1934
Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express published. If you've never read it, they all did it. The National Council for Civil Liberties was established by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith. Having scored seven against Everton on Boxing Day, Newcastle United beat Liverpool nine-two at St James Park in the First Division. Jimmy Richardson and Sammy Weaver both scored hat-tricks with further goals from Jimmy Boyd, Tommy Lang and Ron Williams. Veteran Reds keeper Elisha Scott, reportedly, had a brilliant game and was almost single-handedly responsible for keeping United's score down to a mere nine. Atypically of Th' Toon, they ended the season geting relegated after a run of only ten points from seventeen games.
An adaptation of PG Wodehouse's Meet The Prince broadcast.
Robert Watson-Watt's The Weather House broadcast. George Formby's 'The Wedding Of Mister Wu'/'Baby' released.
A German Public School by Herr Kurt Hahn broadcast.
Vienna, 'a pot-pourri of music by Johann Strauss and Joseph Lanner, devised and arranged by Julius Bürger' broadcast.
Arsenal's manager, Herbert Chapman, died from pneumonia, aged fifty five. In May, the side he built went on win their third First Division title. Steve Milton of Halifax Town set an English league record by conceding thirteen goals on his league debut for the club in the Third Division (North) against Stockport County. The score remains the largest victory in Football League history (it was equalled by Newcastle United in 1946 when they beat Newport County by the same score). Sylvia May Laura Syms born in Woolwich.
The Flash Gordon comic strip was first published, in the United States.
Radio Times first published details of the BBC's experimental television broadcasts, still using Logie Baird's transmission process which continued throughout the following two years. The second test at Calcutta ended in a draw. England's four hundred and three included fifties for James Langridge, Douglas Jardine and Hedley Verity. The latter also took eight wickets in the match and Nobby Clark six. Dilawar Hussain top-scored in both of India's innings. Hopper Levett made his test debut. Roy Mitchell Kinnear born in Wigan.
The first episode of Whiter Britain? broadcast. A series in which 'distinguished speakers, each a specialist in his own particular line, examine the past glories of Britain, look frankly at our assets today and compare all with an eye on the future.' The opening episode featured an essay by HG Wells, whilst the second was by Winston Churchill. Future episodes were presented by the likes of Ernest Bevin, George Bernard Shaw, Quinton Hogg and David Lloyd George. Three died and fifteen were injured in London traffic accidents due to thick fog.
Anne Rosemary Clune born in Hammersmith.
Russell Mack's The Meanest Gal In Town - starring Zasu Pitts, Pert Kelton, El Brendel and James Gleason - premiered. Alan Sharp born in Alyth, Scotland.
Richard David Briers born in Raynes Park. Surrey. Priscilla Morgan born in Essex.
Danish artist group Linien opened their first exhibition in Copenhagen, presenting more than one hundred and seventy works of abstract-symbolist surrealist art.
The Daily Scum Mail printed an infamous article entitled Hurrah For The Blackshirts!, in praise of fascism in general and Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists in particular, written by the paper's proprietor, Harold Harmsworth, First Viscount Rothermere. Who, obviously, was not a scumbag fascist himself or anything even remotely like it. Perish the very thought.
Tom Stewart Baker born in Liverpool. Job Stewart born in Cape Town, South Africa.
Helen Christine Wilson born in Southampton.
Noel John Christopher Harrison born in Kensington. Patrick O’Connell born in Dublin.
Huddersfield Town's four-one win at Sheffield United saw the five hundred and seventy fourth - and last - appearance from the club of Billy Smith the England international who had scored the winner for The Terriers in the 1922 FA Cup Final against Preston North End. In a career that began in 1913, he won also won three First Division championships with town. In the process he broke Tom Wilson's appearance record for the club, established in 1932. Typically, in his final game, Smith scored twice ending his career with one hundred and twenty six goals. Donald Graham Burton born in Norwich.
Barbara Mary Quant born in Blackheath. John Surtees born in Tatsfield, Surrey. David Weir born in London.
Annette Crosbie born in Gorebridge, Midlothian.
England won the third test at Madras by two hundred and two runs. Match highlights included Fred Bakewell's first innings eighty five, Cyril Walters's second innings century, eleven wickets for Hedley Verity and six for James Langridge.
John Ford's The Lost Patrol - starring Victor McLaglen and Bros Karloff - premiered.
Alan Arthur Bates born in Allestree, Derbyshire. John Barry Humphries born in Melbourne.
Geraldine Newman born in Brighton.
Simone Lovell born in Barcelona.
Frank Capra's It Happened One Night - starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert - premiered.
Bernard Bresslaw born in Stepney.
Hitler announced in a speech that the 'Wehrmacht will be the sole bearer of arms in the nation,' thus diminishing the importance of the Sturmabteilung. Ernst Röhm was made to sign a pledge acknowledging the superior stature of the military.
John Dillinger escaped from Crown Point jail in Indiana. The highest ever attendance for a non-Cup Final of eighty four thousand five hundred and sixty nine punters saw Manchester City beat Stoke City one-nil at Maine Road in the Sixth Round of the FA Cup.
A British court awarded Irina Yusupova, niece of the late Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, twenty five thousand pounds in damages in her lawsuit against Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer over the film Rasputin & The Empress. Yusupova claimed that the character Natasha in the film was a libel against her, although the attorneys for MGM had maintained that the character was fictional. Nicholas John Smith born in Banstead, Surrey.
Chester Erskine's Midnight - starring Sidney Fox and Humphrey Bogart - premiered. Zena Cecilia Walker born in Selly Oak.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin born in Klushino.
Dilys Lay born in Muswell Hill.
David De Saram born in Colombo, Ceylon.
Eugene Andrew Cernan born in Bellwood, Illinois.
Roger William Marshall born in Leicester.
PG Wodehouse's Thank You, Jeeves published.
Michael Curtiz's Jimmy The Gent - starring James Cagney and Bette Davis - premiered.
The first Masters golf tournament began in Augusta, Georgia. Horton Smith was the winner. Lawrence Martyn born in London.
Golden Miller won the Grand National.
John Burnette born in Memphis.
Richard Harris born in London. Kenneth Ainsworth Ives born in West Ham.
George Richard Chamberlain born in Beverley Hills. Shirley Mae Jones born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania.
Guy Moll won the Monaco Grand Prix. Brian Glover born in Sheffield.
Cecil Day Lewis's The Magnificent Charlatan broadcast.
Ian William Richardson born in Edinburgh. Arthur Cox born in Banbridge, County Down.
Viva Villa! starring Wallace Beery was released.
Adolf Hitler made a secret deal with the leaders of the German armed forces aboard the cruiser Deutschland, promising to eliminate Ernst Röhm and subordinate the Sturmabteilung to the army in exchange for their support. Ronald Henry Pember born in Plaistow.
England defeated Scotland three-nil in the Home International championship at Wembley. Cliff Bastin, Eric Brook and Jack Bowers scored. Arsenal kepper Frank Moss and Sunderland's Raich Carter both made their England debuts. Arsenal - despite being without Moss, Bastin and Eddie Hapgood on international duty - remained top of the First Division with a three-two victory at Liverpool. Manchester City refused to allow Andrew Herd, James McLuckie and Matt Busby to be released for Scotland as they had their own match against Tottenham Hotspur to participate in. It didn't do them much good as they lost five-one. Derby County - without their own international quartet Bowers, Tom Cooper, Sammy Crooks and Eric Keen - lost three-nil at Wolves. Grimsby Town who had secured the Second Division championship a week earlier enjoyed a three-one victory over Fulham. The Protection of Animals Bill was debated in the House of Commons. The cruelty shown to horses in the 'King of the Rodeo' show during the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium, ten years earlier, had horrified thousands of onlookers, and the manager of that show, Tex Austin, was planning to stage a 'World's Championship Rodeo' at White City, in two months' time. The Bill became law in May and banned the practices of roping untrained animals and the securing of a strap around an animal's genitals to cause pain and aggravation for the purposes of entertainment. Austin vigorously denied that any of those practices had been applied in 1924 and that a similar number of horses were destroyed at the Grand National Steeplechase each year. His show went ahead and the RSPCA brought charges against him for alleged cruelty to one particular horse that was injured in a rope-steering event and had to be destroyed. There were no public complaints, however and the case was subsequently dismissed, but a rodeo would, never again, take place in the UK.
