Chronography of TV, radio, films, telecommunications
Page last
modified 23/7/2021
For� chronological
listings of old TV and radio programmes click here
For useful media and newspaper
links, see http://fooddeserts.org/images/000NewspapersComics.htm
For Internet events see computers
UK Telephone code list and
map, https://www.geopunk.co.uk/phone-area-codes.php
Map of start of TV broadcasts by country
None are more hopelessly
enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe
Films
� see appendix 1a below
Film
production � see appendix 1b below
Radio,
Telegraph, Telephone Communications - see
appendix 2a below
TV and
radio broadcasting � see appendix 2b below
Actors,
film directors and film stars � see appendix 3.5 below
Theatres, concerts, operas � see appendix
5 below
Art Galleries = see Appendix
6 below
14/2/1989. The first of 24 satellites for the Global Positioning System were placed
in orbit.
3/2/1989, British Telecom banned �chatlines�, because some
people got addicted to them and ran up huge bills which they couldn�t pay.� One 12-year-old ran up a bill of �6,000. The
Internet had yet to arrive.
21/11/1980. A Bill was presented in the UK Parliament separating
the UK post from the telephone services.
1/10/1969, Austria issued the world�s first official post
card.
14/11/1952, Charts for pop
singles
were published in Britain for the first time, in New Musical Express.
23/5/1925, British publishing magnate Sir Edward Hulton died after
falling off his penny-farthing bicycle.
Appendix 1a � Films
2/10/1990. Ghost was one of the films on release.
13/8/1990. Die Hard II
was one of the film on release.
2/12/1984, Films
on included Ghostbusters
and Gremlins.
8/6/1977. Films
on release included Blazing Saddles.
30/3/1975. Films on
release included Monty
Python and the Holy Grail.
29/11/1974. In the
cinema the new sensurround film Earthquake
made its debut.
12/4/1974. Films
on release included Last Tango in Paris and The Exorcist.
4/1/1974. The
James Bond film Live
and let Die was released in South Africa.
16/10/1972. Films
included Steven Spielberg�s Duel.
17/12/1971, The James Bond
film, Diamonds
Are Forever, was released in the US and Denmark
22/2/1969. Films
on release included 2001: A Space Odyssey.
7/10/1968. Films
on release included 2001: A Space Odyssey.
6/5/30/10/1967. Captain Scarlet
merchandise hit the shops.
1968, The
films 2001: A
Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes were showing.
16/12/1968, World
premier of the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
15/6/1967. Films
included The
Further Perils of Laurel and Hardy.
27/1/1963. Films
on release included Cape Fear.
22/9/1964, The James Bond
film Goldfinger
premiered in Leicester� Square, London.
18/11/1962. The
first James Bond
film, Dr No,
was released.
1961, In the USA, Federal
Communications Commission Chairman� Newton N Minow,
aged 35, said US TV programming was a �vast wasteland�. He stated in a May
address to the National Association of Broadcasters,convention
at Washington DC, �I invite you to sit down in front of your television set
when your staion goes on air, and stay there. You will see a vast wasteland � a
procession of game shows,violence, audience participation shows, formula
comedies about totally unbeleivable families, blood and thunder, mayhem
violence� sadism murder, private eyes,
more violence, and cartoons, and, endlessly, commercials, many screaming,
cajoling, and offending�.
11/11/1959, The
film Ben Hur
premiered in London.
4/3/1950, Walt Disney�s
Cinderella
was released.
9/1/1951, The
first film to receive the new X rating opened in London. Entitled Life Begins Tomorrow, it
received the rating for a scene dealing with artificial insemination.
13/8/1942, The Walt Disney film Bambi premiered at Radio City Music Hall, New
York.
31/10/1941, The Walt Disney
film Dumbo
was released today.
13/11/1940, The Walt Disney
film Fantasia
had its first showing.
19/11/1928, Mickey
Mouse made his first appearance in the Walt Disney film Steamboat Willie.
16/8/1925, Charlie
Chaplin�s film Gold Rush was premiered in America.
21/12/1925. Battleship Potemkin, a film by Sergei
Eisenstein, opened in the USSR.
1/11/1925, The
Buster Keaton film Go West opened.
23/9/1912. Mack Sonnett
released the first Keystone Cops film.�
Appendix 1b � Film Productiom
8/4/1985, Rupert Murdoch
bought Twentieth Century Fox.
1959, BAFTA, the
British Academy of Film and Television Arts, was flrmed from an amalgamation of
the British Film Academy (founded 1948) and the Guild of Television Producers
(founded 1954). It gives annual awards for merit in the TV and film industry,
1959, The first film made in Smell-o-Vision (The Scent of
Mystery) was released. The process did not catch on.
22/1/1959, Two
thirds of British homes now had a television. The Rank Organisation, on 17/9/1959, said cinema attendance in Britain
fell from 1.396 million in 1950 to 1.101 million in 1956 and was still in
decline.
9/4/1951, The first trials of Pay-per-View TV in Chicago, Illinois.
Viewers paid US$3 to download three films.
20/9/1946. The first
Cannes Film Festival opened.
5/1/1945, Roger
Spottiswoode, film director, was born in Ottawa, Canada
30/9/1936, Pinewood Film
Studios opened.
1935, The first film made in 3-colour Technicolour, Becky Sharp, was released. In 1932
Technicolour was first utilised for a Walt Disney cartoon film. The process is
no longer used.
1933, Joseph Arthur Rank entered the film industry, to promote Methodism.
1933, The British Film Institute (BFI)
was founded to promote the cinema sa a means of entertainment and instruction.
The BFI includes the National Film Archive (founded 1935) and the National Film
Theatre (founded 1951).
1930, The Western Big Trail was filmed in 70 mm film (see 1917). 70mm was sometimes
used for big epic films such as Lawrence
of Arabia, but 35mm remained the common standard
18/2/1929, The
First Academy Awards, known as Oscars from 1931, were announced.
6/10/1927. The first full
length talking picture, The Jazz Singer, opened in New York. The
soundtrack was almost entirely music. The biggest problem with sound movies was synchronising speech with
mouth movements.
26/3/1927. The
Gaumont British
Film Corporation was founded.
16/4/1924. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film corporation
was formed by merger.
1923, Warner Brothers US film production company was founded.
1922, Technicolour was first used, initially as a 2-colour (red and
green) superimposed image system. The system was expensive and gave poor
results, but was improved with a 3-colour system from 1932 and then widely
adopted.
1917, 35 mm film was adopted as the
industry standard by the Society of Motion Picture Engineers of America, see
1889 and 1930.
1912, Paramount Studios was formed, originally as The Famous Players Film
Company, by Adolph
Zukor (1873-1976). In 1914 it merged with the distribution company
Paramount Pictures. In 1966 the company was taken over by Gulf and Western
Industries.
1912, The British Board of Film Censors
was founded. It was renamed in 1985 as the British Board of Film
Classification.
1910, The USA now possessed some
10,000 �nickelodeons� cinenas where admission was one nickel (5 cents). These
cinemas recieved 26 million visitors every week. They showed a succession of
short silent films, many consisteing of newsreels, with no continuity or order;
patrons were expected to come and go at different times. The short films meant
plots were very simple, with no time for character development.
24/2/1909. Colour films were shown to the public
for the first time, in Brighton.
1907, Britain�s
first film-only picture theatre, the Balham Palace, opened in SW London.
1906, The earliest
colour film, made in Kinemacolor, was patented.
5/12/1901. Walt Disney
was born.
2/6/1899, Lotte Reiniger,
film animator, was born.
3/10/1896, Queen Victoria
became the first British monarch to be captured on moving film, at Balmoral.
1889, Edison invented 35 mm film, see 1917.
