29 JANUARY 1728: First performance of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, with a musical score derived from popular ballads. 1737: Birth of Thomas Paine, English social and political philosopher. The reaction to his treatise The Rights of Man forced him into exile in France and America. 1817: Birth of John Callcott Horsley, English artist. Horsley designed the first commercial Christmas cards in 1843. 1843: Birth of William McKinley, 25th US President for two terms during the Spanish-American War and the annexation of the Philippines. During the first year of his second term of office he was assassinated. 1853: Marriage of Napoléon III to Eugénie de Montijo at the Tuileries, Paris. 1856: Queen Victoria instituted Britain’s highest military decoration, the Victoria Cross (VC). The medal is awarded to British and Commonwealth armed forces for outstanding bravery ‘on the field of battle’. The medal was originally made from the metal of cannon captured from the Russians at Sevastopol, until the supply came to an end in 1942. 1860: Birth of Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer. 1861: Kansas became the 34th US state. 1867: Birth of Spanish novelist Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, best remembered for The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. 1876: Birth of Havergal Brian, English composer of twenty-seven symphonies, four operas, and a number of other major works written after his 70th birthday. 1916: German Zeppelins bombed Paris for the first time. 1916: British military tanks had their first trials in Hertfordshire. 1927: Liverpool's Mr & Mrs F. Kreyer Kielberg gave their home "Athelstane Noctorum" as Children's Hospital 1938: Sir Thomas White, leader of Council committed to the deep in Liverpool Bay. 1942: The first broadcast of Desert Island Discs on BBC radio, devised and presented by Roy Plomley. 1947: The temperature in Britain dropped to an all-time low of -16°F, producing nationwide power cuts. Buckingham Palace was lit by candles. 1966: British Government gives go ahead for breath testing for car drivers. 1975: In UK, T.V license went up £6 and black and white from £6 to £7. 1988: During an intermission of a matinée performance of Verdi’s Macbeth at the New York Met, failed opera singer Bantcho Bantchevsky committed suicide by leaping from the balcony. 1989: The artificial leg that had belonged to Sir Douglas Bader was catalogued for sale. His widow was selling memorabilia to raise money to buy her own house, instead of the rented farmhouse she was living in. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.319 / Virus Database: 178 - Release Date: 28/01/02

Morning, Marj. Quiet today, isn't it? I'm just having the house alarm rewired. That's another £100 down the drain but it's my own fault, I messed it all up yesterday and ended up I couldn't switch off the bell. Made a lot of friends, I did. Brian List Admin ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marged" <marged@btinternet.com> To: <GEN-FRIENDS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 10:23 AM Subject: [GEN-FRIENDS] Happenings 29 January > 29 JANUARY > > 1728: First performance of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, with a musical > score derived from popular ballads. ..........................[snip]........................ --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.319 / Virus Database: 178 - Release Date: 28/01/2002