The film Sisters Under The Skin premiered.
The so-called 'Surgeon's Photograph' allegedly of the Loch Ness Monster, later admitted to be a - not especially elaborate - hoax, was published in the Daily Scum Mail. Supposedly taken by Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London gynaecologist, Wilson's refusal to have his name associated with the entire fiasco led to it being known as 'The Surgeon's Photograph.' According to Wilson, he was looking at the loch when he saw the monster, grabbed his camera and snapped four photos. Only two exposures came out clearly; the first reportedly showed a small head and back and the second showed a similar head in a diving position. The first photo became well known whilst the second attracted little publicity because of its blurriness. For sixty years the photo was considered - by planks - as 'evidence' of the monster's existence, although sceptics dismissed it as driftwood, a bird, an otter or an elephant. Albeit the sceptic who claims it was an elephant provided no explanation as to what an elephant might have been doing in a loch in Scotland. The photo's scale was controversial; it is often shown cropped (making the creature seem large and the surrounding ripples like big waves). Analysis of the original image fostered further doubt. In 1993, the makers of the Discovery Communications documentary Loch Ness Discovered analysed the uncropped image and found a white object visible in every version of the photo (implying that it was on the negative). It was believed to be the cause of the ripples, as if the object was being towed. Since 1994, most agree that the photo was a hoax.] It had been described as fake in a 7 December 1975 Sunday Telegraph article. Details of how the photo was taken were published in the 1999 book, Nessie – The Surgeon's Photograph Exposed. The creature was reportedly a toy submarine built by Christian Spurling, the son-in-law of Marmaduke Wetherell. Wetherell had been publicly ridiculed by his employer, the Daily Scum Mail, after he found 'Nessie footprints' which turned out to be a hoax. To get revenge on the Scum Mail, Wetherell perpetrated his hoax with co-conspirators Spurling (sculpture specialist), Ian Wetherell (his son, who bought the material for the fake) and Maurice Chambers (an insurance agent). The toy submarine was bought from Woolworths and its head and neck were made from wood putty. After testing it in a local pond the group went to Loch Ness, where Ian Wetherell took the photos near the Altsaigh Tea House. When they heard a water bailiff approaching, Duke Wetherell sank the model with his foot and it is 'presumably still somewhere in Loch Ness.' Chambers gave the photographic plates to Wilson, a friend of his who 'enjoyed a good practical joke.' Wilson brought the plates to Ogston's, an Inverness chemist and gave them to George Morrison for development. He sold the first photo to the Daily Scum Mail, who then announced that the monster had been photographed. The Ray Noble Orchestra, featuring Al Bowlly, recorded 'The Very Thought Of You'.
A US Patent was filed by Laurens Hammond for an electrical musical instrument subsequently known as the Hammond organ. Shirley MacLean Beaty born in Richmond, Virginia.
Manchester City defeated Portsmouth two-one in the FA Cup Final at Wembley through two goals by Fred Tilson.
Henry Cooper born in Lambeth. Francesco Stephen Castelluccio born in Newark, New Jersey. Howard Hawks's Twentieth Century - starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard - premiered.
The first Three Stooges film, Woman Haters, was released. Arsenal won the First Division title - for the second consecutive season and the third time in four years - by three points from Huddersfield Town. Tottenham Hotspur finished third. Newcastle United and Sheffield United were relegated. Derby County's Jack Bowers was the division's top scorer for the second successive year.
One hundred thousand demonstrated in Zweibrücken for the restoration of the Saar to Germany.
The Black Cat - starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi - premiered.
Alan Bennett born in Leeds. An American millionaire, William Gettle, was kidnapped from his home in Beverly Hills and his friend was tied to a tree in the grounds during the snatch. Gettle's lawyer received a note demanding sixty thousand bucks and his wife received one demanding forty thousand. But, the police tracked him down and rescued him from a house, five days after the kidnapping. Five people were subsequently convicted as a result. James Kirk, Larry Kerrigan and Roy Williams were all given prison terms in San Quentin. Two women, Loretta Woody and Mona Gallighen, were sent to a reformatory in Arlington, Virginia for their naughty kidnapping ways.
England lost two-one to Hungary at the Stadion Üllõi út, Budapest in a friendly international. Manchester City's Fred Tilson scored on his england debut whilst the host's winner came from György Sárosi of Ferencvárosi twenty minutes from time. Sheffield Wednesday's Horace Burrows also made his first England appearance. There was, reportedly, no dressing room accommodation at the stadium and it is unclear where the teams changed.
Peter Bland born in Scarborough.
Big Bill Broonzy's 'Milk Cow Blues' released on Bluebird Records. England lost their friendly international with Czechoslovakia two-one at the Stadión Letná, Prague. Fred Tilson was, again, on-target for the visitors. Seven of the brilliant Czech side played for Slavia Prague and three for their local rivals, Sparta. They boasted possibly the world's finest goalkeeper in Frantisek Plánička and Europe's best left-side forward pairing of Oldrich Nejedlý, the prolific inside forward who was to become top scorer at the World Cup the following month with six goals and Antonin Puč, the high-scoring winger, both of whom scored. Tommy Gardner and Joe Beresford of Aston Villa both made their England debuts. Forty one miners were killed in a gas explosion in the Belgian village of Pâturages. Five men were rescued from the mine, but a second explosion, two days later, killed many of a rescue party, leaving fifty seven dead in total. The mine was subsequently abandoned.
The Black Cat - starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi - and Lowell Sherman's Born To Be Bad - Loretta Young and Cary Grant - premiered.
American outlaws and violent bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed and extremely killed by a posse of six police officers led by Frank Hamer in Bienville, Louisiana. The Thin Man was released. Robert Arthur Moog born in New York.
Renee Soloman born in Manchester.
David Burke born in Liverpool.
The second football World Cup opened in Italy. As usual, showing an arrogance that belied reality, the four home football associations completely ignored the tournament and pretended that it didn't happen. To the delight of their fascisti leadership, Italy opened the tournament with a seven-one victory over the United States in Rome (Angelo Schiavio scoring three). The other two highly fancied European giants, Czechoslovakia and Austria, also won (two-one against Romania and three-two over France after extra time, resepctively). Harlan Jay Ellison born in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Dionne quintuplets were born on a farm in Canada near Corbeil, Ontario.
Nanette Newman born in Northampton. Neville Abraham Jacobson born in Marylebone.
Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov born in Listvyanka.
Little Miss Marker starring Shirley Temple was released.
Thirty nine nations signed The London Act, an agreement on a complete revision of international conventions on copyright, patents, trademarks and designs.
Britain informed the United States that it would make no more payments on its five billion dollar war debt. The note explained that resumption of the payments 'would be a re-creation of the conditions which existed prior to the world crisis and were in a large measure responsible for it. Such procedure would throw a bombshell into the European arena which would have financial and economic repercussions over all five continents and would postpone indefinitely the chances of world recovery.'
At a British Union of Fascist rally held at London's Olympia and attended by ten thousand people - many having been encouraged to attend by a series of highly supportive articles about Oswald Mosley and his goons in the Daily Mail - Blackshirt thugs violently 'ejected' anti-fascist 'disrupters.' The level of violence witnessed at the rally shocked those who witnessed it, having the effect of turning many neutral parties against the BUF and contributing to future anti-fascist support.
The BBC's first live coverage of test cricket. Howard Marshall commentated on the opening day of the first test between England and Australia at Trent Bridge. Millicent Mary Lillian Martin born in Romford.
Donald Duck made his debut in the Walt Disney short The Wise Little Hen.
Italy defeated Czechoslovakia two-one in the World Cup Final in Rome.