23/12/1888. The film
magnate J Arthur Rank was born. Born in Hull, England, he was born into a Yorkshire flour
milling family. He entered the film business in his mid 30s, seeing it as a way
to propagate his Methodist faith. He failed to secure distribution for a
religious film called The Turn of the Tide and so began his own
production, distribution, and exhibition of films in 1933. By the 1940s the
Rank Organisation owned half the film studios in Britain and over 1,000
cinemas, including the well-known Odeon chain. However Rank failed to establish
Britain as a rival to Hollywood. The Rank Organisation survives but with films
as a secondary interest behind hotels, real estate, ballrooms, bingo, and, most
profitable of all, copying machines.
Appendix
2a� -Telegraph, Radio and Telephone
Communications
14/2/1989. Skyphone,
the world�s first satellite telephone
service, was launched on a British Airways flight from London to New York.
1/1/1985, The first mobile phone call was made, by Ernie Wise
to Vodafone.
1962, The concept of music playing whilst a
telephone call was on hold was born. Alfred Levy, factory owner, allegedly came up
with the idea when a loose wire on his company�s phone system touched a girder
which acted as an aerial and picked up music from a nearby radio station.
Callers to Mr Levy heard music, not silence, whilst on hold. The advantage of
music was that a caller on hold knew they had not been cut off, the line was
still open.
12/8/1960. The first US
communications satellite, Echo 1,
was launched.
1/1/1934. Britain now had over 2 million telephone
subscribers, with 275,000 more joining every year.
1/5/1933, The Britain to India telephone service began.
30/4/1930. A telephone link opened between Britain and
Australia.
2/12/1929. Britain got its first 22 public phone boxes.
1/1/1929. In the UK, there were now 3.6 telephones per 100
people.
7/1/1927. The transatlantic telephone service between London and New York began. The charge was �15 for three minutes.
11/5/1925. Direct telephone communication between London and
Rome began for the first time.
7/1/1924. Direct communication by transatlantic cable and land
wire was opened by the Western Union Telegraph Company between London and
Chicago.
20/3/1919. Wireless telephone communication established between
Ireland and Canada.
22/1/1918, Radio-telegraphic communication was inaugurated
between the USA and Italy.
23/1/1908, A 7,000 mile telegraph line from Britain to India
began operations.
1902, The Cape Town to Australia
cable, via Mauritius and Rodriguez opened.
1901, In the previous 12 months,
84,000,000 telegrams had been sent in the UK, compared to 9,000,000 in 1870/1.
1893, The
Mauritius-Seychelles-Aden-Zanzibar-Europe cable opened.
12/7/1892, Cyrus Field, US capitalist who projected the
first transatlantic cable, died (born 30/11/1819).
18/3/1891, The
London-Paris telephone link opened.�
The first call was between the Prince of Wales and President Carnot. The link
opened to the public on 1/4/1891.
14/3/1891. The submarine Monarch laid
the first telephone cable across the English Channel.
24/2/1887, The
telephone link between Paris and Brussels was inaugurated, the first such link
between national capitals.
18/2/1876. A
direct telegraph link was set up between Britain and New Zealand.
23/11/1872. Australia was connected by undersea cable to the
rest of the world. The cable ran from Darwin in the north to Java, and also
into southern Australia.
3/6/1871. London gained direct communication with Shanghai
via an undersea cable laid via San Francisco.
1868, The UK Parliament passed a
Bill enabling the Post Office to take over the competing private companies
running electric telegraphs along the new rail routes. Electric telegraph links had been
installed along the railway between Eustgon and Camden Town in 1837, and along
the Great Western line between Paddington and Hanwell, and by the 1850s three
large telegraph companies wree competing along the nations railway routes,
Parliament considered this competition wasteful, and effectively created the first nationalised company.
27/7/1866. The first successful transatlantic cable was laid by
the Great Eastern, which arrived this day at Hearts Content, Newfoundland.
Attempts had been made to do this since 1856.
5/8/1858, The first transatlantic cable was
completed, by Sir Charles Tilston Bright (1832 � 1888), and
opened by Queen
Victoria and President Buchanan. See 7/9/1866. It initially
worked but failed in October 1858 due to decay of its electrical insulation. A
second cable was succesfuly laid in 7/1866.
7/7/1858, Work began on laying the first transatlantic cable.
13/11/1851. A telegraphic service between London and
Paris was started.
28/8/1850. The Channel telegraph was laid between
Dover and Cap Gris Nez.
30/11/1819, Cyrus Field, US capitalist who projected the
first transatlantic cable, was born (died 12/7/1892).
Appendix
2b � TV and radio broadcasting
For technical innovations in broadcasting see science and technology
31/1/2016, Terry Wogan,
radio and TV presenter, died aged 77. He was born on 3/8/1938 in Ireland
and became a British citizen in 2005.
2/6/1999, After decades of
resisting external technological influences such as television, the King of
Bhutan allowed TV broadcasts in the Kingdom for the first time, to coincide
with his silver jubilee.
26/4/1999, BBC TV presenter Jill Dando was shot dead on the doorstep of her Fulham house in London.
9/11/1997, BBC1 began
broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Previously TV had closed
down at night.
4/1997, In the UK, the Broadcasting Standards Commission was set
up. Replacing the earlier Broadcasting Complaints Commission and the
Broadcasting Standards Coincil, it monitors TV morals and aims for fair representation
of individuals and situations.
30/3/1997, In Britain, Channel
Five was launched.
10/1996, Fox News
Channel was launched in the USA.
1/9/1993, In the UK, British Sky Broadcasting began transmissions.
1990, The UK�s Independent Television Commission was established by the Broadcasting Act 1990 to licence and
regulate independent TV companies,
4/1989, CNBC (Consumer News and Business
Channel) was launched in the USA.
5/2/1989, Rupert Murdoch
launched Sky TV.
11/12/1988. An
Ariane rocket carrying an Astra 1A satellite to bring 16 TV channels to Britain
was launched from French Guyana.
1983, By the time a child in the US reached 18, it was
estimated they had watched over 17,000 hours of TV, equivalent to 710
continuous days and nights of TV. In that time they had seen 360,000 adverts
and witnessed 15,000 murders.
23/11/1982, In the USA, TV
commercials were deregulated, removing restrictions on length and content.
1/11/1982. Channel 4 began transmitting. It aimed
to cater to minority audiences.
2/11/1981, CB or Citizen�s Band Radio became legal in
Britain.
6/1980, CNN (24-hour news) was launched in the USA.
20/3/1980. The pirate radio station Radio Caroline, on
the ship Mi Amigo, ran aground and sank after 16 years of broadcasting.
28/2/1980, The BBC
announced that as an economy measure it would scrap five of its orchestras.
1/3/1975, Colour TV broadcasting began in Australia.
21/10/1974,
Liverpool City radio went on air.
9/10/1973, Capital
Radio (London) began broadcasting.
8/10/1973. Britain�s
first legal commercial radio station, LBC (London Broadcasting Company) Radio in London,
began transmission.
19/12/1971,
Intelsat IV (F3) was launched; it entered commercial service over the Atlantic
Ocean on February 18, 1972.
16/6/1971, The
BBC�s first chief, Lord Reith, died.
18/2/1971. Rupert Murdoch
took control of London Weekend Television.
24/2/1970,.
National Public Radio was launched in the USA.
15/11/1969. The first colour TV advert went on British
television � for Birds Eye peas.
2/9/1969. ITV began
broadcasting in colour.
19/9/1968, The TV
Times, a weekly magazine for British independent TV, was first published.
1/1/1968, Colour
TV began in The
Netherlands.
1967, The Mendip TV mast was constructed.
8/11/1967. The
first local radio station in the UK, Radio
Leicester, went on the air.� It was
opened by the Postmaster-General, Edward Short.
30/9/1967. BBC Radio was reorganised. BBC
Radio 1, 2, 3, and 4 began broadcasting, with Tony Blackburn introducing The Breakfast Show. His first record
was Flowers In The Rain by The Move.
