January 30th - 31st

30^th January

Events

Portrait of Oliver Cromwell, 1656 
by Samuel Cooper

1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is ritually executed more than two years after his death

1902 – The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London

1933 – Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany

MS Hans Hedtoft

1959 – MS Hans Hedtoft said to the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable”, like the RMS Titanic strikes and iceberg and sinks on her maiden voyage killed all 95 onboard

1969 – The Beatles’ last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London.

Births

Douglas Englebert

1925 – Douglas Englebert – American computer scientist who invented the computer mouse

Deaths

Portrait of Charles I
from the studio of
 Anthony Van Dyck, 1636

1649 – Charles I of England (48)

31^st January

Events

Gunpower Plot Conspirators 

1606 – Four of the Gunpower Plot conspirators including Guy Fawkes are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering

London Lock Hospital

1747 – London’s first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital

Births

Bert Williams, 1947 

1920 – Bert Williams – English footballer.  Nicknamed the The Cat

Williams was an English international football goalkeeper.  Williams spent the majority of his playing career with Wolverhampton Wanderers.   

Jean Simmons in a 1955 studio publicity shot

1929 – Jean Simmons – English-American actress.

One of J. Arthur Rank's "well spoken young starlets", Simmons appeared in films that were predominately British made during and after the Second World War

Deaths

John Galsworthy

1933 – John Galsworthy (65) – English novelist and playwright.  Galsworthy notable works include "The Forsyte Sage" (1906-1921) and its sequels, "A Modern Comedy" and "End of the Chapter"

Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1932.  

Galsworthy's ashes were scattered over the South Downs from an aeroplane

Sketch of Edwin Harold Armstrong, c. 1954

1954 – Edwin Howard Armstrong (63) – American engineers, invented FM radio

A.A. Milne

1956 – A. A. Milne (74) – English author, poet and playwright.

Born Alan Alexander Milne, 1882.  Son of John Vine Milne and wife Sarah Marie Heginbotham.  His father ran a small independent school at Henley House School, Kilburn.  H. G. Wells taught at the school during 1889 – 1890.  Milne attended Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge.  Graduating 1903, with a B.A. in Mathematics.  Milne wrote for the student magazine Granta and his work came to the attention of British humour magazine Punch.  From 1903 Milne wrote humorous verse and whimsical essays and by 1906 Mine became the assistant editor of Punch.

By the time of the outbreak of the First World War, Milne served as an officer with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and after a debilitating illness the Royal Corps of Signals.  During the Battle of the Somme, 1916, Milne was injured invalided back to England whilst recuperating he recruited into the Military Intelligence to write propaganda for M17 between 1916 to 1918.  Milne was discharged 1919.

Milne who was married in 1913, Dorothy “Daphne” de Selincourt, their son Christopher Robin Milne was born 1920.

From 1906 and after the war, Milne published 18 plays and three novels, including the murder mystery “The Red House Mystery”, 1922.  Also produced a collection of children’s poems “When We Were Very Young”, 1924.

Milne is most famous for his two Pooh books, “Winnie-the-Pooh”, 1926 and “The House at Pooh Corner”, 1928. The books featured a boy named Christopher Robin, after his son. 

Milne died a week after his 74^th birthday, 1956.