Australia won the first Ashes test at Trent Bridge by two hundred and thirty eight runs. Ken Farnes, making his test debut, took ten wickets in the match but Bill O'Reilly's spun England to defeat in the second innings.
Eileen June Atkins born in London.
The first of the Brighton trunk murders came to light. Neither the victim nor her murderer was ever identified.
Jacqualine Mary Bannister born in Ealing.
Anne Gwendolyn Craig born in Sacriston.
Jacqueline Sheelagh Ellis born in Ottowa.
Ferdinand Porsche signed a contract with the German government to produce a 'people's car' (Volkswagen). George Formby's 'You Can't Keep A Growing Lad Down'/'It's No Use Looking At Me' released.
Hedley Verity took fifteen wickets on a turning Lord's pitch as England beat Australia by an innings and thirty eight runs in the second Ashes test. Les Ames and Maurice Leyland both scored centuries in England's innings.
A London jury found Austrian dancer Tilly Losch guilty of adultery with Prince Serge Obolensky and granted her husband, the poet Edward James, a divorce. Losch's counter-suit of 'cruelty' making it clear that James was homosexual failed.
Of Human Bondage starring Bette Davis was released.
Henry Cotton won the Open Championship golf tournament.
The purge known as The Night Of The Long Knives began in Nazi Germany. Hitler ordered the assassination of approximately one hundred people he believed were liable to act against him, including many leaders of the SA. Hitler also took the opportunity to eliminate critics of the regime and settle a few old scores with past political opponents such as former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and retired politician Gustav Ritter von Kahr. Hitler rode to the resort of Bad Wiessee and personally oversaw the arrest of Ernst Röhm and the other SA leaders gathered there. The German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee was launched.
At Stadelheim Prison in Munich, Ernst Röhm was given a pistol with a single bullet with which to commit suicide. When he refused to do so he was shot. Very dead. Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh born in Stoke Newington. Sydney Irwin Pollack born in Lafayette, Indiana. The probable date that John and Alan Lomax began a series of field records of Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly) at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola where Ledbetter was serving a ten stretch for attempted murder. Over the following year the Lomaxes would record hundred on Lead Belly songs - both originals and adaptations of folk and spiritual standards - including 'Take A Whiff On Me', 'Midnight Special', 'Rock Island Line', Goodnight Irene', 'Thirty Days In The Workhouse', 'Mama, Did You Bring Me Any Silver', 'Scottsboro Boys', 'Boll Weevil' and 'Po' Howard'. The recordings would, ultimately, lead to Ledbetter's release from the pokey - allegedly after Governor Oscar Allen was petitioned by the Lomaxes. The so-called Library Of Congress Recordings would become one of the most influences on the development of rock and roll. Jean Lyndsey Torren Marsh born in Stoke Newington.
Marie Curie died in Passy, Haute-Savoie aged sixty six of aplastic anaemia from exposure to radiation in the course of her scientific research and in the course of her radiological work at field hospitals during World War I. Colin Edward Williams born in Liverpool.
Philip Arvon Jones born in Merthyr Tydfil.
Fred Perry defeated Jack Crawford of Australia in the men's Singles final at Wimbledon. It was the first time in twenty five years that an Englishman won the title.
Dorothy Round Little defeated the American Helen Hull Jacobs in the Ladies' Singles final at Wimbledon.
Martin Alan Feldman born in London.
The third Ashes test at Old Trafford ended in a draw. England's six hundred and twenty nine for nine included centuries for Patsy Hendred and Maurice Leyland and fifties for Cyril Walters, Herbert Sutcliffe, Les Ames, Gubby Allen and Hedley Verity. Stan McCabe hit a century in Australia's reply. Walters and Sutcliffe hit one hundred and twenty three without less and declared setting Australia a target of two hundred and sixty but Bill Ponsford and McCabe settled for a draw. Len Hopwood made his test debut.
Will H Hays held a conference with the heads of Hollywood's biggest motion picture companies. After the conference the following statement was issued: 'To strengthen the system of industrial self-regulation established by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America the following member companies of that association have agreed that each will grant to exhibitors the right to omit the exhibition of any motion picture released prior to 15 July 1934, against which there is a genuine protest on moral grounds.'
David Jackson born in Liverpool.
Jonathan Wolfe Miller born in London. Lamine Sekka born in Dakar, Senegal. Charley Rogers's Them That Hills! - starring Laurel and Hardy - premiered.
Federal agents shot and killed the notorious criminal Betrayed by a Copper's Nark to the Feds, bank robber John Dillinger was shot and killed by agents after a shootout at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago. And, that was the end of his shit.
The fourth Ashes test at Headingley ended in a high-scoring draw. Don Bradman - having failed to reach fifty in any of the first three tests - scored three hundred and four in Australia's innings whilst Bill Bowes took six wickets. Clarrie Grimmett took seven wickets in the match. Walter Keeton made his test debut.
With Paul von Hindenburg on his death bed, the German government passed the Law on the Head of State of the German Reich, which abolished the title of President and merged its powers with those of Chancellor. Hitler was now to be known as Führer and Reich Chancellor. Passage of the law was not announced until noon the following day following von Hindenburgh's demise.
The British Empire Games began at White City.
Zakes Makgona Mokae born in Johannesburg.
Julie Webb born in Portsmouth.
Keith Barron born in Mexborough.
Ten thousand banana workers went on strike in Costa Rica.
Trevor Gordon Bannister born in Durrington, Wiltshire. Vernon Dobtcheff born in Nîmes, France.
Dames - starring Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler and featuring the song 'I Only Have Eyes For You' - was released. John Ronald Leon born in London.
Treasure Island starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper was released.
William Cornelius born in London.
Al Capone was imprisoned at the new Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay. Australia won the final test at The Oval by five hundred and sixty two runs and regained The Ashes. The tourists' seven hundred and one included double centuries for Bill Ponsford and Don Bradman. Despite Maurice Leyland's century England trailed by almost four hundred on the first innings. Australia were bowled out for a second time (Bill Bowes taking nine wickets in the match and Nobby Clark seven). On a worn wicket, Clarrie Grimmett then spun Australia to victory on the final afternoon.
The Count of Monte Cristo starring Robert Donat and Elissa Landi was released.
Lancashire won the cricket county championship. Sussex finished runners-up for the third consecutive season with Derbyshire in third and Warwickshire fourth. Worcester's Harold Doc Gibbons was the leading run-scorer (two thousand four hundred and fifty two). Tich Freeman was, again, the leading wicket-taker (one hundred and eighty seven).
Evelyn Waugh's A Handful Of Dust published.
The first known victim of the Cleveland Torso Murderer, the Lady of the Lake, is discovered on the shore of Lake Erie. Jack Hobbs played his eight hundred and thirty fourth and final first class cricket match for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's. In a career that began in 1905, he is the leading run-scorer and century-maker in first-class cricket, with sixty one thousand seven hundred and sixty runs and one hundred and ninety nine centuries. A right-handed batsman and an occasional right-arm medium pace bowler (one hundred and eight career wickets), Hobbs also excelled as a fielder, particularly in the position of cover point. He played sixty one tests for England between 1908 and 1930 scoring five thousand four hundred and ten runs. He would become the first professional cricketer to e knighted in 1953. Frederic Russell Harty born in Blackburn.
The BBC's powerful long-wave transmitter, Droitwich Station, began broadcasting at two hundred kilohertz.
Kokomo Arnold's 'Milk Cow Blues' released.
The JB Priestley play Eden End premiered at the Duchess Theatre in London.
Peter Blythe born in Yorkshire.
Michael Curtiz' British Agent - starring Leslie Howard and Kay Francis - premiered.
Robin Olden born in London.
The Right Honourable Sir Charles Trevelyan MP presented The New Roman Wall Youth Hostel, The Once Brewed on 5NO Newcastle.
Brian Samuel Epstein born in Liverpool.
Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone born in Rome.
Leonard Norman Cohen born in Westmount, Quebec.
