events 1940-1949

30 December 1949. Friday (+1,697) Vietnam gained sovereignty from France.

28 December 1949, Wednesday (+1,695) Ahmed Sukarno, aged 48, leader of the Indonesian Nationalist Party, arrived in Batavia (Djakarta) to take up residence on the former Dutch Governor�s Palace. Since the end of the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in 1945, Sukarno had fought hard for independence from the Netherlands.

27 December 1949. Tuesday (+1,694) Holland recognised the independence of Indonesia.

26 December 1949. Monday (+1,693) Albert Einstein published his new Generalized Theory of Gravitation.

25 December 1949, Sunday (+1,692) Sissy Spacek, actress, was born

22 December 1949, Thursday (+1,689) Robin and Maurice Gibb, musicians, were born.

21 December 1949, Wednesday (+1,688)

19 December 1949, Monday (+1,686) Britain passed the National Parks Act.

18 December 1949, Sunday (+1,685) Sotiris Kaiafas, Cypriot footballer, was born.

17 December 1949, Saturday (+1,684) In Australia, Robert Menzies became Prime Minister of a Liberal Party-Country Party coalition.

16 December 1949, Friday (+1,683) (1) (South Africa) A quarter of a million Afrikaners attended the unveiling of the Voortrekker Memorial to South Africa�s Boer pioneers in Pretoria.

(2) Ahmed Sukharno was elected President of Indonesia.

15 December 1949, Thursday (+1,682) Don Johnson, actor, was born

14 December 1949, Wednesday (+1,681)

13 December 1949, Tuesday (+1,680) Israel officially moved its capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

12 December 1949, Monday (+1,679) Chris Baillieu, British rowing champion, was born.

11 December 1949, Sunday (+1,678) Teri Garr, actress, was born.

10 December 1949, Saturday (+1,677)

8 December 1949, Thursday (+1,675) (China) Taipei, Taiwan, was formally chosen as the capital of Nationalist China. Chiang Kai Shek�s Nationalist Government fled to Taiwan from China to escape the advancing Communists.

7 December 1949, Wednesday (+1,674) Tom Waits, singer and songwriter, was born.

6 December 1949, Tuesday (+1,673) Huddie William Ledbetter, US folk and blues singer, died in New York (born 10 January 1889 in Mooringsport, Louisiana.

5 December 1949, Monday (+1,672) (Jewish) David Ben Gurion, Israel�s first prime minister, proclaimed Jerusalem as Israel�s capital.

4 December 1949, Sunday (+1,671) Jeff Bridges, actor, was born.

3 December 1949, Saturday (+1,670)

2 December 1949, Friday (+1,669) Albert Ammons, US pianist, died in Chicago (born 23 September 1907 in Chicago).

1 December 1949, Thursday (+1,668) (Atomic) US Physicist Willard Libby invented carbon dating.

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29 November 1949, Tuesday (+1,666) The Parliament Act was passed in the UK, restricting the Lords delaying abilities. The House of Lords had rejected this Bill but it still became law as MPs had voted for it three times.

25 November 1949, Friday (+1,662) Cadillac manufactured its one millionth car.

23 November 1949, Wednesday (+1,660) The Mashhad University Faculty of Medicine was officially opened by Dr Zanganeh, the Iranian minister of culture.

21 November 1949, Monday (+1,658) The United Nations declared that Tripolitania should form part of the independent state of Libya.

19 November 1949. Saturday (+1,656) Prince Ranier III was sworn in as the 30^th ruling Prince of Monaco.

15 November 1949, Tuesday (+1,652) (India) In India, Nathuram Godse was hanged for the murder of Ghandi.

8 November 1949, Tuesday (+1,645) (South America) Costa Rica abolished its army, under the rule of President Figueres Ferrer, an associate of Fidel Castro. It also gave women and people of African descent the vote.

7 November 1949, Monday (+1,644) The first meeting of the Council of Europe; Spaak was the Chairman.

6 November 1949, Sunday (+1,643) Nigel Havers, actor, was born.

3 November 1949, Thursday (+1,640) The BBC bought the Rank Studios in Shepherds Bush for programme making.

1 November 1949, Tuesday (+1,638) Gerald Ratner, jewellery businessman, was born.

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28 October 1949, Friday (+1,634) Barbara Lawton, athletics (high jump) champion, was born.

22 October 1949, Saturday (+1,628) Stiv Bators, musician, was born.

21 October 1949, Friday (+1,627) Jacques Copeau, French actor, died in Beaune.

20 October 1949,� Thursday (+1,626) Britain recognised the People�s Republic of China, under Chairman Mao.

19 October 1949, Wednesday (+1,625) Ian Thompson, marathon runner, was born.

16 October 1949, Sunday (+1,622) The Greek civil war ended with the defeat of the rebels.

14 October 1949, Friday (+1,620) Through train services from Kowloon (Hong Kong) to Canton were withdrawn, but restored on 4.4.1979.

11 October 1949, Tuesday (+1,617) Daryl Hall, musician, was born.

10 October 1949, Monday (+1,616) Lance Cairns, cricketer, was born

9 October 1949, Sunday (+1,615)

8 October 1949, Saturday (+1,614) Sigourney Weaver, actress, was born/

7 October 1949, Friday (+1,613) The German Democratic Republic was set up in East Germany.

6 October 1949, Thursday (+1,612) (1) The USA granted South Korea US$ 10.2 million for military aid and US$ 110 million for economic aid for the year 1950.

(2) The Berlin airlift ended.� It had carried on from 12 May 1949 despite the Soviet lifting of the land blockade.

(3) Aneurin Bevan gave some figures for the demand on Britain�s new NHS since its inception on 5 July 1948. 187,000,000 prescriptions had been dispensed at a cost of 2s 9d (14p) each; 5,250,000 pairs of glasses had been given out, with another 3,000,000 on order; 8,500,000 dental patients had been treated. The Government Actuary, Sir George Epps, had estimated that the cost of the NHS in its first year would be �170 million; the actual figure turned out to be �242 million. Annual costs were expected to fall as the population grew fitter; in fact annual costs rose to �384 million in 1952/3.

5 October 1949, Wednesday (+1,611) Major Greenwood (born 9 August 1880) English epidemiologist and medical statistician, died.

4 October 1949, Tuesday (+1,610) Edmund Eysler, Austrian composer, died in Vienna (born 12 March 1874 in Vienna)

1 October 1949. Saturday (+1,607) The Chinese Communists set up a government in Beijing, The People�s Republic of China, under Mao. Taiwan remained independent. Chinese Party Chairman Mao Tse Tung made no secret of the fact that he considered Tibet part of China.

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29 September 1949, Thursday (+1,605)

28 September 1949, Wednesday (+1,604) Jowett Cars introduced their first and only sports car, the Jupiter, designed by Austrian engineer Dr Robert Eberan von Eberhorst. 900 Jupiters were produced before manufacture ceased in 1954, and they achieved great success in motor racing.

27 September 1949, Tuesday (+1,603) Geofftrey Peck, orienteering, was born.

26 September 1949, Monday (+1,602) (UK Railways) Electrification began on the railway from Liverpool Street, London, to Shenfield,

25 September 1949, Sunday (+1,601) Anson Williams, US �actor, was born in Los Angeles, California.

24 September 1949, Saturday (+1,600) Pierre Breville, composer, died aged 88.

23 September 1949, Friday (+1,599) The USSR conducted its first atom bomb test. The USA no longer had a monopoly on these weapons of mass destruction.

22 September 1949, Thursday (+1,598) David Coverdale, English rock musician, was born.

21 September 1949, Wednesday (+1,597) (1) The first comprehensive school in Britain opened, at Holyhead, Anglesey, formed by the merger of two local schools.

(2) The People�s Republic of China was officially proclaimed.

20 September 1949, Tuesday (+1,596) The Dutch Guilder was devalued by 30.3%.

19 September 1949, Monday (+1,595) �Twiggy�, British model, actress, and singer, was born in Neasden, London, as Lesley Hornby.

18 September 1949. Sunday (+1,594) The British Pound was devalued by 30% by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Stafford Cripps. The exchange rate to the US$ fell from 4.03 to 2.80. This would raise the cost of living by 5%. Britain faced a severe Dollar deficit, and in the first quarter of 1949 alone had to sell US$ 160 million of gold. On the same day the milk ration was reduced to 2 pints per person per week. The milk ration had been reduced to 2 � pints a week on 11 September 1949.

17 September 1949, Saturday (+1,593) The first meeting of NATO was held.

16 September 1949, Friday (+1,592) Susan Ruttan, US actress, was born in Oregon City, Oregon.

15 September 1949, Thursday (+1,591) Konrad Adenauer was elected Chancellor of Germany.

13 September 1949, Tuesday (+1,589)

12 September 1949, Monday (+1,588) Theodor Heuss was elected first President of the Federal Republic of Germany.

11 September 1949, Sunday (+1,587) Roger Uttley, rugby player, was born.

10 September 1949, Saturday (+1,586)

9 September 1949, Friday (+1,585) John Curry, figure skater, was born (died 15 April 1994).

8 September 1949, Thursday (+1,584) The USA gave further aid to Yugoslavia.

7 September 1949, Wednesday (+1,583) Jose Clemente Orozco, painter, died in Mexico City aged 65.

6 September 1949, Tuesday (+1,582) Volkswagen returned to German Government ownership. The plant at Wolfsburg had been destroyed during the War, and came under British occupation in 1945. Within a few months the factory was making cars again.. During the second half of 1945 1,785 Type I cars were built, almost all of which were for the use of the Allied occupation forces.

4 September 1949, Sunday (+1,580) Britain�s largest ever aircraft, the 130-ton 8-engined Bristol Brabazon, made its first flight.

2 September 1949, Friday (+1,578) The redistribution of land became an official part of Chinese Communist policy.

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31 August 1949, Wednesday (+1,576) Richard Gere, actor, was born.

30 August 1949, Tuesday (+1,575) Stalin ordered troops to close to the Yugoslav border, but they did not invade.

29 August 1949, Monday (+1,574) The Soviet Union successfully tested its first nuclear device, in what is now Kazakhstan.

28 August 1949, Sunday (+1,573) Imogen Cooper, concert pianist, was born

27 August 1949, Saturday (+1,572) Ann Murray, mezzo-soprano singer, was born

26 August 1949, Friday (+1,571)

25 August 1949. Thursday (+1,570) The UK began experiments with colour TV transmission.

24 August 1949, Wednesday (+1,569) The North Atlantic Treaty, NATO, came into force.

21 August 1949, Sunday (+1,566) Geoffrey Capes, athlete (shot put), was born.

16 August 1949, Tuesday (+1,561) Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind, died after being hit by a car.

15 August 1949, Monday (+1,560) Richard Deacon, sculptor, was born.

14 August 1949, Sunday (+1,559) Morten Olsen, Danish footballer, was born.

12 August 1949, Friday (+1,557) Mark Knopfler, musician, was born.

7 August 1949, Sunday (+1,552) Matthew Parris, author, was born

6 August 1949, Saturday (+1,551) John Haugh, the �acid bath murderer� was executed.

5 August 1949, Thursday (+1,549) The USA halted aid to China.

3 August 1949, Wednesday (+1,548) The Council of Europe came into being.

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30 July 1949, Saturday (+1,544) The HMS Amethyst successfully sailed 140 miles down the Yangtse River overnight to escape Chinese Communist forces, see 20 April 1949.

29 July 1949, Friday (+1,543) The BBC issued its first televised weather forecast.

28 July 1949, Thursday (-1,542)

27 July 1949, Wednesday (+1,541) The world�s first jet-propelled airliner built in the UK, the De Havilland DH 106 Comet, flew at Hatfield.

26 July 1949, Thursday (+1,540) Roger Taylor, drummer in Queen, was born.

22 July 1949, Friday (+1,536) The London docks strike ended.

20 July 1949, Wednesday (+1,534) Syria signed an armistice with Israel.

19 July 1949, Tuesday (+1,533) Laos became independent within the French Union.

18 July 1949, Monday (+1,532) Dennis Lillee,� cricketer, was born.

15 July 1949, Friday (+1,529) John Casken, composer, was born.

12 July 1949, Tuesday (+1,526) Douglas Hyde, President of Ireland, died.

11 July 1949. Monday (+1,525) (1) The first film made specifically for television, �A Dinner date With Death� was shot at Marylebone Studios between 11 and 14 July 1949.

(2) (Science, technology) In the USA, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began hearings regarding the possible introduction of a colour TV service. There were three possible systems, the Field sequential Method of CBS, the Dot Sequential approach of RCA, and the Line Sequential proposed by Color Television Incorporated (CTI). The CBS Field System was te simplest, and produced better quality images than the other two methods, so in 1950 the FCC adopted the CBS method. However the CBS approach was incompatible with current black and white TV sets, whereas the other two methods were not, see 28 May 1951.

10 July 1949, Sunday (+1,524) The last tramcar ran in Dublin.

9 July 1949, Saturday (+1,523)

8 July 1949, Friday (+1,522) Keith Fielding, rugby player, was born.

7 July 1949, Thursday (+1,521) Shelley Duval, actress, was born.

6 July 1949, Wednesday (+1,520) Georgina Hathorn, champion skier, was born.

3 July 1949, Sunday (+1,517) Susan Penhaligon, actress, was born.

1 July 1949. Friday (+1,515) The maximum wage for footballers in the UK was set at �12 per week. A nurse was paid �350 a year. A pint of milk cost 5d (2p), the same as a Mars bar, which went on sale in the UK for the first time. 20 Woodbines cost 2s 9d (14p).

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29 June 1949, Wednesday (+1,513) (1) US troops completed their withdrawal from South Korea, leaving behind just 500 men to serve as advisors to the 98,000-strong South Korean armed forces, a body barely large enough to maintain internal order, let alone deal with any threat from North Korea.

(2) A docks strike began in London.

27 June 1949, Monday (+1,511) In Australia a nationwide coal strike began. It lasted until August 1949, and the Government sent in troops to operate the mines.

24 June 1949, Friday (+1,508) Betty Jackson, fashion designer, was born.

22 June 1949, Wednesday (+1,506) Meryl Streep, actress, was born.

20 June 1949, Monday (+1,504) The USA, the USSR, France, and the UK signed a Four-Power agreement on Berlin, including a clause ensuring the freedom of movement within the entire city.

16 June 1949, Thursday (+1,500) The Hungarian Communist Party began a Stalinist purge, starting with the arrest of Foreign Minister Laszlo Rajk.

15 June 1949, Wednesday (+1,499) Simon Callow, actor, was born.

10 June 1949, Friday (+1,494) John Sentanu, Archbishop of York, was born.

7 June 1949, Tuesday (+1,491) In a statement to US Congress, President Harry S Truman, talking about measures necessary to prevent Communist domination of the Pacific, declared that Korea had become a testing ground in the ideological conflict between Communism and democracy.

6 June 1949, Monday (+1,490) George Orwell�s book Nineteen Eighty Four was published. Suffering from tuberculosis, Orwell completed the book between periods of hospitalisation in a remote house in The Hebrides.

5 June 1949, Sunday (+1,489) Ken Follett, Welsh author, was born.

4 June 1949, Saturday (+1,488)

3 June 1949, Friday (+1,487) Wesley Anthony Brown became the first African-American to graduate from the US Naval Academy.

2 June 1949. Thursday (+1,486) Transjordan was renamed Jordan.

1 June 1949, Wednesday (+1,485)

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30 May 1949, Monday (+1,483) Robert Williams, cricketer, was born.

29 May 1949, Sunday (+1,482) Francis Rossi, musician, was born.

26 May 1949. Thursday (+1,479) Chinese Communists captured Shanghai.

24 May 1949, Tuesday (+1,477) Jim Broadbent, actor, was born.

23 May 1949. Monday (+1,476) (1) Chinese Communists drove the Nationalists off the mainland to Taiwan.

(2) The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was formally established, with its capital at Bonn.

21 May 1949, Saturday (+1,474) Rosalind Plowright, soprano singer, was born.

18 May 1949, Wednesday (-1,471) Rick Wakeman, British composer, was born in Perivale, Middlesex

13 May 1949, Friday (+1,466) Britain flew its first jet bomber, the Canberra, from Warton airfield, Canberra.

12 May 1949. Thursday (+1,465) The Soviet blockade of West Berlin was called off after 11 months, it began 28 June 1948. It had cost the Allies �200 million to fly in food and essential supplies, with up to 200 flights a day.

11 May 1949. Wednesday (+1,464) (1) Israel was voted into the UN.

(2) Siam changed its name to Thailand.

9 May 1949. Monday (+1,462) (1) Prince Ranier III became Head of State of Monaco, succeeding his grandfather Prince Louis II.

(2) Britain�s first launderette opened in Queensway, London.

(3) Billy Joel, American singer and songwriter, was born in the Bronx, New York.

6 May 1949, Friday (+1,459) Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian playwright, died aged 86.

5 May 1949, Thursday (+1,458) The USSR announced it would lift the blockade of Berlin on 12.5.1949.

4 May 1949, Wednesday (+1,457) John Force, racing driver, was born in Bell Gardens, California

3 May 1949. Tuesday (+1,456) The Council of Europe was established, after a ten-state conference in London.

2 May 1949, Monday (+1,455) Alan Titchmarsh, gardener and TV personality, was born in Ilkley, England

1 May 1949. Sunday (+1,454) In the UK, the gas industry was nationalised.

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30 April 1949, Saturday (+1,453) Karl Meiler, German tennis player was born (died 2014).

29 April 1949, Friday (+1,452) Mary McKenna, golfing champion, was born.

28 April 1949, Thursday (+1,451), The Allies set up the International Authority for the Ruhr, or IAR.� This was dissolved on 10 August 1952 when the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) came into force.

27 April 1949, Wednesday (+1,450) The Commonwealth was founded in London.

26 April 1949, Tuesday (+1,449) Jerry Blackwell, professional wrestler, was born in Stone Mountain, Georgia (died 1995)

25 April 1949, Monday (+1,448) Ian Copeland, impresario and booking agent, was born (died 23 May 2006)

24 April 1949. Sunday (+1,447) Sweets and chocolates came off rations in Britain. Clothes rationing, which began on 2 June 1941, ceased on 15 March 1949. All food rationing ended on 3 July 1954. Identity cards were abolished in Britain on 21 February 1952.

22 April 1949, Friday (+1,445) Chinese Communists captured Chaing Kai Shek�s Nationalist capital, Nanjing.

20 April 1949, Wednesday (+1,443) The HMS Amethyst was fired upon by Chinese whilst sailing up the Yangtse River with supplies for the British community in Nanking.� She was trapped until the night of 30 July 1949 when she successfully sailed downriver 140 miles, under fire from further Chinese forces.

19 April 1949, Tuesday (+1,442) The USA made a US$ 420 million loan to Yugoslavia as an anti-Soviet measure.

18 April 1949. Monday (1,441) (1) The Boy Scouts began their first �bob-a-job� (5p) week.

(2) Ireland was formally proclaimed a Republic (by the Republic of Ireland Act), on an Easter Monday (Easter Rising), at the General Post Office in Dublin, a place with many historical associations with the Rising. See 17 November 1948. Ireland asserted its independence from Britain by leaving the Commonwealth.

17 April 1949, Sunday (+1,440) Easter Sunday.

16 April 1949, Saturday (+1,439) 16,000 tons of supplies were airlifted to West berlin in just 24 hours.

13 April 1949, Wednesday (+1,436)

12 April 1949, Tuesday (+1,435) Scott Turow, writer, was born.

11 April 1949, Monday (+1,434) Italian Foreign Minister Carlo Sforza asked the United Nations to return Italy's pre-war African colonies, promising that Italy would prepare them for independence at the earliest possible date.

10 April 1949, Sunday (+1,433) Fred Thompson (Frederick James), British singer, died in London (born 24 January 1884 in London)

9 April 1949, Saturday (+1,432) (International) The International Court of Justice of the UN handed down its first judgement. It held Albania responsible for incidents in the Corfu Channel, 1946, and awarded damages to the UK.

8 April 1949, Friday (+1,431) John Madden, film director, was born.

7 April 1949, Thursday (+1,430) Luca Cumani, racehorse trainer, was born.

6 April 1949, Wednesday (+1,429) Seymour Hicks, British actor, died aged 78

5 April 1949, Tuesday (+1,428) Mike Tredgett, badminton champion, was born.

4 April 1949. Monday (+1,427) The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington. NATO was set up on 18 March 1949, by Britain and seven other European countries. Denmark had agreed to join on 25 March 1949. Eleven countries signed in total.

3 April 1949, Sunday (+1,426) Jordan signed an armistice with Israel.

2 April 1949, Saturday (+1,425) (Football) Bernd Muller, German footballer, was born.

1 April 1949, Friday (+1,424) (1) The National Parks Bill was approved by the UK Parliament. 12 National Parks were created, covering 9% of the� area of England and Wales; none were created in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

(2) The 6^th Marquess of Bath took the unprecedented step of opening his house to visits by paying tourists. 135,000 came in the first 12 months. As he later explained, aristocratic homes had to be run as businesses, to gain the same tax regime as other businesses. The assets of the wealthy had been shrunk by heavy taxation, including Death Duties of 75% on estates of over �1million.

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31 March 1949. Thursday (+1,423) Newfoundland, with its dependency Labrador, joined Canada as the 10th province of the dominion.

30 March 1949, Wednesday (+1,422) The Icelandic Parliament passed a Bill for Charter membership of NATO, on condition that it did not have to provide any troops,, and that no foreign troops would be stationed in Iceland during peacetime. There were protests by the Socialists, but these were dispersed by the police, and Iceland officially joined NATO on 4 April 1949.

29 March 1949, Tuesday (+1,421) Eric Idle, comedian, was born.

27 March 1949, Sunday (+1,419)

26 March 1949, Saturday (+1,418) Patrick Suskind, writer, was born.

25 March 1949, Friday (+1,417) Denmark agreed to join NATO.

24 March 1949, Thursday (+1,416) Ruud Krol, Dutch footballer, was born.

23 March 1949, Wednesday (+1,415) Lebanon and Israel signed an armistice.

22 March 1949, Tuesday (+1,414) Fanny Ardant, actress, was born.

21 March 1949, Monday (+1,413) Alvin Kalicharan, cricketer, was born.

20 March 1949, Sunday (+1,412)

18 March 1949, Friday (+1,410) Alex Higgins, snooker champion, was born.

17 March 1949, Thursday (+1,409) The USSR agreed to provide heavy military equipment to North Korea.

16 March 1949, Wednesday (+1,408) Leyland Hodgson, British-born US actor, died aged 56.

15 March 1949, Tuesday (+1,407) Clothes rationing ended in Britain. See 24 April 1949.

12 March 1949, Saturday (+1,404) David Mellor, UK politician, was born.

9 March 1949, Wednesday (+1,401) Neil Hamilton, UK politician, was born.

8 March 1949, Tuesday (+1,400) Vietnam became independent within the French Union.

7 March 1949, Monday (+1,399) Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian politician, was born.

4 March 1949, Friday (+1,396) George Larner, Olympic walker, died.

2 March 1949. Wednesday (+1,394) A crew of US Air Force personnel completed the first non stop round the world flight, refuelling four times mid-air, taking 94 hours. See 21 May 1927, first transatlantic flight. The flight captain was James Gallagher, flying the US Air Force B50 �Lucky Lady�.

1 March 1949, Tuesday (+1,393) Joe Louis retired as world heavyweight boxing champion.

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28 February 1949, Monday (+1,392)

26 February 1949, Saturday (+1,390) Emma Kirkby, soprano singer, was born.

24 February 1949, Thursday (+1,388) Egypt and Israel signed an armistice.

23 February 1949, Wednesday (+1,387) Jews in Berlin protested at the portrayal of Jewish character Fagin in Alec Guinness�s film Oliver Twist.

22 February 1949, Tuesday (+1,386) Austrian racing driver Nicki Lauda was born.

20 February 1949, Sunday (+1,384) Ivana Trump, US socialite was born.

16 February 1949, Wednesday (+1,380) Chaim Weizmann was sworn in as first President of Israel.

14 February 1949, Monday (+1,378) Egypt and Israel signed an armistice.

13 February 1949, Sunday (+1,377) Thomas Palmer, boxer, died (born 19 January 1876).

12 February 1949, Saturday (+1,376) Fergus Slattery, rugby player, was born.

11 February 1949, Friday (+1,375) George Botsford, US composer, died in New York (born 24 February 1874 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota)

10 February 1949, Thursday (+1,374)

9 February 1949, Wednesday (+1,373) US actor Robert Mitchum was jailed for 2 months for smoking marijuana.

8 February 1949, Tuesday (+1,372) The Irish Government refused to join NATO whilst Ireland remained divided between South and North.

1 February 1949, Tuesday (-1,365) the People�s Republic of H8ungary was officially proclaimed.

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28 January 1949, Friday (+1,361) Jean Pierre Wimille, racing car driver, was born.

