On This Day 2026
Hello, … and welcome to day 31 of the year.

Saturday, January 31st

Today is National Hot Chocolate Day, International Zebra Day, Eat Brussel Sprouts Day and Support an Independant Pub Day. Your star sign is Aquarius and your birthstone is Garnet.
1990 – The first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union opened in Pushkin Square, Moscow, marking a historic, symbolic shift towards Western culture during glasnost (Russian for “openness”).
The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opened in Pushkin Square, Moscow, marking a historic, symbolic shift towards Western culture during glasnost (Russian for "openness").
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
1951 – Harry Wayne Casey / KC (55), American singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and co-founder of KC and the Sunshine Band (“Get Down Tonight”), born in Florida, United States.

1956 – John Lydon / Johnny Rotten (70), English singer-songwriter and lead vocalist with the punk rock band Sex Pistols (“Anarchy in the U.K.”), born in Holloway, Islington, London.

1970 – Minnie Driver (56), British and American actress (GoldenEye, Good Will Hunting, Grosse Pointe Blank, The Beekeeper), born in London.
1971 – Patrick Kielty (55), Northern Irish comedian, TV presenter (Patrick Kielty Almost Live, Debatable) and radio host (BBC Radio 5 Live), born in County Down, Northern Ireland.
1981 – Justin Timberlake (45), American singer (“Cry Me a River”, “Sexyback” and actor (In Time, The Social Network), born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States.
1981 – Gemma Collins (45), English media personality (The Only Way Is Essex), born in Romford, Essex.
1987 – Marcus Mumford (39), American-born British singer with Mumford & Sons (“I Will Wait”, “Little Lion Man”), born in Anaheim, California, United States.
Famous deaths
1606 – Guy Fawkes (b. 1570), English conspirator to assassinate King James VI and I and members of the Houses of Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot.
1956 – A. A. Milne (b. 1882), English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as children’s poetry.
2016 – Terry Wogan (b. 1938), Irish radio and television broadcaster ( Eurovision Song Contest, Come Dancing, Children in Need).
The day today
1918 – A series of accidental collisions on a misty night, off the Isle of May at the entrance to the Firth of Forth, led to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines and damage to another five British warships. In all 270 people lost their lives.
1919 – The Battle of George Square took place in Glasgow. Known as Bloody Friday and Black Friday, it was one of the most intense riots in the history of Glasgow. The dispute revolved around a campaign for shorter working hours, backed by widespread strike action. Clashes between the City of Glasgow Police and protesters broke out, leading to the British government sending soldiers and tanks to the city to prevent any further gatherings.
1953 – 307 people were killed when the Thames estuary broke its banks, flooding large areas of Kent and Essex. A car ferry also sank in the Irish Sea, in one of the worst gales in living memory, claiming the lives of more than 130 passengers and crew.
1958 – The US launches their 1st artificial satellite, Explorer 1 which leads to the discovery of Earth’s radiation belt by James van Allen (subsequently named the “Van Allen Belts”) and his team at Iowa University. Explorer 1 was a direct response to the Soviet Union’s Sputnik.
1961 – A chimpanzee named Ham became the first primate to go to space aboard the US MR-2 spacecraft. The trip was part of the Mercury Mission, which aimed to put the first man into Earth’s orbit. Ham played a vital role in teaching us that tasks could be carried out in space.
1968 – Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, officially declared independence from a joint United Nations (UN) trusteeship administered by Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom becoming the world’s smallest independent republic, with an area of only 8.1 square miles.
1983 – It became compulsory in Britain for drivers and front-seat passengers to wear seat belts. Rear seat belts for children became mandatory in 1989, and for adults in 1991. Legal exemptions exist, including for vehicles with no seat belts fitted, driving in reverse, or professional drivers conducting deliveries.
1990 – The first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union opened in Pushkin Square, Moscow, marking a historic, symbolic shift towards Western culture during glasnost (Russian for “openness”). Over 30,000 customers visited on the first day, breaking company records. The 700-seat restaurant was a joint venture with McDonald’s Canada. The restaurant was later rebranded following the company’s departure from Russia in 2022 due to the Ukraine war.
2000 – Family GP Dr Harold Shipman is jailed for life for murdering 15 of his patients, making him Britain’s most prolific convicted serial killer. It was later estimated that he could have been responsible for the deaths of up to 300 people.
2001 – In The Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset Al Megrahi on 270 counts of murder and for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie in 1988. He was released in 2009 on compassionate grounds due to terminal cancer and died in 2012.
2007 – Six suspects including the instigator, Parviz Khan, are arrested in Birmingham accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq in order to undermine the morale of the British Army and inhibit its recruitment of Muslims.
2016 – The death of the radio and TV brodcaster Terry Wogan, aged 77. He presented Children in Need, Wake Up to Wogan, Come Dancing, the game show Blankety Blank and he was the BBC’s commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest from 1971 to 2008. His weekday radio programme on BBC Radio 2, ‘Wake Up to Wogan’, had eight million regular listeners, making him the most listened to radio broadcaster in Europe. He was granted a knighthood in 2005 and was entitled to use ‘Sir’ in front of his name as he held dual British and Irish citizenship.
2020 – At 11pm Greewich Mean Time, the United Kingdom leaves the European Union (Brexit), following the referendum of 23rd June 2016 in which 51.9% of voters elected to leave. It took three years, resulted in two general elections and three prime ministers.
2024 – Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and social media companies Discord, TikTok, X and Snap are reprimanded before a US congressional hearing for not doing enough to protect children from sexual exploitation online.
Today in music
1957 – Decca Records announced that Bill Haley & His Comets, Rock Around the Clock had sold over a million copies in the UK, mostly on 10inch 78’s.
1959 – Elvis Presley had his third UK No.1 single ‘One Night / I Got Stung’ a double A side, (originally written and recorded under the title ‘One Night of Sin’) a revival of the Smiley Lewis’s R&B hit. Presley was in the army by the time this song reached No.1.
1967 – The Beatles spent a second day at Knole Park, Sevenoaks in Kent to complete filming for the ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ promotional video. The film was shot in colour, for the benefit of the US market, since UK television was still broadcasting only in black and white.
1970 – The Jackson Five went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I Want You Back’. The song was originally written for Gladys Knight & The Pips and was the first of four No.1’s for the group. It made No.2 in the UK.
1976 – ABBA knocked Queen from the UK No.1 position on the UK singles chart with ‘Mamma Mia.’ Queen’s single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ had enjoyed a nine week run at the top of the charts, by coincidence, Queen’s single contains the famous “mamma mia, mamma mia, mamma mia let me go” line.
1981 – Blondie went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘The Tide Is High’, the group’s third US No.1, also a No.1 in the UK for two weeks from November 15, 1980.