Agatha Christie's Why Didn't They Ask Evans? published. Robert Lang born in Bristol. Stanley Harvey Lebor born in East Ham.
The RMS Queen Mary was launched into Glasgow's River Clyde in the presence of King George V and the ship's namesake, Queen consort Mary of Teck. It was the largest ship in the world at the time.
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot born in Paris. Janet Neilson Horsburgh born in Blackpool. Eleven people died after a train crash at Winwick Junction, near Warrington. The junction was a busy one, with four connecting lines and the signalman assumed that a local train had already passed through, when it was actually waiting to be switched to a branch line. An express train from Euston smashed into the rear of the smaller train at a speed of about fifty miles per hour. The subsequent installation of an electronic track circuit ensured such a collision could never happen again.
Stoke City's teenage winger Stanley Matthews made his debut for England, scoring in a four-nil win over Wales at Ninian Park. It was the beginning of a record twenty three-year international career. Fred Tilson scored two and Eric Brook was also on the scoresheets. Willie Evans of Spurs missed a penalty for the hosts and then had to leave the field after a nasty clash with Harry Hibbs. Along with Matthews, Everton's Cliff Britton, Derby County's Jack Barker, Jackie Bray of Manchester City, Arsenal's Ray Bowden and Ray Westwood of Bolton Wanderers all made their international debut as did Newcastle United's Ron Williams for Wales. In the first Division, Ted Drake scored four in Arsenal's five-one defeat of Birmingham. Dail Astley, no longer part of the Wales side, reminded them of what they were missing, scoring three in Aston Villa's four-two victory over Preston North End. Reg Stockill scored twice in Derby County's two-one win over Spurs and was denied a hat-trick when he missed a penalty. Table-toppers Manchester City won two-one at Middlesbrough. Second Division leaders Bolton Wanderers suffered a heavy six=two defeat at Sheffield United.
The first episode of Freedom & Authority In The Modern World broadcast.
The first episode of Speeches That Never Happened broadcast.
The Gay Divorcee starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers was released.
The Long March began in Southwest China.
Bert McClossy Cooper born in Nassau, Bahamas.
Mary Peach born in Durban, South Africa. Timothy Lancaster West born in Bradford.
Charles Pretty Boy Floyd - Public Enemy Number One - was shot and killed in a corn field in Ohio while being pursued by local law officers and FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis.
The earliest known recording of 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' was made by banjoist Harry Reser and his band featuring Tom Stacks on vocals.
Winston Churchill warned that Germany was re-arming 'secretly, illegally and rapidly.' He expressed astonishment at the British government's attitude 'when we consider the character of the present German government, the rapidly darkening European scene and the obligations which ministers repeatedly are declaring we have in Europe.' Philip George William Bond born in Burton-On-Trent.
Annette Wendy Rickman Williams born in Cheam.
Lord Chief Justice Hewart dismissed contempt of court charges against four London newspapers. They were accused of prejudicing a trial for four Fascists charged with assault and breaching the peace by reporting that they wore brass knuckles in court. Carl Edward Sagan born in Brooklyn.
Robin Midgley born in Torquay.
England - containing seven Arnseal players - and Italy played a famously violent 'friendly' football match which became known as The Battle of Highbury. England won three-two. This was Italy's first match since they had won the World Cup, in which England had not taken part as the Football Association had left FIFA in 1928 in a stroppy huff that they couldn't couldn't get their own way all the time. England were still considered one of the strongest teams in Europe and the match was billed, in England at least, as the 'real' World Cup final. The match was important enough to the Italians that Benito Mussolini had, reportedly, offered each player an Alfa Romeo if they beat the English. Eric Brook scored twice for the hosts with Ted Drake adding a third on his international debut. Internazionale's Peppino Meazza scored both of Italy's goals. The visitors played most of the match with ten men after Luis-Felipe Monti broke a bone in his foot after a challenge with Drake. One of the Arsenal contingient, George Male, also made his England debut. The inquest into the death of Doctor Roger Richmond, three months earlier at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, concluded that it was the result of a tragic accident. He had fractured his skull after falling through a glass skylight over the out-patients' department from the bottom of a fire escape, whilst talking to a nurse, who also fell through the glass roof and broke her leg. Salvador Dalí and his wife, Gala, arrived in New York aboard the ocean liner SS Champlain. Dalí emerged to greet the American press holding a two-and-a-half metre long loaf of bread, with the intention of distributing it among them 'as Saint Francis did with his birds.' To his apparent disappointment, however, none of the reporters bothered to ask him about it.
Myfanwy Beryl Webster born in Allahabad, India.
The Cole Porter musical Anything Goes premiered at the Alvin Theatre on Broadway. The show included several of Porter's best known songs including 'I Get A Kick Out Of You', ''All Through The night', 'You're The Top' and the title song. Seventeen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald made her singing debut at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, winning first prize in one of the venue's amateur contest.
Dora Russell was granted a divorce from husband Bertrand in British court on grounds of 'immoral conduct.
The films The Painted Veil starring Greta Garbo and Anne Of Green Gables starring Dawn O'Day were released.
Ann Cuerton Davies born in London.
Lester Gillis (Baby Face Nelson) died after a shootout with The Feds near Chicago.
Lord Ashley was granted a divorce from wife Sylvia. Spectators packed the courtroom hoping to hear lurid details of Sylvia's affair with the American actor Douglas Fairbanks, but were disappointed when the legal proceedings lasted only ten minutes.
The marriage of Prince George, Duke of Kent, to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, was the first royal wedding to be broadcast live on BBC radio. Though, not the last.
London & North Eastern Railway steam locomotive Flying Scotsman became the first to officially exceed one hundred miles per hour. The musical comedy Babes In Toyland - starring Laurel and Hardy - premiered.
First public performance by the continental jazz group Quintette du Hot Club de France, at the École Normale de Musique in Paris, led by guitarist Django Reinhardt with violinist Stéphane Grappelli. Brian Phelan born in Dublin.
The Abyssinia Crisis began when Ethiopian troops clashed with Somali Dubats in the service of Italy at the outpost of Welwel.
Judith Olivia Dench born in Heworth.
The Soviet movie Lieutenant Kijé - featuring a famous score by Sergei Prokofiev - premiered in Moscow. Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much - starring Leslie Banks and Peter Lorre - premiered. Judith Olivia Dench born in York.
Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out published. It had been serialised in an abridged form in the Daily Mail from 31 October.
Maureen Phyllis Elizabeth Beck born in Chiselhurst.
Ken G Hall's Strike It Lucky - starring Roy Rene, Yvonne Banvard and Lorraine Smith - premiered.
The first episode of From Plainsong To Purcell: The Foundation Of English Music broadcast.