27 January 1949, Thursday (+1,360) Graham Thorner, champion jockey, was born.

26 January 1949, Wednesday (+1,359) The first test photograph was made at Mount Palomar observatory.

25 January 1949. Tuesday (+1,358) (1) COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) was founded in Moscow.

(2) Ben Gurion's Mapai Party won the Israeli elections.

24 January 1949, Monday (+1,357) John Belushi, actor, was born

23 January 1949, Sunday (+1,356) General elections were held in Japan. The Democratic Liberal Party won 269 of the 466 seats.

22 January 1949 Saturday (+1,355) The Chinese Communists under Mao Tse Tung captured Peking. The Nationalists under Chaing Kai Shek were defeated at Huai Hai north of Beijing.

21 January 1949, Friday (+1,354) Chiang Kai Shek resigned

20 January 1949, Thursday (+1,353) Attlee set up a Royal Commission on capital punishment.

19 January 1949. Wednesday (+1,352) In the US, President Truman was inaugurated.

18 January 1949, Tuesday (+1,351) Philippe Starck, architect, was born.

16 January 1949, Sunday (+1,349)

15 January 1949. Saturday (+1,348) (1) Konrad Adenauer became Chancellor of West Germany (born 15 January 1876).

(2) Chinese Communists captured Tientsin.

14 January 1949, Friday (+1,347) 100 died in Asian-Black riots in South Africa.

13 January 1949, Thursday (+1,346) In Durban, South Africa, three days of rioting between Africans and Indians began over� a rumour that an Indian had killed an African.

12 January 1949. Wednesday (+1,345) In Britain, Margaret Allen was hanged, the first woman hanged for 12 years.

11 January 1949, Tuesday (+1,344)

10 January 1949 �Monday (+1,343) 33.3 and 45 rpm vinyl records went on sale in the USA.

9 January 1949, Sunday (+1,342) British comedian Tommy Handley died.

8 January 1949, Saturday (+1,343) Wolfgang Puck, chef, was born.

7 January 1949, Friday (+1,340) Marshall was succeeded by Acheson as US Secretary of State.

6 January 1949, Thursday (+1,339)

4 January 1949, Tuesday (+1,337) Michael Mills, footballer, was born.

3 January 1949, Monday (+1,336) Robert Aitken, US sculptor (born 8 May 1878) died.

2 January 1949, Sunday (+1,335) The Battle of the Sinai in the Arab-Israeli War ended when Israeli forces withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula.

1 January 1949. Saturday (+1,334) India and Pakistan agreed a truce in the war over Kashmir.

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31 December 1948, Friday (+1,333) Donna Summer, US singer, was born.

29 December 1948, Wednesday (+1,331)

27 December 1948, Monday (+1,329) Gerard Depardieu, French actor, was born.

26 December 1948, Sunday (+1,328) In Hungary, the Protestant and Jewish communities accepted compensation payments for the government nationalisation of their religious schools. However the Hungarian Catholic Church, under the authority of Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, refused to accept this measure. On this day Mindszenty was arrested, and on 8 February 1949 sentenced to life imprisonment.

25 December 1948, Saturday (+1,327) Barbara Mandrell, US country singer, was born in Houston

23 December 1948, Thursday (+1,325) Hideki Tojo, Japanese Prime Minister 1941-44, who attacked Pearl Harbour and so provoked the entry of the USA into the War, was hanged as a war criminal.

22 December 1948, Wednesday (+1,324) Chris Old, cricketer, was born.

21 December 1948, Tuesday (+1,323) Ireland passed the Republic of Ireland Act, becoming a Republic and leaving the Commonwealth.

20 December 1948, Monday (+1,322) Eustace Miles, rackets and tennis player, died (born 22 September 1868).

17 December 1948, Friday (+1,319)

15 December 1948. Wednesday (+1,317) (1) France�s first nuclear reactor began operating.

(2) In Indonesia, Dutch troops seized Jakarta.

14 December 1948, Tuesday (+1,316) South Korea formed a Department of National Defence.

13 December 1948, Monday (+1,315) Lilian Board, athletics champion, was born (died 26 December 1970)

12 December 1948, Sunday (+1,314) In El Salvador, President Salvador Castaneda Castro was ousted in a coup mounted by young Army officers, who demanded social and economic reforms. Major Oscar Osorio (1910-1969) became Head of Government, and was elected President in 1950. He legalised Trades Unions, improved housing, and encouraged industrial and agricultural development.

11 December 1948, Saturday (+1,313) At a ceremony in Ottawa, terms of union were signed between Canada and the Dominion of Newfoundland by which Newfoundland would become a province of Canada.

10 December 1948, Friday (+1,312) (1) The United Nations issued the Declaration of Human Rights.

(2) A force of Calderon supporters attempted an invasion of Costa Rica but were repulsed.

5 December 1948, Sunday (+1,307) Formula One motor racing champion Keijo �Keke� Rosberg was born in Solna, Sweden.

3 December 1948, Friday (+1,305) Colonel Mary Agnes Hallaren became the first female officer in the US Army.

2 December 1948, Thursday (+1,304) Antonin Panenka, Czech footballer, was born.

1 December 1948. Wednesday (+1,303) National Service in Britain was increased from 12 to 18 months.

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28 November 1948. Sunday (+1,300) The first Polaroid cameras went on sale, in Boston, USA. The price was US$ 89.75 � the equivalent of US$ 900, or UK�595 in 2015. All 37 had sold by the end of the day.

26 November 1948, Friday (+1,298) JA Holden & Co began in Australia in 1856 and became a leading saddlery company; by 1906 the founder�s grandson added car upholstery repair services. After World War Two, Holden executives agreed with Chevrolet to build a Chevrolet-based car in Australia. This day the Holden 48-215, the first mass-produced Australian car, began rolling off the assembly line.

25 November 1948, Thursday (+1,297) Paul Murphy, Irish politician, was born.

24 November 1948, Wednesday (+1,296) Ian Hallam, cycling champion, was born in Nottingham.

20 November 1948, Saturday (+1,292) The New Zealand flightless Takahe bird had only been sighted 4x between 1800 and 1900 and was presumed extinct. However this day Dr Geoffrey Orbell located the first individual of what was found to be a colony of 250 individuals in the Murchison Mountains, South Island.

17 November 1948, Wednesday (+1,289) In Dublin, a� �Republic of Ireland� Bill was introduced to the Parliament, severing all links with Britain; Ireland left the Commonwealth.� See 18 April 1949.

16 November 1948, Tuesday (+1,288) US President Truman refused to participate in talks with the Soviets on the future of Berlin until the blockade was lifted.

15 November 1948, Monday (+1,287) (1) (Aviation, Israel) The Israeli airline El Al was founded.

(2) (Canada) W L Mackenzie-King, Prime Minister of Canada, resigned and entered retirement. He was succeeded by Louis St Laurent.

14 November 1948. Sunday (+1,286) Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, was born in Buckingham Palace, as Charles Philip Arthur George.

12 November 1948, Friday (+1,284) The main War Crimes trials ended in Japan. Hideki Tojo and 6 others were sentenced to death by hanging; 16 received life imprisonment, and 2 were given shorter prison terms. The hangings were carried out on 23 December 1948.

9 November 1948, Tuesday (+1,281) Vincent Schiavelli, actor, was born (died 26 December 2005)

4 November 1948, Thursday (+1,276) The new Indian Constitution was formally introduced to the Constituent Assembly.

3 November 1948, Wednesday (+1,275) Lulu, or Marie Lawrie, actress, was born.

2 November 1948. Tuesday (+1,274) Harry S Truman was re-elected as President of the USA.

1 November 1948, Monday (+1,273)

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30 October 1948, Saturday (+1,271) Richard Alston, choreographer, was born

29 October 1948, Friday (+1,270) Chinese Communist forces captured the important city of Mukden, and its arsenal, from Kuomintang forces.

28 October 1948, Thursday (+1,269) Swiss chemist Paul Muller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of DDT.

27 October 1948, Wednesday (+1,268) General Manuel Odria (1897-1974), Conservative Peruvian Army Chief of Staff,, took power, and APRA was banned again.

24 October 1948, Sunday (+1,265) Philip Bennett, rugby player, was born.

17 October 1948, Sunday (+1,258) Margot Kidder, actress, was born.

15 October 1948, Friday (+1,256) US President Gerald Ford married widow Elizabeth Bloomer Warren.

12 October 1948. Tuesday (+1,253) First Morris Minor came off the production line at Cowley, Oxfordshire.� The car was designed by Alex Issigonis.

11 October 1948, Monday (+1,252) Daryl Hall, rock singer, was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania

10 October 1948, Sunday (+1,251)

9 October 1948, Saturday (+1,250) Jackson Browne, musician, was born.

8 October 1948, Friday (+1,249) Johnny Ramone, musician, was born.

7 October 1948, Thursday (+1,248) In Japan, Shigeru Yoshida formed a Democratic-Liberal Government.

6 October 1948, Wednesday (+1,247) Gerry Adams, Irish Republican politician, was born.

4 October 1948, Monday (+1,245) Jan Savitt, composer, died in Sacramento, California (born 4 September 1908 I St Petersburg, Russia)

2 October 1948, Saturday (+1,243) Trevor Brooking, footballer, was born.

1 October 1948, Friday (+1,242) Phraya Manopakorn Nititada, 1st Prime Minister of Siam, died aged 64

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30 September 1948, Thursday (+1,241) Edward Bourne, fencer, was born.

29 September 1948, Wednesday (+1,240) Bryant Gumbel, TV host, was born.

28 September 1948. Tuesday (+1,239) First British Grand Prix held at Silverstone.

27 September 1948, Monday (+1.238) Barbara Dixon, actress, was born.

26 September 1948, Sunday (+1,237) Olivia Newton John, singer, was born.

25 September 1948, Saturday (+1,236) Vladimir Yevtushenkov, business oligarch, was born in Smolensk, USSR

24 September 1948, Friday (+1,235) �The Honda Motor Company was founded in Tokyo, Japan. Its sales in the USA began in 1972, when the energy crisis forced US consumers to look at smaller more economical cars.

23 September 1948, Thursday (+1,234) 12,000 people attended a rally of the American Communist Party at Madison Square Garden.

22 September 1948, Wednesday (+1,233) Captain Mark Phillips, husband of Princess Anne, was born in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

21 September 1948, Tuesday (+1,232) The Irgun dissolved and handed over its arms to the Israeli government in response to an ultimatum to either disband or be labelled a terrorist organization.

20 September 1948, Monday (+1,231) In Israel, the Stern Gang was declared illegal.

19 September 1948, Sunday (+1,230) Jeremy Irons, actor, was born.

18 September 1948, Saturday (+1,229) 200 arrests were made in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in connection with the assassination of Count Bernadotte.

17 September 1948. Friday (+1,228) Jewish terrorists assassinated Count Folke Bernadotte, Swedish UN mediator, in Jerusalem.

16 September 1948, Thursday (+1,227) Julia Donaldson, English children's writer, was born in London, England.

15 September 1948, Wednesday (+1,226) (Aviation) R Johnson, USA, set a new aviation speed record of 670.98 mph.

14 September 1948, Tuesday (+1,225) Marc Reisner, US environmental author, was born.

13 September 1948, Monday (+1,224) Nehru sent Indian troops to occupy the State of Hyderabad, whose ruler, the Nizam, had declined to join India. An appeal by the Nizam to the United Nations was in vain. The Nizam was allowed to keep his palaces and other private property.

12 September 1948, Sunday (+1,223) Max Walker, Australian cricket player, was born.

11 September 1948, Saturday (+1,222) Death of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, first Governor-General of Pakistan.

10 September 1948, Friday (+1,221) Margaret Trudeau, former Canadian 1st lady, was born in Vancouver, British Columbia.

9 September 1948 Thursday (+1,220) (1) Footwear rationing ended in the UK.

(2) Following the withdrawal of Russian troops, North Korea became independent as the People�s Democratic Republic of North Korea.

7 September 1948, Tuesday (+1,218)

6 September 1948, Monday (+1,217) John Derry, piloting a De Havilland DH 108, in a dive, became the first pilot to fly at supersonic speed in Britain.

5 September 1948, Sunday (+1,216) In France, Robert Schuman became President of the Council while being Foreign Minister, As such, he was the negotiator of the major treaties of the end of World War II.

4 September 1948. Saturday (+1,215) Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, aged 68, Queen since 1890, abdicated. Juliana, her daughter,39, became Queen on 6 September 1948.

3 September 1948, Friday (+1,214) Eduard Benes, Czech President until the Communist take-over, died. �See 6 June 1948.

2 September 1948, Thursday (+1,213) Christa McAuliffe, US �teacher who died in the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986, was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

1 September 1948. Wednesday (+1,212) The North China People�s Republic was formed by the Communists, under Chairman Mao.

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29 August 1948, Sunday (+1,209) Nick Darke, playwright, was born (died 10 June 2005)

27 August 1948, Friday (+1,207) Oley Speaks, US composer, died in new York (born 28 June 1874 in Canal, Winchester, Ohio)

24 August 1948, Tuesday (+1,204) Jean Michel Jarre, musician, was born

23 August 1948, Monday (+1,203) The World Council of Churches was formed.

22 August 1948, Sunday (+1,202)

21 August 1948, Saturday (+1,201) Professor Derek Avis, cellist, was born.

20 August 1948, Friday (+1,200) Greek Communists were defeated by Government forces.

19 August 1948, Thursday (+1,199)

18 August 1949, Wednesday (+1,198) Paul Mares, US jazz trumpeter, died in Chicago (born 15 June 1900 in New Orleans)

17 August 1948, Tuesday (+1,197) Julian Fellowes, actor, was born

16 August 1948, Monday (+1,196) George Herman Ruth, US professional baseball player, died aged 53.

15 August 1948. Sunday (+1,195) The Republic of Korea was proclaimed in the south of the peninsula; Syngman Rhee was the first President. On 9 September 1948 a Communist republic was set up in North Korea.

14 August 1948, Saturday (+1,194) The London Olympics closed.

11 August 1948, Wednesday (+1,191) Don Boyd, film director, was born.

7 August 1948, Saturday (+1,187) Greg Chappell, cricketer, was born.

5 August 1948, Thursday (+1,185) Ray Clemence, footballer, was born.

2 August 1948, Monday (+1,182) Alger Hiss testified in the US McCarthy anti-Communist hearings, using the phrase �Reds under the bed�.

1 August 1948, Sunday (+1,181) The French zone of occupation was merged with the �bizone� (see 27 May 1947) to form the �trizone�. The �trizone� later became West Germany (see 23 May 1949).

====================================================================================

31 July 1948, Saturday (+1,180) (Aviation) Idlewild Airport, New York, opened (4,900 acres).

30 July 1948, Friday (+1,179) The world�s first radar station designed to assist shipping was opened at Liverpool, UK.

29 July 1948. Thursday (+1,178) The first post-war Olympic Games, the 14^th, opened in London. Opened by King George V at Wembley Stadium, these were the first Games since those in Berlin in 1936. The atmosphere was one of post-war austerity and reconstruction, and Japan, the USSR, and Germany were not present. The USA won 38 gold medals.� The UK came 12^th.

28 July 1948, Wednesday (+1,177)

27 July 1948, Tuesday (+1,176) Woolf Barnato, motor racing champion, died.

26 July 1948, Monday (+1,175) By executive order, US President Harry S Truman ended racial segregation in the US armed forces.

25 July 1948. Sunday (+1,174) Bread rationing ended in Britain.

23 July 1948, Friday (+1,172) US film director David Wark Griffith died.

21 July 1948, Wednesday (+1,170) Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), songwriter and musician, was born.

18 July 1948, Sunday (+1,167) James Watt, boxer, was born.

17 July 1948, Saturday (+1,166) Wayne Sleep, dancer, was born.

16 July 1948, Friday (+1,165) Pinchas Zukerman, violinist, was born

15 July 1948. Thursday (+1,164) (1) The UN ordered a ceasefire in Palestine.

(2) Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in London, having been in existence in America since 1935.

(3) John Pershing, commander of the US Army in France in World War One, nicknamed �Black Jack�, died in Washington DC.

13 July 1948, Tuesday (+1,162) It was announced that the UK coal industry lost �13 million in its first year of nationalisation.

10 July 1948, Saturday (+1,159) Full university status was granted to University College, Nottingham.

5 July 1948. Monday (+1,154) The National Health Service was established in the UK (see 6 November 1946). Introduced under a Labour government, it provided free medical treatment, and free prescriptions for glasses, teeth, and wigs. In its first year the NHS cared for 47.5 million patients, provided 5.25 million pairs of glasses, 7,000 artificial eyes and 5,000 wigs. Doctors wrote 187 million NHS prescriptions, and by 1950, 95% of UK citizens were using the NHS.

4 July 1948, Sunday (+1,153) The Yugoslav Communist Party was expelled from Cominform.

3 July 1948, Saturday (+1,152) Painter Arshile Gorky committed suicide in New York, aged 43.

2 July 1948, Friday (+1,151) Saul Rubinek, actor and filmmaker, was born in Fuhrenwald displaced persons camp, Germany

1 July 1948. Thursday (+1,150) (1) The first Oxfam shop opened in the UK. See 1 July 1942.

(2) A secondary school teacher with a degree earned �615 a year, a baker was paid �5 5s(�5.25) a week. The air fare from London to New York was �86 17s (�86.85p). The standard rail fare from Manchester to London return was �1 17s (�1.85p). The return bus fare from Manchester to Wythenshawe, 8 miles, was 1 shilling (5p).

====================================================================================

30 June 1948, Wednesday (+1,149) The last British troops left Palestine.

29 June 1948, Tuesday (+1,148) London dock workers voted to end their 16-day strike and go back to work rather than face the government's threat to invoke its broad emergency powers.

28 June 1948. Monday (+1,147) (1) Yugoslavia ceased to be a Soviet satellite. Yugoslavia strengthened its ties with the West, and with Turkey and Greece. On 14 November 1951 a US-Yugoslav military agreement was reached providing for supply of tanks and heavy artillery to the Yugoslav Army. On 28 February 1953 a Turkish-Greek-Yugoslav treaty of friendship and co-operation was signed in Ankara, and on 9 August 1954 the three governments strengthened this treaty into a military and defensive alliance.

(2) The Anglo-US airlift to Berlin began; see 12 May 1949.

27 June 1948, Sunday (+1,146) The Czech Social Democratic Party was absorbed into the Communist Party.

26 June 1948, Saturday (+1,145) Columbia officially released its new 33.3 rpm long playing records.

25 June 1948, Friday (+1,144) Jim Cohen, radio astronomer, was born (died 1 November 2006)

24 June 1948. Thursday (+1,143) The Russians began a blockade of West Berlin.� The Berlin Airlift began on 28 June 1948 and delivered some 7,000 tons of food supplies to the city over a period of three months by British and American aircraft, defying the Soviet land blockade. The airlift continued until 30 September 1949, although the Soviet blockade was lifted on 12 May 1949. See 30 March 1948.

23 June 1948, Wednesday (+1,142) The UK Government called in soldiers to begin unloading food supplies tied up in the 10-day dockworker's strike.

22 June 1948. Tuesday (+1,141) Dr Peter Goldmark of Columbia Records unveiled the first successfully produced micro-groove, or long playing, record.

21 June 1948, Monday (+1,140) The first computer using stored programmes was built at Manchester University, UK.

20 June 1948, Sunday (+1,139) Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru, was born in Anabar, Nauru

19 June 1948, Saturday (+1,138) Barry Hearn, sporting events promoter, was born

18 June 1948, Friday (+1,137) Germany replaced the old Reichsmark with the Deutschemark.

17 June 1948, Thursday (+1,136) (Innovation) The transistor was patented in New Jersey for Bell Telephones.

16 June 1948, Wednesday (+1,135) (1) (Aviation) The first airline hijack took place.� A gang of Chinese bandits took over a Cathay Pacific flying boat, Miss Macao, on a scheduled flight to Hong Kong. The crew fought back and the aircraft crashed, killing everyone except the hijack gang leader. Foul play was at first not suspected, until salvagers recovered the bullet-ridden plane. Police then placed an informer next to Wong yu Man�s hospital bed with a tape recorder and recorded conversations between them.

(2)� Britain was reluctant to grant full independence to Malaysia, due to the ongoing Cold War between Communism and the West, with China so close by. The UK did, this day, grant �autonomy� of Malay rule; this reaffirmation of Anglo-Malay relations angered China, who sponsored the formation of the Malayan Races Liberation Army (MNLA), led by Chin Peng. The MNLA began an armed insurrection against the British. There were some 500,000 MNLA sympathisers within Malaysia, and this conflict delayed further the departure of the UK, who feared a Communist Chinese takeover of the region if they did leave.

15 June 1948, Tuesday (+1,134) (Israel) The Israeli Herut Party was founded by Menachim Begin.

14 June 1948, Monday (+1,133) In Hungary the Social Democrats, under force-majeure, reluctantly agreed to merge with the Communists to form the Hungarian Workers Party.

13 June 1948, Sunday (+1,132) Sandy Barclay, jockey, was born.

10 June 1948, Thursday (+1,129)

9 June 1948, Wednesday (+1,128) Nick Clarke, BBC broadcaster, was born (died 23 November 2006).

8 June 1948, Tuesday (+1,127) Porsche revealed the 356 prototype, the first car badged as a Porsche.

7 June 1948, Monday (+1,126) Over half of UK doctors agreed to join the NHS.

6 June 1948, Sunday (+1.125) (1) �In Prague, President Benes resigned.� He had been attempted to maintain a neutral government in Czechoslovakia but the Communist, Klement Gottwald succeeded in introducing a Russian-oriented political system.� Benes died three months later (3 September 1948), a broken man.

(2) A 6-year period of political instability began, with a successful military coup against President Morinigo. Paraguay then had 6 different Presidents during the next 15 months.

5 June 1948, Saturday (-1,124) Claude Spanghero, French rugby player, was born.

4 June 1948, Friday (+1,123) Robert Champion, horse racing, was born

3 June 1948, Thursday (+1,122) (Space) (1) The large telescope on Mount Palomar, California, with its 5 metre aperture lens, came into service.

(2) DF Malan became Prime Minister of South Africa.

===================================================================================

31 May 1948, Monday (+1,119) The South Korean National Assembly elected Syngman Rhee as Chairman.

29 May 1948, Saturday (+1,117) Linda Esther Gray, opera singer, was born.

27 May 1948, Thursday (+1,115) (Israel) The Israeli Air Force, the Chel Ha�vir, was founded today. The newly formed State of Israel was under attack from the Arabs, but both Israelis and Arabs were very short of planes for aerial operations. The Arabs could muster only ten Spitfires. The Israelis had a dozen Auster air-observation planes. Due to many international arms dealers being unwilling to supply �military hardware to Israel, the Israelis had to use considerable ingenuity in assembling an air force. However they were aided not just by Jews and Zionists abroad but by foreign volunteers, mahals, who wanted a fair deal for the race that Hitler attempted to exterminate. The Israelis had previously registered planes (that could be used by their air force) as �sports planes�, and they were very efficient at scouring scrap yards and air crash sites for any spare parts, which could be assembled into a plane that could fly. Another ruse was to form a film company, that was making war epic films, that needed military aircraft for the filming.

26 May 1948. Wednesday (+1,114) (1) South Africa elected a Nationalist government with apartheid policies.

(2) The Israeli Defence Force was set up on the orders of Defence Minister David Ben Gurion, formed out of the paramilitary group Haganah.

25 May 1948, Tuesday (+1,113) Moshe Dayan assisted Israeli General Yigael Yadin to mount a counter offensive against Arab troops, checking their invasion.

24 May 1948, Monday(+1,112) The Battle of Yad Mordechai ended in a successful Israeli delaying action.

23 May 1948. Sunday (+1,111) The Empire Windrush sailed from Jamaica with the first West Indian migrants, to alleviate Britain�s severe labour shortage. It arrived in Britain on 22 June 1948.

22 May 1948, Saturday (+1,110) By a vote of 8-0, the United Nations Security Council ordered a ceasefire in Palestine within 36 hours from midnight, New York time.

21 May 1948, Friday (+1,109) Egyptian forces were reported to be only 4 miles from Bethlehem.

20 May 1948, Thursday (+1,108) Egyptian forces captured Beersheba.

19 May 1948, Wednesday (+1,107) Maximilian Lenz, Austrian artist, died aged 87.

18 May 1948, Tuesday (+1,106) Keith Jarrett, rugby player, was born.

17 May 1948, Monday (+1,105) The USSR recognised the State of Israel.

16 May 1948. Sunday (+1,104) Chaim Weitzmann was named first President of Israel.

15 May 1948, Saturday (+1,103), Egyptian forces invaded Israel.

14 May 1948. Friday (+1,102) The State of Israel was created (see 16 February 1949, 27 April 1950), after the British Mandate ended in Palestine, and the first Arab-Israeli war began. Arab forces invaded from Jordan. See also 2 November 1917, Balfour Declaration. Ben Gurion was the head of the provisional Israeli Government. The nation�s 400,000 Jews at once opened the country to unrestricted Jewish immigration, which had been banned since 1944. US President Harry Truman immediately recognised the new State. On 15 May 1948 the British left Palestine, and Egypt invaded, as did Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. The 30,000-strong Israeli defence force, the Haganah, assumed a war footing. However the Arab attacks were uncoordinated and by the end of 1948 the Israeli Army, by then 100,000 strong, had achieved conclusive victory.

