1718 – Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician, helped lead Glorious Revolution to put William III on the throne, dies at 57
1761 – Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, French Jesuit prince and historian, dies at 78
1916 – Anton Simon, Russian composer, dies at 65
1944 – Martin Lunssens, Belgian composer, dies at 72
1954 – Julius P. Hoste, Belgian journalist, daily newspaper publisher (Last News), and politician (Minister of Education, 1936-38; Senator 1949-54), dies at 69
1959 – Madame Sul-Te-Wan [Nellie Crawford], American actress (The Birth of a Nation, Uncle Tom’s Cabin), dies of a stroke at 85
1977 – Edmond Hamilton, American sci-fi author (“City at World’s End”; “The Star Kings”), dies at 72
1989 – Elaine de Kooning, American artist, dies at 70
1992 – Irving Kaufman, American federal judge (Rosenberg Case), dies at 81
2017 – Desmond Carrington, British radio host (The Music Goes Round), dies at 90
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 1st February 2026
1662 – Dutch garrison on Formosa surrenders to Chinese pirates
1790 – US Supreme Court convenes for 1st time (NYC)
1809 – Dutch King Louis Napoleon accepts metric system
1965 – Australian Championships Women’s Tennis: Australian Margaret Smith wins 6th straight home singles title; beats Maria Bueno of Brazil 5-7, 6-4, 5-2; Bueno retired injured
1970 – West-Germany and USSR sign gas contract
1981 – NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: NFC beats AFC, 21-7; MVP: Eddie Murray, Detroit Lions, PK
1984 – China and Netherlands regain diplomatic relations
1998 – NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 29-24; MVP: Warren Moon, Seattle Seahawks, QB, HI
Today in History for 1st February 2026
Historical Events
1940 – Soviet Union begins new offensive against Finland
1954 – Australian Championships Men’s Tennis: Mervyn Rose wins his first Grand Slam title; beats fellow Australian Rex Hartwig 6-2, 0-6, 6-4, 6-2
1968 – Former US VP Richard Nixon announces candidacy for president
1980 – Sears Radio Theater moves from CBS to Mutual Broadcasting System
1985 – -61°F (-52°C), Maybell, Colorado (state record)
Famous Birthdays
1877 – Thomas Dunhill, British light classical composer (The Wind Among The Reeds; Tantivy Towers), teacher, and musicologist, born in London, England (d. 1946)
1942 – Muna Wassef, Syrian actress (The Message) and UN Goodwill ambassador, born in Damascus, Syria
1951 – (Clide) “Sonny” Landreth, American blues and zydeco slide guitar player, born in Canton, Mississippi
1962 – Takashi Murakami, Japanese artist (Superflat), born in Tokyo, Japan
1980 – Moisés Muñoz, Mexican soccer goalkeeper (19 caps; Morelia, América), born in Aguililla, Mexico
Famous Deaths
1328 – Charles IV, the Handsome, King of France (1322-28), dies at 33
1905 – Oswald Aschenbach, German landscape painter, dies at 77
1966 – William Harrigan, American actor (Invisible Man, Girl in 419), dies at 71
1991 – Jimmy MacDonald, Scottish-American voice actor (Mickey Mouse), dies at 84
2003 – Mongo Santamaria, Cuban Latin jazz percussionist and bandleader, dies at 85
Famous Deaths for 31st January 2026
1030 – William V (‘the Great”), Duke of Aquitaine (995-10300 and Count of Poitier (969-1030), dies at 60
1794 – Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral and naval commander during the American War for Independence, dies at 82 or 83
1952 – George Howells Broadhurst, British-American playwright, director and producer responsible for opening Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre, dies at 85
1972 – Bir Bikram Shah Deva Mahendra, King of Nepal (1955-72), dies at 51
1979 – Grant Green, American jazz, blues and funk guitarist, and songwriter, dies of a heart attack at 43
1994 – Pierre Boulle, French writer known for “The Bridge on the River Kwai” and “Planet of the Apes”, dies at 81
2000 – (Simon) “Si” Zentner, American jazz, session, and pop trombonist and big-band lbandeader, dies of leukemia at 82
2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian-American sci-fi author (Genetic General), dies at 77