The British Medical Journal published an article by Doctor RL Kitching calling for the abolition of the caning of girls in elementary schools 'on medical grounds.' 'The Corporal Punishment Regulations make it clear that young children must not be caned, but there is nothing in the regulations to suggest that a girl may be too old to be caned. Surely, if it is necessary to make regulations to prevent men caning young children it is just as necessary to make a regulation to prevent the caning of those girls who have developed the physique of womanhood?' The following issue - 5 January 1935 - GM Fleming wrote: 'During my sixteen years' experience as a school medical officer in the West Riding, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Swindon and Gosport I have had no complaint from parents or others on the corporal punishment of girls, though quite frequently on its application to boys. In fact, I was under the impression that the big girls never were caned and I have been frequently told by numerous teachers and girls themselves that they are not. I have even protested against the unfairness of caning boys and sparing the girls.' Harriet Smith of Southend added: 'Although not qualified to speak on the medical aspect of such correction I often encountered it as a school teacher in the Durham mining area and, after my marriage, when visiting patients in my late husband's practice among the mining community. I remember on several occasions as a teacher inquiring of girls of twelve and thirteen who arrived at school why they were crying, and receiving the reply: "Mi father (or mother)'s just given me t'belt." Further inquiries revealed the fact that the belt was practically always applied to bare skin with the child across the knee and the undergarments drawn down. I remember, too, visiting a miner's cottage and hearing loud screams as I walked up the path. I opened the door and walked in to find the miner, with his eldest daughter, aged about fifteen, across his knee, vigorously applying a slipper to the girl's unprotected seat, while the mother stood complacently by. I remonstrated strongly with the couple, while the child hastily adjusted her clothing and fled sobbing into the back room. The parents, however, were adamant. The girl had taken to staying out very late at night. She had been warned several times, but had taken no notice; now she had been punished and there was an end of the matter.' By 12 January, FA Belam MD of Guildford was moved to reply: The main point I should like to bring out is to ask the question why corporal punishment is said to be beneficial to boys and yet harmful to girls. Can the female sex bear pain less easily than the male? I do not think so, and in any case most child-bearing women have far more pain to bear than any man. Then, surely, if a girl commits an offence for which a boy would receive corporal punishment it is only equable that she should receive the same punishment. In these days of equality of treatment for the sexes I cannot see how this can be gainsaid. With reference to the letter of Mrs Harriet Smith, I can only say that I feel considerable sympathy with the Durham miner, who was doing his best in his non-psychological way to prevent his daughter becoming a bad girl. I am afraid that the average parent has not the expert training in psychology which would allow him or her to deal by suggestion with all the offences of their girls. What else could the miner do when moral suasion had failed? How often do girls go wrong and the parents are blamed for their lack of authority? A mere "don't" may be sufficient to control some girls, possibly coupled with a reasoned argument explaining the correct conduct. But is it likely that a Durham miner would be able to make such means of correction sufficiently strong to alter the conduct of some headstrong girl? It is not, and, moreover, parents a great deal better educated also find the greatest difficulty in controlling their children.' The debate rumbled on for several further issues.
Return Of The Ridgeway Parade - 'radio's merry song and dance show' featuring Gracie Fieldhouse, Dorothy Dampier and The BBC Variety Orchestra - broadcast.
The Scarlet Pimpernel - starring Leslie Howard and WS Van Dyke's Forsaking All Others - starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery - premiered.
A Festival Of Nine Lessons & Carols broadcast.
A Christmas Party! broadcast.
AJ Cronin's Current Fiction broadcast. Matthew Zimmerman born in Greater Sudbury, Ontario.
J Comyns Carr's adaptation of Oliver Twist broadcast. Christopher Benjamin born in Trowbridge.
Marianne Helweg's translation of The Cart Of Death broadcast. Margaret Natalie Smith born in Ilford.
Sports Talk featured Howard Marshall speaking about the sporting highlights of the previous year.
Charles Weedon Westover born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Alistair Cooke's The Cinema broadcast.
Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express published. If you've never read it, they all did it. The National Council for Civil Liberties was established by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith. Having scored seven against Everton on Boxing Day, Newcastle United beat Liverpool nine-two at St James Park in the First Division. Jimmy Richardson and Sammy Weaver both scored hat-tricks with further goals from Jimmy Boyd, Tommy Lang and Ron Williams. Veteran Reds keeper Elisha Scott, reportedly, had a brilliant game and was almost single-handedly responsible for keeping United's score down to a mere nine. Atypically of Th' Toon, they ended the season geting relegated after a run of only ten points from seventeen games.
Robert Watson-Watt's The Weather House broadcast. George Formby's 'The Wedding Of Mister Wu'/'Baby' released.
A German Public School by Herr Kurt Hahn broadcast.
Vienna, 'a pot-pourri of music by Johann Strauss and Joseph Lanner, devised and arranged by Julius Bürger' broadcast.
Arsenal's manager, Herbert Chapman, died from pneumonia, aged fifty five. In May, the side he built went on win their third First Division title. Steve Milton of Halifax Town set an English league record by conceding thirteen goals on his league debut for the club in the Third Division (North) against Stockport County. The score remains the largest victory in Football League history (it was equalled by Newcastle United in 1946 when they beat Newport County by the same score). Sylvia May Laura Syms born in Woolwich.
The Flash Gordon comic strip was first published, in the United States.
Radio Times first published details of the BBC's experimental television broadcasts, still using Logie Baird's transmission process which continued throughout the following two years. The second test at Calcutta ended in a draw. England's four hundred and three included fifties for James Langridge, Douglas Jardine and Hedley Verity. The latter also took eight wickets in the match and Nobby Clark six. Dilawar Hussain top-scored in both of India's innings. Hopper Levett made his test debut. Roy Mitchell Kinnear born in Wigan.
The first episode of Whiter Britain? broadcast. A series in which 'distinguished speakers, each a specialist in his own particular line, examine the past glories of Britain, look frankly at our assets today and compare all with an eye on the future.' The opening episode featured an essay by HG Wells, whilst the second was by Winston Churchill. Future episodes were presented by the likes of Ernest Bevin, George Bernard Shaw, Quinton Hogg and David Lloyd George. Three died and fifteen were injured in London traffic accidents due to thick fog. Anne Rosemary Clune born in Hammersmith.
Russell Mack's The Meanest Gal In Town - starring Zasu Pitts, Pert Kelton, El Brendel and James Gleason - premiered. Alan Sharp born in Alyth, Scotland.
Richard David Briers born in Raynes Park. Surrey. Priscilla Morgan born in Essex.
Danish artist group Linien opened their first exhibition in Copenhagen, presenting more than one hundred and seventy works of abstract-symbolist surrealist art.
The Daily Scum Mail printed an infamous article entitled Hurrah For The Blackshirts!, in praise of fascism in general and Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists in particular, written by the paper's proprietor, Harold Harmsworth, First Viscount Rothermere. Who, obviously, was not a scumbag fascist himself or anything even remotely like it. Perish the very thought.
Tom Stewart Baker born in Liverpool. Job Stewart born in Cape Town, South Africa.
Noel John Christopher Harrison born in Kensington. Patrick O’Connell born in Dublin.
Huddersfield Town's four-one win at Sheffield United saw the five hundred and seventy fourth - and last - appearance from the club of Billy Smith the England international who had scored the winner for The Terriers in the 1922 FA Cup Final against Preston North End. In a career that began in 1913, he won also won three First Division championships with town. In the process he broke Tom Wilson's appearance record for the club, established in 1932. Typically, in his final game, Smith scored twice ending his career with one hundred and twenty six goals. Donald Graham Burton born in Norwich.
Barbara Mary Quant born in Blackheath. John Surtees born in Tatsfield, Surrey. David Weir born in London.
Annette Crosbie born in Gorebridge, Midlothian.
England won the third test at Madras by two hundred and two runs. Match highlights included Fred Bakewell's first innings eighty five, Cyril Walters's second innings century, eleven wickets for Hedley Verity and six for James Langridge.
John Ford's The Lost Patrol - starring Victor McLaglen and Bros Karloff - premiered.
Alan Arthur Bates born in Allestree, Derbyshire. John Barry Humphries born in Melbourne.
Geraldine Newman born in Brighton.
Simone Lovell born in Barcelona.
Frank Capra's It Happened One Night - starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert - premiered.
Bernard Bresslaw born in Stepney.
Hitler announced in a speech that the 'Wehrmacht will be the sole bearer of arms in the nation,' thus diminishing the importance of the Sturmabteilung. Ernst Röhm was made to sign a pledge acknowledging the superior stature of the military.
John Dillinger escaped from Crown Point jail in Indiana. The highest ever attendance for a non-Cup Final of eighty four thousand five hundred and sixty nine punters saw Manchester City beat Stoke City one-nil at Maine Road in the Sixth Round of the FA Cup.
A British court awarded Irina Yusupova, niece of the late Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, twenty five thousand pounds in damages in her lawsuit against Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer over the film Rasputin & The Empress. Yusupova claimed that the character Natasha in the film was a libel against her, although the attorneys for MGM had maintained that the character was fictional. Nicholas John Smith born in Banstead, Surrey.
Chester Erskine's Midnight - starring Sidney Fox and Humphrey Bogart - premiered. Zena Cecilia Walker born in Selly Oak.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin born in Klushino.
