PHOTO OF THE DAY. John Lennon in Cafe La Fortuna near The Dakota, the apartment block where he lived in New York City (1980) 📷 Kishin Shinoyama

PERSON OF THE DAY. 24 November 1991. Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara) died of AIDS complications (aged 45). He was the lead singer-songwriter with Queen and known for his flamboyant stage persona and 4-octave vocal range. Undoubtedly one of rock’s greatest live performers.

FACT OF THE DAY. 24 November 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald, charged with the murder of President John F Kennedy, was shot and killed by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby live on national TV in the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters. Speculation now arose as to whether Oswald was being silenced.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. John F Kennedy lying in state at the Capitol Rotunda, Washington DC (1963). 📷 George Mobley

PERSON OF THE DAY. 23 November 1990. Welsh-born writer Roald Dahl died (aged 74). His often macabre books aimed at children include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and The BFG. His books have sold over 250 million copies worldwide.

FACT OF THE DAY. 23 November 1963. BBC1 broadcast the 1st episode of science fiction series Doctor Who with William Hartnell in the title role. The 1st episode deals with Ian and Barbara’s discovery of the Doctor and reveals his time-space ship TARDIS which is disguised as a police box.

A great review in The Times today.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Commuters in a New York City railway carriage read the evening newspapers reporting the JFK assassination (22 November 1963). 📷 Carl Mydans

PERSON OF THE DAY. 22 November 1963. 2:38 PM. Vice-President Lyndon B Johnson was sworn in as the 36th US President on Air Force One. Jackie, deeply traumatised, still wearing her blood-stained pink suit acted as the witness to the impromptu ceremony. Afterwards she drank a tumbler of whisky.

FACT OF THE DAY. 22 November 1963. 1:00 PM. John F Kennedy (aged 46), was officially pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital by Dr. William Kemp Clark who felt the damage caused by the fatal shot to the head was the ultimate cause of death. Kemp put 12:50 PM as the actual time of death.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. President John F Kennedy, during his motorcade through San Antonio, Texas, on 21 November 1963. On the next day, he would visit Dallas. 📷 google images

PERSON OF THE DAY. 21 November 1898. René Magritte was born in Lessines, Belgium. He became well known for creating a number of witty and thought-provoking images often depicting everyday objects in an unusual way. His imagery influenced pop art, minimalist art and conceptual art.

FACT OF THE DAY. 21 November 1974. 21 people were killed by bombs in 2 Birmingham pubs (The Mulberry Bush and The Tavern in the Town). The 6 men (“Birmingham 6”) originally convicted of the crimes were subsequently declared innocent and acquitted. The real culprits have never been found.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Sophia Loren trying Whelks in a fish bar, near the River Thames (1960). 📷 Bob Hope and Alisdair MacDonald

PERSON OF THE DAY. 20 November 1925. Robert F Kennedy (also known as”Bobby” and “RFK”), was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA. He served as the 64th United States Attorney General from 1961 to 1964 and as a US Senator for New York from 1965 until his assassination in June 1968.

FACT OF THE DAY. 20 November 1995. Princess Diana in an interview with Martin Bashir, broadcast on the BBC programme Panorama, gave intimate details of her marriage to Prince Charles including an admission they had both had extra marital affairs. Bashir had obtained the interview by deception.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. A woman in New York City walking her dog in the driving rain (1957). 📷 Saul Leiter

PERSON OF THE DAY. 19 November 1703. The Man in The Iron Mask died. He was an unidentified prisoner held for 34 Years in several French prisons. Mystery still surrounds his actual identity. The story was made popular via the Alexandre Dumas novel, with the English title, The Man In The Iron Mask.

19 November 1863. Abraham Lincoln delivered the famous Gettysburg Address. It’s regarded as one of the greatest and most influential speeches by a US President. The words of the speech are carved in stone on the south wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Grand Central Terminal, New York City (1941). 📷 John Collier

PERSON OF THE DAY. 18 November 1926. Irish-born playwright George Bernard Shaw turned down the huge cash prize attached to the Nobel Prize for Literature, saying: ‘I never forgave Alfred for inventing dynamite.’

FACT OF THE DAY. 18 November 1983. The world’s 1st all-girl sextuplets were born to Janet Walton at Liverpool Maternity Hospital. The 6 girls: Hannah, Lucy, Ruth, Sarah, Kate and Jennifer were born in the space of 4 minutes between 7:56 PM and 8 PM.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Miss New Zealand faints during the 1954 Miss Universe contest. None of the other contestants moved. 📷 Perry Griffith.

PERSON OF THE DAY. 17 November 1937. Peter Cook was born in Torquay. He was a key figure in anti-establishment satire in the 1960s, starring in Beyond the Fringe, founding The Establishment Club, co-founding Private Eye and was part of comedy duo Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

FACT OF THE DAY. 17 November 1558. Elizabeth I became Queen of England and Ireland and reigned until her death on 24 March 1603. She restored Protestantism and her navy repelled the Spanish Armada. She was the last of the 5 monarchs of the House of Tudor.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Cunard ocean liner RMS Mauretania (1906). 📷 Colourised by Marina Amaral.

