HISTORY
On this day January 31-February 06, 2021 (week 05)
January 31, 2021 - February 6, 2021 - Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries for each day of the week. This week features the telephone link between East and West Berlin, George Harrison’s song My Sweet Lord, Idi Amin of Uganda, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Diaz, Daniel arap Moi, President of Kenya, the first serving soldier to be killed in action in Northern Ireland and Apollo 14
EDITORS: The On This Day series of graphics started almost 25 years ago in 1996. It offers a print graphic for every day of the year in English, Spanish or Arabic. A digital version is also available that auto-updates providing a fresh image for your website every day of the year (English only - see link below).
The print graphics for each week are downloadable together as a set, and made available two weeks at a time, a week before the first day of the first set.
The digital version GN40881 includes data for every day of the year but may be updated as and if necessary during the year.
If you want to search for alternative events or anniversaries you can use the On This Day database (see links below or via the online Menu).
January 31, 1971: A limited telephone service linked East and West Berlin for the first time since 1952, with calls connected via a switchboard using pre-WWII technology
February 1, 1971: My Sweet Lord, former Beatle George Harrison’s first single as a solo artist, written in praise of the Hindu god Krishna, sold 110,000 copies in a single day
February 2, 1971: Major General Idi Amin took over as military head of state in Uganda. Over 100,000 people are believed to have been killed during his eight-year regime
February 3, 1488: Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Diaz became the first European to land on African soil, putting ashore at Mossel Bay in the Cape of Good Hope
February 4, 2020: Daniel arap Moi, President of Kenya from 1978 to 2002, died at age 95. His authoritarian rule maintained stability in the country but was criticised for corruption
February 5, 1971: A British soldier shot dead during riots in Belfast, became the first serving soldier to be killed in action since troops went to Northern Ireland in 1969