Dilys Lay born in Muswell Hill.
David De Saram born in Colombo, Ceylon.
Eugene Andrew Cernan born in Bellwood, Illinois.
Roger William Marshall born in Leicester.
PG Wodehouse's Thank You, Jeeves published.
Michael Curtiz's Jimmy The Gent - starring James Cagney and Bette Davis - premiered.
Golden Miller won the Grand National.
John Burnette born in Memphis.
Richard Harris born in London. Kenneth Ainsworth Ives born in West Ham.
George Richard Chamberlain born in Beverley Hills. Shirley Mae Jones born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania.
Guy Moll won the Monaco Grand Prix. Brian Glover born in Sheffield.
Cecil Day Lewis's The Magnificent Charlatan broadcast.
Ian William Richardson born in Edinburgh. Arthur Cox born in Banbridge, County Down.
Viva Villa! starring Wallace Beery was released.
Adolf Hitler made a secret deal with the leaders of the German armed forces aboard the cruiser Deutschland, promising to eliminate Ernst Röhm and subordinate the Sturmabteilung to the army in exchange for their support. Ronald Henry Pember born in Plaistow.
England defeated Scotland three-nil in the Home International championship at Wembley. Cliff Bastin, Eric Brook and Jack Bowers scored. Arsenal kepper Frank Moss and Sunderland's Raich Carter both made their England debuts. Arsenal - despite being without Moss, Bastin and Eddie Hapgood on international duty - remained top of the First Division with a three-two victory at Liverpool. Manchester City refused to allow Andrew Herd, James McLuckie and Matt Busby to be released for Scotland as they had their own match against Tottenham Hotspur to participate in. It didn't do them much good as they lost five-one. Derby County - without their own international quartet Bowers, Tom Cooper, Sammy Crooks and Eric Keen - lost three-nil at Wolves. Grimsby Town who had secured the Second Division championship a week earlier enjoyed a three-one victory over Fulham. The Protection of Animals Bill was debated in the House of Commons. The cruelty shown to horses in the 'King of the Rodeo' show during the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium, ten years earlier, had horrified thousands of onlookers, and the manager of that show, Tex Austin, was planning to stage a 'World's Championship Rodeo' at White City, in two months' time. The Bill became law in May and banned the practices of roping untrained animals and the securing of a strap around an animal's genitals to cause pain and aggravation for the purposes of entertainment. Austin vigorously denied that any of those practices had been applied in 1924 and that a similar number of horses were destroyed at the Grand National Steeplechase each year. His show went ahead and the RSPCA brought charges against him for alleged cruelty to one particular horse that was injured in a rope-steering event and had to be destroyed. There were no public complaints, however and the case was subsequently dismissed, but a rodeo would, never again, take place in the UK.
The film Sisters Under The Skin premiered.
The so-called 'Surgeon's Photograph' allegedly of the Loch Ness Monster, later admitted to be a - not especially elaborate - hoax, was published in the Daily Scum Mail. Supposedly taken by Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London gynaecologist, Wilson's refusal to have his name associated with the entire fiasco led to it being known as 'The Surgeon's Photograph.' According to Wilson, he was looking at the loch when he saw the monster, grabbed his camera and snapped four photos. Only two exposures came out clearly; the first reportedly showed a small head and back and the second showed a similar head in a diving position. The first photo became well known whilst the second attracted little publicity because of its blurriness. For sixty years the photo was considered - by planks - as 'evidence' of the monster's existence, although sceptics dismissed it as driftwood, a bird, an otter or an elephant. Albeit the sceptic who claims it was an elephant provided no explanation as to what an elephant might have been doing in a loch in Scotland. The photo's scale was controversial; it is often shown cropped (making the creature seem large and the surrounding ripples like big waves). Analysis of the original image fostered further doubt. In 1993, the makers of the Discovery Communications documentary Loch Ness Discovered analysed the uncropped image and found a white object visible in every version of the photo (implying that it was on the negative). It was believed to be the cause of the ripples, as if the object was being towed. Since 1994, most agree that the photo was a hoax.] It had been described as fake in a 7 December 1975 Sunday Telegraph article. Details of how the photo was taken were published in the 1999 book, Nessie – The Surgeon's Photograph Exposed. The creature was reportedly a toy submarine built by Christian Spurling, the son-in-law of Marmaduke Wetherell. Wetherell had been publicly ridiculed by his employer, the Daily Scum Mail, after he found 'Nessie footprints' which turned out to be a hoax. To get revenge on the Scum Mail, Wetherell perpetrated his hoax with co-conspirators Spurling (sculpture specialist), Ian Wetherell (his son, who bought the material for the fake) and Maurice Chambers (an insurance agent). The toy submarine was bought from Woolworths and its head and neck were made from wood putty. After testing it in a local pond the group went to Loch Ness, where Ian Wetherell took the photos near the Altsaigh Tea House. When they heard a water bailiff approaching, Duke Wetherell sank the model with his foot and it is 'presumably still somewhere in Loch Ness.' Chambers gave the photographic plates to Wilson, a friend of his who 'enjoyed a good practical joke.' Wilson brought the plates to Ogston's, an Inverness chemist and gave them to George Morrison for development. He sold the first photo to the Daily Scum Mail, who then announced that the monster had been photographed. The Ray Noble Orchestra, featuring Al Bowlly, recorded 'The Very Thought Of You'.
A US Patent was filed by Laurens Hammond for an electrical musical instrument subsequently known as the Hammond organ. Shirley MacLean Beaty born in Richmond, Virginia.
Manchester City defeated Portsmouth two-one in the FA Cup Final at Wembley through two goals by Fred Tilson.
Henry Cooper born in Lambeth. Francesco Stephen Castelluccio born in Newark, New Jersey. Howard Hawks's Twentieth Century - starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard - premiered.
The first Three Stooges film, Woman Haters, was released. Arsenal won the First Division title - for the second consecutive season and the third time in four years - by three points from Huddersfield Town. Tottenham Hotspur finished third. Newcastle United and Sheffield United were relegated. Derby County's Jack Bowers was the division's top scorer for the second successive year.
The Black Cat - starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi - premiered.
Alan Bennett born in Leeds. An American millionaire, William Gettle, was kidnapped from his home in Beverly Hills and his friend was tied to a tree in the grounds during the snatch. Gettle's lawyer received a note demanding sixty thousand bucks and his wife received one demanding forty thousand. But, the police tracked him down and rescued him from a house, five days after the kidnapping. Five people were subsequently convicted as a result. James Kirk, Larry Kerrigan and Roy Williams were all given prison terms in San Quentin. Two women, Loretta Woody and Mona Gallighen, were sent to a reformatory in Arlington, Virginia for their naughty kidnapping ways.
England lost two-one to Hungary at the Stadion Üllõi út, Budapest in a friendly international. Manchester City's Fred Tilson scored on his england debut whilst the host's winner came from György Sárosi of Ferencvárosi twenty minutes from time. Sheffield Wednesday's Horace Burrows also made his first England appearance. There was, reportedly, no dressing room accommodation at the stadium and it is unclear where the teams changed.
Peter Bland born in Scarborough.
Big Bill Broonzy's 'Milk Cow Blues' released on Bluebird Records. England lost their friendly international with Czechoslovakia two-one at the Stadión Letná, Prague. Fred Tilson was, again, on-target for the visitors. Seven of the brilliant Czech side played for Slavia Prague and three for their local rivals, Sparta. They boasted possibly the world's finest goalkeeper in Frantisek Plánička and Europe's best left-side forward pairing of Oldrich Nejedlý, the prolific inside forward who was to become top scorer at the World Cup the following month with six goals and Antonin Puč, the high-scoring winger, both of whom scored. Tommy Gardner and Joe Beresford of Aston Villa both made their England debuts. Forty one miners were killed in a gas explosion in the Belgian village of Pâturages. Five men were rescued from the mine, but a second explosion, two days later, killed many of a rescue party, leaving fifty seven dead in total. The mine was subsequently abandoned.