PERSON OF THE DAY. 16 November 2008. Reg Varney died (aged 92). He’s best known as Stan Butler in the ITV sitcom On The Buses and for officially opening Britain’s 1st cash dispenser at Barclays Bank, Enfield, London and being the 1st member of the public to use it.

FACT OF THE DAY. 16 November 1915. Coca-Cola had the prototype for its classic bottle patented by the US Patent Office (Patent No 48,160). The bottle design is still recognisable today. The original patent is on display at the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Michael Caine, photo roll by Brian Duffy (1964).

PERSON OF THE DAY. 15 November 1897. Aneurin Bevan was born in Tredegar, Wales. He spearheaded the creation of the NHS in 1948 by the Labour government. It offered treatment free at the point of delivery to all citizens, irrespective of income. It’s one of the key social reforms in British history.

FACT OF THE DAY. 15 November 2002. Notorious Moors murderer Myra Hindley died in prison (aged 60). She was convicted, along with Ian Brady, for the murders of 5 children aged between 10 and 17 (victim details below). It was one of the most horrific criminal cases in British legal history.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Pop artist, Andy Warhol, shopping for Campbell’s soup. 📷 Bob Adelman (1965).

FACT OF THE DAY. 14 November 1948. King Charles III (Charles, Philip, Arthur, George), was born in Buckingham Palace, London. He’s the eldest son of Elizabeth II and was longest-serving heir apparent in British history and the longest-serving Prince of Wales. He became King on 8 September 2022.

PERSON OF THE DAY. 14 November 1889. Investigative journalist Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Jane Cochran) began an attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days in emulation of Jules Verne’s fictional character, Phileas Fogg, in Around The World in Eighty Days. Bly took 72 days on same journey.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Jimi Hendrix in Montagu Place, London (1967). 📷 David Magnus

PERSON OF THE DAY. 13 November 1805. Johann George Lehner, a butcher from Vienna, invented a pork and beef sausage he called the “Frankfurter”. It later became known as the “Hot Dog”.

FACT OF THE DAY. 13 November 1942. 5 American brothers (left to right: Joe, Frank, Al, Matt, and George Sullivan) died in the aftermath of the sinking of the light cruiser USS Juneau by the Japanese Navy. It was the largest loss of life by a single American family serving during WW2.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. Lady Florence Norman, a suffragette, on her motor-scooter in London (1916). 📷 Paul Thompson

PERSON OF THE DAY. 12 November 1929. Grace Kelly was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Films include: High Society, Rear Window and Dial M for Murder. In 1956 she became Princess Grace of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III. She then gave up her film career.

FACT OF THE DAY. 12 November 1912. The frozen remains of British explorer Robert Scott and his exploration team were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The last entry in Scott’s diary was on the 29 March 1912 and it’s assumed this was the date on which he died.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. The coffin of the Unknown Warrior lies in Westminster Abbey (1920). 📷 google images

PERSON OF THE DAY. 11 November 1918. 9:30 AM. George Ellison (aged 40) became the last British soldier to be killed in the “Great War of 1914-19”, He was shot dead by a German sniper while on a patrol in woodland on the outskirts of Mons, Belgium.

FACT OF THE DAY. 11 November 1918. Fighting in the “Great War of 1914-18” ended at 11:00 AM Paris time: the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month. At the time it was the deadliest military conflict in history with an estimated 9 million military deaths and 13 million civilian deaths.

PHOTO OF THE DAY. England goalkeeper Gordon Banks catches a dog (1965). 📷 Chris Morphet

FACT OF THE DAY. 10 November 1871. Journalist Henry Stanley greeted a missing Scottish explorer in Central Africa with the words: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Livingstone was out of contact for 6 years. Stanley was sent to find him by New York Herald. They met on the shore of Lake Tanganyika.

PERSON OF THE DAY. 10 November 1925. Welsh actor Richard Burton was born in Pontrhydyfen. He was noted for his mellifluous voice, his heavy drinking and his highly publicised marriages to Elizabeth Taylor, which often overshadowed his undoubted acting ability. #Burton100

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Customers listening to new records before buying in a UK record shop (1955). 📷 google images

PERSON OF THE DAY. 9 November 1880. Acclaimed architect Giles Gilbert Scott was born in London. He designed Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral and the iconic red telephone box. He was noted in building design for his blending of the Gothic tradition with modernism.

FACT OF THE DAY. 9 November 1918. Having lost the support of the military and the people, Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate his throne and flee Germany for the Netherlands. Power was handed to a Republican government led by the leader of the Social Democratic Party Friedrich Ebert.