15/8/1967. The
Marine Broadcasting Act came into force in the UK, outlawing pop pirate radio stations.
1/7/1967. BBC 2
began colour broadcasting in Britain. Wimbledon was covered in colour
for the first time.
20/12/1965, The Belmont TV transmitter, Lincolnshire, began
operations,
2/5/1965. The British satellite, Early Bird, began transmitting TV programmes to 300 million viewers
in 24 countries.
19/4/1965, Westinghouse Broadcasting WINS, New York�s
first all-news radio station began broadcasting. It was soon copied by otyer
stations across the USA.
1964, The Tokyo Olympics became the first major
sprting event to be broadcast globally via satellite. By 1969 the entire Earth
was covered by satellite TV transmissions.
23/11/1964, The
first British commercial radio station, Radio
Manx, began broadcasting.
21/4/1964. BBC2 began transmission.
28/3/1964. Radio Caroline,
Britain�s first private radio broadcasting station, began broadcasting from The
Channel outside British waters.
13/11/1962.. Kenneth Adam,
Director of BBC TV, announced that a second channel would be launched in 1964.
The new channel would show very little repeated programmes and not have much
American material.
10/7/1962. Telstar I, the world�s first television
telecommunications satellite, was launched in America. The following day it transmitted
a special television inaugural programme to mark the first communications satellite.
4/11/1961, Italy's second television network Rai 2 began
broadcasting, joining the original RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) which had
begun in 1954.
1960, European TV broadcasters agreed on a common standard of 625-line
pictures. A few countries differed; the UK used the post-war 425-line
system, and France had already gone for a 819 line standard. Japan followed the
US 525-line standard.
11/7/1960. The communications satellite TELSTAR became
operational. Britain could now receive US television shows,
1959, Colour TV began in Cuba.
1959, TV broadcasting began in India.
31/10/1959, The first television broadcasts in Africa began,
from Ibadan, Nigeria.
28/10.1959, South Africa
rejected the introduction of television.
26/12/1959. Bulgarian
National Television was founded. Colour broadcasting began in 1970.
1957,The
BBC ended the so-called �toddlers truce�;
a period between 6pm and 7pm when no programmes were nroadcast. This was
supposed to help mothers get young children to bed, who believed that the
night�s entertainment was over. Programmes ended at 11pm for the night.
9/1/1957. TV detector vans were first used by the
UK Post Office to track down licence dodgers.
1956, Pay-TV was
introduced in the USA, where viewers could pay to see extra vchannels;
sometimes by inserting coins in a meter box at the side of the TV.
1956, Granada TV
began broadcasting in the NW of England.
11/12/1956, In
Britain, the start of TV broadcasting was moved forward from 7pm to 6pm.
3/11/1956, The
Elmley Moor ITV transmitter in Yorkshire was switched on.
10/10/1955, Experimental colour TV broadcasts were made from by the
BBC from Alexandra Palace, London.
20/9/1955. The Radio Times was first published.
4/8/1954, The
Independent Television Authority was set up.
31/7/1954, The
Independent Television Act was passed, allowing for independent TV franchises in the UK.
5/7/1954, The BBC
began daily news broadcasts
6/6/1954. The Eurovision television link-up was
inaugurated.
25/3/1954, UK
Parliament approved the idea of independent TV broadcasting. The Television Act
1954 was passed.
11/1/1954, George Cowling from the Met office became the
first weatherman to be seen on TV. Previous forecasts had been sound only.
13/11/1953, In
Britain, plans for a new commercial TV channel to rival the BBC were announced.
22/10/1953, TV
broadcasting began in The Philippines.
1/5/1953, The BBC
began broadcasts from Northern Ireland, from a transmitter near Belfast. Also
this day the Pontop Pyke TV transmitter near Consett, Durham began operations.
TV engineers were keen to have programmes in operation for Queen Elizabeth�s coronation on
2/6/1953.
31/12/1951,
Television came to north-west England with the opening of a transmitter near
Manchester. Scotland would get TV in 1953. TV was only available in the London
area until a Midlands transmitter opened in 1950. Now television threatened the
popularity of radio and cinema.
12/2/1950, The
European Broadcasting Union was formed.
27/8/1950, The BBC
transmitted its first pictures from abroad, a two-hour programme from Calais..
3/11/1949, The BBC
bought the Rank Studios in Shepherds Bush for programme making.
29/7/1949, The BBC issued its first televised weather forecast.
29/9/1946, BBC
Radio�s Third Programme, later to become Radio
Three, began broadcasting.
7/6/1946, In
Britain the BBC resumed TV broadcasts
this day; the initial audience was fewer than 12,000 people.
29/7/1945, The BBC
Light Programme began broadcasting.
12/10/1944. Angela Rippon,
British
TV presenter, was born in Plymouth.
8/3/1943, Michael Grade,
BBC chief, was born.
5/1/1942, Jan Leeming,
BBC presenter, was born.
1/7/1941. The first TV commercial was shown; on
WNBT in New York, USA.� It was for the
Bulova clock and Watch company.
22/6/1940. Esther Rantzen,
TV presenter, was born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.
30/4/1939, The
World Fair in New
York opened. It was opened by President Franklin D Roosevelt, who became the
first US President to appear on TV, as NBC began their TV news service this
day.
7/4/1939. David Frost, TV
presenter, was born in Tenterden, Kent.
29/3/1938, The BBC
began foreign language broadcasts in German.
3/1/1938. The BBC began its first foreign language
service, in Arabic.
2/11/1936. The first daily high definition TV broadcasts in
Britain were transmitted from the BBC�s aerial at Alexandra Palace, London. Only around 280 homes had TV sets, which
were on sale at the Olympia Exhibition for �110.
11/6/1936. Leslie Mitchell
became the BBC�s first television announcer.
24/1/1935. Bamber Gasgoigne,
UK TV presenter, was born in London.
19/12/1932, The
British Broadcasting Corporation inaugurated its Empire shortwave broadcasting service to the entire British Empire, based from its Daventry
transmitters, see 25/12/1932.
22/8/1932, The first regular BBC broadcast began, from Alexandra
Palace, Wood Green, north London. Programmes were broadcast on Mondays,
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays for just 30 minutes, from 11.00pm to 11.30pm.
The same masts were used for radio broadcasts so TV broadcasts could not begin
until radio had finished.
15/3/1932, The BBC made its first broadcast from its new HQ at
Portland Place, near Oxford Circus.
12/11/1931. The
Abbey Road BBC recording studios were opened by Sir Edward Elgar, who conducted
his Pomp and Circumstance marches
with the London Symphony Orchestra.
29/12/1930. Radio
Luxembourg began broadcasting.
11/4/1930. The Daily
Express became the first paper to
publish TV programmes.
30/9/1929, The first experimental TV broadcast was
made by the BBC.
14/8/1928. The
world�s first scheduled television
programmes were broadcast by WRNY in New York.
3/7/1928. The
first TV sets went on sale in the USA, at $75 each. John Logie Baird made the first
colour TV transmission, from the Baird Studios, London.
1/1/1927. The British Broadcasting Corporation,
BBC, came into being. It had formerly been the British Broadcasting Company.
16/10/1925, Britain
began regular broadcasts to Continental Europe, on a weekly basis.
5/2/1924. The BBC
�pips� or time signals, were heard for the first time. They were set by a clock
at Greenwich.
31/12/1923. The
chimes of Big Ben were broadcast by the BBC for the first time.
23/12/1923, The BBC
began regular radio broadcasts for entertainment, as opposed to information.
25/11/1923. The
first transatlantic wireless broadcast from the UK to the USA was made.
28/9/1923. The
Radio Times was first published.
27/7/1923,The BBC
radio transmission station at Daventry opened.
14/11/1922. The
British
Broadcasting Corporation began daily news broadcasts from 2LO in The Strand,
London. This had formerly been Marconi�s London broadcasting station. At 6pm
the news was read by Arthur Burrows, once at normal speed and once
at slow speed. See 14/2/1922, 18/10/1922 and 26/3/1923.
