On This Day 2026
Hello, … Welcome to day 22 of the year.

Thursday, January 22nd

Today is Come in From The Cold Day, National Hot Sauce Day, National Polka Dot Day. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Garnet.
1901 – Queen Victoria died after being diagnosed with ‘cerebral exhaustion’, aged 81 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. At the time, her reign was the longest in British history, spanning 63 years.
Queen Victoria died after being diagnosed with ‘cerebral exhaustion’, aged 81 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
Famous deaths
2018 – Chas Hodges (b. 1943), English musician and singer. He was the lead vocalist, pianist and guitarist of the musical duo Chas & Dave.
Today’s birthdays
1964 – Nigel Benn (62), English former professional boxer who competed from 1987 to 1996 (WBO middleweight, WBC super-middleweight), born in Ilford, East London.
1965 – DJ Jazzy Jeff (61), American DJ (“Summertime”, “Boom! Shake the Room”), producer and actor (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
1968 – Frank Leboeuf (58), French sports commentator and former professional footballer (Chelsea, Marseille, Hollywood United, French National Team), born in Marseille, France.
1968 – Guy Fieri (58) , American celebrity chef, author, and television host (Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives), born in Columbus, Ohio, United States.
1969 – Olivia d’Abo (57), English actress best known for her role as Karen, Kevin Arnold’s rebellious teenage sister in The Wonder Years, born in Paddington, London.
1971 – Stan Collymore (55), English football pundit, sport strategist, and former player (Liverpool, Aston Villa, Leicester City), born in Tittensor, Staffordshire.
1980 – Jonathan Woodgate (46), English football manager (AFC Bournemouth) and former player (England National Team, Middlesbrough), born in Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.
Famous deaths
1994 – Telly Savalas (b. 1922), American actor (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Birdman of Alcatraz), best known for portraying Lt. Theo Kojak on the crime drama series Kojak with a fondness for lollipops and whose trademark line was “Who loves ya, baby?”
2008 – Heath Ledger (b. 1979), Australian actor (10 Things I Hate About You, Brokeback Mountain, The Patriot, The Dark Knight).
The day today
1901 – Queen Victoria died after being diagnosed with ‘cerebral exhaustion’, aged 81 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. At the time, her reign was the longest in British history, spanning 63 years.

1924 – Stanley Baldwin resigned as British Prime Minister at the end of an unsuccessful election and the new Labour Party had their first Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald.

1927 – The first live radio commentary of a football match anywhere in the world, between Arsenal F.C. and Sheffield United, at Highbury.
1955 – Joe Davis recorded the first official maximum snooker break of 147 in an exhibition match at Leicester Square Hall. The first “Televised” 147 was made by Steve Davis in the 1982 Lada Classic against John Spencer.
1959 – Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver and one-time F1 world champion died, aged 29, in a road accident which involved a high-speed collision with a tree on the A3 bypass near Guildford driving his British Racing Green customised 1958 3.4-litre Jaguar saloon.
1962 – The ‘A6 Murder’ trial began, known for its high-profile nature, and controversy, leading to the execution of James Hanratty for the 1961 murder of Michael Gregsten and rape of Valerie Storie, though Hanratty always maintained his innocence, a claim supported by later DNA testing and doubts raised over witness identification. It was the longest murder trial in Britain at the time, becoming a famous miscarriage of justice case.
1979 – The UK faced widespread public sector strikes, known as the Winter of Discontent, where tens of thousands of council workers, NHS staff, and other public employees walked out over pay disputes, causing severe disruption to services and fueling political tension, ultimately contributing to the Labour government’s defeat in the May 1979 election.
1992 – Rebecca Ridgway became the first woman to row around Cape Horn in a canoe. The expedition began on 8th January in Chile & the 200 mile expedition, through the Beagle Channel to Cape Horn Island, was directed by her father, ex -transatlantic rower John Ridgway.
1992 – It was widely reported that a distraught Sarah, Duchess of York (Fergie), placed an airline sick bag over her head during a flight from Miami. The incident occurred as she was flying back to the UK amid significant media scrutiny following the publication of photos that showed an American businessman, Steve Wyatt, kissing her feet. Royal correspondent James Whitaker reported that during the mid-air “meltdown,” journalists observed her throwing peanuts, tissues, and wet towels around the cabin.
2015 – Survival expert Ray Mears, who was due to make at least £10,000 as a speaker at the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show was sacked after he chose caravans as one of his pet hates on the TV show ‘Room 101’.
2015 – Mothers invited to a Scottish Government-backed breastfeeding summit were left angry and bemused after being told that they would not be allowed to breastfeed their babies. The incident occurred despite the Breastfeeding etc. (Scotland) Act 2005, which makes it an offense to prevent a child from being fed milk in public.
2017 – Peter Maddox’s bright yellow Corsa car was targeted in the Cotswold village of Bibury by vandals who broke the rear window and scratched ‘move’ on the paintwork. In 2015 people had started to complain on social media that the car was constantly ‘photobombing’ their photographs of the quintessentially English cottages on Arlington Row, Bibury. In April 2017 a convoy of 100 yellow cars drove through Bibury in an act of solidarity.
Today in music
1959 – Alone with an acoustic guitar and tape recorder in his New York City apartment Buddy Holly made his last recordings, including ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’ and ‘That’s What They Say’. The recordings would be overdubbed posthumously and were later released by Coral Records.

