evita – Studio Cast
- Low – David Bowie
- Hotel California – The Eagles
- Greatest Hits – Showaddywaddy
- Wings Over America – Wings
- Endless Flight – Leo Sayer
- Arrival – ABBA
1980: John Wayne Gacy goes on trial for the murder of 33 young men in Cook County, Illinois.
1983: Former Gestapo commandant, Klaus Barbie, arrives in France to stand trial for war crimes.
1989: Jamaican sound engineer, and producer King Tubby dies after being shot in the street outside his home.
1990: Singer Billy Idol suffers serious injuries when he fails to pull up at a stop sign and crashes from his Harley-Davidson motorbike into a car.
1993: Tennis player Arthus Ashe dies from AIDS-related pneumonia aged 49. On the same day, Riddick Bowe TKOs Michael Dokes in Round 1 for the heavyweight boxing title.
1995: Rapper Tupac Shakur is convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to up to four and a half years in prison.
1997: The Court of Appeal makes an historic judgement in favour of Diane Blood who will be allowed to be inseminated with her dead husband’s sperm. She went on to have two children in 1998 and 2002.
1998: Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys dies aged 51 after a long battle with lung cancer. On the same day, Austrian singer Falco (Johann Holzel) is killed when his car collides with a bus. Also, former teacher Mary Kay LeTourneau, 36, is sentenced to seven years in prison for violating probation by seeing the 14 year-old father of her baby,
2001: The leader of the right-wing Likud party, Ariel Sharon, wins a landslide victory to become the new prime minister of Israel. On the same day, guitarist Don Felder is fired from The Eagles by Glen Frey and Don Henley.
2005: The New England Patriots beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21 to win the Super Bowl in Jacksonville.
2007: Singer, songwriter, and actor Frankie Laine (Francesco LoVecchio) dies aged 93.
2010: Jazz musician John Dankworth dies aged 82.
2011: Guitarist and singer Gary Moore dies aged 58 of a heart attack in his hotel room while on holiday in Spain. On the same day, the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-25 to win the Super Bowl in Arlington, Texas.
2020: US astronaut Christina Koch completes the longest continuous spaceflight by a female astronaut after 328 days on the International Space Station.
BIRTHDAYS: Jimmy Tarbuck, comedian, 81; Dave Berry (Grundy) singer, 80; Mike Batt, songwriter, 71; Simon Phillips, drummer, 64; Jerry Marotta, drummer, 64; Kathy Najimy, actress, 64; Axl (William Bailey) Rose, singer (Guns n Roses) 59; Rick Astley, singer-songwriter, 55; Tim Sherwood, football pundit, 52; Alice Eve, actress, 39; Darren Bent, football pundit, 37.