18/10/1922. The
BBC, the British
Broadcasting Company, was officially formed, at Marconi House, The Strand,
London (2LO). See 14/11/1922.
2/11/1920, The
first regular radio programme began, KDKA, in Pittsburgh.
23/2/1920, The
first regular broadcasting service in Britain began, from Chelmsford.
25/5/1913, The
broadcaster Richard
Dimbleby was born.
29/3/1903, A
regular news service began between New York and London began, using Marconi�s
wireless.
13/8/1888.
Birth of television pioneer John Logie
Baird in Helensburgh, Firth of Clyde, Scotland.
Appendix
3.5 � Actors, film directors and film stars
23/3/2011, Elizabeth
Taylor, UK born Hollywood actress, died aged 79 (born 1932).
4/10/2010, Death
of Norman
Wisdom, British comedian, aged 95.
22/1/2008, Australian
actor Heath Ledger died aged 28.
17/1/2007, Protests in the UK and India after, on the Big Brother Reality Show,
Jade Goody
was allegedly racist to Shilpa Shetty.
23/5/2000. Sir John Gielgud, British actor, died at the age of 96.
8/5/1999, British film star Dirk Bogarde died, aged 78.
25/4/1995, Ginger Rogers, US actress, died.
4/4/1995, Kenny Everett, British TV comedian, died.
26/12/1994, Robert Emhardt, US actor, died aged 80.
20/10/1994, Burt Lancaster, US film actor, died.
31/10/1993, River Phoenix, US actor, died.
2/10/1993, Tara Lynne Barr, US actress, was born.
26/6/1993, Jack Bittner, entertainer,
died.
2/3/1993, Paul Zimmerman, US screenwriter, died (born 3/7/1938).
16/1/1993, Florence Desmond, English actress, died (born 31/5/1905).
2/1/1993, Alden Richards, TV actor, was born.
10/12/1992, �Melissa Roxburgh, Canadian actress, was born.
5/12/1992, Hilary Tindall, English actress (born 14/8/1938) died.
3/10/1992, Matthew Little, actor, was born.
27/6/1992, Allan Jones, US
actor, died aged 84.
6/5/1992. Marlene
Dietrich, German actress, died in Paris aged 90. She was
born on 27/12/1901 in Berlin, and left Germany for the USA in 1930. Her role in
the film The
Blue Angel brought her to fame. She became a US citizen in 1937,
rejecting attempts by Hitler to bring her talents back to Germany.
She played a major role in entertaining the wartime Allied troops. In 1960, on
only her second post-war visit to Germany, she encountered hostility from
pro-Nazi sympathisers. She subsequently remained hostile to the ideas of
returning to Germany again, until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and
chose the city as her final resting place.
8/12/1992, Yui
Yokoyama, Japanese
actress, was born.
25/6/1992, William E
Harris, entertainer, died.
21/6/1992, Max Schneider,
actor, was born.
24/4/1992, Sean Rademaker,
US actor, was born in Washington, DC.
20/4/1992, Comedian
Benny Hill
died.
20/3/1992, Avonne Taylor,
actress, died.
15/3/1992, Jack Washburn,
actor, died aged 62.
24/2/1992, Kay Loring,
actress, died.
22/10/1991, Peter Willes,
British actor, died.
18/5/1991, Muriel Box, British
writer, film director and feminist, died aged� 85.
17/5/1991, Daniel Curtis Lee, American
actor, was born.
15/12/1990, Betty Warren actress,
died.
4/12/1990, Edward Binns, US
actor, died of a heart attack aged 74.
1/9/1990, Aisling Loftus, English
actress, was born.
25/8/1990, Aras Lynemli, Turkish
actor, was born.
28/6/1990, Estelle Lamont, entertainer, died.
2/6/1990, Rex Carey Harrison, British actor, died aged 82.
29/3/1990, Tai Hara, Australian
TV actor, was born.
26/3/1990, Yuya Yagira, Japanese
actor, was born.
27/2/1990, Lindsey Morgan, TV actress, was born.
16/12/1989, Lee van Cleef, movie
star, died.
6/10/1989, Sophia Thomalla,
German
television actress, was born.
23/9/1989, Mara
Scherzinger, German actress, was born.
6/3/1989, Harry Andrews,
actor, died aged 77.
3/12/1988, Michela
Quattrociocche, Italian film actress, was born.
27/4/1988, David Scarboro,
British actor, died (born 1968)
13/4/1988, Allison
Williams, US actress, was born.
16/1/1988, Ballard
Berkeley, British actor, died aged 83
27/12/1987, Lily Luahana
Cole, English actress, was born.
24/9/1987, Grey Damon,
US TV actor, was born.
15/5/1987, Rita Hayworth, US actress, died of
Alzheimer�s Disease.
10/4/1987, Shay Mitchell,
Canadian actress, was born.
8/3/1987, Milana Vayntrub, TV actress, was born.
12/2/1987, Lang Jefferies, Canadian
actor, died aged 55.
5/3/1986, Andrew Jenks, US
filmmaker, was born.
26/12/1985, Harold P Warren, US film
director, died (born 1928).
16/10/1985, Claude Stroud, actor,
died.
10/10/1985, Orson Welles, US
actor, died aged 70.
30/3/1985, Harold Peary,
actor, died of a heart attack aged 76.
21/10/1984, Francois
Truffaut, French film director, died aged 52.
5/8/1984, Richard Burton,
Welsh actor, died aged 58.
30/6/1984, Lillian Hellman,
US screenwriter, died aged 77.
28/5/1984, Eric Morecambe,
comedian on the Morecambe
and Wise Show, died in Cheltenham.
2/3/1984, Louis Basile,
actor, died aged 48.
27/9/1983, Jose Mar�a de Tavira Bianchi, Mexican actor,
was born
3/9/1983, Ellie Lambeti,
Greek actress, died (born 1926).
29/7/1983, Luis Brunel,
Spanish
film maker, died aged 83.
27/7/1983, Blair Redford,
US actor, was born.
5/11/1982, Jacques Tati,
French film-maker, died aged 74.
29/10/1982, Nicolas Gob,
Belgian actor, was born/
15/10/1982, Imran Naqvi,
actor, was born.
10/6/1982, Rainer Werner
Fassbinder, German film-maker, died aged 36.
5/6/1982, Scott Speer,
US film-maker, was born.
2/6/1982, Jewel Staite,
Canadian actress, was born.
31/5/1982, Jonathan Tucker,
US film director, was born.
18/2/1982, Tina Carver,
actress, died aged 58.
13/11/1981, Shawn Yue,
Hong Kong actor, was born.
28/3/1981, Julia Stiles,
US actress, was born.
7/11/1980, Steve McQueen,
Hollywood actor who performed many of his own stunts, died of cancer.
25/10/1980, Mehcad Brooks,
US actor, was born.
24/7/1980, Peter Sellers,
English
film actor, died aged 54.
3/4/1980, Luella Gear,
US actress, died aged 82.
29/3/1980, Amy Mathews,
Australian actress., was born.
7/1/1980, Zoe Salmon,
Northern Irish television presenter, was born.
30/11/1979, Zeppo Marx, the agent of the Marx brothers,
died in London.
11/6/1979. The actor John Wayne
died,aged 72.
8/6/1979, British actor Michael Wilding died.
2/1/1979, Suranne Jones, British
actress, was born.
7/12/1978, Shiri Appleby, US
actress, was born.
21/6/1978, Erica Durance,
Canadian actress, was born.
15/1/1978, Eddie Cahill, US
actor, was born New York City.
31/8/1976, Shar Jackson,
actress, was born.
2/8/1976, Fritz Lang, German
film director, died aged 85.
17/3/1976, Luchino Visconti, Italian
film director, died aged 69.