The Black Cat - starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi - and Lowell Sherman's Born To Be Bad - Loretta Young and Cary Grant - premiered.
American outlaws and violent bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed and extremely killed by a posse of six police officers led by Frank Hamer in Bienville, Louisiana. The Thin Man was released. Robert Arthur Moog born in New York.
Renee Soloman born in Manchester.
David Burke born in Liverpool.
The second football World Cup opened in Italy. As usual, showing an arrogance that belied reality, the four home football associations completely ignored the tournament and pretended that it didn't happen. To the delight of their fascisti leadership, Italy opened the tournament with a seven-one victory over the United States in Rome (Angelo Schiavio scoring three). The other two highly fancied European giants, Czechoslovakia and Austria, also won (two-one against Romania and three-two over France after extra time, resepctively). Harlan Jay Ellison born in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Dionne quintuplets were born on a farm in Canada near Corbeil, Ontario.
Nanette Newman born in Northampton. Neville Abraham Jacobson born in Marylebone.
Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov born in Listvyanka.
Little Miss Marker starring Shirley Temple was released.
Thirty nine nations signed The London Act, an agreement on a complete revision of international conventions on copyright, patents, trademarks and designs.
Britain informed the United States that it would make no more payments on its five billion dollar war debt. The note explained that resumption of the payments 'would be a re-creation of the conditions which existed prior to the world crisis and were in a large measure responsible for it. Such procedure would throw a bombshell into the European arena which would have financial and economic repercussions over all five continents and would postpone indefinitely the chances of world recovery.'
At a British Union of Fascist rally held at London's Olympia and attended by ten thousand people - many having been encouraged to attend by a series of highly supportive articles about Oswald Mosley and his goons in the Daily Mail - Blackshirt thugs violently 'ejected' anti-fascist 'disrupters.' The level of violence witnessed at the rally shocked those who witnessed it, having the effect of turning many neutral parties against the BUF and contributing to future anti-fascist support.
Donald Duck made his debut in the Walt Disney short The Wise Little Hen.
Italy defeated Czechoslovakia two-one in the World Cup Final in Rome.
Australia won the first Ashes test at Trent Bridge by two hundred and thirty eight runs. Ken Farnes, making his test debut, took ten wickets in the match but Bill O'Reilly's spun England to defeat in the second innings.
Eileen June Atkins born in London.
The first of the Brighton trunk murders came to light. Neither the victim nor her murderer was ever identified.
Jacqualine Mary Bannister born in Ealing.
Anne Gwendolyn Craig born in Sacriston.
Jacqueline Sheelagh Ellis born in Ottowa.
Ferdinand Porsche signed a contract with the German government to produce a 'people's car' (Volkswagen). George Formby's 'You Can't Keep A Growing Lad Down'/'It's No Use Looking At Me' released.
Hedley Verity took fifteen wickets on a turning Lord's pitch as England beat Australia by an innings and thirty eight runs in the second Ashes test. Les Ames and Maurice Leyland both scored centuries in England's innings.
A London jury found Austrian dancer Tilly Losch guilty of adultery with Prince Serge Obolensky and granted her husband, the poet Edward James, a divorce. Losch's counter-suit of 'cruelty' making it clear that James was homosexual failed.
Of Human Bondage starring Bette Davis was released.
Henry Cotton won the Open Championship golf tournament.
The purge known as The Night Of The Long Knives began in Nazi Germany. Hitler ordered the assassination of approximately one hundred people he believed were liable to act against him, including many leaders of the SA. Hitler also took the opportunity to eliminate critics of the regime and settle a few old scores with past political opponents such as former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and retired politician Gustav Ritter von Kahr. Hitler rode to the resort of Bad Wiessee and personally oversaw the arrest of Ernst Röhm and the other SA leaders gathered there. The German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee was launched.
Marie Curie died in Passy, Haute-Savoie aged sixty six of aplastic anaemia from exposure to radiation in the course of her scientific research and in the course of her radiological work at field hospitals during World War I. Colin Edward Williams born in Liverpool.
Philip Arvon Jones born in Merthyr Tydfil.
Fred Perry defeated Jack Crawford of Australia in the men's Singles final at Wimbledon. It was the first time in twenty five years that an Englishman won the title.
Dorothy Round Little defeated the American Helen Hull Jacobs in the Ladies' Singles final at Wimbledon.
Martin Alan Feldman born in London.
The third Ashes test at Old Trafford ended in a draw. England's six hundred and twenty nine for nine included centuries for Patsy Hendred and Maurice Leyland and fifties for Cyril Walters, Herbert Sutcliffe, Les Ames, Gubby Allen and Hedley Verity. Stan McCabe hit a century in Australia's reply. Walters and Sutcliffe hit one hundred and twenty three without less and declared setting Australia a target of two hundred and sixty but Bill Ponsford and McCabe settled for a draw. Len Hopwood made his test debut.
Will H Hays held a conference with the heads of Hollywood's biggest motion picture companies. After the conference the following statement was issued: 'To strengthen the system of industrial self-regulation established by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America the following member companies of that association have agreed that each will grant to exhibitors the right to omit the exhibition of any motion picture released prior to 15 July 1934, against which there is a genuine protest on moral grounds.'
David Jackson born in Liverpool.
Jonathan Wolfe Miller born in London. Lamine Sekka born in Dakar, Senegal. Charley Rogers's Them That Hills! - starring Laurel and Hardy - premiered.
Federal agents shot and killed the notorious criminal Betrayed by a Copper's Nark to the Feds, bank robber John Dillinger was shot and killed by agents after a shootout at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago. And, that was the end of his shit.
The fourth Ashes test at Headingley ended in a high-scoring draw. Don Bradman - having failed to reach fifty in any of the first three tests - scored three hundred and four in Australia's innings whilst Bill Bowes took six wickets. Clarrie Grimmett took seven wickets in the match. Walter Keeton made his test debut.
The British Empire Games began at White City.
Zakes Makgona Mokae born in Johannesburg.
Julie Webb born in Portsmouth.
Keith Barron born in Mexborough.
Ten thousand banana workers went on strike in Costa Rica.
Trevor Gordon Bannister born in Durrington, Wiltshire. Vernon Dobtcheff born in Nîmes, France.
Dames - starring Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler and featuring the song 'I Only Have Eyes For You' - was released. John Ronald Leon born in London.
Treasure Island starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper was released.
William Cornelius born in London.
Al Capone was imprisoned at the new Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay. Australia won the final test at The Oval by five hundred and sixty two runs and regained The Ashes. The tourists' seven hundred and one included double centuries for Bill Ponsford and Don Bradman. Despite Maurice Leyland's century England trailed by almost four hundred on the first innings. Australia were bowled out for a second time (Bill Bowes taking nine wickets in the match and Nobby Clark seven). On a worn wicket, Clarrie Grimmett then spun Australia to victory on the final afternoon.
The Count of Monte Cristo starring Robert Donat and Elissa Landi was released.
Lancashire won the cricket county championship. Sussex finished runners-up for the third consecutive season with Derbyshire in third and Warwickshire fourth. Worcester's Harold Doc Gibbons was the leading run-scorer (two thousand four hundred and fifty two). Tich Freeman was, again, the leading wicket-taker (one hundred and eighty seven).
Evelyn Waugh's A Handful Of Dust published.
The first known victim of the Cleveland Torso Murderer, the Lady of the Lake, is discovered on the shore of Lake Erie. Jack Hobbs played his eight hundred and thirty fourth and final first class cricket match for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord's. In a career that began in 1905, he is the leading run-scorer and century-maker in first-class cricket, with sixty one thousand seven hundred and sixty runs and one hundred and ninety nine centuries. A right-handed batsman and an occasional right-arm medium pace bowler (one hundred and eight career wickets), Hobbs also excelled as a fielder, particularly in the position of cover point. He played sixty one tests for England between 1908 and 1930 scoring five thousand four hundred and ten runs. He would become the first professional cricketer to e knighted in 1953. Frederic Russell Harty born in Blackburn.