13 May 1948, Thursday (+1,101) The Kfar Etzion massacre. After a 2-day battle in which Jewish Kibbutz residents and Haganah militia defended Kfar Etzion from Arab forces. 129 Jews were killed and the kibbutz was looted and razed to the ground.

12 May 1948, Wednesday (+1,100) Steve Winwood, rock musician, was born.

11 May 1948, Tuesday (+1,099) Luigi Einaudi was elected President of Italy.

8 May 1948, Saturday (+1,096) In Costa Rica, �Figueres formed a ruling military junta which held power for 18 months.

3 May 1948, Monday (+1,091) The US Supreme Court ruled that private acts of discrimination, such as refusing to sell a house to a member of a certain racial group, could not be enforced in law.

====================================================================================

30 April 1948. Friday (+1,088) (1) First Land Rover exhibited at the Amsterdam Motor Show.

(2) The Organisation of American States was set up. The agreement, covering all 21 of the republics in the Americas, was signed at Bogota, Colombia. The fourteenth state ratified the treaty on 13 December 1951, thereby formally legally validating the treaty.

28 April 1948, Wednesday (+1,086) After some 6 weeks of civil war in Costa Rica, Figueres triumphed and entered the capital, San Jose.

26 April 1948, Monday (+1,084) South Molucca declared independence from Indonesia.

24 April 1948, Saturday (+1,082) National Liberation forces captured the Costa Rican capital.

22 April 1948, Thursday (+1,080) Jews gained control of Haifa.

19 April 1948, Monday (+1,077) The USA tested a plutonium bomb at Eniwetok Atoll.

18 April 1948, Sunday (+1,076) (1) The Christian Democrats won an absolute majority in Italian elections, securing 305 out of 574 seats.

(2) All roads between Berlin and West Germany were now blocked by the Soviets.

17 April 1948, Saturday (+1,075)� Jan Hammer, composer, was born.

16 April 1948. Friday (+1,074) The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) was set up, see 14 December 1960.

14 April 1948, Wednesday (+1,072)

13 April 1948, Tuesday (+1,071) The Romanian Constitution was redrafted, on Soviet lines.

12 April 1948. Monday (+1,070) The Roosevelt Memorial was unveiled in Grosvenor Square, London.

11 April 1948, Sunday (+1,069) The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was announced.

10 April 1948, Saturday (+1,068) Cumberland Cricket Club was founded.

9 April 1948, Friday (+1,067) (1) (Israel) The Irgun, under Begin, massacred between 116 and 254 Palestinians in the village of Deir Yassin. Three days later a retaliatory attack killed 77 Jews.

(2) Major riots in Bogota, Colombia, following the assassination of the popular liberal-nationalist politician, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. Martial law was declared under moderate-conservative Mariano Ospina Perez; the pro-Nazi Gomez became President of Colombia in 1950.

8 April 1948, Thursday (+1,066)

7 April 1948. Wednesday (+1,065) The World Health Organisation was set up with its headquarters in Geneva. Its aim was to attain the highest possible level of health for all peoples.

6 April 1948, Tuesday (+1,064) Finland signed a Treaty of Friendship with the USSR, promising to resist any attack on the USSR made through Finland by Germany or its allies.

3 April 1948, Saturday (+1,061) Mary Gordon-Watson, equestrian champion, was born.

1 April 1948. Thursday (+1,059) (1) Britain nationalised the electricity industry. Average weekly earnings for men aged over 21 were �6, 14 shillings �6.70). For women over 18 full time they were �3, 12 shillings, 11d (�3.64.5p). Adult men worked an average 46.5 hours a week; adult women worked 41.6 hours average. The food and drink industry paid some of the lowest wages, at average weekly wage �6, 4 shillings, 1d (�6.20.5p) for men and �3, 8 shillings, 7d (�3.43) for women.

(2) The Soviets suspended all rail services between Berlin and West Germany.

=====================================================================================

31 March 1948. Wednesday (+1,058) (1) US Congress passed the Marshall Aid Bill. On 3 April 1948 President Truman signed the Economic Assistance Act, putting in effect Marshall aid for 16 countries in war-torn Europe. The first aid shipments to Europe left the USA on 5 April 1948.

(2) Al Gore, US Vice President under Bill Clinton, noted for his strong pro-environmental stance, was born.

30 March 1948, Tuesday (+1,057) The Russians imposed restrictions on Western traffic into West Berlin. See 26 April 1948. The West feared that the USSR was trying to absorb West Berlin; Moscow said it was responding to the West creating West Germany out of the three western occupation zones.

29 March 1948, Monday (+1,056) Chiang Kai Shek was re-elected President of China by the Nanjing Assembly.

28 March 1948, Sunday (+1,055) Easter Sunday. Milan Williams, keyboard player with the Commodores, was born (died 8 July 2006)

26 March 1948, Friday (+1,053) Kyung Wha Chung, violinist, was born.

25 March 1948, Thursday (+1,052)

24 March 1948, Wednesday (+1,051) The last Lincoln Continental Mark 1 car was manufactured.

23 March 1948, Tuesday (+1,050) (Aviation) J Cunningham, UK, set a new aviation altitude record of 59,445 feet.

22 March 1948, Monday (+1,049) Andrew Lloyd Webber, British composer, was born.

17 March 1948. Wednesday (+1,044) (1) King Farouk of Egypt laid the foundation stone of the Aswan Dam.

(2) Britain, France, and the Benelux countries signed the Brussels Treaty, a pact of economic, military, political, and cultural alliance. The Treaty came into effect on 25 July 1948.

15 March 1948. Monday (+1,042) (1) The UK Civil Service was closed to Fascists and Communists regarding posts vital to State Security.

(2) US coal miners went on strike for better pensions.

12 March 1948, Friday (+1,039) Baroness Virginia Bottomley of Nettlestone, UK politician, was born

11 March 1948. Thursday (+1,038) The offices of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem were blown up.

10 March 1948, Wednesday (+1,037) Ian Masaryk, Czech politician, died in Prague under suspicious circumstances after the Communists gained control.

9 March 1948, Tuesday (+1,036)

8 March 1948, Monday (+1,035) Johnathan Sacks, British Orthodox Jew, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013, was born.

7 March 1948. Sunday (+1,034) Juan Peron won elections in Argentina.

6 March 1948, Saturday (+1,033) Stephen Lawrence Schwartz, US composer, was born in New York

5 March 1948, Friday (+1,032) Elaine Page, singer, was born.

4 March 1948, Thursday (+1,031) Shakin� Stevens (Michael Barratt), British rock and roll singer, in Ely, Wales.

3 March 1948, Wednesday (+1,030) Sir Mark Prescott, racehorse trainer, was born

1 March 1948, Monday (+1,028) The Costa Rican Presidential election was won by Otilio Ulate (1895-1973) but on this day the results were annulled by Congress. Civil war immediately began between Ulate�s supporters, led by Colonel Jose Figueres Ferrer (1906-60) and those who supported the defeated Presidential candidate, Rafael Calderon Guardia (1900-70). Calderon�s forces were supported by Communist forces from President Anastasio Somoza (1896-1956)� of Nicaragua and President Tiburcio Carias Andino (1876-1969) of Honduras.

===================================================================================

29 February 1948, Sunday (+1,027) Dermot Weld, champion jockey, was born.

28 February 1948. Saturday (+1,026) Last British troops left India.

27 February 1948, Friday (+1,025)

26 February 1948, Thursday (+1,024) David Edgar, playwright, was born.

25 February 1948. Wednesday (+1,023) Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.� In Czech elections in May 1946 the Communists, under Gottwald, secured 114 of the 300 seats and became leader of a coalition government.� However by 1948 the Communists were losing popularity in Czechoslovakia, because Gottwald had declined Marshall Aid and because he was appointing his own supporters to senior positions in the police force.� A new Czech election was due in May 1948; before this could take place Gottwald organised what was effectively a Communist Revolution, backed by the workers militia and the police; there were no Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia at this time.� Gottwald died in March 1953 and was succeeded as Communist dictator by Novotny, who ruled until early 1968.� See 5 January 1968.

24 February 1948, Tuesday (+1,022) Denis Waterman, actor, was born.

23 February 1948, Monday (+1,021)

21 February 1948, Saturday (+1,019) NASCAR, the National Association for Stock car Auto racing, was founded in the USA. The origins of stock car racing were in the US Prohibition era, when drivers delivering illegal alcohol tuned up their cars so as to be able to outrun the police. After Prohibition ended, for-profit racing of these enhanced-performance cars began.

20 February 1948, Friday (+1,018) The 863 kilometre railway from Salta, Argentina, to Antofagasta, Chile, was completed.

18 February 1948. Wednesday (+1,016) (1) In a poll by the British Medical Association, 86% of doctors voted against joining the NHS.

(2) In Ireland, John Costello became Head of a new Coalition Government, see 4 February 1948. Fianna Fail, which had held power since 1932, lost votes to Clann na Poblachta, a party headed by Sean McBride, former Chief of Staff of the IRA, and offering a brand of radical republicanism similar to that of Fianna Fail in 1932. Fianna Fail remained the largest party, and Clann na Poblachta with 10 seats was now the junior partner in a coalition with Fine Gael and Labour.

16 February 1948, Monday (+1,014) Britain warned off Argentina as the Argentines conducted naval exercise near the Falkland Islands.

12 February 1948, Thursday (+1,010) (India) The ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were placed in the �holy waters� of the River Ganges at Allahabad.

11 February 1948, Wednesday (+1,009) Soviet composers Aram Kachaturian, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich were castigated by the Central Committee of the Communist Party for producing works of �bourgeois decadence�.

10 February 1948, Tuesday (+1,008)

7 February 1948, Saturday (+1,005) William �Red� McKenzie, US blues musician, died in New York (born 14 October 1899 in St Louis).

5 February 1948, Thursday (+1,003) Sven Goran Eriksson, footballer, was born.

4 February 1948. Wednesday (+1,002) (1) (Ireland) De Valera lost his overall majority at the Irish elections, see 18 February 1948.

(2) (India) Ceylon became a self-governing dominion; it had been a British colony since 1802. It achieved full independence on 22 May 1972.

3 February 1948, Tuesday (+1,001) (Innovation, Light) The instant Polaroid camera was patented by Edwin Herbert Land in Massachusetts.

1 February 1948, Sunday (+999) The Federation of Malaya was created, with Penang and Malacca eremaining as British territory. Singapore became a separate British colony.

=====================================================================================

30 January 1948. Friday (+997) (1) (India) The Indian leader Mahatma (= �Great Soul) or Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic. Ghandi had been at a prayer meeting when he was shot by Nathuram Godse, a fanatic who totally rejected Ghandi's message of goodwill, peace, and love.� Some extremist Hindus saw that India could never become a Hindu-dominated state whilst Ghandi was still alive; Ghandi had preached tolerance between Hindus and Moslems. Nathuram Godse was hanged on 15 November 1949. A previous attempt on Ghandi�s life had been made on 20 January 1948.

(2) (Aviation) The US aviator Orville Wright, younger of the two Wright brothers, died.

29 January 1948, Thursday (+996) The first flying car, the Hall Flying Automobile, took off.

28 January 1948, Wednesday (+995) Mikhail Baryshnikov, ballet dancer, was born.

27 January 1948, Tuesday (+994) UK medical consultants threatened to boycott the new National Health Service.

26 January 1948, Monday (+993) John Lomax, writer on folk music, died (born 23 September 1867).

23 January 1948, Friday (+990) Anita Pointer, singer, was born.

16 January 1948, Friday (+983) John Carpenter, film director, was born.

13 January 1948, Tuesday (+980), Mahatma Ghandi began a six-day fast, in order to promote harmony between Muslims and Hindus.

12 January 1948. Monday (+979) (1) A law school in Oklahoma was ordered to admit a Black student.

(2) The Co-op opened the first supermarket in Britain, at Manor Park.

11 January 1948, Sunday (+978) Eva Tanguey, vaudeville star, was born in Marbleton, Quebec.

10 January 1948, Saturday (+977)

8 January 1948, Thursday (+975) Kurt Schwitters, German artist, died.

7 January 1948, Wednesday (+974) Jane Bullen, equestrian events champion, was born.

6 January 1948, Tuesday (+973) The Ministries Trial began in Nuremberg. Twenty-one officials of various ministries of the Third Reich went on trial, facing charges for their roles in atrocities committed by the Nazis.

5 January 1948, Monday (+972) In Jerusalem, the Arab-owned Semiramis Hotel was destroyed by a bomb explosion; 20 people were killed.

4 January 1948. Sunday (+971) Burma became independent from Britain, and joined the Commonwealth.� The new Republic was troubled by civil war; general Ne Win was in charge of military action against the Karen and their Communist guerrilla allies. U Nu (see 19 July 1947), a devout Buddhist, was Burmese leader until 1962 when Ne Win took over in an army coup.

3 January 1948, Saturday (+970) Alice Lee, archery champion, was born.

2 January 1948, Friday (+969) Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru threatened to invade Pakistan to stop Muslim attacks in Kashmir.

1 January 1948. Thursday (+968) Britain�s railways were nationalised.

===================================================================================

31 December 1947, Wednesday (+967) Burton Cummings, musician, was born.

30 December 1947. Tuesday (+966) (1) The Kashmir problem went before the UN.

(2) King Michael of Romania abdicated, and a Communist republic was set up.

29 December 1947, Monday (+965) Ted Danson, actor, was born in San Diego.

28 December 1947, Sunday (+964) Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy from 1900 until he abdicated in 1946, died.

27 December 1947, Saturday (+963) The Greek Government banned the Communist Party.

23 December 1947, Tuesday (+959) Some 600,000 people had now died in India since independence in riots.

20 December 1947, Saturday (+956) Malcolm Cooper, Olympic shooter, was born.

17 December 1947. Wednesday (+953) A blizzard dumped 27 inches of snow on New York.

14 December 1947, Sunday (+950) Stanley Baldwin, British Conservative politician, three times Prime Minister, who became Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, died.

4 December 1947, Thursday (-936) Ann Christopher, sculptor, was born

2 December 1947, Tuesday (+938) Anti-Jewish riots broke out in the British colony of Aden (90% Muslim, 5% Jewish, 5% other). 82 Jews, 38 Arabs and 3 others were killed.

1 December 1947, Monday (+937) Samuel Courtauld, silk and nylon manufacturer, and patron of the arts, died in London.

======================================================================================

30 November 1947. Sunday (+936) In London, steam trains from Liverpool Street ceased to run on the Chigwell to Newbury Park loop.

29 November 1947, Saturday (+935) The United Nations voted to partition Palestine between Jewish and Arab areas.

27 November 1947. Thursday (+933) Austrian banks were nationalised.

25 November 1947. Tuesday (+931) The USSR demanded war reparations from Germany.

20 November 1947. Thursday (+926) Princess Elizabeth married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in Westminster Abbey. Austerity and rationing were temporarily forgotten.

14 November 1947. Friday (+920) The UN recognised the independence of Korea.

13 November 1947. Thursday (+919) Chancellor Hugh Dalton resigned after admitting passing tax details to a reporter minutes before the Budget speech.

12 November 1947, Wednesday (+918) Baroness Emmuska Orczy, writer, died.

10 November 1947, Monday (+916) Strachey admitted to the House of Commons that because of food shortages and rationing, the average daily Calorie intake per head was down to 2,700, as opposed to a British Medical Association recommendation of 3,386 made in July 1933.

7 November 1947, Friday (+913) The first railway in Albania opened. It ran from Durres to Pekinj, 42km.

6 November 1947, Thursday (+914) The first post-War Rolls Royce and Bentley cars arrived in the USA.

4 November 1947, Tuesday (+910) Rodney Marsh, cricketer, was born.

1 November 1947. Saturday (+907) Sports Report, the BBC radio Saturday afternoon programme, went on the air. The Benelux customs union, officially created on 29 October 1947, became active.

===================================================================================

31 October 1947, Friday (+906) Sidney Webb, British economist, socialist and reformer, died aged 88.

29 October 1947, Wednesday (+904) Richard Dreyfuss, actor, was born

27 October 1947, Monday (+902) Geographically Speaking, a TV programme featuring the travels of Mrs Wells, was first broadcast in the USA. Sponsored by Bristol-Myers, it was the first commercially sponsored TV show.

26 October 1947. Sunday (+901) Kashmir joined India despite Pakistani protests.

25 October 1947, Saturday (+900)

24 October 1947, Friday (+899) Kevin Kline, actor, was born

23 October 1947, Thursday (+898) Kazimierz Deyna, Polish footballer, was born.

22 October 1947, Wednesday (+897) Pakistan sent troops into Kashmir, seizing Muzaffarabad and Uri, then advancing towards the Kashmiri capital, Srinagar.

20 October 1947, Monday (+895)

18 October 1947, Saturday (+893) Laura Nyro, US composer, was born in New York.

17 October 1947, Friday (+892) Michael McKean, actor, was born.

16 October 1947, Thursday (+891) Terence Griffiths, snooker champion, was born.

14 October 1947. Tuesday (+889) The first supersonic flight was made, by Charles Yeager of California.� Major Charles Yeager was taken to 30,000 feet from Edwards Air Base, Muroc, California, in a Bell X-1, underneath a B-29 Superfortress plane, and released. He flew at 670mph, (Mach 1.05), held for several seconds, then landed at Edwards Air Base again.

11 October 1947, Saturday (+886) Alan Pascoe, athletics (hurdles), was born.

9 October 1947. Thursday (+884) The first radio-telephone call was made, from a car to a plane, above Wimington, Delaware, USA. However radio contact between a person in a car and a person on the ground had been made in 1922. This was at Brooklands motor circuit where a Morse message was transmitted from a racing car at 80mph. The aerial was on large poles propped up on the car.

5 October 1947. Sunday (+880) In the US, President Truman urged Americans to give up meat on Tuesdays and poultry and eggs on Thursday to aid Europe.

4 October 1947, Saturday (+879) (1) The German physicist, Max Planck, died at his home in Gottingen, aged 89. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1918 for his work on quantum physics and black-body radiation.

(2) Ann Widdecombe, British politician, was born.

3 October 1947, Friday (+878) Kevin Richardson, rock guitarist, was born

2 October 1947, Thursday (+877) The Jewish Agency for Palestine gave conditional approval to a plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state.

1 October 1947, Wednesday (+876) The powers of the Governor-General of Canada were increased by letters patent signed by King George V of Britain, this role now having �full royal powers�.

===================================================================================

30 September 1947, Tuesday (+875) (1) The UK Government asked women to wear shorter skirts, to save cloth.

(2) Pakistan and Yemen joined the UN.

29 September 1947, Monday (+874) Sir Stafford Cripps was appointed by PM Attlee, as Minister of Economic Affairs. He went on to replace Hugh Dalton as Chancellor of the Exchequer following Dalton�s resignation on 13 November 1947. Sir Cripps was a keen advocate of austerity, as the UK made efforts to cut back on imports from outside the Sterling Area.

28 September 1947, Sunday (+873) Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 2009, was born in Tungipara, East Pakistan

27 September 1947, Saturday (+872) Bernard Ford, ice skater, was born.

26 September 1947, Friday (+871) In Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Don Stephen Senanayake became Prime Minister.

25 September 1947, Thursday (+870) Cheryl Tiegs, US fashion designer, was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota.

24 September 1947. Wednesday (+869) 1,200 Muslims fleeing India for Pakistan on a train were massacred by Sikhs at Amritsar in the Punjab.

23 September 1947, Tuesday (+868) Romanian opposition leader Petkov was executed.

22 September 1947, Monday (+867) Jo Beverley, English-born Canadian romance novelist, was born in Blackpool (died 2016)

21 September 1947, Sunday (+866) Stephen King, writer, was born.

19 September 1947, Friday (+864)

18 September 1947, Thursday (+863) The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was founded, under the 1947 National Security Act. Created by President Truman, it was a response to the Cold war with the Soviet Union.

17 September 1947, Wednesday (+862) Tessa Jowell, UK politician, was born.

16 September 1947. Tuesday (+861) John Cobb broke the world land speed record at 394 mph.

15 September 1947, Monday (+860) The Free Territory of Trieste was created as the Peace Treaty with Italy came into effect.

14 September 1947, Sunday (+859) Baldwin retired in May 1937 and was made Earl Baldwin of Bewdley. He died on 14 September 1947.

8 September 1947, Monday (+853) Linda Ludgrove, swimming champion, was born.

3 September 1947, Wednesday (+848) Susan Milan, flautist, was born

2 September 1947, Tuesday (+847) The Organisation of American States (OAS) was set up.

1 September 1947, Monday (+846) 31 people were killed in the Dugald rail accident in Dugald, Manitoba, Canada.

=====================================================================================

31 August 1947. Sunday (+845) The Communists won Hungarian elections.

30 August 1947, Saturday (+844) About 90 people were killed and 60 injured in a cinema fire in the Rueil district of Paris, France. Police said the blaze was caused by a wire in the second balcony that short-circuited

29 August 1947, Friday (+843) James Hunt, British motor racing champion, was born in Belmont, Surrey.

28 August 1947, Thursday (+842) Ecuador's new dictator Carlos Mancheno abolished the country's 1944 constitution and proclaimed himself President.

27 August 1947. Wednesday (+841) The UK Government announced cuts to deal with an economic crisis.

26 August 1947, Tuesday (+840) Anne Archer, actress, was born.

25 August 1947, Monday (+839) Franz Cumont, Belgian historian of religion (born 3 January 1868) died in Brussels.

24 August 1947, Sunday (+838) The Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama was launched. It was an antidote to the prevailing austerity.

23 August 1947, Saturday (+837) Willy Russell, author and dramatist, was born.

22 August 1947, Friday (+836)

21 August 1947, Thursday (+835) Ettore Bugatti, Italian-born French car designer, died aged 65.

20 August 1947, Wednesday (+834) (Aviation) TF Caldwell, USA, set a new aviation speed record of 640.74 mph.

19 August 1947, Tuesday (+833)

15 August 1947. Friday (+829) (1) India became independent; the Union Jack was run down for the last time in New Delhi. Pandit Nehru was the first Indian Prime Minister.� Ali Khan became first PM of the newly created Pakistan.� See 4 June 1947 for more details.

(2) The UK�s first atomic reactor, at Harwell, began operating.

14 August 1947, Thursday (+828) Pakistan became independent from Britain.

13 August 1947, Wednesday (+827) (Electricity) In Britain the Electricity Bill received Royal Assent. This provided for the nationalisation of the electricity supply industry.

12 August 1947, Tuesday (+826) The Renault 4CV went into production.

9 August 1947, Saturday (+823)

7 August 1947, Thursday (+821) After a voyage of 101 days and 7,000km, Thor Heyerdahl smashed his balsawood raft Kon Tiki onto a reef at Raroia, proving that the peoples of South America could have settled the Polynesian Islands.

6 August 1947, Wednesday (+820) Alan Sullivan, Canadian poet and short story author, died aged 78

5 August 1947, Tuesday (+819) Angry Anderson, singer, was born.

4 August 1947, Monday (+818) Hubert Ingraham, Prime Minister of the Bahamas, was born in Pine Ridge, Bahamas

3 August 1947, Sunday (+817) Ceasefire in Indonesia between Dutch troops and Indonesian nationalists took effect.

2 August 1947, Saturday (+818) Maria Santamaria, Spanish singer, was born in Madrid

1 August 1947. Friday (+815) The UN Security Council asked for a ceasefire in Indonesia.

====================================================================================

31 July 1947, Thursday (+814) Richard Griffiths, actor, was born in Thornaby on Tees, North Yorkshire, England (died 2013)

30 July 1947, Wednesday (+813) Arnold Schwarzenegger, star of the Terminator films and Governor of California 2003-11, was born.

29 July 1947, Tuesday (+812) George Bausewine, US baseball player, died aged 78

28 July 1947, Monday (+811) In Romania the National Peasant Party, the most popular Party, was dissolved.

27 July 1947, Sunday (+810) Bob Klein, US footballer, was born

26 July 1947, Saturday (+809) In the USA, Congress passed the National Security Act. This allowed the CIA to engage in counter-intelligence in Europe against the USSR and Warsaw pact countries.

25 July 1947, Friday (+808) Kathleen Scott, British sculptor, died aged 69

24 July 1947, Thursday (+807) Jacques Fouroux, rugby player, was born (died 17 December 2005)

23 July 1947, Wednesday (+806) David Essex, singer, was born.

22 July 1947, Tuesday (+805) Danny Glover, actor, was born.

21 July 1947, Monday (+804) Co Adriaanse, footballer was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands

20 July 1947. Sunday (+803) Dutch troops attacked Indonesian forces in Java.

19 July 1947, Saturday (+802) The Burmese leader Aung San was assassinated by gunmen in the pay of a political rival, shortly before Burma was to gain independence from Britain, see 4 January 1948.� U Nu became leader of Burma.