23/1/1976, Paul Robeson, US
actor, died aged 77.
27/4/1975, Nicholas Soussanin, actor, died aged 86.
4/3/1975, Queen Elizabeth II knighted the actor Charlie
Chaplin.
28/7/1974, Nicole Narain,
US-Lebanese actress, was born.
21/7/1974, Steve Byrne, US
comedian, was born.
16/7/1974, Robinne Lee, US
actress, was born.
31/1/1974, Sam Goldwyn,
Polish-born
US film producer, died aged 91.
1/9/1973, Ram Kapoor,
Indian actor, was born in New Delhi.
21/4/1973, Mark Dexter:
English actor, was born.
30/4/1972, Josephine Grace
Johanna Scoglio, actress, died (born 3/3/1934),
11/4/1972, Natacha Regnier,
Belgian actress, was born.
3/4/1972, Jennie Garth,
actress, was born.
29/3/1972, J Arthur Rank,
British film entrepreneur, created a peer in 1957, died.
28/3/1972, Nick Frost,
English comedian and actor, was born.
23/3/1972, Judith Godreche,
French actress, was born.
5/12/1971, Kali Rocha,
US actress, was born.
17/11/1971, Gladys Cooper,
English actress, died aged 82.
10/5/1971, Amy Mastura,
Malaysian actress, was born.
25/2/1971, Sean Astin,
US actor, was born in Santa Monica, California.
11/2/1971, Damian Lewis,
British actor, was born.
9/2/1971, Adeline
Blondieau, French actress, was born.
6/8/1970, M. Night
Shyamalan (Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan), Indian-born horror film
producer and director; was born in Mahe, Puducherry union territory.
8/10/1968, Emily Procter,
actress, was born
26/8/1968, Byron Lawson,
Canadian actor, was born.
4/12/1967, Bert Lahr,
US stage and film actor, died aged 72.
1/12/1967, Nestor
Carbonell, TV actor, was born.
24/11/1967, Salli
Richardson, actress, was born.
6/6/1967, Paul Giamatti,
US actor, was born.
7/9/1966, Toby Jones,
English film actor, was born in Hammersmith, London
3/8/1966, US
nightclub comedian Lenny Bruce was found dead at his Hollywood
house.
3/4/1966, Miina Tominaga,
Japanese actress, was born in Hiroshima, Japan.
7/3/1966, Joy Tanner,
US actress, was born.
3/3/1966, Fernando
Colunga, actor, was born.
27/2/1966, Donal Logue,
Canadian actor, was born
25/2/1966, Alexis Denisof,
US actor, was born.
22/2/1966, Rachel Dratch,
US actress, was born
21/2/1966, Bronwen Booth,
English actress, was born.
7/9/1965, John Polson,
actor, was born.
23/2/1965, Stan Laurel, English-born American film comedian along with Oliver Hardy,
died aged 74.
13/12/1964, Ernesto
Almirante, Italian actor, died aged 87.
5/12/1964, Remy Angenot,
Flemish actor, died aged 70
28/9/1964. Harpo Marx, the
silent one who chased girls and played the harp, died aged 75.
16/9/1964, Rossy de Palma, Spanish actress, was born.
23/5/1964, Staci Greason,
actress, was born in Denver, Colorado.
21/1/1964, Joseph Schildkraut, Austrian-born American stage and film actor, died aged 67.
18/6/1963, Pedro Armendariz, Mexican actor, died aged 51.
6/12/1962, Janine Turner, US
actress, was born.
5/8/1962. Marilyn Monroe, US film actress, died in Los Angeles aged
36, of a barbiturates overdose.
9/11/1961, Jill Dando, British
journalist and BBC television presenter, was born in Weston-super-Mare
(murdered 1999).
5/11/1961, Gina Mastrogiacomo, US actress), was born in Long Island, New York (died 2001)
3/10/1961, Dean Lawrence, English
actor, was born.
5/11/1960, Mack Sennett, Canadian-born
US actor and film director, died aged 80.
22/5/1960, Mohanlal, Indian
actor, was born.
31/3/1960, Anne Howard, US
actress, was born in San Diego, California
30/12/1959, Tracey Ullman,
actress, was born.
12/11/1959, Vincent Irizarry, US actor, was born.
21/1/1959, Cecil B de Mille, Hollywood film producer, died.
10/10/1958, J Peck, US� actor, was born.
6/10/1958, Bernie Mac, actor,
was born.
15/9/1958, Wendie Sperber, US comedian and actress, was born.
13/9/1958, Bobby Davro, English
comedian and actor, was born.
28/7/1958, Michael Hitchcock, US actor, was born in Defiance, Ohio.
30/5/1958, Annette Bening, actress, was born.
15/4/1958, Estelle Taylor, US actress, died aged 64.
7/3/1958, Rick Mayall, actor
in The Young Ones, was born.
10/2/1958, Billy Vine, actor,
died.
7/2/1958, Walter Kingsford, British actor, died.
26/12/1957, Death of French film pioneer Charles Pathe.
1/11/1957, Brian Stokes Mitchell, actor, was born
12/9/1957, Rachel Ward, actress, was born in Cornwell, Oxfordshire, England.
7/8/1957, Oliver Hardy, of Laurel and
Hardy fame, died of a stroke, aged 65. Laurel was then aged 67.
29/4/1957, Geoffrey Gould, US actor, was born
27/4/1957, Michel Barrette, Canadian actor, was born.
21/3/1957, Sabrina Le Beauf, US actress, was born.
14/1/1957, Humphrey Bogart, American film actor and 1951 Oscar winner,
died of throat cancer.
8/1/1957, Amanda Burton, actress, was born
8/11/1956, Richard Curtis, English actor, was born.
7/3/1956, Bryan Cranston, US actor, was born.�
29/11/1955, Howie Mandel, comedian, was born in Toronto,
Ontario
30/9/1955, TV actor James Dean was killed when his Porsche
careered off the road near Los Angeles.
2/4/1954, Ron Palillo, actor, was born (died 2012).
25/11/1953, James Hayden, US actor, was born.
4/10/1953, Tcheky Karyo, Turkish actor, was born.
3/12/1952, Mel Smith, English actor, was born.
30/11/1952, Mandy Patinkin, US actor, was born.
27/7/1952, Roxanne Hart, US actress, was born.
24/10/1951, Todd Crespi, actor, was born in Frankfurt,
Germany.
4/4/1951, Al Christie, Canadian film director and
producer died (born 1881)
5/3/1951, Giorgos Ninios, Greek actor, was born.
23/10/1950, Al Jolson, US film actor, died aged 64.
5/2/1950, Marie-Pierre Castel, French actress, was born.
21/10/1949, Jacques Copeau, French actor, died in Beaune.
25/9/1949, Anson Williams, US� actor, was born in Los Angeles, California.
16/9/1949, Susan Ruttan, US actress, was born in Oregon
City, Oregon.
22/6/1949, Meryl Streep, actress, was born.
2/5/1949, Alan Titchmarsh, gardener and TV personality,
was born in Ilkley, England
16/3/1949, Leyland Hodgson, British-born US actor, died
aged 56.
29/12/1947, Ted Danson, actor, was born in San Diego.
26/8/1947, Anne Archer, actress, was born.
2/1/1947, Larry David, comedy writer, actor and TV
producer, was born in Brooklyn, New York
25/12/1946, William Claude Dukenfield (WC Fields), actor,
died (born 29/1/1880).
2/2/1946, Farrah Fawcett, US actress, was born.
2/6/1945, Jon Peters, film producer, was born in Van
Nuys, Los Angeles, California.
25/12/1944, Kenny Everett, radio and TV comedian, was
born.
14/6/1944, Joe Grifasi, US actor, was born.
11//6/1944, Roscoe Orman, US actor, was born.
8/4/1944, Jean Benguigui, French actor, was born.
