ON THIS DAY

JANUARY 18

1778: Captain Cook discovered Hawaii. 1788: A penal settlement was established in Botany Bay, Australia.

1882: AA Milne, creator of Winnie The Pooh, was born.

1933: The “bodyline bowling” row flared up in an Australian v England Test match in Adelaide.

2009: Children’s television presenter Tony Hart, who appeared on art shows for nearly 50 years, died at the age of 83.

JANUARY 19

1793: French King Louis XVI went on trial and was sentenced to the guillotine. 1915: The first casualties were suffered in an air raid over Britain, when a German Zeppelin bombed Great Yarmouth in Norfolk.

1966: Indira Gandhi became prime minister of India, following in the footsteps of her father Jawaharlal Nehru. 1990: England’s rebel cricketers flew into South Africa as police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of 150 protesters at Johannesburg airport.

JANUARY 20

1265: The first English Parliament met at Westminster Hall.

1892: The first game of basketball was played at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts.

1944: The RAF dropped 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.

1961: John F Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States.

2009: Barack Obama was sworn in as the first black US president in front of huge crowds in Washington DC.

JANUARY 21

1846: The Daily News, the newspaper edited by Charles Dickens, was first published.

1907: Taxi cabs were officially recognised in Britain.

1911: The first Monte Carlo Rally began. 1950: George Orwell (pen name of British author Eric Arthur Blair) died. His best known works include Animal Farm and 1984.

1954: The USA launched the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine.

1976: British and French Concordes made their maiden flights from London to Bahrain and Paris to Rio de Janeiro.

JANUARY 22

1720: The South Sea “Bubble” speculation fever began.

1788: Lord Byron, English poet, was born George Gordon in London. He succeeded to his title through an uncle. 1901: Queen Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, aged 81. 1924: James Ramsay MacDonald became Britain’s first Labour Prime minister.

1927: The Football League game between Arsenal and Sheffield United was the first to be broadcast.

1947: Fresh meat ration was reduced to