18 July 1947, Friday (+801) In Palestine the British authorities blocked refugees from landing from the ship Exodus.

17 July 1947, Thursday (+800) Camila, Duchess of Cornwall, was born.

16 July 1947, Wednesday (+799) The House of Lords passed a bill with unprecedented speed when the Indian independence bill was rushed through three readings and a report stage all in the same day. The bill now only required Royal Assent to become law.

15 July 1947, Tuesday (+798) Walter Donaldson, US composer, died in Santa Monica, California (born 15 February 1893 in Brooklyn, New York)

14 July 1947, Monday (+797) Julia Somerville, broadcaster, was born.

13 July 1947, Sunday (+796) Warwick Armstrong, cricketer, died aged 68

12 July 1947, Saturday (+795) Gareth Edwards, rugby player, was born 8in Swansea

11 July 1947, Friday (+794) Jinnah was appointed Governor-General of the future Pakistan.

10 July 1947, Thursday (+793) Arlo Guthrie, musician, was born.

9 July 1947, Wednesday (+792) OJ Simpson, footballer, was born.

6 July 1947. Sunday (+789) Spain voted to have a King when Franco died.

3 July 1947. Thursday (+786) The Benelux Union Bill was ratified, creating an economic union of 18 million people.

2 January 1947, Wednesday (+785) Larry David, comedy writer, actor and TV producer, was born in Brooklyn, New York

1/ July 1947. Tuesday (+784) A Police Constable was paid �273 a year. �A pint of beer rose from 1s 1d (5.5p) to 1s 4d (7p). A �New Length Cardigan� from Debenham and Freebody cost �(�4.16p) plus 6 coupons. A man�s watch cost �6.40. The average UK wage was �351 a year. The average UK house cost �1,577. �A 6-bed house in Wimbledon cost �7,250 (4.60 x average).� Road tax for a car cost ��1. 2 weeks in Lucerne cost �57.

500g of streaky bacon cost 8p.� 500g of beef cost 7p.� 250g of cheddar cheese cost 2p.� 250g of butter cost 4p.� 500g of margarine cost 4p.� 1 kg old potatoes cost 1p.� 125g of loose tea cost 4p.�� 6 eggs cost 4p.� 1 kg granulated sugar cost 3p.� 800g sliced white bread cost 2p.� 1 pint of pasteurised milk cost 2p. The Observer newspaper cost 1p.

===================================================================================

30 June 1947. Monday (+783) (1) In the UK, food rations were cut further in the midst of an economic crisis.

(2) US coal mining was denationalised.

29 June 1947, Sunday (+782) William Surtees, rackets champion, was born.

28 June 1947, Saturday (+781) The statue of Eros returned to Piccadilly Circus.

26 June 1947, Thursday (+779)

25 June 1947, Wednesday (+778) Billy Merson, British actor, died in London (born 29 March 1881 in Nottingham)

24 June 1947, Tuesday (+777) US pilot Kenneth Arnold, flying over Mount Ranier, Washington State, filed the first report of flying saucers; he reported seeing nine flying disc-shaped objects.

23 June 1946, Monday (+776) In the USA, the closed shop, compulsory trades union membership, was banned.

22 June 1947, Sunday (+775) Jerry Rawlings, President of Ghana, was born.

21 June 1947, Saturday (+774) Ford announced the start of post-War car production in Britain.

20 June 1947, Friday (+773) First performance, at Glyndebourne, of Benjamin Britten�s opera Albert Herring.

19 June 1947, Thursday (+772) Salman Rushdie was born.

15 June 1947, Sunday (+768) In India the Congress Party agreed British plans for partition.

10 June 1947, Tuesday (+763)

6 June 1947, Friday (+759) Marion Mould, equestrian champion, was born.

5 June 1947. Thursday (+758) US Secretary of State George Marshall announced the Marshall Plan to help Europe recover from near � bankruptcy following the War.� See 16 April 1947.

4 June 1947. Wednesday (+757) (India) The last British viceroy to India, Lord Mountbatten, announced that plans for Indian independence from Britain would be speeded up and completed in just 70 days, not the 12 months previously envisaged (see 20 February 1947). Britain was deep in economic crisis and wanted to shed Empire as fast as possible. As a result of this haste, the subcontinent was hacked crudely into three states, and following this a million people were massacred and one of the greatest forced migrations in history began as Muslims fled India and Hindus fled East and West. Pakistan. This was the start of the Kashmir problem. The Maharajah of Kashmir was faced with a choice of joining Pakistan, effectively ending his own rule, or of joining India with his mainly Muslim population. On Independence Day, 15 August 1947, Kashmir had still not decided who to join. In October 1947 Afghan tribesmen, backed by Pakistan, began invading Kashmir from Pakistan and in response India sent tens of thousands of troops to repel them, one day after the Maharajah had decided to join India. Had Britain not pulled out of India in such haste, more orderly arrangements for Kashmir could have been set up whilst Britain was still in a position to enforce them.

3 June 1947, Tuesday (+756) First performance, in Paris, of Francis Poulenc�s opera Mamelles de Tiresias (Breasts of Tiresias), based on Guillaume Apollinaire�s surrealist play

2 June 1947, Monday (+755) (Food, Kitchens) Tupperware sealable plastic containers were patented by Earl Elias Tupper in Massachusetts.

1 June 1947, Sunday (+754) Ron Wood, guitarist for the Rolling Stones, was born.

===================================================================================

31 May 1947, Saturday (+753)

30 May 1947, Friday (+752) In Hungary the coalition Government was overthrown by the Hungarian Communist Party, acting with Soviet backing.

29 May 1947. Thursday (+751) (India) The Indian Parliament banned 'untouchables'.

28 May 1947, Wednesday (+750) Faith Brown, impressionist, was born.

27 May 1947, Tuesday (+749) The US and British zones of occupation were merged to form the �bizone�.

25 May 1947, Sunday (+747) (Aviation) Pacific Overseas Airlines (Siam) was founded,

23 May 1947, Friday (+745) (India) Britain agreed to the partition of India.� Muslims wanted a separate state (Pakistan), fearing they would be subsumed in a Hindi India.

22 May 1947, Thursday (+744) US Congress agreed aid for Greece and Turkey.

21 May 1947, Wednesday (+743)

20 May 1947, Tuesday (+742) Greg Dyke, TV executive, was born.

19 May 1947, Monday (+741) Vietminh troops attacked Saigon.

18 May 1947, Sunday (+740) John Bruton, UK politician, was born

17/ May 1947, Saturday (+739)

16 May 1947, Friday (+738) (Biology) Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist, died in Cambridge.

15 May 1947, Thursday (+737) The United Nations set up a special committee to decide the future of Palestine.

12 May 1947, Monday (+734) Michael Ignatieff, writer, was born

8 May 1947. Thursday (+730) (1) Death of the American department store founder, Henry Gordon Selfridge.

(2) In the USA, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began investigating alleged Communist links in the Hollywood movie industry.

7 May 1947, Wednesday (+729) Explosion at a coal mine in Barnsley, Yorkshire, UK, killed 9 miners.

6 May 1947, Tuesday (+728) The war crimes trial of Albert Kesselring ended in his death sentence

5 May 1947, Monday (+727) (London Underground) In London, Central Line trains began running to Leytonstone.

4 May 1947, Sunday (+726) The Jewish terrorist organisation Irgun attacked a prison in Palestine, freeing 250 inmates.

3 May 1947, Saturday (+725) (Japan) A new Constitution was approved in Japan by means of a referendum. Women voted in Japan for the first time. The Emperor�s powers were limited, and the country renounced the use of war.

2 May 1947, Friday (+724) James Dyson, inventor, was born.

1 May 1947, Thursday (+723) Singapore Airlines was founded.

=================================================================================

30 April 1947, Wednesday (+722) Leslie Grantham, actor, was born.

29 April 1947, Tuesday (+721) Johnny Miller, golfer, was born.

28 April 1947, Monday (+720) Nicola leFanu, composer, was born

27 April 1947, Sunday (+719) Thor Heyerdahl set sail on a balsa wood raft from Callao in Peru to Raroia in Polynesia in order to prove that Peruvians could have settled in Polynesia.

26 April 1947. Saturday (+718) The English FA Cup Final, between Charlton Athletic and Burnley, was televised in its entirety for the first time.

25 April 1947, Friday (+717) Johann Cruyff, Dutch footballer, was born.

24 April 1947, Thursday (+716) In Palestine the Zionist Stern Gang attacked a police barracks at Sarona, near Tel Aviv; 4 were killed.

23 April 1947, Wednesday (+715) Packard manufactured its 1 millionth car.

22 April 1947, Tuesday (+714) Barry Guy, English composer and double bass player, was born in London.

21 April 1947, Monday (+713) (Aviation) The world�s first duty-free airport shop opened, at Shannon Airport, Ireland.

20 April 1947, Sunday (+712) Christian X, King of Denmark, died aged 76. He was succeeded by his son Frederick IX, aged 48.

19 April 1947, Saturday (+711) The Flick Trial began in Nuremberg. Friedrich Flick and five other leading Nazi industrialists were put on trial for using slave labour, among other crimes.

18 April 1947, Friday (+710) Tiso was executed, see 22 May 1945.

17 April 1947, Thursday (+709) In Rome, a mob of about a thousand unemployed workers staged a noisy protest outside the Parliament building, stopping private cars and sometimes beating the occupants. One of those assaulted was Italian Foreign Minister Carlo Sforza, who was struck by several fists as he stepped out of his car to go to his office. The Foreign Ministry said that Sforza had been shaken but not seriously hurt.

16 April 1947, Wednesday (+708) (1) The phrase �Cold War� was first used, in a speech by Bernard Baruch in Columbia, South Carolina, when the US Congress was discussing the �Truman Doctrine�.� This was a doctrine of checking further Communist expansion into Europe by giving economic and military aid to governments threatened by communist subversion.� This was followed within 2 months by the Marshall Plan (5 June 1947).

(2) Ammonium nitrate stored aboard the freighter Grandcamp exploded in Texas City Port, killing 752.

15 April 1947, Tuesday (+707) Lois Chiles, actress and model, was born in Houston, Texas;

14 April 1947, Monday (+706) In France, De Gaulle organised the RPF (Rassemblement du Peuple Francais) Party, also known as �Gaullists�, to unite and reform anti-Communists.

13 April 1947, Sunday (+705) Jean Chassagne, French racing car driver, died aged 65.

12 April 1947, Saturday (+704) David Letterman, US talk show host, was born.

11 April 1947, Friday (+703)

9 April 1947, Wednesday (+701) The first food packages from the USA for Britain arrived at Liverpool. They were sent by the charity organisation CARE (Co-operative for Remittance to Europe) and intended for unemployed widows who had children to look after.

8 April 1947, Tuesday (+700) Following a series of killings due to labour strife, the Cuban Interior Ministry banned all political meetings that might provoke disorder.

7 April 1947. Monday (+699) Henry Ford, American motor car manufacturer who pioneered techniques of mass-production, died aged 83.

6 April 1947, Sunday (+698) Easter Sunday.

5 April 1947, Saturday (+697)

3 April 1947. Thursday (+695) In the UK, the private medical company BUPA was founded.

2 April 1947. Wednesday (+694) Britain passed the Palestine problem to the UN.

1 April 1947. Tuesday (+693) (1) King George II of Greece died aged 56, succeeded by his brother, 45, as King Paul I.

(2) The UK school leaving age was raised from 14 to 15, implementing the 1944 Education Act.

======================================================================================

29 March 1947. Saturday (+690) Nationalist uprising in Madagascar against the French.

27 March 1947, Thursday (+688) To stem the rising tide of divorce, the British Government pledged more funding for the Marriage Guidance Council.

25 March 1947. Tuesday (+686) Elton John, British musician, was born in Pinner, London, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight.

24 March 1947, Monday (+685) Sir Alan Sugar, British businessman and TV personality, was born.

23 March 1947, Sunday (+684) Lord Wavell resigned as Viceroy of India. He was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten, who announced, after consultation with local leaders, that the Muslim-dominated areas must become a separate State.

19 March 1947, Wednesday (+680) Chinese Nationalists captured the city of Yenang.

16 March 1947, Sunday (+677) Robin Williams, actor and comedian, was born.

15 March 1947. Saturday (+676) Almost 600,000 acres of farmland were flooded in The Fens as the River Ouse overflowed, following a thaw of deep snow, drowning 2 million sheep. See 6 March 1947.

14 March 1947, Friday (+675) The Philippines granted the US use of naval and military bases.

13 March 1947, Thursday (+674) Maserati unveiled its first production car, the A6 1500.

12 March 1947, Wednesday (+673) US President Truman spoke of a Cold War (see 5 March 1946) against Communism. He instituted the �Truman Doctrine�, whereby the US would give military and economic access to any countries deemed to be under Soviet threat, such as Greece or Turkey.

11 March 1947, Tuesday (+672) Geoff Hunt, squash player, was born in Melbourne, Australia

10 March 1947, Monday (+670) Andrew Parrott, conductor, was born.

9 March 1947, Sunday (+670) Stanley Jackson, cricketer, died (born 21 November 1870).

8 March 1947, Saturday (+669) Carol Bayer Sager, singer and songwriter, was born.

7 March 1947, Friday (+668) Jane Relf, singer, was born in Richmond, Surrey, England

6 March 1947, Thursday (+667) Deep snow cut off 13 towns in Britain. See 15 March 1947.

5 March 1947, Wednesday (+666) Alfredo Casella, Italian composer, pianist and conductor, died aged 63

4 March 1947, Tuesday (+665) Peter Skellern, composer, was born.

3 March 1947, Monday (+664) Japan adopted a new Constitution, renouncing war.

2 March 1947, Sunday (+663) Frans Johan Louwrens Ghijsels, Dutch architect, died aged 64

1 March 1947. Saturday (+662) The International Monetary Fund began operating.

=================================================================================

28 February 1947, Friday (+661) An anti-government protest in Taiwan was violently put down by the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek with the loss of 18,000-28,000 lives. This was the beginning of the White Terror.

27 February 1947, Thursday (+660) (USA) In the USA, Donald Acheson outlined, in the State Department, what was to become known as the Truman Doctrine, aimed at containing Soviet expansion.

26 February 1947, Wednesday (+659) The UK Government considered rationing coal as a cold snap entered its fifth week. The winter was the coldest since 1880/81. Coal was piling up at the pit heads, unable to move as railways were blocked by snow. Buxton and Bridlington were cut off by snowdrifts as high as 20 feet. Blizzards at sea kept fishing fleets in port, worsening food shortages.

25 February 1947, Tuesday (+658) (Science) Louis Carl Heinrich Paschen, German physicist, died in Potsdam, East Germany.

24 February 1947, Monday (+657) Edward James Olmos, actor, was born.

23 February 1947, Sunday (+656) Anton Mosimann, chef, was born.

22 February 1947, Saturday (+655) Pirjo Honkasalo, film director, was born in Helsinki, Finland

21 February 1947. Friday (+654) The world�s first soap opera, �A woman to remember�, began on USA television.

20 February 1947, Thursday (+653) (1) (Weather) In Britain, very cold weather along with fuel shortages threatened to damage the economy.

(2) Lord Louis Mountbatten was appointed the last Viceroy of India, the same day the British government announced that the British would leave India by June 1948. See 4 June 1947. Mountbatten was to supervise the peaceful transition to independence of India, despite major difference between Hindus and Muslims. Winston Churchill opposed Indian independence.

19 February 1947, Wednesday (+652) Gustavo Rodr�guez, actor, was born in Ciudad Bol�var, Venezuela (died 2014)

18 February 1947, Tuesday (+651) Jose-Maria Canizares, golfer, was born.

17 February 1947, Monday (+650) The USA began broadcasting �Voice of America� in Russian.

16 February 1947, Sunday (+649) Chiang Kai-shek introduced a number of measures to address China's economic crisis, including the repatriation of all Chinese assets held abroad, prohibiting dealings in gold and foreign currency and banning strikes and lockouts.

15 February 1947, Saturday (+648) John Coolidge Adams, composer, was born.

14 February 1947, Friday (+647) John Page, figure skating champion, died.

10 February 1947. Monday (+643) (1) A Peace Treaty concluded in Paris between Italy, Romania, and Bulgaria made the following provisions. a) Most of the Italian province of Venezia Giulia, with its predominantly Slovene and Croat population, as well as the enclave of Zadar (Zara) and all the Adriatic Islands were ceded to Yugoslavia. b) A Free Territory of Trieste, demilitarised and neutral, was to be formed. However this was impractical and on 5 October 1954 the British, US, Italian, and Yugoslav governments agreed to divide the territory between Italy and Yugoslavia. c) Romania ceded Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia to the USSR. The Russian occupation of these areas had been by aggression on 27 June 1940; the population of Bessarabia was however mainly Romanian.

(2) The USSR concluded a peace treaty with Finland.

7 February 1947. Friday (+640) (1) (Britain) The Minister of Fuel and Power, Emanuel Shinwell, startled the House of Commons by announcing that Britain�s power stations were running out of coal, as very cold snowy weather paralysed the rail system. Four weeks of intermittent power cuts followed, with two million workers suspended. Greyhound racing, TV and magazine production were halted.

(2) Britain proposed dividing Palestine into Jewish and Arab zones but both sides rejected the plan.

6 February 1947, Thursday (+639) Hans Fallada, German novelist, died in Berlin (born 21 July 1893 in Greifswald, Germany).

5 February 1947, Wednesday (+638)

4 February 1947, Tuesday (+637) (USA) US politician Dan Quayle was born.

3 February 1947, Monday (+636) Hristo Bonev, Bulgarian footballer, was born.

2 February 1947. Sunday (+635) The RAF began evacuating Britons from Palestine.

1 February 1947, Saturday (+634) In Italy, Alcide de Gasperi formed a government of Christian Democrats, Communists and Left-Socialists.

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31 January 1947, Friday (+633)

29 January 1947, Wednesday (+631) In the UK, record low temperatures caused power cuts.

28 January 1947, Tuesday (+630) Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan-French composer, died in Paris (born 9 August 1875 in Caracas)

27 January 1947, Monday (+629)

26 January 1947, Sunday (+628) Prince Gustav of Sweden was killed in an air crash near Copenhagen.

25 January 1947, Saturday (+627) Al Capone, American gangster and leader of organised crime in Chicago during the Prohibition era, died aged 48 due to a major brain haemorrhage, virtually penniless. In 1931 he was jailed for 11 years income tax evasion; he was released from Alcatraz in 1939, suffering from syphilis and prematurely aged.

24 January 1947, Friday (+626)

23 January 1947, Thursday (+625) Snow began falling in south east England. It was the start of a protracted period of extremely cold weather.

22 January 1947. Wednesday (+624) The meat ration in Britain was reduced, again, to 1 shilling (5p) worth weekly.

21 January 1947, Tuesday (+623) South African President J C Smuts refused to place South West Africa under UN Trusteeship.

18 January 1947, Saturday (+620)

16 January 1947, Thursday (+618) In France, Vincent Auriol was elected President.

15 January 1947, Wednesday (+617) Pete Waterman, record producer, was born.

14 January 1947, Tuesday (+616) The newly-renovated Covent Garden Opera House in London opened, with a performance of Bizet�s Carmen.

13 January 1947, Monday (+615) In Britain, top radio shows included Woman�s Hour, Dick Barton, and Radio Forfeits.

12 January 1947, Sunday (+614) Joe Frazier, heavyweight boxing champion in the 1970s, was born.

10 January 1947, Friday (+612)

8 January 1947. Wednesday (+610) (1) In Britain, a shortage of coal caused closures of steel works. There were also food shortages because of the hauliers� strike. Troops were called in to move supplies.

(2) David Bowie, British musician and rock star, was born in London as David Jones.

7 January 1947, Tuesday (+609) George Marshall was appointed US Secretary of State.

6 January 1947, Monday (+608)

4 January 1947, Saturday (+606) Rick Stein, celebrity chef, was born.

3 January 1947, Friday (+605) Fran Cotton, rugby player, was born.

2 January 1947, Thursday (+604) Lanny Bassham, US sports shooter, was born

1 January 1947. Wednesday (+603) (1) Britain�s coal industry was nationalised under the Coal industry Nationalisation Act, 1946. The National Coal Board (NCB) was set up, to control 1,647 mines, 100,000 miners homes and over a million acres of land. The NCB was chaired by Lord Hyndley. Cable and Wireless was also nationalised this day.

(2) All British �silver coins�, except Maundy Money, now made from cupro-nickel, 75% copper and 25% nickel.

(3) The USA and British zones in West Germany were merged.� Russia objected, and so did France, who wanted a divided Germany, and had annexed the Saar from French-occupied Germany.

=====================================================================================

31 December 1946, Tuesday (+602) In Britain, people were eating horsemeat as the food, fuel and transport crisis continued.

30 December 1946, |Monday (+601) Hans Hubert Vogts, West German footballer, was born.

29 December 1946, Sunday (+600)

28 December 1946, Saturday (+599) Carrie Jacobs Bond, US singer, died in Glendale, California (born 11 August 1862 in Janesville, Wisconsin)

27 December 1946, Friday (+598) In Britain, 12 cotton mills closed today and much industry in the Midlands went on a 4-day week as a fuel shortage deepened. Meanwhile a world food shortage, compounded by a global shipping shortage, and, for the UK, a lack of foreign exchange, caused UK rations to be cut. In February 1946 butter, margarine and cooking fat rations were reduced from 8 to 7 ounces per person per week. In May 1946 bread, previously un-rationed, came on-ration.

25 December 1946, Wednesday (+596) The Guomintang Chinese Government adopted a new Constitution. However the Communists under Mao were now regrouping and would soon oust the Guomintang from power in mainland China.

21 December 1946, Saturday (+592) Carl Wilson, of The Beach Boys group, was born

20 December 1946. Friday (+591) Uri Geller was born in Tel Aviv.

19 December 1946, Thursday (+590) An uneasy post-War period of tactical co-operation between the French and the Vietcong Communist forces ended. The French had wanted to regain their colony of Vietnam; the Vietcong also wanted Nationalist factions in the country eliminated. But on this day the Vietcong attacked French troops at Hanoi, starting the First Indo-China War. The Vietcong began a campaign of guerrilla warfare.

18 December 1946. Wednesday (+589) Labour MPs triumphantly sang The Red Flag as the House of Commons voted to nationalise the railways, road haulage, and ports. This was under Clement Attlee�s Labour Government. The Bank of England had already been nationalised and, despite the UK�s economic problems, civil aviation, broadcasting, road transport and steel would soon follow. Attlee also proposed independence for Burma and India.

17 December 1946, Tuesday (+588) Eugene Levy, Canadian film and TV comedian, was born in Hamilton, Ontario

16 December 1946, Monday (+587) In France, Leon Blum formed a Socialist government.

15 December 1946, Sunday (+586) Frederic Norton, British composer, died in Holford, Somerset (born 1875 in Manchester)

14 December 1946, Saturday (+585) The UN accepted a US$ 8.5 million donation from John D Rockefeller to finance the construction of its headquarters in East River, New York, USA.

13 December 1946, Friday (+584) (United Nations) The UN approved the creation of 8 trust territories, to see their final independence. They were New Guinea (under mandate of Australia); Western Samoa (New Zealand); Ruanda-Urundi, which later split as the nations of Rwanda and Burundi (Belgium); Tanganyika, later merged with Zanzibar as Tanzania (United Kingdom); and the Cameroons (Cameroon) and Togoland (Togo), under a British and French mandate.

12 December 1946, Thursday (+583) Emmerson Fittipaldi, Brazilian racing driver, was born.

11 December 1946, Wednesday (+582) The UN International Children�s Emergency Fund was set up to provide aid to children in war-torn countries.

10 December 1946, Tuesday (+581) Heavy smog in London caused bus conductors to have to walk in front of their buses, carrying lighted newspapers.

9 December 1946, Monday (+580) In India the Constituent Assembly met to discuss independence; but it was boycotted by the Muslim League.

7 December 1946, Saturday (+578)

5 December 1946. Thursday (+576) New York was chosen as the permanent site of the UN.

4 December 1946, Wednesday (+575) In London, Central Line trains began running to Stratford.

3 December 1946, Tuesday (+574)

2 December 1946, Monday (+573) Giovanni Versace, fashion designer, was born.

1 December 1946, Sunday (+572) Miguel Aleman Valdes was inaugurated as President of Mexico.

===================================================================================

30 November 1946, Saturday (+571) George Duffield, jockey, was born

29 November 1946, Friday (+570) The last British troops, who had been assisting the Dutch colonial government in Indonesia, now left as Indonesia prepared for independence.