26/3/1944, Diana Ross, US actress, was born.
27/8/1943, Tuesday Weld, US� film and TVesday actress, was born.
27/5/1943, Cilla Black, singer and presenter of the TV
show Blind Date, was born.
1/2/1943, Tina Sloan, US actress, was born.
29/1/1943, Tony Blackburn, British radio presenter, was
born.
6/1/1943, Luciano
Virgilio,
Italian actor, was born.
30/11/1942, Buck Jones, US actor, died.
24/11/1942, Billy Connolly, Scottish
comedian, was born.
18/11/1942, Linda Evans, US actress, was born.
17/11/1942, Martin Scorsese, US film director, was born.
5/11/1942, George M Cohan, US actor, died aged 64.
3/11/1942, Stefanie Powers, US actress, was born.
5/9/1942, Werner Herzog, German film director, was born.
16/8/1942, John Challis, English actor, was born.
19/1/1942. Michael Crawford, British comedy actor, was born in
Salisbury, Wiltshire, as Michael Dumble-Smith.
28/7/1941, Colin Higgins, US film director, was born.
8/2/1941, Nick Nolte, US actor, was born in Omaha,
Nebraska.
8/12/1940, Jenny Linden, English actress, was born.
16/11/1940, Donna McKechnie, US actress, was born.
25/5/1940, Joe De Grasse, Canadian film director, died aged 67.
12/12/1939, Hollywood actor Douglas Fairbanks died this day.
27/10/1939, John Cleese, English comedy actor, was born in
Weston Super Mare.
7/10/1939, Clive James, TV broadcaster, was born in
Sydney.
3/10/1939, Fay Templeton, US actress, died aged 73.
26/9/1939, Ricky Tomlinson, actor, was born.
28/4/1939, Judy Carne, actress, was born.
23/4/1939, Lee Majors, actor, was born in Wyandotte,
Michigan.
23/10/1938, Derek Jacobi, actor, was born.
20/10/1938, Emidio Greco, Italian director and
screenwriter, was born.
3/8/1938, Terry Wogan, TV broadcaster, was born in
Limerick, Ireland.
27/2/1938, Pascale Petit, French actress, was born in
Paris, France.
11/4/1937, Jill Gascoine, British TV actress, was born in
London, England (died 2020)
8/8/1937, Actor Dustin Hoffman was born.
17/3/1936, Patty Maloney, actress, was born in
Perkinsville, New York.
1/10/1935, Julie Andrews, star in The Sound of Music and Mary
Poppins, was born in Walton on Thames.
20/5/1935, Mickey Rose, US actor, was born
(died 2013).
29/12/1934, Ed Flanders, actor, was born in Minneapolis,
Minnesota (died 1995)
23/11/1934, Arthur Wing Pinero, English actor, died aged 79.
28/9/1934, Brigitte Bardot, actress, female
role model, was born in Paris.
20/9/1934, Sophia Loren, actress, was born.
28/7/1934, Marie Dressler, US film star, died at santa
Barbara, California (born 9/11/1860, Coburg, Ontario, Canada).
3/3/1934, Josephine Grace Johanna Scoglio,
actress, was born (died 30/4/1972),
9/4/1933, Gian Maria Volont�, Italian actor, was born in
Milan, Italy (died 1994)
6/4/1933, Dudley Sutton, British actor, was born.
3/3/1933, Margaret Fink, Australian film producer, was born.
29/12/1932, Inga Swenson, US actress, was born.
18/2/1932, Milos Forman, Czech film director and actor, was
born.
31/7/1931, Oleg Popov: Russian clown and actor.
5/1/1931, Robert Duvall, US actor, was born.
25/8/1930, Sean Connery,
British film actor who played the leading role in seven James Bond movies, was
born in Edinburgh as Thomas Connery.
1/6/1930, Birth
of TV actor Edward
Woodward, best known for The
Equaliser.
30/3/1930, Rolf Harris,
Australian
entertainer and cartoonist, was born.
7/11/1929, Lila Kaye,
actress, was born in Middlesbrough, England (died 2012)
12/10/1929, Magnus
Magnusson, British writer and TV presenter of the quiz show Mastermind, was born in Reykjavik,
Iceland.
11/10/1929, Graham Roberts,
actor, was born.
27/9/1929, Barbara Murray,
English actress, was born.
25/9/1929, Ronnie Barker,
English comedy actor, was born in Bedford, UK.
4/8/1929, Kishore Kumar,
Indian actor, was born.
12/11/1928, Grace Kelly,
US actress, was born (died 1982)
26/7/1928, Stanley Kubrick,
US film director, was born (died 1999)
9/7/1927, John Drew,
US actor, died in San Francisco, California (born 13/11/1853 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania)
7/4/1927, The
comedian A
Dolan was televised in Whippany, New Jersey, making him the first
televised comedian.
31/10/1926, Jimmy Savile,
British
radio and TV presenter, was born in Leeds, Yorkshire.
31/10/1926. The USA magician and escapologist Harry Houdini
died, aged 52. He was born as Ehrich Weisz in Hungary and adopted his later
name from the conjuror Robert Houdin whose autobiography he read as a young
boy. .Determined to match Houdin�s achievements and to haul his family out of
poverty, Houdini ran away to New York to begin a life in magic and
entertainment which would enthral thousands. He escaped from handcuffs in an
underwater nailed packing crate, and later exposed many psychic frauds. Whilst
giving a lecture on spiritualism in Montreal, Houdini was asked if he could
withstand a blow to the abdomen. Before he had a chance to prepare himself,
Houdini was struck three times by a student. Despite this he managed to perform
again, but died of peritonitis in a Detroit hospital a few days later.
16/2/1926, John
Schlesinger, English actor, was born (died 2003).
2/12/1925, Julie Harris,
actress, was born in Grosse Point, Michigan (died 2013)
11/10/1925, Richard Burton,
Welsh actor who was married to Elizabeth Taylor twice, was born this day.
8/9/1925, Peter Sellers,
comic TV actor, was born.
2/8/1925, Alan Whicker,
widely-travelled TV reporter, was born in Cairo, Egypt.
15/7/1925, Harry Dean
Stanton, actor, was born.
4/4/1925, Dorothy Alison,
actress, was born.
21/1/1925, Benny Hill,
English comedian, was born in Southampton.
4/10/1924, Charlton Heston,
the film star in Ben Hur, was born.
12/5/1924, Tony Hancock,
English comedian, was born (died 1968).
21/4/1924, Eleonora Duse,
Italian actress (born Lombardy, Italy, 3/10/1859) died in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
9/12/1923, Meggie Albanesi,
British actress, died aged 24.
24/10/1923, Sir Robin Day,
TV interviewer, was born this day.
29/4/1923, Irvin Kershner,
film director, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (died 2010)
17/10/1922, Pierre Juneau,
Canadian film and broadcast executive, was born in Montreal, Quebec (died 2012)
8/6/1921, Sheila Ryan,
US actress, was born.
16/4/1921. Peter Ustinov,
actor, was born.
28/3/1921. Dirk Bogarde, English
film actor, was born in Hampstead, London.
22/3/1921, Nino Manfredi, Italian
actor, was born.
17/8/1920, Maureen O'Hara, Irish-born US film actress, was born (died 2015)
30/3/1920, Turhan Bey, actor,
was born in Vienna, Austria.
6/3/1920, Lewis Gilbert, British
film director, was born in Hackney, London (died 2018)
4/2/1920, Norman Wisdom,
British comedian, was born as Norman Wisden.
3/2/1920, Bibi Osterwald,
actress, was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
2/1/1919, Carole Landis,
US actress, was born.
22/10/1918, Myrtle Gonzalez,
US actress, was born.
6/8/1917, Robert Mitchum,
Hollywood actor, was born in Connecticut, USA.
27/10/1916, Bob de Lange,
Dutch actor, was born.