1984 – Queen’s ‘Radio Ga Ga’ entered the UK charts at No.4. The track which was released after Queen’s recording and touring hiatus of over a year spent eleven weeks in the chart, peaking at No.2.

1987 – Paul Simon went back to No.1 on the UK album chart with Graceland, (the album stayed on the chart for a total 163 weeks). ‘Graceland’ later won the 1987 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, while the title song won the 1988 Grammy Award for Record of the Year.
1999 – US dance music producer Armand Van Helden went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘You Don’t Know Me’. Helden also had a No.1 with the remix of the Tori Amos track ‘Professional Widow’.
2003 – Robbie Williams topped a chart based on UK album sales from the past 5 years. The former Take That singer had sold 9.7 million albums in Britain, an average of more than 5,000 every day. The Corrs were in second place with 5.8m sales, Westlife in third with 5.1, Madonna in fourth with 5m and The Beatles in fifth with 4.7m.
2008 – Natasha Bedingfield entered the US chart at number three with her album Pocketful of Sunshine, equaling the record set by soul singer Sade in having the highest-ever US chart debut for a UK-signed female. The British singer sold 50,000 copies of the record in its first week of release.
2010 – Taylor Swift became the youngest artist ever to receive the Album of the Year award with Fearless at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The best Rock Song went to Kings of Leon for ‘Use Somebody’ and song of the Year went to Beyoncé for ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’.
Today in history
1747 – The London Lock Hospital, founded by surgeon William Bromfeild, opened at Grosvenor Place, London, as the first specialised voluntary institution for treating venereal diseases (syphilis and gonorrhea). It served as a charitable facility for those unable to afford private care, expanding to include a rescue home for women in 1787.

1788 – Death, in Rome, of Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie). After his father’s death, Charles was recognised as ‘King Charles III’ by his supporters.

1849 – The abolition of the Corn Laws. These trade barriers had been designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom against competition from less expensive foreign imports and their abolition marked a significant step towards free trade.
1858 – The Great Eastern steamship, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and John Scott Russell, was launched at Millwall. As the world’s largest ship at the time, it featured five funnels, six masts, and combined paddle-wheel and screw-propeller propulsion to carry upto 4,000 passengers. Despite its size, it was a commercial failure as a passenger liner, but later found success as a cable-laying ship, notably laying the first lasting transatlantic telegraph cable.
1867 – The four bronze lions each 18 feet (5.5 m) square, cast from captured French guns at the base of Nelson’s Column were completed. They depict the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, the Battle of the Nile, the Battle of Copenhagen and the death of Nelson at Trafalgar.
1893 – The Westminster Gazette, a daily newspaper in London began publishing. It was printed in green to make it easier to read in poorly lit train and bus carriages.