ON THIS DAY

FEBRUARY 1

1865: The Bill to abolish slavery in the US was signed.

1884: The first volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, A-Ant, was published. 1930: The Times published its first crossword.

1979: Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran after 14 years’ exile in France.

1990: Bulgaria’s communist government resigned.

FEBRUARY 2

1709: Alexander Selkirk, on whom Daniel Defoe based ‘Robinson Crusoe’, was rescued after spending five years on the uninhabited islands of Juan Fernandez. 1852: Britain’s first ‘Gents’ opened in Fleet Street, followed on February 11 by the first ‘Ladies’, just off the Strand.

1914: Cub Scouts were formed in England, the first pack was in Sussex.

1972: A mob in Dublin burned down the British Embassy in protest at the “Bloody Sunday” killings in Londonderry the previous weekend.

1979: Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, on bail charged with killing girlfriend Nancy Spungen, died of a heroin overdose in New York.

FEBRUARY 3

1877: Chopsticks, the novelty piano piece, was registered at the British Museum. 1959: Buddy Holly, US singer and guitarist, died in an air crash, aged 22, along with Ritchie Valens and JP “Big Bopper” Richardson. 1960: British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan made his historic “wind of change” speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town, predicting the growth of national consciousness.

1966: The Russians made the first rocket-assisted controlled landing on theMoonwithLuna9.

1983: UK unemployment hit a record high of 3.22 million.

FEBRUARY 4

1929: The first area of “Green Belt” was approved, five miles of land near Hendon, Middlesex.

1962: The first colour supplement was published by The Sunday Times with features on pop art.

1983: Karen Carpenter, one half of The Carpenters with brother Richard, died from heart failure as a result of complications arising from anorexia nervosa. 2004: The social networking site Facebook is founded by Mark Zuckerberg. FEBRUARY 5

1782: Spain captured Minorca from the British.

1788: Sir Robert Peel, who as Home Secretary formed the Metropolitan Police and later became Prime Minister, was born in Lancashire.

1811: The Prince of Wales became Prince Regent on the established insanity of George III.

1924: The BBC “pips”, or time signals, from Greenwich Observatory were heard for the first time.

1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain after eleven years in force.