20/1/1914, Roy Plomley,
who created �Desert Island Discs�,
was born. He began his career as a copywriter for an advertising agency then
became an actor. He then became an announcer for a French commercial radio
station. He was awarded the OBE in 1975.
30/11/1913. Charlie Chaplin made his
film debut in Mack
Sennett�s short film Making a
Living.
18/1/1913, Danny Kaye, US actor, was born (died 1987).
2/11/1911, Kyrle Bellew,
English actor, died aged 61.
5/4/1911, Gordon Jones,
actor, was born in Alden, Iowa, USA.
18/11/1908, Imogene Coca,
American actress, was born (died 2001)
9/10/1908, Jacques Tati,
French comedian who created Monsieur
Hulot�s Holiday, was born.
14/9/1908, Clayton Moore,
actor, was born in Chicago, Illinois.
26/5/1907, John Wayne,
actor, was born.
13/10/1905, Sir Henry
Irving, the first British actor to receive a knighthood, gave his final
performance in Bradford, Yorkshire, before collapsing and dying in the arms of
his dresser at the Midland Hotel.
18/9/1905. Greta Garbo,
the Swedish shop-girl who became a famous film star, was born.
16/5/1905, Bob Hope,
US comedian, was born.
3/4/1905, Joseph
Jefferson, US actor, died (born 20/2/1829).
16/3/1905, Elisabeth
Flickenschildt, German actress, was born in Hamburg, Germany (died
1977)
1904,
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts
(RADA) was set up to train actors. In 1905 it moved to premises in Gower
Street, London.
2/12/1904,
Ann Gilbert,
US actress, died (born 21/10/1821).
15/11/1904, Tilly Losch,
Austrian actress, was born in Vienna, Austria (died 1975)
7/7/1904, James Cagney,
film director, was born in New York.
26/5/1904, George Formby, Lancashire comedian who played
the ukulele and was famous for his song Cleaning Windows, was born.
3/5/1904, John Breeden, US actor, was born in San
Francisco, California (died 1977)
1/4/1904, Sid Field,
English actor was born (died 1950).
18/1/1904, Cary Grant,
American film actor, was born in Bristol, England, as Alexander Archibald Leach.
29/5/1903, Bob Hope,
comedian, was born.
6/5/1902, Max Ophuls,
German film director, was born in Saarbrucken (died 1957).
27/12/1901, Marlene Dietrich, German
actress, was born.
5/12/1901, Walt Disney
was born.
9/2/1901, James Murray,
US actor, was born (died 1936).
24/9/1899, John Clarke,
US actor, died (born 3/9/1833).
5/7/1899, Jean Cocteau,
film director, poet, artist, novelist,
was born in Maisons-Lafitte, France.
12/3/1899, Mary Keeley,
English actress, died.
31/10/1898, Helena Faucit,
English actress, died (born 1817).
13/8/1898, Alfred Hitchcock, film director, born in Leytonstone.
12/1/1896, Tommy Handley, British comedian, was born in Liverpool.
4/10/1895, Buster Keaton, silent
film comedian who performed his own stunts, was born this day.
2/10/1893, David James, English
actor, died (born 1839).
1/2/1893, In New
Jersey, USA, Thomas
Edison opened the world�s
first film studio.
7/12/1892, Fred Leslie,
English actor, died (born 1/4/1855).
18/1/1892, Oliver Hardy,
comedian in the Laurel and Hardy
duo, was born in Atlanta, Georgia.
20/3/1891, Lawrence
Barratt, US actor, died born in Paterson, New Jersey 4/4/1838).
2/10/1890, Julius Groucho
Marx was born (died 1977).
16/6/1890, Stan Laurel, of the Laurel and Hardy duo, was born as Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, Lancashire (now Cumbria). Oliver Hardy was born in
America on 18/1/1892.
17/6/1889, John Gilbert, US
actor, died (born 27/2/1810).
16/4/1889, Birth of comedian Sir Charles
Chaplin in Kennington,
London (died 1977). He was the son of two music hall entertainers.
23/11/1888, Harpo Marx, one of the Marx
Brothers comedy team, was born in New York City.
16/8/1887, Augustine Brohan, French actress, died (born 22/1/1807).
23/1/1886, Jean Bressant, French actor, died (born 23/10/1815).
8/11/1885, John McCullough, US actor, died.
15/7/1883, Tom Thumb, the American circus midget who finally attained a
height of 40 inches, died.
23/5/1883, Douglas Fairbanks, US actor, was born in Denver, Colorado (died 12/12/1939 in Santa
Monica, California).
29/8/1882, Samuel Goldwyn
was born.
12/2/1882, Madame Celeste,
French actress, died (born 16/8/1815) 12/2/1882).
7/6/1880, John Brougham,
British actor, died (born 9/5/1814).
15/8/1880, Adelaide
Neilson, British actress, died.
29/1/1880, William Claude Dukenfield (WC Fields), actor,
was born (died 25/12/1946).
5/8/1879, Charles Fechter,
actor, died (born 23/10/1824)
8/6/1878, Charles
Matthews, English actor, died (born 26/12/1803).
26/1/1876, Antoine
Frederick-Lemaitre, French actor, died (born 28/7/1800).
1/12/1875, Pauline Dejazet, French actress, died (born
30/8/1798).
22/3/1875, Hezekiah
Bateman, US actor, died (born in Baltimore, Maryland 6/12/1812).
30/12/1874, Ludwig Dessoir, German actor, died (born
15/12/1810).
24/8/1874, William Betty,
English actor, died (born in Shrewsbury 13/9/1791).
6/4/1874, Harry Houdini,
American magician and escapologist, was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, as Ehrich Weiss.
He was the son of a rabbi from Budapest.
4/11/1873, Laura Keene,
actress, died
27/4/1873, William
MacReady, English actor, died (born 3/3/1793).
12/12/1872, Edwin Forrest,
US actor, died (born 9/3/1806).
11/11/1872, Maude Adams,
US actress, was born (died 17/7/1953).
7/8/1872, Gustav Devreint,
German actor, died (born 4/9/1803).
1/2/1872, Bogumil Dawison,
German actor, died (born 1818).
10/8/1868, Adah Menken,
US actress, died.
24/9/1861, William Farren,
English actor, died (born 13/5/1786).
17/1/1861, Marie Gilbert, Irish dancer, died (born 1818).
9/2/1860, William Burton,
actor, died (born 1804).
12/11/1859, French
acrobat Jules
Leotard performed the first circus trapeze act at the Cirque
Napoleon, Paris, wearing the famous costume named after him.
28/7/1859, Mary Anderson,
US actress, was born in Sacramento, California.
4/11/1858, Francis Benson,
English actor, was born in Tunbridge Wells.
25/7/1857, Nathaniel
Goodwin, US actor, was born.
24/5/1857, Richard
Mansfield, US actor, was born (died 30/8/1907).
1/4/1855, Fred Leslie,
English actor, was born (died 7/12/1892).
12/11/1854, Charles Kemble,
actor, died
9/12/1847, George
Grossmith, English comedian, was born.
20/3/1847, Anne Boutet,
French actress, died (born 9/2/1779).
26/10/1845, Edward Harrigan, US actor, was born.
22/10/1845, Sarah Bernhardt,
French actress, was born in Paris.
30/4/1845, Henry Crane,
US actor, was born.
16/5/1844, Sir John Hare,
English actor, born
16/12/1843, William Kendal,
English actor, was born.
14/5/1841, Sir Squire
Bancroft, actor, was born near London.
28/2/1841, Jean
Mounet-Sully, French actor, was born.
23/1/1841, Benoit Coquelin, French actor, was born (died
8/2/1909).
3/10/1838, Otto Devrient,
German actor, was born (died 23/6/1894).
4/4/1838, Lawrence
Barratt, US actor, was born in Paterson, New Jersey (died
20/3/1891).