2012 – Anthony Bevilacqua, American cardinal, dies at 88
2023 – Lou Campanelli, American basketball coach (James Madison University 1972-85; University of California, Berkeley 1986-93), dies at 84
Historical Events for 31st January 2026
1938 – Australian Championships Men’s Tennis: American Don Budge wins the 1st-leg of his Grand Slam; beats John Bromwich of Australia 6-4, 6-2, 6-1
1956 – French government of Guy Mollet forms
1971 – US male Figure Skating championship won by John Misha Petkevich
1971 – Special Veterans Committee adds 6 former players and 1 executive to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Dave Bancroft, Jake Beckley, Chick Hafey, Harry Hooper, Joe Kelley, Rube Marquard and George Weiss
1985 – South African President P. W. Botha offers to free Nelson Mandela if he denounces violence
2006 – US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retires and is replaced by Samuel Alito
2007 – Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq
2017 – Romanian government passes emergency decree to release prisoners and decriminalise corruption charges, triggering huge protests in Bucharest
Today in History for 31st January 2026
Historical Events
1891 – First attempt of a republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto, Portugal
1966 – Australian Championships Women’s Tennis: Margaret Smith wins her 7th consecutive Australian singles title; beats American Nancy Richey in a walkover, Richey injured
1968 – Nauru (formerly Pleasant Island) declares independence from Australia the UK and New Zealand, becoming the world’s smallest republic
1975 – Barry Manilow’s single “Mandy” goes gold
2009 – Australian Open Women’s Tennis: Serena Williams wins 10th Grand Slam singles title; outclasses Dinara Safina of Russia 6-0, 6-3
Famous Birthdays
1597 – John Francis Regis, French priest and Roman Catholic saint, born in Fontcouverte, France (d. 1640)
1919 – Jackie Robinson, American Baseball HOF second baseman (1st African-American MLB player Brooklyn Dodgers; 6 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1955; NL MVP 1949), born in Cairo, Georgia (d. 1972)
1920 – Bert Williams, English soccer goalkeeper (24 caps; Wolverhampton Wanderers 381 games), born in Bradley, Staffordshire (d. 2014)
1924 – William Bryant, American character actor (King Dinosaur, Hell Squad), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 2001)
1942 – Gerald Chanberlain, American jazz trombonist (Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd), born in Refugio, Texas (d. 2007)
Famous Deaths
1815 – José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan independentist leader (b. 1775)
1865 – Aristide Farrenc, French flautist, music publisher, and musicologist (Trésor des pianistes), dies at 70
1925 – George W. Cable, American writer (Northampton Years), dies at 80
1974 – Glenn Morris, American athlete (Olympic gold decathlon 1936) and actor (Tarzan’s Revenge; Hold That Co-ed), dies of congestive heart failure at 61
1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-American biochemist and imam, stabbed to death at 54 (b. 1935)
Famous Deaths for 30th January 2026
1797 – Johann Abraham Sixt, German organist, harpsichord player, and composer, dies at 40
1840 – Juan Galindo, Irish-Honduran soldier, diplomat for Federal Republic of Central America and early Maya archaeologist, killed in battle at about 38
1846 – Joseph Carpue, English surgeon who pioneered early plastic surgery in England, dies at 81
1867 – Kōmei [Osahito], 121st Emperor of Japan (1846-67) during the final years of the Edo period, dies of smallpox at 35
1957 – Grigore Gafencu, Romanian minister of Foreign Affairs (1938-39), dies at 65
1967 – (Raymond) Lee Morgan, American actor (Dungeons of Harrow; The Last of the Fast Guns), dies of heart disease at 64
1983 – Alan Cunningham, British general and last High Commissioner of Palestine (1945-48), dies at 95
1996 – Bob Thiele, American radio broadcaster, and record producer (John Coltrane; B.B. King), dies of kidney failure at 73
