Born on this Day 23rd November
1417 William Fitz Alan
1616 John Wallis
1705 Thomas Birch
1859 William J Bonney (Billy the Kid)
1887 Boris Karloff
1887 Henry Moseley
1909 Nigel Tranter
1913 Michael Gough
1914 Roger Avon
1924 Colin Macmillan Turnbull
1928 Jerry Bock
1936 Robert Barnard
1939 Betty Everett
1943 Sue Nicholls
1945 Keith Hampshire
1946 Diana Quick
1948 Frank Worthington
1949 Sandra Stevens
1951 David Rappaport
1954 Ross Brawn
1956 Shane Gould
1959 Maxwell Caulfield
1963 Joe Ahearne
1968 Kirsty Young
1970 Zoe Ball
1978 Kayvan Novak
1979 Kelly Brook
1986 Gia Johnson
1990 Shaun Hutchinson
Died On This Day
1979 Merle Oberon
1990 Roald Dahl
2001 Mary Whitehouse
Music
1889 The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.
1915 The famous First World War song ‘Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag’ was published by Welsh brothers
1956 Bill Haley was voted the ‘World’s Outstanding Vocal Personality’ in an NME poll, with Elvis Presley in 2nd place. Presley also came runner up to Frank Sinatra in the ‘World’s Most Outstanding Singer’ category
1968 Marvin Gaye’s classic track ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ entered the US Top 40
Sport
1987 Formula 1 racing driver Nigell Mansell joined the Isle of Man’s 50-strong constabulary
1988 Sumo champion Chionofuji, known as the Wolf, became only the 5th wrestler in history to win 50 matches in a row
People & Showbiz
1889 The world’s first Jukebox was installed at the Palais Royal Saloon in San Francisco
1963 Dr Who was broadcast by the BBC for the first time, with William Hartnell playing the lead role
General Events
1499 Pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck is hanged for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London. He had invaded England in 1497, claiming to be the lost son of King Edward IV of England.
1667 32 year old Arthur Coga, for the sum of £1, became the first recorded British blood transfusion patient. ‘In the interests of scientific inquiry’ he received 12oz of sheep’s blood with no apparent ill-effects
1852 Britain’s first pillar-boxes were brought into public use in St.Helier, Jersey.
1910 Dr Hawley Crippen was executed in Holloway prison, London for the murder of his wife, Cora
1936 Fluroscent lighting was used commercially for the first time at a dinner in Washington to mark the centenary of the US Patent Office
1979 Thomas McMahon was jailed for life in Dublin for the murder of Lord Mountbatten
1984 According to a survey by Lyons, Tetley tea still remained Britain’s favourite hot drink.
1993 Rachel Whiteread wins both the £20,000 Turner Prize award for best British modern artist and the £40,000 K Foundation art award for the worst artist of the year.