1969 – The Beatles moved from Twickenham Film Studios to Apple Studios in London to start recording the “Get Back LP”. Billy Preston was brought into the sessions (John, Paul, and George knew Preston from 1962 when he was a member of Little Richard’s backing group). The Beatles were determined to record the album “live”, flaws and all.

1972 – Don McLean’s album American Pie started a seven-week run at No.1 on the US album chart. His second studio album was dedicated to Buddy Holly one of his childhood icons and featured both the chart-topping singles ‘American Pie’ (No.1 US hit for four weeks in 1972) and ‘Vincent’. The repeated phrase “the day the music died” in ‘American Pie’refers to a plane crash in 1959 that killed early rock and roll stars Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, ending the era of early rock and roll. This became the popular nickname for that crash.
1972 – David Bowie “came out” as bisexual during an interview in the British music weekly Melody Maker. Bowie later stated, “The biggest mistake I ever made [was saying] that I was bisexual. Christ, I was so young then. I was experimenting”.
1987 – One Hit Wonder Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Jack Your Body’, the first ‘House’ record to top the UK chart.
1994 – D:Ream had their first UK No.1 single with ‘Things Can Only Get Better’, it stayed at No.1 for four weeks. In 1997 the track was adopted by the UK Labour Party as their theme for the 1997 UK General Election. Keyboard player Brian Cox became a renowned physicist and science broadcaster on the BBC.
1994 – American actor and singer Telly Savalas died of prostate cancer aged 72. He scored the 1975 UK No.1 single ‘If’.
2006 – Arctic Monkeys scored their second UK No.1 single with ‘When The Sun Goes Down’, from their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. The song contains the line, “and he told Roxanne to put on her red light,” a reference to The Police song, Roxanne.
2012 – Adele broke an American chart record that has stood for years after being set by The Beatles and Pink Floyd. The singers second album 21 clocked up 16 weeks at No.1 on the US chart matching the success of the Titanic original soundtrack. 21, released last January had now beaten The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s and Pink Floyd’s The Wall which had previously held the accolade with runs of 15 weeks at No.1.
2015 – In the first successful celebrity case of its kind, Rihanna won a legal battle against UK high street store Topshop over a T-shirt bearing her image. The Court of Appeal in London upheld a ban on the store selling a sleeveless T-shirt featuring a photo of the star without obtaining her permission.
Today in history
871 AD – The Battle of Basing, in the then kingdom of Wessex (now Hampshire) following an invasion of Danes. The Saxon army, led by King Ethelred, was beaten but, like its predecessors, this was an indecisive battle. Ethelred died in April and was succeeded by Alfred the Great. Much of King Alfred’s 28 year reign was taken up with the Danish conflict.

1528 – England and France, led by Henry VIII and Francis I respectively, declared war on the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V as part of the wider Italian Wars.

1561 – The birth of Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Albans. He was a statesman, a lawyer, a philosopher, an essayist and Lord Chancellor of England. Some even claim that he was the real author of Shakespeare’s works.

1719 – The death of Sir William Paterson, Scottish trader, financier and co-founder of the Bank of England. Paterson was instrumental in the movement for the Union of Scotland and England, culminating in his support of the Act of Union – 1707.

1857 – The National Association of Base Ball (spelled as two words in the 19th century) Players (NABBP) was established in New York.

1879 – The Zulus massacred British troops at Isandlwana, the first major encounter in the Anglo–Zulu War. Later, at the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, two British officers and 150 British and colonial troops defended their garrison from the attacks of between 3,000 and 4,000 Zulu warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to the defenders, along with a number of other decorations and honours. The battle was immortalized in the 1964 film Zulu, starring Michael Caine.