ON THIS DAY

SAINT HILARY’S DAY, traditionally the coldest day of the year.

1864: Stephen Foster, US composer of minstrel songs and ballads

(The Old Folks At Home, Beautiful Dreamer, etc) died after hitting his head on a chamber pot.

1887: Sophie Tucker, singer and vaudeville star known in America as ‘the last of the Red Hot Mamas’, was born in Russia.

1893: The Independent British Labour Party was formed by Keir Hardie.

1904: English composer Richard Addinsell was born. His most famous work was the Warsaw Concerto which he wrote for the 1941 film Dangerous Moonlight.

1921: The first British patent for windscreen wipers was registered by Mills Munitions of Birmingham.

1942: The pilot of an experimental jet fighter became the first to leave his plane via an emergency ejector seat.

1962: An outbreak of smallpox spread throughout Britain.

1964: A reluctant Capitol Records released the first Beatles record in the US ‘to see how it goes’. I Wanna Hold Your Hand became their fastest-selling single – one million copies were sold in the first three weeks.

1990: An army undercover unit shot dead three men robbing a betting shop in west Belfast, causing uproar among republicans. Two of the raiders were hooded and carried replica guns.

2010: Pope Benedict XVI met and forgave the woman who knocked him down at Christmas Eve Mass in 2009.

2013: Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave won the coveted Golden Globe for best movie drama.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:

The Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex issued a joint statement denying ‘offensive and potentially harmful’ newspaper claims about their relationship.

BIRTHDAYS: Mark O’Meara, golfer, 64; Kevin Anderson, actor, 61; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress, 60; Suggs McPherson, singer (Madness), 60.