28 November 1946, Thursday (+569) In Britain the House of Lords was told of a �tidal wave of divorce sweeping Britain�.

27 November 1946, Wednesday (+568) New Zealand elections gave 42 seats to Labour, which retained power, against 38 seats for the National Party.

25 November 1946, Monday (+566\)

24 November 1946, Sunday (+565) Vivien Saunders, champion golfer, was born.

23 November 1946, Saturday (+564) French troops bombarded Haiphong in NE Vietnam. This was the start of the French Indo-China War, which lasted until 1954.

22 November 1946. Friday (+563) The first ball point pen went on sale, invented by the Hungarian Laslo Biro. The pen, which would write 200,000 words without refilling, went on sale for �2.75.

21 November 1946, Thursday (+562) 1) The first commercial aerosol sprays were marketed in the US by Airosol Inc of Kansas. The US army had discovered the usefulness of aerosol insect sprays whilst fighting the Japanese in the rainforests of south east Asia.

2) Bulgarian Communist Georgi Dimitrov returned from Moscow to become President of Bulgaria.

20 November 1946, Wednesday (+561) In controlled �elections�, the Communists came to power in Romania.

19 November 1946, Tuesday (+560) The first General Conference of UNESCO was held at Paris.

18 November 1946, Monday (+559) Alan Dean Foster, writer, was born.

17 November 1946, Sunday (+558) Jewish terrorists stepped up their bombing campaign in Palestine.

16 November 1946, Saturday (+557) Mahasti, Iranian pop singer; was born in Tehran (died 2007)

15 November 1946, Friday (+556) (1) In Indonesia the Dutch signed the Cheribon Agreement, recognising that Indonesia would be granted independence.

(2) The Guomintang Chinese Government excluded all Communists from power.

14 November 1946, Thursday (+555) Mark le Fanu, General Secretary of the Society of Authors, was born

12 November 1946, Tuesday (+553)

11 November 1946. Monday (+552) Stevenage, Hertfordshire, became the first �New Town� to be designated in Britain.

10 November 1946, Sunday (+551) In France, elections to the National Assembly produced 166 seats for the Communists, 158 for the Popular Republican Movement, 90 for the Socialists, 55 for the Radical Socialists, 70 for the Conservatives and 5 for the Gaullists. There was political deadlock.

9 November 1946, Saturday (+550) Marina Warner, writer, was born

8 November 1946, Friday (+549)

6 November 1946. Wednesday (+547) In the UK, the National Health Act came into force, see 5 July 1948.

5 November 1946, Tuesday (+546) In the US, Republicans gained control of Congress.

4 November 1946. Monday (+545) (1) The new Chinese Guomintang Government signed a treaty of co-opertaion with the USA.

(2) UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, was established, with headquarters in Paris.

3 November 1946, Sunday (+544)

2 November 1946, Saturday (+543) Alan Jones, racing car driver, was born.

1 November 1946, Friday (+542) Ernie Erdman, US songwriter, died in Rockford, Illinois (born 23 October 1879 in Pittsburgh)

====================================================================================

31 October 1946, Thursday (+541)

30 October 1946, Wednesday (+540) John Atkinson, British rugby league player, was born.

29 October 1946, Tuesday (+539) Peter Green, guitarist, was born in London

28 October 1946, Monday (+538)

27 October 1946, Sunday (+537) General elections for the Bulgarian Parliament gave the Communists control of Government.

26 October 1946, Saturday (+536) Otto Thierack, German Reich minister of Justice 1942-45, hanged himself in Neumunster internment camp to avoid being brought to trial.

23 October 1946, Wednesday (+533) The first New York meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organisation took place.

20 October 1946. Sunday (+530) Muffin the Mule, a wooden puppet, first appeared on BBC TV.

19 October 1946, Saturday (+529) Philip Pullman, author, was born

18 October 1946, Friday (+528) Howard Shore, composer, was born.

17 October 1946, Thursday (+527) Sir Cameron Mackintosh, musical producer, was born.

16 October 1946. Wednesday (+526) (1) The liner Queen Elizabeth made her first commercial voyage, after serving as a troopship during the War.

(2) After 216 meetings of the Nuremberg Tribunal, from 20 November 1945, the verdicts on 24 top Nazis charged with war crimes were delivered on 30 September 1946. 3 Nazis were acquitted; Hjalmar Schacht, Franz von Papen and Hans Fritzsche. A fourth defendant, Robert Ley, had committed suicide in prison before the trials were completed. The industrialist Gustav Krupp was judged to be unfit to stand trial through senile dementia. The remaining 19 defendants were found guilty. Four of them, Karl Donitz, Baldur von Shirach, Albert Speer and Konstantin von Neurath, received sentences of between 10 and 20 years. Three defendants, Rudolf Hess, Walther Funk and Erich Raeder, received life sentences. Rudolf Hess was detained at Spandau Prison, Berlin, until his death in 1987. The remaining 12 defendants were sentenced to death. Martin Bormann was not executed as he had been tried in absentia having escaped the Allied authorities. Hermann Goering committed suicide by self-poisoning in prison a few hours before he was due to be hanged. The remaining ten, Hans Frank, Willhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Alfred Rosenberg, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Keitel and Arthur Seiss-Inquart, were hanged on 16 October 1946.

As regards lesser Nazis, the problem facing the Allies was that millions of Germans had joined the Nazi Party, some merely for reasons of self-preservation, so it was impractical to prosecute all those who had served Hitler. Ultimately, out of a population of 44.5 million Germans in West Germany,� 209,000 were prosecuted. In East Germany the Soviets prosecuted a much smaller number, just over 17,000. This was because many Nazis were executed by the Soviets without a formal legal process.

15 October 1946, Tuesday (+525) Richard Carpenter, composer, was born.

14 October 1946, Monday (+524) Justin Hayward, singer, was born

13 October 1946, Sunday (+523) Thailand accepted a UN ruling that it return the provinces of Indo-China that it had acquired in 1941 as an ally of Japan.

10 October 1946, Thursday (+520) In China the Kuomintang re-elected Chiang Kai Shek as President.

8 October 1946, Tuesday (+518) Bel Mooney, writer, was born

6 October 1946, Sunday (+516) Anthony Grieg, cricketer, was born.

5 October 1946, Saturday (+515) Brian Jacks, judo champion, was born.

4 October 1946, Friday (+514) From Our Own Correspondent was first broadcast on UK radio.

3 October 1946, Thursday (+513) Tim James Brymn, US composer, died in New York (born 5 October 1881 in Kinston, North Carolina)

2 October 1946, Wednesday (+512)

==================================================================================

30 September 1946, Monday (+510) Former Nazi leader Hermann Goering committed suicide, the night before he was due to be executed.

29 September 1946, Sunday (+509) BBC Radio�s Third Programme, later to become Radio Three, began broadcasting.

28 September 1946, Saturday (+508) (Greece) King George II returned to Greece. A referendum had shown a majority in favour of restoring the monarchy.

27 September 1946, Friday (+507)

26 September 1946, Thursday (+506) Andrea Dworkin, feminist, was born (died 9 April 2005)

25 September 1946, Wednesday (+505) Felicity Kendal, actress, was born.

21 September 1946, Saturday (+501)

20 September 1946. Friday (+500) The first Cannes Film Festival opened.

19 September 1946. Thursday (+499) Winston Churchill, in Zurich, urged Franco-German reconciliation and a �kind of United States of Europe�.

18 September 1946, Wednesday (+498) Otis Sistrunk, US footballer, was born in Columbus, Georgia.

17 September 1946, Tuesday (+497) (Astronomy) Sir James Hopwood Jeans, English astronomer, died in Dorking, Surrey.

16 September 1946, Monday (+496) King Simeon and the Queen Mother left Bulgaria

15 September 1946, Sunday (+495) (1) The Bulgarian People�s Republic was proclaimed.

(2) Alitalia (Aerolinee Italiane Internaziolali) was formed.

14 September 1946, Saturday (+494) The U.S. Census Bureau forecast that the United States population in 1990 would peak at 165,000,000 and that it would decline to 168,177,000 by 2000. The actual figures for the two censuses were 248,709,873 in 1990 and 281,421,906 in 2000.

13 September 1946, Friday (+493) Captain Amon Goth, 37, Nazi SS officer who had carried out the mass executions of more than 13,000 Jews in Krakow and Tarnow, and the Szebnia concentration camp, was hanged, along with Dr. Leon Gross, a Jew who had collaborated with him at the Plaszow concentration camp.

12 September 1946, Thursday (+492) Albert le Tyrant, French archery champion, was born.

11 September 1946, Wednesday (+491) Mike Bull, athletics (pole vault), was born in Belfast.

10 September 1946, Tuesday (+490) A referendum in Bulgaria gave a 92% vote in favour of a Republic.

9 September 1946, Monday (+489) �Trans Australia Airlines made its first flight, from Melbourne to Sydney. The government-owned carrier changed its name to Australian Airlines in 1986, and then was merged with Qantas in 1993.

8 September 1946. Sunday (+488) Communists took control in Bulgaria.�

7 September 1946, Saturday (+487) (Aviation) EM Donaldson, UK, set a new aviation speed record of 615.78 mph.

6 September 1946, Friday (+486) Roger Knight, secretary of the MCC, was born.

5 September 1946, Thursday (+485) Freddie Mercury, pop star with Queen, was born.

4 September 1946, Wednesday (+484) Nobu Shirase, leader of the Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1911�1912, died aged 85

3 September 1946, Tuesday (+483) Karl Emil Paul :Lincke, German composer, died near Gottingen (born 7 November 1866 in Berlin).

2 September 1946, Monday (+482) An interim government for the Dominion of India was inaugurated to make the transition from British colonial rule to independence.

1 September 1946. Sunday (+481) (1) The jet aircraft Meteor EE549 reached the record speed of 616 mph

(2) A Greek plebiscite favoured return the of the monarchy.

===================================================================================

31 August 1946, Saturday (+480) Harley Granville-Barker, English playwright, died aged 69.

28 August 1946, Wednesday (+477)

26 August 1946, Monday (+475) Alison Steadman, actress, was born

25 August 1946, Sunday (+474) In Britain, a flourishing black market existed in nylons, chocolate and perfumes.

24 August 1946, Saturday (+473) Elijah Muhammad was released from prison in Milan, Michigan after four years, and became the Nation of Islam's undisputed leader.

23 August 1946, Friday (+472) In North Korea, the Workers Party was established. By December 1946 its membership reached 600,000 (total population of North Korea was then 9 million).

22 August 1946, Thursday (+470)

20 August 1946, Tuesday (+469) The German Army was officially dissolved by the Allied Control Commission.

19 August 1946, Monday (+468) (1) Violence in Calcutta between Hindus and Moslems, thousands were killed.

(2) Bill Clinton, US President, was born.

18 August 1946, Sunday (+467)

16 August 1946, Friday (+465) Major riots against the British salt tax began in Calcutta, inspired by Ghandi�s campaign of disobedience.� The riots lasted till 20 August 1946.

15 August 1946, Thursday (+464) Tony Robinson, actor, was born.

14 August 1946, Wednesday (+463)

13 August 1946. Tuesday (+462) (1) The United Nations refused to admit Ireland because of opposition from the Soviet Union. The War years, known in Ireland as �The Emergency�, resulted in agricultural and economic crisis, strikes, unemployment and rising emigration. Ireland now had a small and ageing population, and widespread dissatisfaction with the ruling Fianna Fail Party. Small parties such as Clann na Talmhan, the Farmers Party, proliferated.

(2) Author H G Wells; born on 21 September 1866, died in London, aged 76.

12 August 1946, Monday (+461) (Chemistry) Alfred Stock, German chemist, died in Karlsruhe.

9 August 1946, Friday (+458) The Arts Council of Great Britain was incorporated.

6 August 1946, Tuesday (+455) Blanche Bingley, tennis player, died (born 3 November 1863).

5 August 1946, Monday (+454) Loni Anderson, actress, was born.

3 August 1946, Saturday (+452) The National Basketball Association was formed in America.

1 August 1946, Thursday (+450) British European Airways, BEA, was formed.

=====================================================================================

29 July 1946, Monday (+447) (1) The Paris Peace Conference began.

(2) Air India was formed by a reorganisation of Tata Air Lines.

28 July 1946, Sunday (+448) Howard C. Petersen, US Assistant Secretary of War, announced that, in addition to deaths in combat, 131,028 American and Filipino citizens, mostly civilians, had died "as a result of war crimes" from December 7, 1941 until the end of World War II.

27 July 1946, Saturday (+445) The US writer Gertrude Stein (born 3 February 1874 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania), died in Paris, France.

26 July 1946, Friday (+444) Morris Hirshfield, Polish/American painter, died.

25 July 1946, Thursday (+443) Linda Ronstadt, singer, was born.

24 July 1946, Wednesday (+442) Aircraft fitter Benny Lynch tested the first British ejector seat. Bailing out 8,000 feet above Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, he landed safely in the back yard of pub, and was recovered later from the bar.

23 July 1946, Tuesday (+441) The last German prisoners of war in the United States were released, as 1,385 POWs were placed on the ship General Yates, following detention at Camp Shanks in New York. In all, there had been 375,000 German prisoners kept in the US at the end of World War II.

22 July 1946. Monday (+440) The King David Hotel, Jerusalem, HQ of the British Palestine Army, was destroyed by a Zionist bomb planted by Irgun, killing 91 and injuring 45. Many Jews wanted Britain to withdraw so a Jewish State could be established.

21 July 1946. Sunday (+439) Bread rationing began in Britain because of a world shortage of wheat, caused by a poor harvest and shortages of transport and fertilisers.

19 July 1946, Friday (+437) Mrs Norma Jeane Dougherty, former munitions factory worker and model, toom a screen test at 20^th Century Fox Studios. The studio suggested she adopt the name Marilyn, after the 1920s musical star Marilyn Miller, and she decided on the last name Monroe, her mother�s maiden name. For 6 months after she signed, she learnt about make-up, hair and acting. She divorced her husband, James Dougherty, a former US Merchant marine, in September 1946.

17 July 1946, Wednesday (+435) After World War two ended, Bolivia suffered from declining mineral prices, especially tin, and both unemployment and inflation rose. President Villaroel (see 21 December 1943) lost popularity and this day was hanged from a lamppost in front of the Presidential palace. The Bolivian Army did not try and halt the rebellion, mounted by soldiers, students and workers. A provisional Liberal Government was installed, and recognised by the USA and Argentina.

15 July 1946, Monday (+433) Linda Ronstadt, singer, was born.

14 July 1946, Sunday (+432) Jews who had survived World War Two were massacred in a pogrom at Kielce, Poland.

13 July 1946, Saturday (+431) The US House of Representatives approved a loan to Europe.

12 July 1946, Friday (+430) Graham Roope, cricketer, was born (died 26 November 2006)

10 July 1946, Wednesday (+428)

9 July 1946, Tuesday (+427) Bon Scott, singer for AC/DC, was born.

8 July 1946. Monday (+426) Margaret Roberts, later Margaret Thatcher, was elected president of the Oxford University Conservatives.

7 July 1946, Sunday (+425) M|iguel Aleman, a civilian, was elected as President of Mexico. This led to closer ties between the US and Mexico.

6 July 1946, Saturday (+424) The Young Conservatives political organisation was founded in Britain.

5 July 1946. Friday (+423) The bikini was officially invented by French engineer Louis Reard. �It is a two-piece bathing suit that reveals everything about a girl except her mother�s maiden name�,� said the Americans about the bikini. Two months earlier the French designer Jacques Heim had created the Atome, another two-piece bathing suit, so Louis Reard was inspired to create an even smaller bathing suit. Reard knew he had created an explosive item, so he called it the bikini, as the US military exploded an atom bomb on the south Pacific island of Bikini atoll. No Parisian model would wear the bikini at the time as it was considered indecent, but Reard hired a nude dancer, Micheline Bernardini, to wear it at his presentation. The bikini was banned in several Catholic countries such as Spain and Italy, but Reard kept promoting the garment, insisting it was not a real bikini unless �it could be pulled through a wedding ring�. In the 1950s Brigitte Bardot helped promote the bikini and by the 1970s it was more or less accepted in most countries.

4 July 1946. Thursday (+422) (Philippines) The Philippines was granted independence from the USA.� Manual Roxas was elected as the first President.

1 July 1946. Monday (+419) (1) The first US atom bomb test at Eniwetok atoll. A second test with an underwater bomb was on 25 July 1946.

(2) Bananas, available for the first time since the war, cost 1s 1d (5.5p) per pound. A pound of pork sausages cost 14s 5d (72.5p). A whole haddock cost 9d (4p). The average weekly wage for a farm labourer was 72s 2d (�3.61p), and a weaver in the textiles industry got 84s 7d (�4.23p) a week.

(3) London�s Aldwych to Holborn spur line re-opened.� It had been closed during the War and used as an air raid shelter.

(4) British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) began transatlantic flights between London and New York, in 19 � hours.

===================================================================================

29 June 1946, Saturday (+415) Egon� von Fustenberg, fashion designer, was born.

28 June 1946, Friday (+416) Enrico de Nicola became first President of Italy.

27 June 1946, Thursday (+415) Italy ceded the Dodecanese islands to Greece.

26 June 1946, Wednesday (+414)

25 June 1946, Tuesday (+413) (Mongolia) Mongolia applied to become a member of the United Nations.

24 June 1946, Monday (+412) The Indian Congress rejected the proposed British independence plan.

23 June 1946, Sunday (+411) (South Africa) India made a formal complaint to the UN about South Africa�s discrimination against the 250,000 Indians living there.

20 June 1946, Thursday (+408) The Duchess of Gloucester was born.

17 June 1946, Monday (+405) (1) The Allied decided not to try Hirohito as a war criminal.

(2) Barry Manilow, American singer and songwriter, was born in New York City.

16 June 1946, Sunday (+404) James Bolam, actor, was born.

15 June 1946, Saturday (+403) Demis Roussos, Greek singer; was born in Alexandria, Egypt (died 2015)

14 June 1946. Friday (+402) Death of John Logie Baird, at Bexhill on Sea, Sussex, aged 58. He was born on 13 August 1888 at Helensburgh, Scotland. In 1926 he demonstrated the first true television before the Royal Institution of Great Britain, following developments on the first prototype in his laboratory in Hastings in 1924. In 1939 Baird demonstrated colour television, and had reportedly developed stereoscopic television by April 1946.

13 June 1946, Thursday (+401) Pro-monarchist riots in Rome over the departure of King Umberto II.

12 June 1946, Wednesday (+400) John H. Bankhead II, U.S. Senator for Alabama since 1931, died aged 73

11 June 1946, Tuesday (+399) Italy was officially declared a Republic.

10 June 1946, Monday (+398) Jack Johnson, US boxer, died aged 68.

9 June 1946, Sunday (+397) King Rama VIII was assassinated, aged 21, after an 11-year reign. His brother Phumiphon Aduldet now reigned as Rama IX, after 5 May 1950 when he left school in Switzerland.

8 June 1946, Saturday (+396) Pearlette Louisy, Governor-General of Saint Lucia from 1997 to 2017, was born in Laborie

7 June 1946, Friday (+395) In Britain the BBC resumed TV broadcasts this day; the initial audience was fewer than 12,000 people.

6 June 1946, Thursday (+394) Gerhart Hauptmann, German novelist, died aged 83.

5 June 1946, Wednesday (+393) King George V took the salute at the Victory Parade in The Mall, London.

4 June 1946. Tuesday (+392) General Juan Peron became President of Argentina.

3 June 1946, Monday (+391) King Umberto II left Italy, to join his family in Lisbon.

2 June 1946, Sunday (+390) A referendum in Italy produced 12,182,855 votes for a Republic and 10,362,709 votes for continuing the monarchy.

1 June 1946. Saturday (+389) (1) The first TV licences issued in Britain, at a cost of �2. TV broadcasting resumed in Britain.

(2) (Romania) Antonescu was shot as a war criminal, see 23 August 1944.

====================================================================================

31 May 1946, Friday (+388) Heathrow was officially opened as London Airport.

30 May 1946. Thursday (+387) The Labour Minister of Food, John Strachey, announced that bread would be rationed. The greatest allowance would go to manual workers in heavy industry.

29 May 1946, Wednesday (+386) Fernando Buesa, Spanish politician, was born.

28 May 1946, Tuesday (+385) The first night-time baseball game was played at Yankee Stadium, with a crowd of 49,917.

27 May 1946, Monday (+384) The Bank for Reconstruction and Development, an organisation first proposed at the Bretton Woods Conference and constituted in 1945, began operations.

26 May 1946. Sunday (+383) The Communists gained power in Czechoslovakia.

25 May 1946. Saturday (+382) Transjordan (Jordan) proclaimed its independence, with Emir Abdullah ibn Husayn as King. Husayn (born 1882) was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1951.

22 May 1946, Wednesday (+379) Karl Hermann Frank, the Nazi ruler in Czechoslovakia who ordered the massacre at Lidice, was hanged in Prague.

20 May 1946, Monday (+377) The British Government announced plans for student grants.

17 May 1946. Friday (+374) France nationalised its coal mines.

14 May 1946, Tuesday (+371) Robert Davies, horse racing, was born.

13 May 1946, Monday (+370) The Federal Airport Act was signed into law by US President Harry S Truman, providing for 500 million dollars in Federal grants for civilian airport projects across the USA over a seven-year period.

12 May 1946, Sunday (+369) A further truce between the Guomintang and the Communists in China took effect.

11 May 1946, Saturday (+368) Robert Jarvik, US inventor of the artificial heart, was born in Midland, Michigan

10 May 1946, Friday (+367) In rocket tests at White Sands, New Mexico, a huge 14 ton rocket derived from German V-2 designs reached an altitude of 75 miles.

9 May 1946. Thursday (+366) King Victor Emmanuel III, monarch of Italy since 1900, abdicated. He was succeeded by Umberto II. A referendum voted narrowly for a republic on 2 June 1946. Enrico de Nicola became the first President of Italy on 28 June 1946, and Umberto II left Italy on 3 June 1946.

8 May 1946, Wednesday (+365) Nationalist riots in Algeria

7 May 1946, Tuesday (+364) Anton Mussert, founder of the Dutch National socialist Movement and a staunch supporter of Nazi rule in Holland, was hanged.

6 May 1946, Monday (+363) LIFE Magazine published "Bedlam 1946: Most U.S. Mental Hospitals are a Shame and a Disgrace" in its May 6, 1946, issue. Albert Q. Maisel's expos� of the atrocities at two mental institutions, in Ohio and Pennsylvania, which he described as "concentration camps masquerading as hospitals", spurred reforms in psychiatric care.

5 May 1946, Sunday (+362) In China, Communists and Nationalists clashed along the Yangtze River.

4 May 1946, Saturday (+361) US prison riot at Alcatraz was quelled with the help of the US Marines. After 2 days of unrest, 3 convict ringleaders and 2 guards had been killed, and 14 people injured.

3 May 1946, Friday (+360) Arabs rioted in Jerusalem over British plans to partition Jerusalem.

2 May 1946, Thursday (+359) David Suchet, actor, was born.

1 May 1946, Wednesday (+358) The Guomintang Government returned to Nanjing.

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30 April 1946, Tuesday (+357) Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden since 1973, was born in Solna

29 April 1946, Monday (+356) Japanese General Hideki Tojo and 27 other members of the military were formally indicted by an Allied war crimes Court. There was international pressure to also try the Japanese Emperor, but the US feared that this would precipitate the disintegration of Japan as a nation and thereby require the continued� prolonged presence of a large US occupation force.

28 April 1946, Sunday (+355) Chinese Communists captured the Manchurian rail hub of Tsisihar.

25 April 1946, Thursday (+352) The USSR agreed to withdraw its troops from Iran.

22 April 1946, Monday (+349) Samuel John :Latta, Canadian politician, died.

21 April 1946, Sunday (+348) Easter Sunday. The economist Lord Keynes died of a heart attack. He believed that unemployment could only be eased by public spending.

20 April 1946, Saturday (+347)

19 April 1946, Friday (+346) The USSR recognised the Republic of Yugoslavia.

18 April 1946. Thursday (+345) The League of Nations was formally dissolved, after the United Nations had been set up on 24 October 1945. See 26 June 1945.

17 April 1946, Wednesday (+344) George Kohler, German biologist, was born (died 1995).

16 April 1946, Tuesday (+343) Arthur Chevrolet, car designer, died.

14 April 1946, Sunday (+341) A US-mediated truce between the Communists and the Guomintang broke down and the Chinese Civil war resumed.

Caroline Bradley, equestrian showjumping, was born (died 1 June 1983).

12 April 1946, Friday (+339) Teddy Brown, US musician, died (born 1900)

10 April 1946, Wednesday (+337) Japan held elections for the new Diet (parliament). Under US influence, women now had the vote, transforming traditional Japanese hierarchies, and 34 women were elected.

7 April 1946, Sunday (+334) Colette Besson, athlete, was born (died 9/8;2005)

5 April 1946, Friday (+332) Jane Asher, actress, was born.

4 April 1946, Thursday (+331) (Iran) The USSR promised the UN that it would withdraw all its troops from Iran by 6 May 1946.