2001 – Johnnie Johnson, British fighter pilot (b. 1915)
2017 – Harold Rosen, American engineer (created geosynchronous communications satellite), dies at 90
Historical Events for 30th January 2026
1820 – British explorer Edward Bransfield aboard Williams sights Trinity Peninsula, Antarctica, claiming it for Britain
1933 – After Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, his former WWI colleague General Erich Ludendorff sends a letter to him stating “this accursed man will cast our Reich into the abyss and bring our nation to inconceivable misery”
1944 – World War II: United States troops land on Majuro, Marshall Islands
1954 – Belgium ends trade agreement with USSR
1956 – Home of Martin Luther King Jr. is bombed
1969 – US/Canada ISIS 1 launched to study ionosphere
1993 – Australian Open Women’s Tennis: Monica Seles beats Steffi Graf 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 for her 3rd consecutive Australian singles crown
1995 – Norway’s Statoil announces a newly formed consortium that will supply Norwegian natural gas to the European continent
Today in History for 30th January 2026
Historical Events
1820 – British explorer Edward Bransfield aboard Williams sights Trinity Peninsula, Antarctica, claiming it for Britain
1925 – Turkish government throws out Constantine VI of Constantinople
1934 – Former Australian cricket spin bowler Bert Ironmonger ends Sheffield Shield career age 51 years 298 days as Victoria draws with NSW at the Sydney Cricket Ground
1960 – US female Figure Skating championship won by Carol Heiss
1993 – 100,000 Europeans demonstrate against fascism and racism
Famous Birthdays
1617 – William Sancroft, 79th Archbishop of Canterbury, born in Fressingfield, Suffolk, England (d. 1693)
1900 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born English actress (Man in Grey, Great Expectations), born in Buenos Aires (d. 1969)
1920 – George Skibine, Russian-American ballet dancer and choreographer (Tragedy in Verona), born in Yasnaya Polyana, Russia (d. 1981)
1951 – Trevor Laughlin, Australian cricketer (Australian all-rounder 1978-79), born in Nyah West, Australia
1956 – Jeremy Gittins, British actor (Michael the Vicar in “Keeping Up Appearances”), born in Manchester, England
Famous Deaths
1956 – Gerrit Mannoury, Dutch mathematician and philosopher, dies at 88
1972 – Karel Boleslav Jirak, Czech composer and pedagogue, dies at 81
1999 – (Henry) “Huntz” Hall, American radio, stage, and screen actor (Dead End Kids: The Bowery Boys; Gas Pump Girls), dies from congestive heart failure at 78
2016 – Ken Sailors, American basketball point guard (popularised and may have invented the jump shot), dies at 95
2022 – Jon Appleton, American electronic and electro-acoustic music composer, educator and co-developer of the Synclavier, dies at 83
Famous Deaths for 29th January 2026
1888 – Edward Lear, English poet and author (famous for his nonsense poems – The Owl and the Pussycat), dies at 75
1946 – Harry Hopkins, American statesman and presidential advisor (US Secretary of Commerce, Loan and Lease law), dies at 55
1946 – Sidney Jones, British conductor and composer (The Geisha, A Gaiety Girl), dies at 84
1960 – Louis Jean Heydt, American character actor (Waterfront; Gone With The Wind; The Great McGinty), dies from a heart attack at 56
2007 – Barbaro, American thoroughbred racehorse, winner of 2006 Kentucky Derby, dies at 3
2009 – Bill Frindall, English cricket scorer and statistician (BBC, “the Bearded Wonder”), dies from Legionnaires’ disease at 69
2011 – Milton Babbitt, American mathematician, composer of serial and electronic music (Correspondences), and teacher (Princeton; Juilliard), dies at 94
2021 – Yvon Douis, French soccer striker (20 caps; Lille, Le Havre, Monaco, Cannes), dies from COVID-19 at 85
2024 – Héctor Sanabria, Mexican soccer defender (7 caps; UNAM Pumas 1965-78) and manager (UNAM Pumas, CD Toluca, CD Veracruz), dies at 78
2025 – Vadim Naumov, Russian pairs skater (World C’ship gold 1994), dies in American Eagle Flight 5342 collision with Black Hawk helicopter at 55