4/1/1838, Charles
Sherwood Stratton was born. He later became famous as Tom Thumb,
a midget exhibited by Phineas Barnum.
31/5/1837, Joseph Grimaldi,
famous English clown, died (born 18/12/1779).
13/11/1833, Edwin Booth, US actor, was born in Belair,
Maryland (died 7/6/1893).
3/9/1833, John Clarke,
US actor, was born (died 24/9/1899).
15/5/1833, Edmund Kean,
actor, died (born 17/3/1787)
20/12/1832, Ludwig Devrient,
German actor, died (born 15/12/1784).
6/2/1832, Joseph Munden,
English actor, died.
26/7/1831, William
Florence, US actor, was born (died 14/11/1891).
26/12/1803, Charles
Matthews, English actor, was born (died 8/6/1878).
1/11/1827, Friedrich Haase,
German actor, was born.
23/10/1824, Charles Fechter,
actor, was born (died 5/8/1879).
26/2/1823, John Philip
Kemble, actor, died (born 1/2/1757)
1/10/1822, Francois Got,
French actor, was born (died 1901).
3/3/1822, Abraham Benard,
French actor, died (born 26/10/1750).
21/10/1821, Ann Gilbert,
US actress, was born (died 2/12/1904).
7/9/1819, Jeanne
Arnould-Plessey, French actress, was born in Metz (died 1897).
23/7/1816, Charlotte
Cushman, US actress, was born (died 18/2/1876).
3/7/1816, Dorothea Jordan,
Irish actress, died.
25/5/1816, Anne Lange,
French actress, died (born 17/9/1772).
23/10/1815, Jean Bressant,
French actor, was born (died 23/1/1886).
16/8/1815, Madame Celeste,
French actress, was born (died 12/2/1882).
4/3/1815, Frances
Abington, English actress (born 1737) died.
9/5/1814, John Brougham,
British actor, was born (died 7/6/1880).
6/12/1812, Hezekiah Bateman, US actor, was born in
Baltimore, Maryland (died 2/3/1875).
26/9/1811, George Cooke,
English actor, died (born 1756).
15/12/1810, Ludwig Dessoir,
German actor, was born (died 30/12/1874).
5/7/1810,
American showman Phineas T Barnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut.
27/2/1810, John Gilbert,
US actor, was born (died 17/6/1889).
22/1/1807, Augustine Brohan, French actress, was born
(died 16/8/1887).
9/3/1806, Edwin Forrest,
US actor, was born (died 12/12/1872).
4/9/1803, Gustav Devreint,
German actor, was born (died 7/8/1872).
23/7/1803, Charles Lewes,
English actor, died.
28/7/1800, Antoine
Frederick-Lemaitre, French actor, was born (died 26/1/1876).
5/8/1799, Jean Colson,
French actor, died (born 16/1/1725).
30/8/1798, Pauline Dejazet,
French actress, was born (died 1/12/1875).
15/5/1797, Pierre Lafont,
French actor, was born (died 19/4/1873).
5/4/1797, Karl Devrient,
German actor, was born (died 4/10/1877).
1/2/1794, Etienne Arnal,
actor, was born in Meulan (died 1872).
3/3/1793, William
MacReady, English actor, was born (died 27/4/1873).
13/7/1791, William Betty,
English actor, was born in Shrewsbury (died 24/8/1874).
31/10/1790, John Edwin,
English actor, died (born 10/8/1749).
16/2/1788, George Anne
Bellamy, English actress, died.
17/3/1787, Edmund Kean,
actor, was born (died 15/5/1833).
13/5/1786, William Farren,
English actor, was born (died 24/9/1861).
6/12/1785, Catherine Clive, British actress, died (born
1711).
15/12/1784, Ludwig Devrient,
German actor, was born (died 30/12/1832).
18/12/1779, Joseph Grimaldi,
English clown who invented the white face make up for clowns, was born.
9/2/1779, Anne Boutet,
French actress, was born (died 20/3/1847).
20/1/1779, David Garrick,
English actor and theatre manager, died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
16/6/1778, Konrad Ekhof,
German actor, died (born 12/8/1720).
8/2/1778, Henri Louis
Cain, French actor, died (born 14/4/1728).
10/1/1777, Spranger Barry,
British actor, died in London (born in Dublin 23/11/1719).
27/12/1774, Henry Mossop,
Irish actor, died.
7/4/1774, Robert Elliston,
English actor, was born (died 1831).
17/9/1772, Anne Lange,
French actress, was born (died 25/5/1816).
30/1/1766, Susannah Cibber, actress, died (born 1714).
24/1/1760, Lavinia Fenton,
English actress, died (born 1708).
11/12/1757, Colley Cibber,
English actor, died (born 6/11/1671).
1/2/1757, John Philip
Kemble, actor, was born (died 26/2/1823).
26/10/1750, Abraham Benard,
French actor, was born (died 3/3/1822).
10/8/1749, John Edwin,
English actor, was born (died 31/10/1790).
15/11/1746, Jean Dugazon,
French actor, was born (died 1809).
16/8/1738, Joe Miller,
English actor, died.
20/3/1730, Adrienne
Lecouvreur, Frenchy actress, died (born 5/4/1692).
22/12/1729, Michel Baron,
French actor, died (born in Paris 1635).
14/4/1728, Henri Louis
Cain, French actor, was born (died 8/2/1778).
16/1/1725, Jean Colson,
French actor, was born� (died 5/8/1799),
25/1/1723, La Clairon, French actress, was born (died
1803).
12/8/1720, Konrad Ekhof,
German actor, was born (died 16/6/1778).
23/11/1719, Spranger Barry,
British actor, was born in Dublin (died in London 10/1/1777).
7/11/1713, Elizabeth Barry,
actress, died (born 1658).
2/1/1713, Marie Dumesnil,
actress, was born (died 20/2/1803).
15/5/1698, Marie
Champmesle, French actress, died (born 1642).
5/4/1692, Adrienne
Lecouvreur, Frenchy actress, was born (died 20/3/1730).
6/11/1671, Colley Cibber,
English actor, was born (died 11/12/1757).
Appendix 5 � Theatres, concerts, operas
12/6/1997, The new
Globe Theatre, London, opened.
12/6/1974. The Redgrave Theatre, Farnham, opened.
9/8/1962, The
National Theatre was established in London, with Sir Lawrence Olivier as
director.
14/1/1947, The newly-renovated Covent Garden Opera House in
London opened, with a performance of Bizet�s Carmen.
23/4/1932, The new Shakespeare
Memorial Theatre opened in Stratford
on Avon.
6/1/1931, The New
Sadlers Wells Theatre in London was opened.
27/4/1928. The
Piccadilly Theatre, London, opened.
6/3/1926. Fire destroyed the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford on Avon. Only a blackened shell was left.
29/10/1911. First
stone of the Drury Lane Theatre
laid.
9/6/1904, First concert
by the London Symphony Hall.
15/5/1862, The third Royal Opera House
opened at Covent Garden, London.
30/1/1858, The Halle
Opera in Manchester, England, gave its first
public
concert.
5/3/1856, London�s Covent Garden Opera House was destroyed
by fire.
27/7/1787, The Theatre Royal, Margate, was founded.
30/5/1766, The oldest theatre still in use in Britain, the
�Royal;� in Bristol, was opened.
7/5/1663, The first Drury Lane theatre, London, opened.
13/4/1644. Demolition of the Globe Theatre on the South Bank, London.
29/6/1613. The Globe
Theatre in London burnt down after a cannon was fired during a Shakespeare
play and set fire to the roof.�
Appendix 6 � Art Galleries
12/5/2000, In
London, the Tate Modern art
gallery opened.
2/2/1977, The Pompidou
Centre of art and culture opened in Paris.
21/7/1897. The Tate Gallery in London was officially opened, on the site of Millbank Prison.
9/4/1838. The National
Gallery, in Trafalgar Square, London, opened.