3 April 1946, Wednesday (+330) Alf Common, footballer, died (born 25 May 1880).

2 April 1946. Tuesday (+329) The Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst was founded.� The Woolwich Academy was merged with Sandhurst.

1 April 1946, Monday (+328) Major earthquake in the Aleutian Islands.

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31 March 1946, Sunday (+327) General Gort, British commander of the British Expeditionary Force� that entered France in 1939 and retreated again in 1940, died.

30 March 1946, Saturday (+326) Some 800 Germans were arrested in US and British controlled zones of Germany and Austria, to thwart a possible revival of the Nazi Party.

28 March 1946, Thursday (+324) The British Government announced plans for free school dinners and free milk at school.

26 March 1946, Tuesday (+322) Allied Control Commission set limits on the level of German industrial production.

25 March 1946, Monday (+321) The UN Security Council met in New York.

24 March 1946, Sunday (+320) BBC radio began broadcasting Letter from America, a weekly talk by Alistair Cook, on topical matters in the USA.

23 March 1946, Saturday (+319)

22 March 1946, Friday (+318) US President Truman announced that atom bomb tests at Bikini Atoll scheduled for 15 May 1946 had now been postponed for 6 weeks.

21 March 1946. Thursday (+317) (1) Aneurin Bevan announced Labour Government plans for a National Health Service to become operational in 1948. The cost per year was expected to be around �152 million (�5,000 million in 2015 prices; actual 2015 NHS spending is more like �115,000 million).

(2) Goering denied he knew anything of the �final solution�.

20 March 1946, Wednesday (+316) Starving Germans in Hamburg started food riots, then looted food shops and railway wagons.

18 March 1946, Monday (+314)

16 March 1946, Saturday (+312) The USSR promised it would return the Baltic island of Bornholm to Denmark as soon as Denmark was ready to take it over.

15 March 1946. Friday (+311) The USSR began its 4^th 5-Year Plan.

14 March 1946, Thursday (+310) Alison Dawes, show jumper, was born.

13 March 1946, Wednesday (+309) Former Chetnik leader Mihailovich was captured in Yugoslavia.

12 March 1946, Tuesday (+308) Liza Minelli, US actress, was born.

11 March 1946, Monday (+307) Rudolf Hoss, the Nazi Commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, was located and arrested by British military police near the northern German town of Flensburg, where he had been working on a farm under the alias "Franz Lang". Hoss, who confessed to overseeing the murder of millions of prisoners, mostly Jewish, was himself executed at Auschwitz on April 16, 1947.

10 March 1946. Sunday (+306) Britain and France began to withdraw from Lebanon.

9 March 1946, Saturday (+305) 33 football fans were crushed to death at Bolton Wanderer�s Football Ground when a barrier collapsed.

8 March 1946, Friday (+304) In Covent Garden, London, bananas went on sale for the first time since the War.

7 March 1946, Thursday (+303) The 167 residents of Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, were evacuated from their South Pacific island in order for atomic testing to begin.

6 March 1946, Wednesday (+302) France agreed to allow Vietnam some autonomy, but only within the French Empire/ Nationalist resistance against the French continued.

5 March 1946. Tuesday (+301) (UK, USA) Winston Churchill referred to an �Iron Curtain� descending across Europe, in a speech at Fulton, USA. The first public acknowledgement that the Cold War had begun. See 12 March 1947.

4 March 1946, Monday (+300) The USA, Britain and France appealed to the Spanish to depose General Franco.

3 March 1946, Sunday (+299) John Virgo, English snooker player, was born.

2 March 1946. Saturday (+298) In North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh was elected President.

1 March 1946, Friday (+297) The Bank of England was nationalised by Act of Parliament.

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28 February 1946, Thursday (+296) Robin Cook, British politician, was born.

27 February 1946, Wednesday (+295) Thomas Hauser, author, was born.

26 February 1946, Tuesday (+294) US President Truman named Julius A Krug as Secretary of the Interior.

25 February 1946, Monday (+923) After a week of rioting in British-controlled India, 228 had died and 1,047 had been injured.

24 February 1946. Sunday (+292) Juan Peron was elected President of Argentina.

23 February 1946, Saturday (+291) Lt. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, who led the Japanese conquest of Singapore and the Philippines, was executed by hanging in Manila for war crimes, followed by Lt. Col. Seichi Ohta, who headed security for Japan's �thought police� (kempei tai), also interpreter Takuma Higashigi.

22 February 1946, Friday (+290) Dr Selman Abrahams announced the discovery of streptomycin, an antibiotic for treating tuberculosis.

21 February 1946, Thursday (+289) Indian naval mutiny at Bombay.

20 February 1946, Wednesday (+288) US Congress passed the Employment Act, stating that its aim was maximum employment.

19 February 1946, Tuesday (+287) US workers� rights activist Karen Silkwood was born.

18 February 1946, Monday (+286) Michael Buerk, TV newscaster, was born.

17 February 1946, Sunday (+285) Dorothy Gibson, US silent film star, died aged 56.

16 February 1946, Saturday (+284) Edgar Syers, ice skater, died (born 18 March 1863).

15 February 1946, Friday (+283) (Computing) ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator) was put into operation at the University of Pennsylvania; the first completely electronic (valve-driven) computer. It weighed 31 tons. It was primarily used to calculate the yields for the thermonuclear bombs being developed.

14 February 1946, Thursday (+282) The British Labour Government stated it would nationalise the Bank of England.

13 February 1946, Wednesday (+281) The British Labour Government repealed the Trades Disputes Act (1927). Now, sympathetic strikes were relegalised and trades unions� could take industrial action to support each other�s pay claims.

12 February 1946, Tuesday (+280) Britain proclaimed martial law in Calcutta (Kolkata) to suppress rioting in which 14 had died and 170 injured.

11 February 1946, Monday (+279) The appeal by Japanese General Masaharu Homma against his death sentence was rejected by the US Supreme Court.

10 February 1946, Sunday (+278) The first �GI brides� arrived in the USA to live with their new partners. When US servicemen were stationed in the UK, British males complained they were �overpaid, oversexed, and over here�. Many British women became engaged or married to them. Now the GI brides assembled at camps in Hampshire, to be shipped over to the USA aboard the Queen Mary.

9 February 1946, Saturday (+277) In the USSR, Stalin announced a new Five Year Plan with emphasis on scientific research and industrial production in oil, coal, iron and steel.

8 February 1946, Friday (+276) US President Truman called for the immediate construction of some 2.7 million dwellings, urban and rural, to house war veterans.

7 February 1946. Thursday (+275) (1) In response to world food shortages, UK food rations were reduced.

(2) Hess was on trial at Nuremberg for war crimes.

6 February 1946, Wednesday (+274) A tugboat workers strike in New York caused fuel shortages and power cuts.

5 February 1946, Tuesday (+273) The USA recognised the new Romanian Government.

4 February 1946, Monday (+272) The US Supreme Court rejected the appeal by Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita against his death sentence by 2 to 6.

3 February 1946, Sunday (+271) The Hosiery Designers of America chose actress Jane Russell�s legs as the �perfect pair�.

2 February 1946, Saturday (+270) US President Truman approved the McMahon Bill on atomic energy and urged the swift institution of a civilian controlled Government monopoly on atomic energy.

1 February 1946. Friday (+269) Hungary declared itself a republic.

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31 January 1946, Thursday (+268) Yugoslavia introduced a new Constitution, creating six constituent Republics; Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Macedonia. However these were subordinated to the centre, on the model of the USSR.

30 January 1946. Wednesday (+267) UN General Assembly met for the first time, in London.

29 January 1946, Tuesday (+266) The United Nations Security Council agreed to recommend Trygve Lie as Secretary General of the Security Council.

28 January 1946, Monday (+265) A 60-day �State of Siege� was proclaimed by the Chilean Government after riots in Santiago between police and demonstrating Union members, in which 4 had died.

27 January 1946, Sunday (+264) In the Far East, more than 2,000 airmen went on strike at the slow pace of demobilisation.

26 January 1946, Saturday (+263) Ahmed Ghavam es Saltaneh was elected Prime Minister of Iran by 52 votes to 51 in the Iranian parliament.

25 January 1946, Friday (+262) Chancellor Robert M Hutchins of the University of Chicago told a US Senate Committee that atomic energy must be used to �defeat war and develop its energy in a world at peace�.

24 January 1946, Thursday (+261) The USA selected Bikini Atoll as a testing site for the effects of atomic bombs on warships.

23 January 1946, Wednesday (+260) Felix Goulin became Head of the Provisional French Government.

22 January 1946, Tuesday (+259) UK pit owners protested at plans to nationalise the coal industry.

21 January 1946, Monday (+258) Ebrahim Hakimi resigned as Prime Minister of Iran. His successor was expected to have a more favourable attitude to the USSR.

20 January 1946. Sunday (+257) De Gaulle resigned.� Goiun became President of France.

19 January 1946, Saturday (+256) The Far East International War Crimes Tribunal was established. This enabled countires such as India and The Philippines, which had not been signatories to the surrender of japan, to be represented in the war crimes trials.

18 January 1946, Friday (+255) Poland appropriated all farms of over 100 hectares (50 hectares for arable land) and redistributed the land to farm labourers. 6 million hectares of land were reassigned, resulting in the disappearance of the landowning gentry class.

17 January 1946, Thursday (+254) The US Government banned US soldiers from demonstrating in protest at the slow pace of demobilisation.

16 January 1946, Wednesday (+253) Argentinean business owners protested against the Government�s economic and social policies but it held firm.

14 January 1946, Monday (+251)

12 January 1946. Saturday (+249) The United Nations General Assembly voted to admit Brazil, Poland and Australia to a 2 year term on the Security council, and to admit Mexico, Egypt and The Netherlands for 1 year terms.

11 January 1946. Friday (+248) General Enver Hoxha�s Democratic Front won 95% of the vote in Albania and proclaimed a People's Republic. King Zog of Albania had been deposed on 2 January 1946. See 7 April 1939.

10 January 1946, Thursday (+247) The League of Nations was officially dissolved, after 26 years, and replaced by the United Nations.

9 January 1946, Wednesday (+246) Eisenhower ordered the return home of all US troops unless there was a definite military need for them, without delay.

8 January 1946. Tuesday (+245) The trial of Goering and Von Ribbentrop began.

7 January 1946. Monday (+244) Austria was established as a de facto independent state, divided into four zones of military occupation, as was Germany. See 15 May 1955. Vienna was also divided into four zones, apart from the Innere Stadt district which was occupied jointly by all four powers (Britain, France, the USA, and the USSR).

6 January 1946, Sunday (+243) Syd Barrett, founder of Pink Floyd, was born (died 7 July 2006)

5 January 1946, Saturday (+242) The USA resumed diplomatic relations with Siam (Thailand)

4 January 1946, Friday (+241) General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers during the occupation of Japan, began a purge of the Japanese government, with the goal of removing �undesirable personnel� from office. Over two and a half years, 210,287 people were removed or barred from public office.

3 January 1946. Thursday (+240) Nazi propagandist William Joyce, the notorious Lord Haw Haw, was hanged in London for treason. He was known as Lord Haw Haw for the falsely posh nasal tones of his radio broadcasts telling of German military �successes� (often false). He had been convicted on 19 September 1945.

2 January 1946. Wednesday (+239) King Zog of Albania was deposed in his absence. He was born Ahmed Bey Zogu, a member of the Zogolli family. The Zogolli led a powerful Moslem faction in the mountains of Albania, so when in 1912 Zog joined the powerful anti-Turkish movement, pressing for Albanian independence, Muslims abandoned traditional religious ties in a push for national freedom. Under King William, Zog achieved high office and in 1922 became Prime Minister. He was forced to flee abroad in 1924 but returned to Albania in 1925 to become President of Albania. He played off various opposing factions within the religiously divided state and gathered enough personal power to have himself declared King in 1928. However he was unable to withstand Mussolini in Italy and had to allow the Italians to invade in 1939 to prepare to invade Greece. His credibility ruined, Zog was easily ousted by the Communists in 1946.

1 January 1946, Tuesday (+238) Test flights began at an airfield west of London, called Heathrow, to be developed as a major civilian airport.

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31 December 1945, Monday (+237) Most Berliners were subsisting on just 800 calories a day; in 1946 in the British sector rations dropped on occasion to a slow as 400 calories a day, less than was received by the inmates at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Not only was food desperately short but numbers to be fed were swollen by huge numbers of German refugees from eastern Europe. Medical supplies were also virtually non-existent, and 43 of Berlin�s 44 hospitals had been destroyed or badly damaged. Typhoid spread due to broken water mains and damaged sewers. Then mosquitoes and other insects feeding on corpses spread disease, and dysentery killed 6 out of 10 babies born in Berlin in July 1945. Another lethal hazard was unexploded ordnance, shells, mines and grenades. In 1945 Berlin women outnumbered men by 3 to 1.

30 December 1945, Sunday (+236) (Britain, Food) The SS Tilapia docked in Bristol with the first cargo of bananas to enter the UK since the War, since 11/1940, when the UK Government banned all fruit imports except oranges.

29 December 1945, Saturday (+235) Koreans attacked US soldiers in Seoul in protest at the decision to wait as long as five years to restore Korean independence.

28 December 1945, Friday (+234) Theodore Dreiser, US author (born 27 August 1871 in Terre Haute, Indiana), died in Hollywood, California.

27 December 1945. Thursday (+233) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, commonly known as the �World Bank�, was established. The Bank began operations, officially, in June 1946 at its headquarters at Washington, DC. The IMF was also established this day.

21 December 1945, Friday (+227) (1) France appointed Jean Monnet as head of a commission to repair and develop French industry.� He evolved the Monnet Plan which with 5 years enabled French industry to surpass its per-war output level.

(2) US General Patton was killed in a road accident whilst commanding the 5^th US Army in West Germany.

17 December 1945, Monday (+223) Christopher Cazenove, actor, was born.

15 December 1945. Saturday (+221) Iranian Azerbaijan declared itself an independent republic, following a Communist-led revolt there against Tehran in November 1945. On 11 December 1946 Iranian troops re-conquered the province.

12 December 1945, Wednesday (+218) Frederick Fox, champion jockey, died (born 2/1888).

11 December 1945. Tuesday (+217) The new Waterloo Bridge, London, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, fully opened.� Half its width had been in use since 1942.

10 December 1945, Monday (+216)

8 December 1945, Saturday (+214)At the Nuremberg Trials it emerged that Hitler had expected the Spanish General Franco to seize Gibraltar from Britain.

7 December 1945. Friday (+213) The Japanese General Yamashita was sentenced to death as a war criminal � on the anniversary of Pearl Harbour � and was hanged the following month.

6 December 1945, Thursday (+212) U.S. General George C. Marshall testified at the Pearl Harbour inquiry that he did not anticipate the attack but that an "alert" defence would have prevented all but "limited harm�.

5 December 1945. Wednesday (+211) Five US Navy bombers on a training flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, disappeared over the area later known as the Bermuda Triangle, with 27 crew. When radio contact with the 5 planes was lost, a 6^th plane was sent to search for them; it too disappeared without trace.

4 December 1945, Tuesday (+210) T H Morgan, US biologist, died aged 79.

3 December 1945, Monday (+209) The Arab League voted in Cairo to boycott all goods from Jewish Palestine.

2 December 1945, Sunday (+208) (US, Islam, Jewish) The Arab world began a general boycott of Israel, to geographically isolate the country. The boycott was to cover not just companies trading with Israel or with Israeli companies but also companies doing business with these companies. In 1977 the US, under President Carter, declared it illegal for US companies to participate in this boycott. In the 1990s Israel insisted upon the dismantling of the boycott, which was estimated to have cost the country some US$ 40 billion, as part of the Peace Process. In 2001, however, the Arab League�s Boycott Office resumed activities as part of its support for the Palestinians during the Intifada.

1 December 1945, Saturday (+207) Soviet and US troops, which had jointly occupied Czechoslovakia since the War, now pulled out. However the USSR kept divisions close to its border with Czechoslovakia.

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30 November 1945, Friday (+206) Roger Glove, Welsh bass player songwriter, was born.

29 November 1945. Thursday (+205) King Peter of Yugoslavia was ousted from power and a Communist Republic declared.

28 November 1945, Wednesday (+204) Dwight F Davis, founder of the Davis Cup tennis tournament, died.

27 November 1945, Tuesday (+203) British racing car driver Alain de Cadenet was born.

26 November 1945, Monday (+202) John McVie, bassist, was born in London

25 November 1945, Sunday (+201)

23 November 1945, Friday (+199) English racing car driver Tony Pond was born.

22 November 1945, Thursday (+198) The famous Hollywood Canteen, which catered to Allied servicemen and women during the war, shut its doors.

21 November 1945, Wednesday (+197) Goldie Hawn, actress, was born.

20 November 1945. Tuesday (+196) The Nuremberg Trials began. Setting up a war crimes tribunal was unprecedented and an act of doubtful legality, but the world had a keen desire to see revenge for the atrocities the Nazis had committees, especially in their concentration camps. 24 Nazi leaders were on trial. Defendants included Goering, Hess, and Ribbentrop. On 16 October 1946 the executions of the guilty began. These included Von Ribbentrop, Rosenberg, and Streicher.

19 November 1945, Monday (+195) General MacArthur ordered the arrest of 11 Japanese wartime leaders, including ex-Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka and General Sadao Araki.

18 November 1945, Sunday (+194) Dr W N Leek, in Cheshire, claimed that the falling UK birth-rate was due to people wearing pyjamas in bed instead of nightshirts.

17 November 1945, Saturday (+193) Sukarno became de facto leader of Indonesia

16 November 1945, Friday (+192) The Communist Azerbaijani Democratic Party began an uprising in Iran�s Azerbaijan Province.

15 November 1945, Thursday (+191) Thomas Stack, champion jockey, was born.

14 November 1945, Wednesday (+190) Riots broke out in Tel Aviv over the U.S.-British statement on Palestine, killing two and wounding 57.

13 November 1945. Tuesday (+189) (1) De Gaulle was elected President of France by the unanimous vote of all 555 deputies.� However he resigned within ten weeks when the Fourth Republic disagreed with his idea for a strong US-style Presidency.� See 21 December 1958.

(2) Britain and the USA announced the creation of a joint committee to decide the future of Palestine.

12 November 1945. Monday (+188) Marshall Tito�s National Front Party secured an overwhelming majority in general elections.

11 November 1945, Sunday (+187) Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua, was born.

10 November 1945, Saturday (+186) (1) The Communist Enver Hoxha established a Republican government in Albania, recognised by the UK, USA, and the USSR.

(2) In Poland a Central Planning Office was established; renamed as the State Planning Commission in 1949.

9 November 1945, Friday (+185) Martial law ended in Bulgaria and demobilization began.

8 November 1845, Thursday (+184) British commander E.C. Mansergh ordered all Indonesians to surrender their arms by 6 a.m. Saturday or face �all the naval, army and air forces under my command�. That night President Sukarno of the unrecognized Indonesian Republic appealed to President Truman and Prime Minister Attlee to intervene in the conflict to prevent bloodshed.

7 November 1945, Wednesday (+183) The jet aircraft Meteor EE454 reached the record speed of 606 mph.

6 November 1945. Tuesday (+182) The USSR said it would build its own atom bomb.

5 November 1945, Monday (+181) In Britain, a seven-week dock strike ended.

4 November 1945. Sunday (+180) General election in Hungary. Communists won just 17% of the vote, with the Smallholders Party winning with 60% of the vote. Zoltan Tildy of the Smallholders Party formed a coalition government.

3 November 1945. Saturday (+179) Gerd Muller, German footballer, was born in Nordlingen.

2 November 1945, Friday (+178) 42 staff members of Dachau concentration camp were indicted at Nuremberg.

1 November 1945, Thursday (+177) (Innovation) The Slinky coil was patented by Richard James in Pennsylvania.

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31 October 1945, Wednesday (+176) Brian Doyle-Murray, actor, comedian and screenwriter, was born in Chicago, Illinois

30 October 1945. Tuesday (+175) Henry Winkler, actor, was born.

29 October 1945. Monday (+174) (1) Biro pens went on sale in New York for the first time. Priced at US$1.25 at Gimbels store, some 10,000 were sold in one day.

(2) The Harwell Atomic Energy Research Establishment was set up.

(3) �President Vargas of Brazil was forced out by the military, but regained the Presidency in 1950 elections.

28 October 1945, Sunday (+173) Gilbert Emery, US actor, died aged 70.

27 October 1945, Saturday (+172) Luis Inacio da Silva, who was elected President of Brazil on� 6 October 2002, was born.

26 October 1945, Friday (+171) Pat Conroy, author, was born in Atlanta, Georgia (died 2016)

25 October 1945, Thursday (+170) (China) Taiwan was formally ceded by Japan to China.

24 October 1945. Wednesday (+169) (1) The United Nations Charter came into force, see 18 April 1946.

(2) Vidkun Quisling was hanged as a war criminal, at Askerhus Fortress, Oslo. He had joined the Norwegian Fascist Party (Nasjonal Samlung) in 1933, and had encouraged Hitler to invade Norway. He was also held responsible for sending nearly 1,000 Norwegian Jews to Nazi concentration camps. See 10 September 1945.

(3) In Hungary, key industries and the banking sector were nationalised, as part of the Kosice Programme.

23 October 1945, Tuesday (+168) Kim Larsen, rock musician, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.

22 October 1945, Monday (+167) Sheila Sherwood, athlete (long jump), was born.

21 October 1945, Sunday (+166) Elections in France provided gains for the Left. The Communists won 148 seats, the Socialists 134, Radical Socialists 35 (the Popular Republican Movement won 141 seats), Conservatives 62 seats, others 2 seats.

20 October 1945, Saturday (+165) George Wyner, actor, was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

19 October 1945, Friday (+164) Divine, actor, was born.

18 October 1945, Thursday (+163) In Venezuela, a coup by the Leftist Action Democratica Party. Romulo Betancourt (1908-81) was installed as President.

17 October 1945, Wednesday (+162) Dave Cutler, Canadian footballer, was born.

16 October 1945, Tuesday (+161) The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was established.� Its aim was to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living.

15 October 1945, Monday (+160) Pierre Laval, leader of the French Vichy government, was executed for treason for collaboration with the Nazis.

14 October 1945, Sunday (+159) Kim Il Sung returned to North Korea (in the uniform of a Soviet Red Army Major) to receive a hero�s welcome. Soviet policy in North Korea was to install North Korean Communists in key positions swiftly after the War ended to reinforce Communist rule in the northern half of the country.

12 October 1945, Friday (+157)

11 October 1945. Thursday (+156) Fighting broke out in China between the Nationalists under Chiang Kai Shek and the Communists under Mao Tse Tung.

10 October 1945, Wednesday (+155) The Communist Party of Korea was founded. North Korea observes Party Foundation Day every October 10 as a national holiday.

9 October 1945. Tuesday (+154) Pierre Laval, Prime Minister of Vichy France, was sentenced to death.

8 October 1945, Monday (+153) Percy Spencer, a radar expert, patented the first microwave oven. His employer gave him a bonus of 2 US$. US engineers working on the magnetron, a crucial component of radar systems in World War Two, had noticed how food items in the lab would warm up when near this apparatus; in fact engineers used to test if the magnetron was working by putting their finger near it to see if it warmed up

5 October 1945, Friday (+150) Striking Warner Brother workers rioted at Hollywood, after a 6-month strike, an incident known as Hollywood Black Friday.

3 October 1945, Wednesday (+148) Christopher Bruce, dancer, was born.

2 October 1945, Tuesday (+147) Don McLean, songwriter, was born.

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26 September 1945. Wednesday (+141) Bela Bartok, composer, died.

24 September 1945, Monday (+139) John Rutter, composer, was born

22 September 1945, Saturday (+137) MacArthur issued instructions for setting up an International War Tribunal to try major Japanese war criminals.

21 September 1945, Friday (+136) Jerry Bruckheimer, TV film producer, was born.

20 September 1945, Thursday (+135) Alexander Purves, rugby player, was born.

19 September 1945. Wednesday (+134) Clement Attlee, UK Prime Minister, promised India will have independence.

15 September 1945, Saturday (+130) Japan was occupied by Allied forces under General MacArthur.� See 28 April 1952, and 14 August 1945.

13 September 1945, Thursday (+128) Lieutenant General Hatazo Adachi of Japan surrendered. Just 13,000 of his orig8inal 65,000 men were left alive. He was sentenced to life imprisonment as a war criminal, and committed suicide in 1947.

12 September 1945, Wednesday (+127) An estimate of War casualties reckoned that Britain had lost 420,000 members of the armed forces; the US had lost 292,000, and the USSR, 13 million. German loss of military men was put at 3.9 million, Japan�s at 2.6 million. British civilian casualties from air raids were set at 60,000, with 860,000 severely injured.