The BBC's powerful long-wave transmitter, Droitwich Station, began broadcasting at two hundred kilohertz.
Kokomo Arnold's 'Milk Cow Blues' released.
The JB Priestley play Eden End premiered at the Duchess Theatre in London.
Peter Blythe born in Yorkshire.
Michael Curtiz' British Agent - starring Leslie Howard and Kay Francis - premiered.
Robin Olden born in London.
The Right Honourable Sir Charles Trevelyan MP presented The New Roman Wall Youth Hostel, The Once Brewed on 5NO Newcastle.
Brian Samuel Epstein born in Liverpool.
Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone born in Rome.
Leonard Norman Cohen born in Westmount, Quebec.
Agatha Christie's Why Didn't They Ask Evans? published. Robert Lang born in Bristol. Stanley Harvey Lebor born in East Ham.
The RMS Queen Mary was launched into Glasgow's River Clyde in the presence of King George V and the ship's namesake, Queen consort Mary of Teck. It was the largest ship in the world at the time.
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot born in Paris. Janet Neilson Horsburgh born in Blackpool. Eleven people died after a train crash at Winwick Junction, near Warrington. The junction was a busy one, with four connecting lines and the signalman assumed that a local train had already passed through, when it was actually waiting to be switched to a branch line. An express train from Euston smashed into the rear of the smaller train at a speed of about fifty miles per hour. The subsequent installation of an electronic track circuit ensured such a collision could never happen again.
Stoke City's teenage winger Stanley Matthews made his debut for England, scoring in a four-nil win over Wales at Ninian Park. It was the beginning of a record twenty three-year international career. Fred Tilson scored two and Eric Brook was also on the scoresheets. Willie Evans of Spurs missed a penalty for the hosts and then had to leave the field after a nasty clash with Harry Hibbs. Along with Matthews, Everton's Cliff Britton, Derby County's Jack Barker, Jackie Bray of Manchester City, Arsenal's Ray Bowden and Ray Westwood of Bolton Wanderers all made their international debut as did Newcastle United's Ron Williams for Wales. In the first Division, Ted Drake scored four in Arsenal's five-one defeat of Birmingham. Dail Astley, no longer part of the Wales side, reminded them of what they were missing, scoring three in Aston Villa's four-two victory over Preston North End. Reg Stockill scored twice in Derby County's two-one win over Spurs and was denied a hat-trick when he missed a penalty. Table-toppers Manchester City won two-one at Middlesbrough. Second Division leaders Bolton Wanderers suffered a heavy six=two defeat at Sheffield United.
The first episode of Freedom & Authority In The Modern World broadcast.
The first episode of Speeches That Never Happened broadcast.
The Gay Divorcee starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers was released.
The Long March began in Southwest China.
Bert McClossy Cooper born in Nassau, Bahamas.
Mary Peach born in Durban, South Africa. Timothy Lancaster West born in Bradford.
Charles Pretty Boy Floyd - Public Enemy Number One - was shot and killed in a corn field in Ohio while being pursued by local law officers and FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis.
The earliest known recording of 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' was made by banjoist Harry Reser and his band featuring Tom Stacks on vocals.
Winston Churchill warned that Germany was re-arming 'secretly, illegally and rapidly.' He expressed astonishment at the British government's attitude 'when we consider the character of the present German government, the rapidly darkening European scene and the obligations which ministers repeatedly are declaring we have in Europe.' Philip George William Bond born in Burton-On-Trent.
Annette Wendy Rickman Williams born in Cheam.
Robin Midgley born in Torquay.
England - containing seven Arnseal players - and Italy played a famously violent 'friendly' football match which became known as The Battle of Highbury. England won three-two. This was Italy's first match since they had won the World Cup, in which England had not taken part as the Football Association had left FIFA in 1928 in a stroppy huff that they couldn't couldn't get their own way all the time. England were still considered one of the strongest teams in Europe and the match was billed, in England at least, as the 'real' World Cup final. The match was important enough to the Italians that Benito Mussolini had, reportedly, offered each player an Alfa Romeo if they beat the English. Eric Brook scored twice for the hosts with Ted Drake adding a third on his international debut. Internazionale's Peppino Meazza scored both of Italy's goals. The visitors played most of the match with ten men after Luis-Felipe Monti broke a bone in his foot after a challenge with Drake. One of the Arsenal contingient, George Male, also made his England debut. The inquest into the death of Doctor Roger Richmond, three months earlier at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, concluded that it was the result of a tragic accident. He had fractured his skull after falling through a glass skylight over the out-patients' department from the bottom of a fire escape, whilst talking to a nurse, who also fell through the glass roof and broke her leg. Salvador Dalí and his wife, Gala, arrived in New York aboard the ocean liner SS Champlain. Dalí emerged to greet the American press holding a two-and-a-half metre long loaf of bread, with the intention of distributing it among them 'as Saint Francis did with his birds.' To his apparent disappointment, however, none of the reporters bothered to ask him about it.
Myfanwy Beryl Webster born in Allahabad, India.
The Cole Porter musical Anything Goes premiered at the Alvin Theatre on Broadway. The show included several of Porter's best known songs including 'I Get A Kick Out Of You', ''All Through The night', 'You're The Top' and the title song. Seventeen-year-old Ella Fitzgerald made her singing debut at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, winning first prize in one of the venue's amateur contest.
Dora Russell was granted a divorce from husband Bertrand in British court on grounds of 'immoral conduct.
The films The Painted Veil starring Greta Garbo and Anne Of Green Gables starring Dawn O'Day were released.
Ann Cuerton Davies born in London.
Lester Gillis (Baby Face Nelson) died after a shootout with The Feds near Chicago.
Lord Ashley was granted a divorce from wife Sylvia. Spectators packed the courtroom hoping to hear lurid details of Sylvia's affair with the American actor Douglas Fairbanks, but were disappointed when the legal proceedings lasted only ten minutes.
The marriage of Prince George, Duke of Kent, to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, was the first royal wedding to be broadcast live on BBC radio. Though, not the last.
London & North Eastern Railway steam locomotive Flying Scotsman became the first to officially exceed one hundred miles per hour. The musical comedy Babes In Toyland - starring Laurel and Hardy - premiered.
First public performance by the continental jazz group Quintette du Hot Club de France, at the École Normale de Musique in Paris, led by guitarist Django Reinhardt with violinist Stéphane Grappelli. Brian Phelan born in Dublin.
The Abyssinia Crisis began when Ethiopian troops clashed with Somali Dubats in the service of Italy at the outpost of Welwel.
Judith Olivia Dench born in Heworth.
The Soviet movie Lieutenant Kijé - featuring a famous score by Sergei Prokofiev - premiered in Moscow. Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much - starring Leslie Banks and Peter Lorre - premiered. Judith Olivia Dench born in York.
Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out published. It had been serialised in an abridged form in the Daily Mail from 31 October.
Maureen Phyllis Elizabeth Beck born in Chiselhurst.
Ken G Hall's Strike It Lucky - starring Roy Rene, Yvonne Banvard and Lorraine Smith - premiered.
The first episode of From Plainsong To Purcell: The Foundation Of English Music broadcast.
The Scarlet Pimpernel - starring Leslie Howard and WS Van Dyke's Forsaking All Others - starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery - premiered.
A Festival Of Nine Lessons & Carols broadcast.
A Christmas Party! broadcast.
AJ Cronin's Current Fiction broadcast. Matthew Zimmerman born in Greater Sudbury, Ontario.
J Comyns Carr's adaptation of Oliver Twist broadcast. Christopher Benjamin born in Trowbridge.
Marianne Helweg's translation of The Cart Of Death broadcast. Margaret Natalie Smith born in Ilford.
Sports Talk featured Howard Marshall speaking about the sporting highlights of the previous year.
Charles Weedon Westover born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Alistair Cooke's The Cinema broadcast.
