ON THIS DAY

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARCHIVE JANUARY 1, 1946

THE greatest crowds for six years gathered in Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and at St Paul’s, London, an hour before midnight as the worst fog for 20 years lifted in time for their revels. Barrel organs played It’s A Long Way To Tipperary and John Brown’s Body, sung to the words ‘Old man Hitler lies a-mouldering in his grave’. JANUARY 1, 1965 ArISE Sir Stanley Matthews! The 50-year-old soccer star was knighted in the New Year’s Honours List. On the point of retiring, Matthews is the first soccer star honoured while still playing. He was capped 54 times for England.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

CHrISTINE LAGArDE, 62. The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, its first female head, was the first woman finance minister of any of the G8 major industrial countries. As a teenager, she was a champion synchronised swimmer and in 2009 came second in a poll of France’s favourite personalities, behind the late singer and actor Johnny Hallyday. MArY BEArD, 63. The professor of classics at the University of Cambridge and presenter of television history programmes has been hailed as ‘the most subversive and impish of dons’. Her blog, A Don’s Life, is said to attract 40,000 hits a day.

BORN ON THIS DAY

J. EDGAr HOOvEr (1895-1972). The first director of the FBI, who held the post for 48 years, was played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2011 Clint Eastwood film J. Edgar. Although Hoover made sure his powerful organisation pursued gay rights groups, some historians think he was in a long-term same-sex relationship himself. J.D. SALINGEr (1919-2010). The American author became a recluse after his first book, The Catcher In The rye, was published in 1951. He gave his last interview 30 years before his death and ate in the kitchens of local restaurants to avoid being bothered by other diners.

ON JANUARY 1…

IN 1962, The Beatles auditioned unsuccessfully for Decca records, being rejected on the grounds that ‘groups with guitars are on the way out’. The Liverpudlians, who got lost on the ten-hour journey to London for their audition, went on to sell more than 500 million records.

IN 1985, the first mobile phone call in Britain was made by Michael Harrison to say ‘Happy New Year’ to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, the chairman of vodafone. The honour of making the first call was supposed to have gone to comedian Ernie Wise, in a publicity stunt later in the morning.