11 September 1945, Tuesday (+126) Japanese General Hideki Tojo attempted suicide when American troops arrived at his home to arrest him as a war criminal. Tojo shot himself below the heart with a revolver, but survived.

10 September 1945. Monday (+125) Vidkun Quisling was sentenced to death at Oslo for collaborating with the Nazis. He had been puppet Prime Minister during the Nazi occupation of Norway. He was executed on 24 October 1945, by firing squad, at Akershus Fortress, Oslo.

9 September 1945, Sunday (+124) Japanese forces in China formally surrendered to Chiank Kai Shek in Nanjing.

8 September 1945. Saturday (+123) The USA and USSR agreed to divide the Korean Peninsula.

7 September 1945, Friday (+122) Berlin Victory Parade of 1945: The Allies held a victory parade in Berlin. The Soviet JS-3 heavy tank was displayed in public for the first time.

6 September 1945, Thursday (+121) A leftist committee led by Woon Hyung Lyuh proclaimed itself the official Government of an independent South Korea. However the US under Lieutenant John R Hodge, Commanding General of US forces in Korea, refused to recognise this Government. The US wanted to establish a trusteeship to supersede both the US military administration in the South and the Soviet-backed administration in the North. The Korean Government in exile declared itself as a political party, not the government.

5 September 1945. Wednesday (+120) Singapore re-occupied by the British. See 15 February 1942.

4 September 1945, Tuesday (+119) The Japanese garrison on Wake Island formally surrendered to the USA, see 23 December 1941..

3 September 1945, Monday (+118) General Tomoyuki Yamashita formally surrendered the remaining Japanese troops in the Philippines to United States Army General Jonathan M. Wainwright, the same commander who was compelled to surrender to Yamashita at Corregidor in 1942.

2 September 1945, Sunday (+117) Formal surrender of Japan, see 14 August 1945. The Japanese Chief of Staff, General Yoshijiro Umezo, signed the surrender document on board the USS Missouri, in front of General McArthur.

1 September 1945. Saturday (+116) British troops took control of Hong Kong.

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31 August 1945, Friday (+115) Douglas MacArthur established the Supreme Allied Command in Tokyo.

30 August 1945, Thursday (+114) The British Royal Navy returned to Hong Kong.

29 August 1945, Wednesday (+113) The Xinghua Campaign began in China.

28 August 1945. Tuesday (+112) US troops landed in Japan.

24 August 1945, Friday (+108) Vince McMahon, professional wrestling entrepreneur, was born.

20 August 1945, Monday (+104) The US terminated the Lend Lease Act, as hostilities had ceased� Passed by US Congress in 1941, it offered help to the UK, under attack from the Nazis.� However US aid to Europe continued under the Marshall Plan.

19 August 1945. Sunday (+103) Soviet troops occupied Harbin and Mukden in Manchuria; 100,000 Japanese there surrendered.

18 August 1945 Saturday (+102) The Soviet invasion of the Kuril Islands began, opening with the Battle of Shumshu.

17 August 1945, Friday (+101) Indonesia was proclaimed an independent republic, under Dr Sukarno, after its liberation from Japanese forces.� The PNI (Indonesian Nationalist Party) proclaimed a Republic in the city they called Jakarta, and the Dutch called Batavia.� The Dutch and the PNI began fighting.

16 August 1945, Thursday (+100) Emperor Hirohito issued a decree at 4:00 p.m. local time ordering all Japanese forces to cease fire. The Japanese cabinet resigned.

15 August 1945, Wednesday (+99) Marshal Petain was convicted of treason (see 23 July 1945) and sentenced to death. Like all death sentences on minors and women, this was commuted by President De Gaulle to life and the 90-year-old Marshal was confined to the Ile de Yeu off the Vendee coast. In June 1951 Petain, feeble and devoid of mental faculties, was released; he died less than a month later. Overall in France the purge of collaborators, known as l�epuration (the purification) lasted from September 1944 to the end of 1949. Just over 2,000 death sentences were handed down, of which 768 were carried out. Even the entertainer Maurice Chevalier, who had merely entertained French PoWs in Germany, narrowly escaped a firing squad. Some 12x this number of those officially executed were summarily shot by firing squad immediately after liberation.

14 August 1945. Tuesday (+98) (1) Japan surrendered unconditionally. This marked the end of World War II. VJ day was officially celebrated on the following day, the 15^th August. The Japanese surrender was officially accepted by General Douglas MacArthur on the US aircraft carrier Missouri on 2 September 1945. Between November 1944 and August 1945 nearly 70 Japanese cities were pulverised, with around 300,000, mostly civilians, killed.

(2) J M Keynes warned that Britain was facing a �financial Dunkirk� as Lend Lease was ended (see 20 August 1945). Britain�s overseas debts had risen from UK� 496 million in 1939 to UK� 3,500 million in 1945. Pre-War gold and Dollar reserves had been used up, along with UK�1,118 million of overseas investments. The UK only avoided bankruptcy with a US$ 4,000 million loan from the USA, granted on strict terms including abandoning the trade preferences granted to Commonwealth countries and making Sterling fully convertible. When these terms were implemented in 1947, Sterling crashed.

(3) (China, Russia) The Soviet Union concluded a Treaty of Friendship with Nationalist China. This included handing over Manchuria, which the Soviets had conquered from Japanese forces, to China. However before the Soviets moved out, they stripped the region of all the military and industrial equipment they could move, and took this, along with many Japanese PoWs, back to Russia to support their own industrial reconstruction.

13 August 1945, Monday (+97) The World Zionist Congress demanded the admission of 1 million Jews to Palestine.

12 August 1945, Sunday (+96) Soviet forces occupied North Korea, Sakhalin and the Kurile islands.

11 August 1945, Saturday (+95) The US drafted General Order No.1, providing for Japanese forces in Korea north of the 38^th parallel to surrender to the Soviets; those south of the 38^th parallel to surrender to the Americans. The Soviets began to seal off the North at the 38^th parallel, whilst the US was keen to halt any further southwards penetration by Russian soldiers.

10 August 1945, Friday (+94) Emperor Hirohito of Japan announced he was prepared to surrender unconditionally. The US cancelled plans to drop two further atoms bombs, scheduled for 13 and 16 August.

9 August 1945. Thursday (+93) The second atomic bomb was dropped, on Nagasaki. 40,000 were killed here.� The intended target, Kokura, was obscured by cloud.

8 August 1945. Wednesday (+92) (1) The USSR, under Stalin, declared war on Japan. The USSR invaded Japanese-held Manchuria, and northern Korea.

(2) The International Military Tribunal that was set up to try major war criminals named by the major four powers agreed the London Charter. War criminals would be tried for a) crimes against peace, waging a war of aggression, b) war crimes, violating the laws and customs of war, and c) crimes against humanity, inhumane treatment� and persecution of civilians/ Those who participated on formulating or executing a common plan or conspiracy to commit these crimes would also be tried.

7 August 1945, Tuesday (+91) Radio Tokyo reported unspecifically about an attack on Hiroshima. The Americans were unable to immediately assess the results for themselves because of impenetrable cloud over the detonation site. Late in the day, Imperial Japanese headquarters referred to a "new type of bomb" used on Hiroshima, admitting that "only a small number of the new bombs were released, yet they did substantial damage.

6 August 1945. Monday (+90) The first atomic bomb was dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan, from the B29 bomber Enola Gay. At 8.15 in the morning a nuclear chain reaction in the bomb built up a temperature of several million degrees centigrade. In 0.1 milliseconds a fireball at 300,000 degrees centigrade was created, and this expanded to 250 yards in diameter one second after detonation. The mushroom cloud reached 23,000 feet into the sky. 78,000 of the city�s population of 300,000 was killed, some instantaneously, by the blast, some later by the firestorm that the bomb created, and another 90,000 injured, many seriously.

5 August 1945, Sunday (+89) The U.S. Twentieth Air Force flew over twelve Japanese cities and dropped 720,000 pamphlets warning their populations to surrender or face devastation.

4 August 1945, Saturday (+88) The US dropped leaflets over Hiroshima, warning that their city was to be obliterated.

3 August 1945, Friday (+87) The American government announced that every Japanese and Korean harbour of consequence had been mined, leaving Japan totally blockaded.

2 August 1945, Thursday (+86) The Potsdam Conference (began 16 July 1945) ended without agreement on the future of Europe. The Soviets would not agree to free elections in Eastern Europe.

1 August 1945. Wednesday (+85) Family Favourites record request programme began on the BBC.

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31 July 1945, Tuesday (+84) On Tinian, the assembly of the Little Boy atomic bomb was completed.

30 July 1945, Monday (+83) The Japanese submarine I-58 sank the USS Indianapolis, killing 833 seamen.

29 July 1945, Sunday (+82) (1) The BBC Light Programme began broadcasting.

(2) Japan rejected a US ultimatum to surrender. The US estimated that 1 million Allied casualties would ensue from a land invasion of Japan.

28 July 1945, Saturday (+81) A B-25 bomber crashed into the 78^th floor of the Empire State Building, killing the 3 crew and 11 passengers.

27 July 1945, Friday (+80) On the Philippine island of Tinian, the Little Boy atomic bomb began being prepared for use.

26 July 1945. Thursday (+79) (1) Clement Attlee�s Labour Government came to power with a huge majority of 173 seats. The result was Labour, 412 seats, Conservative 213 seats, and Liberals 12 seats. Clement Attlee was born in Putney, London, on 3 January 1883. The former government of Winston Churchill was defeated. Churchill�s warning that �no Socialist system can be established without some form of political police or Gestapo� did the Conservatives more harm than Labour, as voters thought it ridiculous to compare politicians like Attlee and Bevan to Hitler. However the new Labour Government now faced severe economic problems. �4 billion of British foreign investments had gone, exports were half the 1938 level, industry was damaged and run-down, and 700,000 houses in London alone were bomb damaged. Then there were the Labour commitments to a Welfare State, free healthcare, and the nationalisation of major industries. Politically the USA and USSR emerged as superpowers, but Britain had lost its premier standing in the world forever.

(2) In the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, the banks were closed and citizens ordered to hand over all their gold, silver, foreign currency and other valuables to the Russians, who were also dismantling factories and taking them to Russia as reparations.

(3) In the war against Japan, the Allies issued their final terms for peace; the Potsdam Declaration. This failed to guarantee the post-surrender retention of the Japanese Emperor, Hirohito; which was the only guarantee the Japanese were seeking for surrender. Therefore the war continued, culminating in the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In fact the Emperor was allowed to remain, post-surrender.

25 July 1945, Wednesday (+78) The British 14^th Army captured the railhead of Taunggyi in Shan State, north eastern Burma.

24 July 1945, Tuesday (+77) (Japan) US President Harry Truman told Joseph Stalin that a new and powerful weapon was ready to be deployed against Japan, but did not provide any specific information. Truman was relieved that Stalin did not ask for further details; in fact the Russians already knew from their spies. The atom bomb was used against Japan, but it was also intended to deter Russia from attempting to occupy Japan.

23 July 1945, Monday (+76) Marshal Petain was charged with treason, see 15 August 1945.

22 July 1945, Sunday (+75) Art treasures worth an estimated $500 million U.S. that had been looted by the Germans during the war were returned to Florence, Italy.

21 July 1945, Saturday (+74) John Lowe, darts champion, was born.

20 July 1945, Friday (+73) Paul Valery, French poet, died aged 74.

19 July 1945, Thursday (+72) Heinrich Wolfflin, Swiss art historian, died aged 81.

18 July 1945, Wednesday (+71) (1) The Belgian Senate voted to forbid the return of Leopold III.

(2) The first atom bomb explosion was achieved, at Alamogordo, USA.

17 July 1945, Tuesday (+70) The Potsdam Conference began, attended by Allied leaders Truman, Stalin, and Churchill (later replaced by Attlee).

16 July 1945. Monday (+69) The atom bomb, produced at Los Alamos, was tested at Alamogordo airbase in the desert of New Mexico. See 8 March 1950.

12 July 1945, Thursday (+65) Japan sought clearance from Russia for sending an envoy to Moscow, which would probably have been Prince Konoe. The Japanese Ambassador in Moscow, Naotake Sako, sought approval for this, but he warned that if the UK and USA insisted on unconditional surrender, Japan would fight to the end. Russia refused to make any decision.

10 July 1945, Tuesday (+63) US military strategists began planning the invasion of mainland Japan, starting with Honshu and Kyushu.

7 July 1945, Saturday (+60) Trains carried a record 102,889 holidaymakers to Blackpool. UK beaches had been off limits to civilians since the War began in 1939. In 1948 the Holidays With Pay Act increased the holiday trade even more.

6 July 1945, Friday (+59) US Chiefs of Staff plan the evacuation of 400 top German scientists.

5 July 1945, Thursday (+58) UK General Election. The results were delayed three weeks to allow for postal votes cast overseas by members of the armed forces.

4 July 1945, Wednesday (+57) Britain gave consent to use the Atom Bomb against Japan.

3 July 1945, Tuesday (+56) In the USA, Ford restarted the manufacture of cars, over a month before the war with Japan actually ended. Overall Ford manufactured 34,440 cars dur8ing 1945, which were very similar to the cars made until 1942. New car styles only appeared from around 1949.

1 July 1945. Sunday (+54) The average wage of a bricklayer on London was 2s (10p) an hour; in Glasgow it was 2s 2d (11p) an hour. A 4lb (1.75 kg) loaf of bread cost 8d (3.3p) A gallon of petrol cost 1s 11d (9 �p). A week at the Victoria Hotel, Buttermere, Lake District, with full board, cost �5 5s (�5.25). Quite expensive for the London bricklayer.

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28 June 1945, Thursday (+51) Kenneth Buchanan, boxer, was born in Edinburgh.

27 June 1945, Wednesday (+50) William Sturgess, champion walker, died (born 2 April 1871).

26 June 1945, Tuesday (+49) The Charter for the United Nations was signed by the US.

25 June 1945. Monday (+48) The Charter for the United Nations was drawn up in San Francisco, and signed by 50 countries. This was the successor to the League of Nations. See 18 April 1946.

24 June 1945, Sunday (+47) In Thailand, British bombers destroyed the two railway bridges over the notorious River Kwai, built with slave labour

23 June 1945, Saturday (+46) Representatives of the Big Four powers (China, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union) agreed to admit Poland to the United Nations.

22 June 1945. Friday (+45) US troops captured Okinawa.

21 June 1945, Thursday (+44) Ford announced the start of post-War car production in Britain.

20 June 1945, Wednesday (+43) Anne Murray, singer, was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, Canada

19 June 1945, Tuesday (+42) Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar human rights activist, was born.

18 June 1945, Monday (+41) (1) The first demobilisations began in Britain (see 22 September 1944).

(2) In Hungary, as part of the Kosice Programme, the expulsion of all Germans and Magyars who had not been anti-Fascists was ordered. They had mostly left by the end of 1946. Large Hungarian estates were expropriated and converted into State farms.

17 June 1945, Sunday (+40) Ken Livingstone, first Mayor of London, was born in London, England.

16 June 1945, Saturday (+39) Sean Kelly was elected President of Ireland.

15 June 1945. Friday (+38) Family Allowance payments were introduced in Britain. The rates were 5 shillings (25 pence) for the second child and subsequent ones, but nothing for the first child.

14 June 1945, Thursday (+37) Joachim von Ribbentrop was captured in Hamburg.

13 June 1945, Wednesday (+36) Australian forces captured Brunei City.

12 June 1945, Tuesday (+35) Patrick Jennings, footballer, was born.

10 June 1945, Sunday (+33)

9 June 1945, Saturday (+32) Russia established Soviet Military occupation in Germany (SMAD), in Berlin.

8 June 1945, Friday (+31) Derek Underwood, cricketer, was born.

7 June 1945, Thursday (+30) First performance in London of Benjamin Britten�s opera, Peter Grimes, a story of frustrated homosexuality based on the 1810 poem The Borough by George Crabbe.

6 June 1945, Wednesday (+29) (1) The Japanese Supreme Council passed a resolution to fight to the end, to uphold Japanese national honour. The entire adult civilian population would be expected to back up the military in resisting any US invasion. However on 22 June 1945 Emperor Hirohito, despite initially appearing to accept this Resolution, told the Supreme council that they must take steps towards peace.

(2) Bob (Robert Nesta) Marley, reggae musician,� was born in Jamaica.

5 June 1945. Tuesday (+28) Allied commanders signed a pact for the occupation of Germany; it was to be divided into 4 zones, British, French, USA, and USSR.

4 June 1945, Monday (+27) US forces landed on the Oruku peninsula, Okinawa, in an attempt to outflank Japanese defensive positions.

3 June 1945, Sunday (+26) Japan made its first peace approach to the Russians through Yakov Malik, Russian Ambassador to Japan. He remained non-committal, despite continued Japanese overtures throughout June 1945.

2 June 1945, Saturday (+25) Jon Peters, film producer, was born in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California.

1 June 1945, Friday (+24) Heavy air raid on Osaka, Japan; 20 square km of the city was totally destroyed.

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31 May 1945, Thursday (+23) The Norwegian Government returned to govern in Oslo, having been in exile in London.� King Haakon returned from London a week later.

30 May 1945, Wednesday (+24) Several thousand ethnic Germans were expelled from the Czech city of Brno. Many did not make it as far as the Austrian border but died en route; the Brno Death March.

29 May 1945, Tuesday (+21) Shuri, Okinawa, was captured

28 May 1945, Monday (+20) Lord Haw Haw, William Joyce, was arrested, see 3 January 1946.

27 May 1945, Sunday (+19) Naha, capital of Okinawa, was captured.

26 May 1945, Saturday (+18)

25 May 1945, Friday (+17) Heavy US bombing raid on Tokyo.

24 May 1945, Thursday (+16) The University of Lodz, Poland, was founded.

23 May 1945. Wednesday (+15) Heinrich Himmler, former Nazi Chief of Police, killed himself whilst in British custody. He had joined the waves of German civilian refugees unnoticed after VE Day and wandered aimlessly until he encountered a British checkpoint at Bremervorde, where his true identity was uncovered. As he was being searched he bit into a cyanide capsule and died.

22 May 1945, Tuesday (+14) Tiso, President of �Slovakia�, was arrested whilst in hiding in Austria.� He was tried for wartime collaboration in a Czechoslovak court and sentenced to death in April 1947.� Some Czechoslovaks pressed for a reprieve but the national government wanted the death sentence and he was executed, see 26 October 1939 and 18 April 1947.

21 May 1945, Monday (+13) Herbert Adams, US sculptor (born 28 January 1858) died.

20 May 1945, Sunday (+12) US. forces captured Malaybalay on Mindanao.

19 May 1945, Saturday (+11) Pete Townshend, musician in The Who, was born,

18 May 1945, Friday (+10) BS Chandrasekhar, cricketer, was born.

17 May 1945, Thursday (+9) French troops landed in Beirut to reassert colonial control.

16 May 1945, Wednesday (+8) Nicky Chinn, songwriter, was born in London

15 May 1945, Tuesday (+7) The last Nazi fighters in Yugoslavia ceased resistance.

14 May 1945, Monday (+6) The last of Germany�s U-Boats in the Atlantic surrendered at Londonderry.

13 May 1945, Sunday (+5) Rioting outside a Catholic church in Santiago, Chile which was holding a mass in memory of Benito Mussolini. Several people were injured and four arrests were made.

12 May 1945, Saturday (+4) The Japanese Supreme Council for the Conduct of War first discussed peace. They hoped that the USSR would want to see a strong Japan as a buffer between itself and the USA, and would be prepared to act as a mediator. In return, Japan would be prepared to surrender Port Arthur, Dairen, the South Manchurian Railways and the northern Kuriles.

11 May 1945. Friday (+3) Prague, the last European capital under Nazi occupation, was liberated.

10 May 1945, Thursday (+2) Vidkun Quisling was captured by Resistance fighters in Norway.

9 May 1945, Wednesday (+1) The German occupation of the Channel Islands ended. The German commander of the Channel Islands, Vice-Admiral Huffmeier, had threatened to fight on but his 10,000 men ignored him and surrendered without a shot being fired. The ordinary people had come close to starvation, subsisting on stewed rabbits and cabbage. As late as 7 May 1945 the German occupiers had been issuing orders to improve coastal fortifications.

8 May 1945. Tuesday (0) (1) VE Day. The Second World War officially ended in Europe, at one minute past midnight. Field Marshall Keitel signed the final capitulation. The Channel Islands remained under Nazi occupation till the following day, 9 May 1945. Street parties were held all over Britain.

UK Bomber Command has calculated the following statistics relating to the Second World War. 55,573 aircrew were killed, of whom 47,130 died on operations, 138 died as PoWs, and 8,090 were killed in �mon-operational incidents� (mostly flying accidents). Of those killed, 38,462 were British, 9,980 were Canadian, 4,050 were Australian and 1,703 were New Zealanders. 530 RAF groundcrew were killed, and 759 injured, in incidents such as bombs detonating when being loaded onto aircraft or being jammed in the bomb bay. Total bombs dropped on Axis countries amounted to 955,044 tons, of which 657,674 tons was dropped on Germany itself. 336,037 bombing raids were carried out by the RAF. 8,655 aircraft were reported as missing (failed to return). By the end of 1944 Allied raids had reduced German oil production by 40%, so that many German tanks and aircraft became unusable due to lack of fuel, even if they were serviceable.

German civilian casualties have been estimated at between 350,000 and 600,000.

Some 3.4 million German houses and flats had been destroyed out of a total of 17.1 million; a further 30% of homes had been severely damaged by bombing. The desperate housing shortage was exacerbated by an influx of some 10 million refugees from eastern Europe. Many Germans lived 5 or 6 to a room, or existed in makeshift shelters. Some, as at Dachau near Munich, lived in former concentration camps.

In Greater Manchester 684 people died in the bombing, and an additional 2,364 were injured.

See also Hungary for other War damage tolls.

(2) During French VE celebrations in Setif, Algerian nationalists again agitated for independence. An Algerian carried the forbidden Algerian green and white flag; he was shot dead by French police. The French aftermath was heavy handed, with mass arrests, and the deaths of several tens of thousands of Algerians; 103 Europeans also died.

7 May 1945. Monday (-1) German Chief of Staff Jodl unconditionally surrendered to Allied forces at Reims, ending the fighting in Europe. The surrender was at 2.40 am in a small schoolhouse that served as General Eisenhower�s headquarters. The last ship sunk by German forces, the Avondale Park, was lost. See 4 September 1939. Soviet forces took Wroclaw, south-west Poland.

6 May 1945, Sunday (-2) German forces in Norway surrendered.

5 May 1945. Saturday (-3) (1) Denmark liberated from Nazi occupation � see 9 April 1940.� German troops in Holland under General Johannes von Blaskowitz also surrendered to the Canadian Commander Charles Foulkes.

(2) Elsie Mitchell and the five children she was looking after were killed in Oregon by a Japanese balloon bomb.� They ware the only people killed in enemy action on the US mainland during World War Two.

4 May 1945, Friday (-4) German troops in The Netherlands, Denmark, north-west Germany surrendered.�

3 May 1945, Thursday (-5) (1) Hamburg captured� by the British.

(2) Rijeka (Fiume) was captured by the Yugoslavs; the Germans left, but blew up the port installations first.

(3) British forces took Rangoon, Burma.

(4) At a three-Power UK-USA-USSR Foreign Minister�s meeting in San Francisco, the UK dropped its summary execution stance for war criminals.

2 May 1945. Wednesday (-6) The one million German soldiers in Austria surrendered. Berlin finally surrendered to the Russians at 3 pm. British and Russian troops linked up at Wismar on the Baltic. Trieste captured by New Zealand forces.

1 May 1945, Tuesday (-7) (France-Germany) (1) Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide, having killed their six children with poison. US troops entered Bavaria. Berlin was totally in Russian hands.

(2) During May Day celebrations in Algiers, Algerian nationalist demonstrators staged an unauthorised march, with banners demanding independence from France. French attempts to halt the march led to the deaths of 10 Algerians and one Frenchman.

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30 April 1945. Monday (-8) (1) Adolf Hitler poisoned his wife Eva Braun with cyanide, then shot himself, in his Berlin bunker. They had married two days earlier. Hitler ordered that his body be burned; he was determined to avoid its being displayed as Mussolini�s had (28 April 1945). He feared even more being captured alive and taken to Moscow. German radio announced that Grand Admiral Doenitz was now leader of the Reich. Doenitz stated that the main aim was �to defend Germany from Bolshevism�; Doenitz and his supporters wanted to fight on, whilst another faction led by Heinrich Himmler wanted to surrender to both the Western Allies and Russia. As Hitler died, Soviet tanks were entering the ruins of central Berlin. There was panic on the Berlin streets as SS men shot deserting Nazi soldiers, whilst low-flying Soviet biplanes machine-gunned bread queues. Bodies littered once elegant streets, looted of all valuables.

(2) Turin entered by US forces.

(3) The face of Big Ben, London, was lit once more for the first time in 5 years 123 days, an important sign that the War was nearly over.

