January 30
Activity of the day
Today is . . .
- Feast day of St Martina
On this day . . .
- The first lifeboat is launched (1790)
- Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany (1933)
- The first episode of the Lone Ranger radio programme is broadcast (1933)
- Mahatma Gandhi is murdered by a Hindu extremist (1948)
- Yves St Laurent holds his first Paris show aged 23 (1958)
- The contraceptive pill goes on sale in the U.K. (1961)
- The Beatles give their last public performance on the roof of Apple Records in London (1969)
- In Northern Ireland, 13 civilians are shot by British troops during riots following the 'Bloody Sunday' march (1972)
- Belgium becomes the second country in the world to legally recognise same-sex marriage (2003)
Births
- Anton Chekhov, Russian dramatist and writer (1860)
- Franklin D Roosevelt, President of the USA (1882)
- Harold Prince, American theatre director (1928)
- Gene Hackman, American actor (1931)
- Vanessa Redgrave, English actress (1937)
- Boris Spassky, Russian chess champion (1938)
- Phil Collins, English pop singer and drummer (1951)
- Prince Felipe de Borbón (1968)
- Christian Bale, Welsh actor (1974)
- Mathias Lauda, Austrian racing driver (1981)
Deaths
- Charles I, King of England (1649)
- Edward Lear, English artist and writer (1888)
- Orville Wright, American aviation pioneer (1948)
- Mahatma Gandhi, Indian leader, assassinated (1948)
- Francis Poulenc, French composer (1963)
- Stanley Holloway, English actor and singer (1982)
- Gerald Durrell, English naturalist, writer, and zoo curator (1995)
- Sidney Sheldon, American author and playwright (2007)