29 April 1945. Sunday (-9) (1) The Allies took Venice. German troops in Italy unconditionally surrendered at 12 noon on 29 April 1945. Munich entered by US forces. British troops crossed the Elbe near Hamburg. At 1am on 30 April 1945 Hitler was informed that all Nazi forces he had been hoping would relieve Berlin were now encircled or on the defensive.

(2) Allied planes began Operation Manna, a 10-day long food drop for the starving Dutch. During the �Hongerwinter� of 1944/5 severe cold weather had combined with a Nazi ban on food imports to The Netherlands and the scorched earth policy of the retreating Nazis to create a famine that killed 20,000 Dutch civilians, who had been reduced to eating tulip bulbs and stinging nettles. The RAF dropped 7,030 tons of food, and the US Air Force dropped a further 4,150 tons under Operation Chowhound; 3.5 million Dutch were saved from starvation before the German surrender of 8 May 1945. German forces still occupying Holland did not fire upon the food relief planes, flying at just 100 metres above ground.

28 April 1945, Saturday (-10) (1) Hitler married his mistress, Eva Braun, in his Berlin bunker, in the early hours of the morning. The act was a symbolic abandonment of Hitler�s plans for �national socialism�� - he had insisted that, as Fuhrer, he would have no ties to another human being. Meanwhile the Wehrmacht withdrew from the town of Demmin, north-eastern Germany, blowing up bridges as they retreated and abandoning the town�s civilians to the oncoming Red Army.

(2) Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were caught and shot in Azzano, near Milan, by Italian partisans, as they tried to flee Italy. Born in 1883, Mussolini allied with Nazi Germany in WW2. However as the allies invaded Italy the Italian Communist partisans decided to execute him. He tried to cross the frontier disguised as a German soldier retreating towards Innsbruck, Austria, but was recognised. Democracy was restored to Italy after 20 years and a neo � Fascist party supporting Mussolini�s ideals won only 2% of the vote in the Italian elections of 1948. The body of Mussolini, his mistress, and other government officials, were hung upside down in Milan.

(3) US General George Patton ordered that German civilians be taken to see the Dachau concentration camp.

27 April 1945, Friday (-11) Genoa captured by US forces. Berlin was now totally surrounded by Soviet forces, and Hitler received reports that Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, had offered to surrender to the western Allies.

26 April 1945, Thursday (-12) Bremen captured by Allied forces.

25 April 1945, Wednesday (-13) (1) US and Soviet forces met on the Elbe near Torgau. The Allies captured Verona. Italian partisans liberated Milan. Marshal Petain was arrested. Zhukov�s and Koniev�s armies met west of Berlin, surrounding it.

(2) An international conference to establish a world security organisation, the �United Nations�, opened in San Francisco.

24 April 1945, Tuesday (-14) Himmler offered to surrender the German Reich to the governments of Great Britain and the USA.

23 April 1945, Monday (-15) River Po reached by the Allies. Blackout restrictions removed in Britain.

22 April 1945, Sunday (-16) (1) Stuttgart taken by French forces.

(2) Hitler had continued, in his bunker, to �make military plans to repulse the Russians�. These plans involved German military units and planes that no longer existed. He ordered for this day a massive counter attack that would �annihilate the Soviet forces at the gates of Berlin� Hitler was then told that this attack had not taken place and that forces under SS General Felix Steiner were unable to rescue Berlin from Soviet occupation. He now had a total breakdown, screaming and shouting in rage.

21 April 1945, Saturday (-17) (1) (Germany) Soviet forces under Zhukov (1^st Belorussian Front) entered the suburbs of Berlin. Dessau entered by US forces.

(2) Bologna, Italy, was liberated by the Allies, cutting links between the German 10^th and 14^th Armies. It had been under German occupation from September 1943, when Italy switched sides in the War.

20 April 1945, Friday (-18) (1) Britain estimated its civilian casualties from the war at 146,760. Civilian casualties in London amounted to 80,307.

(2) Nuremberg, once the scene of huge Nazi rallies, fell to the Allies, on Hitler�s 56^th birthday. There was also the last air raid on Berlin. Soviet forces were to enter Berlin tomorrow. Since the first raid on 29 August 1940, some 76,652 tons of explosives and incendiary bombs had been dropped on the German capital. 50,692 tons were British, and 25,962 American. Soviet artillery also rained down some 40,000 tons of shells during the final stages of the war.

(3) The first Russian shell hit Berlin. A relentless bombardment of the city now began. Hitler emerged from his bunker, on his 56^th birthday, to walk his dog Blondi for the last time. A further attempt to walk his dog on surface a week later was prevented by the heavy shelling.

19 April 1945, Thursday (-19) US forces took Leipzig; the city was later handed to the Soviet sector, East Germany.

18 April 1945, Wednesday (-20) (1) Russians fighting on the Seelow Heights broke through westwards towards Berlin.� The US took Magdeburg (later handed to the Soviet Zone).�

(2) US troops under General Patton entered Czechoslovakia.

(3) Dachau concentration camp was liberated by the Allies.

17 April 1945, Tuesday (-21) The Battle of the Hongorai River began in New Guinea.

16 April 1945, Monday (-22) The Russians began a major assault on the Seelow Heights, crossing the Oder River.

15 April 1945. Sunday (-23) The Allies captured the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.� Eva Braun descended to Hitler�s bunker; she had previously resided in a private apartment in the Chancellery, since March 1945.

14 April 1945, Saturday (-24) Canadian forces in Holland reached the North Sea and captured Leeuwarden. French and US forces attacked Germans in the Bordeaux area. The Americans crossed the Elbe south of Dessau.

13 April 1945. Friday (-25) Vienna was captured� by Soviet troops from the Germans.

12 April 1945. Thursday (-26) (1) The Scottish Nationalists won their first by-election, gaining a seat from Labour at Motherwell. However Labour regained the seat at the General Election a few months later.

(2) Franklin D Roosevelt, 32^nd President from 1933, Democrat, died, aged 63, having suffered a massive stroke that day at Warm Springs, Georgia.. He was succeeded by Vice President Harry S Truman, as 33^rd President of the USA.

11 April 1945, Wednesday (-27) Buchenwald concentration camp, near Weimar, was liberated by US forces. On the Western Front, the Allies reached the Elbe, 60 miles from Berlin.

10 April 1945, Tuesday (-28) Hanover taken by US forces. The Nordhausen underground V2 assembly plant was overrun by US forces.

9 April 1945, Monday (-29) (1) Konigsberg, capital of east Prussia, taken by the Russians.

(2) Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian involved with anti-Hitler conspirators, was hanged in Flossenburg concentration camp.

8 April 1945, Sunday (-30) Cebu City fell to the Allies.

7 April 1945, Saturday (-31) Germany sent out 120 student pilots to face 1,000 American bomber planes with the objective of ramming their planes into the U.S. aircraft and then parachuting to safety. Only a few of the pilots managed to hit the bombers and three-quarters of the Luftwaffe pilots were shot down.

6 April 1945, Friday (-32) Allied forces began Operation Grapeshot, a renewed Spring offensive in Italy.

5 April 1945, Thursday (-33) British forces reached Minden.

4 April 1945, Wednesday (-34) Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, captured by Soviet forces. The last Wermacht forces evacuated Hungary. French forces entered Karlsruhe.

3 April 1945, Tuesday (-35) Hamm and Cassel captured by US forces.

2 April 1945, Monday (-36) The Soviet Army began an offensive to take Vienna.

1 April 1945, Sunday (-37) Easter Sunday (1) German forces in the Ruhr area trapped, and 21 German divisions destroyed.

(2) The Battle of Okinawa began as US troops landed on the island. US victory came 83 days later.

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31 March 1945, Saturday (-38) In the last days of war, Berlin maintained a surreal normality. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra continued recitals until now. Telephones functioned, the underground railway ran, and post continued to be delivered right up to the last few days of the war. Berlin workers still picked their way through rubble filled streets to work, often in offices whose windows had all been blown out.

30 March 1945. Friday (-39) The Russians took Danzig (Gdansk), Poland, also the town of Ratibor in Silesia.� The Poles renamed the city Gdansk,� from Danzig, expelled the Germans, and linked the city administratively with the neighbouring port of Gdynia, built on Polish territory in the 1920s.

29 March 1945, Thursday (-40) (1) Mannheim captured by US forces.

(2) Soviet troops entered Austria.

(3) The last three German V1 rockets fell on Britain. One fell into a sewage works near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, a second crashed near Sittingbourne, Kent, but did no damage, and a third was downed by anti-aircraft guns off the coast of Suffolk. No more German bombs reached the UK.

28 March 1945, Wednesday (-41) Gdynia captured by the Russians. Last air raid warning siren sounded in London.

27 March 1945. Tuesday (-42) The last German V-2 rocket fell on Britain, at Orpington. (see 8 September 1944).� The Allies then overran the last V-2 launching site. In all, 1,050 rockets fell on England, each carrying a ton of explosive with a range of 200 miles. 518 of these V2s hit London, killing 2,754 people and seriously injuring a further 6,523. The V-2s were designed by Werner von Braun, who surrendered to the Americans in 1945.� Von Braun was given US citizenship and helped design the rockets for the US space programme, including the Saturn rockets and the Apollo missions.

26 March 1945. Monday (-43) David Lloyd George, British Liberal Prime Minister from 1916 to 1922, died in Llanystundwy, near Criccieth, north Wales, aged 82.

25 March 1945, Sunday (-44) The US Army broke out of the bridgehead at Remagen and advanced 6 miles east (see 7 March 1945). After their failure to destroy the bridge, Germany sent the Luftwaffe to bomb it; 5 out of 20 Luftwaffe aircraft were lost, the bridge was successfully destroyed, but the Americans, holding both river banks, had laid temporary bridges alongside.

24 March 1945, Saturday (-45) Darmstadt captured by US forces.

23 March 1945. Friday (-46) The US 2^nd Army crossed the Rhine at Oppenheim. By 20 April 1945 British troops had advanced 200 miles into Germany.

22 March 1945, Thursday (-47) (1) Soviet forces broke the Danzig / Gdynia defence perimeter.

(2) The Arab League was formed.� The treaty was signed in Cairo this day, with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Yemen as members.� The League was intended to promote inter-Arab cultural, technical, and economic links, and to minimise conflict between Arab states, but it remained a loose association with no central authority. In 1979 the headquarters of the Arab league was moved from Cairo to Tunis, after Egypt was suspended for signing a peace treaty with Israel. It returned to Cairo in 1992.

21 March 1945, Wednesday (-48) Ludwigshaven entered by US forces.

20 March 1945. Tuesday (-49) Mandalay was recaptured from the Japanese.

19 March 1945, Monday (-50) Worms and Saarbrucken captured by US forces. Hitler issued an order to destroy all German industrial infrastructure, so the invading Allies would find nothing of value, but this order was ignored.

18 March 1945, Sunday (-51) (1) Major air raid on Berlin.

(2) Hitler issued his so-called �Nero order� � ordering the destruction of factories in the face of the Allied advance so the enemy could not use them. This order was widely ignored.

17 March 1945. Saturday (-52) Coblenz captured by the Americans, and Brandenburg, East Prussia, captured by the Russians.

16 March 1945, Friday (-53) Iwo Jima was totally occupied by US forces; 4,590 US soldiers were killed, out of a force of 30,000 attacking 23,000 Japanese who were heavily dug in with underground bunkers. See 19 February 1945. Iwo Jima, just 750 miles from Tokyo, could now be used as a base to bomb some 66 Japanese cities in an attempt to force a Japanese surrender.

15 March 1945, Thursday (-54) The Soviet Army launched the Upper Silesian offensive.

14 March 1945, Wednesday (-55) First use of ten-ton bombs by the RAF. The �Grand Slam�, 22,000 lbs, was dropped on Bielefeld railway viaduct.

13 March 1945, Tuesday (-56) The Battle of Kiauneliskis, Lithuania.

12 March 1945. Monday (-57) The young Jewish diarist Anne Frank died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

11 March 1945. Sunday (-58) (1) The huge Krupps factory in Germany was destroyed when 1,000 allied bombers took part in the biggest ever daylight raid.

(2) Cambodia, under Japanese instructions, declared its independence from France.

(3) Essen taken by US forces.

10 March 1945. Saturday (-59) Tran Kim declared Vietnam independent.

9 March 1945, Friday (-60) (1) A night of major firebombing of Tokyo began. Around 100,000 died, mostly the elderly, women and children; men were away fighting a war that Japan was by then losing badly.

(2) Japan, by now losing the war badly, staged a coup against the French administrators of Cambodia, arresting French officials and military administrators.

8 March 1945, Thursday (-61) Canadian forces took Xanten, Germany.

7 March 1945. Wednesday (-62) Cologne fell to the Allies. Allied troops crossed the Rhine by the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen. The Germans had intended to destroy this bridge like all others on the Rhine, as German resistance west of the Rhine had been crushed; however the explosive charges failed to detonate and US forces found the bridge intact and defended only by a few engineers and teenagers from the Volkssturm �Stalin became alarmed that the western Allies crossing of the Rhine so quickly meant the Americans would take Berlin, not the Russians. Stalin wanted the Nazi stores of uranium and above all their A-bomb expertise, located in a research facility in the south western Berlin suburb of Dahlem. However the US was concentrating on southern Germany.

6 March 1945, Tuesday (-63) German forces launched Operation Spring Awakening, their last offensive of the war. This was in Hungary, near Lake Balaton, and was aimed at securing some of the last oil supplies still available to the Germans, the Nagyakanisza oilfield. Troops from the failed Ardennes offensive were utilised. However by mid-March the operation had failed and the Germans were being pushed back by overwhelming Soviet strength. Also on this day the Soviets began arresting and executing any members of the Polish Home Army of Polish Government in Exile they could find.

5 March 1945. Monday (-64) The British captured the Japanese base of Meiktilla in Burma, cutting Japanese-occupied Burma in two.

4 March 1945, Sunday (-65) (Germany) Finland declared war on Nazi Germany.

3 March 1945, Saturday (-66) (Germany) Germany deployed 30 of its latest jet fighters against the Allies. The jets were individually superior to the Allied planes, but were too few in number, with too short an operational time, to significantly hamper Allied operations.

2 March 1945, Friday (-67) (1) Trier and Krefeld captured by US forces.

(2) The British 14^th army entered Mandalay, Burma.

(3) At Soviet insistence, Petru Groza was appointed Prime Minister of Romania and formed a pro-Soviet government.

1 March 1945, Thursday (-68) Roger Daltry, musician, was born.

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28 February 1945, Wednesday (-69) Part of the US 41^st Division landed at Puerto Princesa, Palawan. It met little resistance and the island was soon cleared.

27 February 1945, Tuesday (-70) Allied forces reached Meiktila, Burma.

26 February 1945, Monday (-71) The 19^th Indian Division began to advance on Mandalay, Burma, from the north.

25 February 1945, Sunday (-72) (Japan) Tokyo� was devastated by a firestorm in a raid by 172 B-29 bombers.

24 February 1945, Saturday (-73) Egypt declared war on Germany, largely to secure a place in the post-War United Nations. The announcement of war was made to the Egyptian Parliament by Ahmed Maher; as Maher left the Parliament he was assassinated, probably by the Muslim Brotherhood.

23 February 1945, Friday (-74) Turkey, reluctantly, declared war on Germany � only because the Allies had announced that only those nations who did so would be invited to take part in the United Nations Conference at San Francisco.

22 February 1945, Thursday (-75) (Germany) Poznan, on the Berlin to Warsaw road, fell to the 1^st Belorussian Front after a pocket of German soldiers there had been surrounded but held out.

21 February 1945, Wednesday (-76) (Japan) Japanese kamikaze airstrikes sank the US aircraft carrier Bismarck Sea and damaged the Saratoga.

20 February 1945, Tuesday (-77) (Japan) US marines captured the first airfield on Mindanao.

19 February 1945, Monday (-78) US forces began the invasion of Iwo Jima, see 16 March 1945.

18 February 1945, Sunday (-79) Judy Rankin, US golfer, was born.

17 February 1945, Saturday (-80) (Japan) Indian forces broke out of the bridgehead of Nyaungu against Japanese forces towards Mektila.

16 February 1945, Friday (-81) (1) US Air Force began heavy raids on Tokyo.

(2) The US took Bataan, Philippines.

15 February 1945, Thursday (-82) British troops reached the Rhine.

14 February 1945, Wednesday (-83) U.S. Army Air Forces bombed Prague. 701 people were killed and about 100 houses and historical sites were destroyed in what was attributed to a navigation mistake.

13 February 1945, Tuesday (-84) (1) Allied bombers devastated the German city of Dresden. Many civilians had moved to the cultural city of Dresden, and its population in 1945 was over 1,000,000. There were up to 400,000 casualties, including 130,000 civilian deaths. Dresden was famous for its 17^th and 18^th century architecture, but was also an industrial centre and was a key communications centre for the German armies on the Eastern Front. 1,400 RAF fighters and 450 US planes bombed Dresden over a 14 hour period.

(2) Soviet forces took Budapest.

(3) Soviet forces took Sommerfeld, just 80 miles from Berlin.

12 February 1945, Monday (-85) The Treaty of Varkiza was signed. The Greek resistance agreed to disarm and relinquish control of all the territory it occupied in exchange for legal recognition, free elections, and the removal of Nazi collaborators from the armed forces and police.

11 February 1945, Sunday (-86) The Yalta Conference ended. See 4 February 1945.

10 February 1945, Saturday (-87) Juan de Hernandez, composer, died aged 63.

9 February 1945, Friday (-88) (1) 2,000 US Air Force bombers, escorted by 900 fighter aircraft, hit oil targets across Germany. By now the entire Western Luftwaffe�s fighter strength was only around 900 aircraft; this US offensive cost the Luftwaffe a further 80 aircraft.

(2) War crimes policy was briefly discussed at Yalta. Stalin wanted trials, provided they were �not too judicial�, whilst Churchill still wanted summary shootings. No agreement was reached here.

8 February 1945, Thursday (-89) British and Canadian troops broke through the northern, weaker, section of the Seigfried Line near Millingen.

7 February 1945, Wednesday (-90) (Germany) All gains made by Germany in the Ardennes Offensive had now been erased, with the loss of 82,000 German soldiers and 77,000 US casualties.

6 February 1945, Tuesday (-91) (Germany) The US 8th Air Force bombed Magdeburg and Chemnitz.

5 February 1945, Monday (-92) (Germany) Soviet forces crossed the River Oder, and pushed deeper into Germany.

4 February 1945. Sunday (-93) (1) The Yalta Conference between the Allied leaders Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill opened in the Crimea. This conference concluded on 11 February 1945. Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin all had very different aims. Roosevelt wanted to disengage US troops from Europe to defeat Japan. Stalin wanted to extend Soviet influence as far west into Europe as possible. Stalin got to occupy eastern Poland, as agreed in Tehran on 28 November 1943. Churchill wanted to build a democracy from the ruins of Germany. The ailing Roosevelt trusted Stalin�s assurance that he would work to build a �peaceful and democratic world�. The West insisted that Greece be given a western-style democracy, but otherwise all of eastern Europe fell under the Soviet sphere. Stalin also gained Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands in return for a war effort against Japan that was never made. Yalta set the world order for the next 45 years.

(2) Belgium liberated of German forces.

3 February 1945. Saturday (-94) (1) The US recaptured Manila, which had fallen to the Japanese on 2 January 1942. Manila was not totally cleared of Japanese soldiers till 24 February 1945.

(2) The Reich Chancellery in Berlin was bomb4ed, including Hitler�s private apartment. This forced him to move into the underground bunker he had constructed in its grounds.

2 February 1945, Friday (-95) (1) (See 28 October 1944) Under Soviet occupation, the Bulgarian authorities began to try and execute various �war criminals� including Prince Cyril, former government ministers, and businessmen.� Further trials and executions continued till June 1945, when the legal process was declared complete.

(2) The French took Colmar.

1 February 1945, Thursday (-96) US forces reached the Seigfried Line, see 8 February 1945.

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31 January 1945. Wednesday (-97) (1) Food rations had shrunk considerably for urban Germans. The meat ration, 400g per week in 1941, fell to 362 g / week in 1944 and was just 156g / week by February 1945. The fat ration, 269g / week in June 1941, fell to156g / week in January 1945. Potatoes were still available but there was little to go with them. The bread ration stayed the same until April 1945.

(2) Soviet troops crossed the River Oder into the province of Brandenburg, north of Frankfurt, 40 miles from Berlin.

30 January 1945, Tuesday (-98) Adolf Hitler made his very last radio broadcast to Germany, marking 12 years of Nazi rule.

29 January 1945, Monday (-99) The Soviet 3rd Belorussian Front advanced into the city of Konigsberg.

28 January 1945, Sunday (-100) Soviet forces invaded Pomerania.

27 January 1945. Saturday (-101) (1) The Red Army captured Auschwitz. They found 8,000 prisoners remaining there; a further 80,000 had been forced to leave on a death march. However, of the 1.3 million who had entered Auschwitz during World war Two, 1.1 million died there; 6,000 a day were murdered there. The Red Army now captured Silesia, and the loss of the mines and factories there was a severe blow to Nazi war production.

(2) Russian forces captured Memel, liberating all of Lithuania.

26 January 1945, Friday (-102) German troops from the Battle of the Bulge now forced back to the German frontier.

25 January 1945, Thursday (-103) The Battle of the Bulge ended in Allied victory.

24 January 1945, Wednesday (-104) Gleiwicz in Silesia taken by the Russians, as was the key fortress of Lotzen in East Prussia. The Russians were now close to Konigsberg, capital of East Prussia.

23 January 1945, Tuesday (-105) Bromberg taken by the Russians.

22 January 1945, Monday (-106) (1) Roosevelt agreed to proposals for international trials of WW2 war criminals.

(2) Allenstein taken by the Russians.

21 January 1945, Sunday (-107) Russia and Hungary signed an armistice. Hungarian borders were returned to their position at 31 December 1937, renouncing the Vienna Awards.

20 January 1945, Saturday (-108) The German evacuation of East Prussia began. The 4th Ukrainian Front advancing through Slovakia took Presov.

19 January 1945, Friday (-109) Russian troops took Tilsit. They were now on the pre-War frontier of Germany.

18 January 1945, Thursday (-110) Soviet troops took Lodz.

17 January 1945, Wednesday (-111) Soviet and Polish troops captured Warsaw. Only 162,000 citizens remained, compared to a pre-war population of 1,310,000.� See 14 September 1945.

16 January 1945, Tuesday (-112) Hitler left his office in the Reich Chancellery, Berlin, for the last time, and descended to his bunker, 15 metres underground. By now most of Berlin�s buildings had been destroyed by Allied bombing.

15 January 1945, Monday (-113) Soviet forces captured Cracow from Germany.

14 January 1945, Sunday (-114) Radom in central Poland taken by the Russians.

13 January 1945. Saturday (-115) Budapest was completely in Soviet hands. Hungary, Nazi Germany�s last ally in the Balkans, was now siding openly with Russia.

12 January 1945, Friday (-116) 5.am, Moscow time, Konev�s 1^st Ukrainian Front began an offensive against Nazi forces from the Sandomierz bridgehead, north east of Cracow.

11 January 1945, Thursday (-117) The British escort carrier HMS Thane was torpedoed in the Irish Sea and declared a total loss.

10 January 1945, Wednesday (-118) Rod Stewart, British rock singer, was born in London.

9 January 1945. Tuesday (-119) Luzon in the Philippines was taken by the US from the Japanese. General Guderian warned Hitler that the eastern front was like a house of cards, ready to collapse at any time; Hitler dismissed reports of superior Russian military strength as �the greatest bluff since Genghis Khan�. In fact, the Soviets possessed a 5:1 advantage in manpower, a 7:1 advantage in artillery, and a 17:1 advantage in aircraft.

8 January 1945, Monday (-120) A general election in Egypt, boycotted by the Wafd Nationalists, was won by Ahmed Pasha.

7 January 1945, Sunday (-121) The US XXXIII Corps entered Schwegu, Burma.

6 January 1945, Saturday (-122) The Battle of the Bulge ended as German forces under Gerd von Rundstedt and Hasso von Manteuffel in the Ardennes were forced back by Allied forces under US General George Patton. See 16 December 1944. Hitler, to the despair of his Generals, started fantasising of a great offensive in the Alsace-Lorraine area, seemingly oblivious of the Russians advancing to the east.

5 January 1945, Friday (-123) Roger Spottiswoode, film director, was born in Ottawa, Canada

4 January 1945, Thursday (-124) Severe Kamikaze attacks on US ships.

3 January 1945, Wednesday (-125) The Dies Committee (see 26 May 1938), formed to monitor activities by Nazis and Communists within the USA, was given permanent status as the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

2 January 1945, Tuesday (-126) Allied air raid on Nuremberg.

1 January 1945, Monday (-127) Mindoro Island, Philippines, taken by US forces.

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31 December 1944, Sunday (-128) Rochefort retaken by the Allies.

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