Notable Days

• Home
• Posts
• Notable Days

Ten years since the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill passed the House of Commons

Today (05/02/2023) marks ten years since the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill passed its second reading in the UK House of Commons. The bill passed through the Commons by 400 votes to 175 and paved the way for same-sex marriage... Read more →

Published 12th February, 2023 · 2 min read

Black History Month - 2023

“History is a people’s memory, and without a memory, man is demoted to the lower animals.” – Malcolm XThis February marks Black History Month in the United States. Black History Month is an annual observance that officially began in 1970,... Read more →

Published 2nd February, 2023 · 3 min read

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

Today (27/01/2023) marks the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in south-west Poland by Allied troops. In 2005, the United Nations designated the 27th January an annual event to commemorate the horrors of the Holocaust and remember all those... Read more →

Published 27th January, 2023 · 1 min read

Burns Night

Tonight (25/01/2022) is Burns Night, a tradition observed annually throughout Scotland, on the birthday of Robert Burns (1759-1796). Burns wrote many well-known poems and songs (primarily in Scots), including "Ae Fond Kiss", "Tam o’Shanter" and, of course, "Auld Lang Syne",... Read more →

Published 25th January, 2023 · 1 min read

International Day of Education

Today (24/01/2022) is the fifth International Day of Education. Started by the United Nations in 2018, this initiative aims to promote education as a human right, as well as a key contributor to global peace and development. As the UN notes,... Read more →

Published 24th January, 2023 · 1 min read

Lunar New Year

British Online Archives would like to wish all our customers a happy Lunar New Year. From midnight on the 22nd January 2023 (22/01/2023), until the festival ends on the 1st February, China’s population and its worldwide diaspora will celebrate the... Read more →

Published 22nd January, 2023 · 1 min read

250 years: Captain James Cook and his crew become the first Europeans to sail below the Antarctic Circle.

On this day (17/01/2023), 250 years ago, Captain James Cook became the first European to discover and sail below the Antarctic Circle. Commandeering HMS Resolution in 1773 during the second of his three legendary voyages exploring the Pacific Ocean, Cook... Read more →

Published 17th January, 2023 · 3 min read

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Today (16/01/2023) is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a public holiday in the United States which celebrates the birthday of one of the most influential civil rights activists of the twentieth century. Born in 1929, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.... Read more →

Published 16th January, 2023 · 3 min read

Seventy-five years since the opening of Britain's first "supermarket"

Today (12/01/2023) marks seventy-five years since the London Co-operative Society (LCS) opened what historians often consider to be Britain’s first ever supermarket. On the 12th January 1948, a branch of the LCS inaugurated a new shop in Manor Park (now... Read more →

Published 12th January, 2023 · 2 min read

Christmas

Following the four-week season of preparation known as “Advent”, Christmas Day commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ some 2,000 years ago in the town of Bethlehem (in what is now Palestine). Most Christians consider Jesus to have been the “Messiah”,... Read more →

Published 22nd December, 2022 · 2 min read

Winter Solstice

For those living north of the equator, today (21/12/2022) marks the annual Winter Solstice: the point at which the northern hemisphere is tilted furthest from the sun, producing the shortest day and longest night of the year, respectively. Throughout human... Read more →

Published 21st December, 2022 · 1 min read

50th anniversary of the signing of the Basic Treaty between East and West Germany

On 21/12/1972, fifty years ago today, East and West Germany signed the Basic Treaty in Berlin. In the context of the Cold War détente, this treaty marked the acknowledgement of each nation's individual sovereignty for the first time.For West Germany,... Read more →

Published 21st December, 2022 · 1 min read

One hundred years since the Irish Free State was established

In December 1922, one hundred years ago, the Irish Free State was established as a dominion of the British Empire, formally ending the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921).The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 dictated that twenty-six out of thirty-two counties in... Read more →

Published 18th December, 2022 · 2 min read

Hanukkah

Today (18/12/2022) is the first day of Hanukkah (or, more traditionally, “Chanukah”). Also known as the “festival of lights”, this eight-day holiday usually occurs between late November and December. Hanukkah commemorates a Jewish rebellion against the Seleucid Empire in Judea... Read more →

Published 18th December, 2022 · 2 min read

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

Today (02/12/2022) is the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, an annual event organised by the United Nations (UN). The day marks the adoption by the UN’s General Assembly, of the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in... Read more →

Published 2nd December, 2022 · 2 min read

Anniversary of Rosa Parks Arrest

Today (01/12/2022)  marks 67 years since Rosa Parks was arrested. On 1st December 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, after she had refused to give up her bus seat for a white passenger. 1950s America was segregated along... Read more →

Published 1st December, 2022 · 2 min read

Remembrance Day

This Remembrance Day (11/11/2022) marks 104 years since the end of the First World War, a global conflict that claimed the lives of over 886,000 British and Commonwealth military personnel. Inaugurated by King George V in 1919 to commemorate the signing... Read more →

Published 11th November, 2022 · 1 min read

Bonfire Night

On this day, 5th November 1605, Guy Fawkes was arrested whilst guarding explosives that were hidden under the House of Lords. This was part of the Gunpowder Plot, which was a failed attempt at regicide against King James I.Guy Fawkes... Read more →

Published 5th November, 2022 · 2 min read

Halloween

Known to many as Halloween, tonight (31/10/2022) is All Hallows’ Eve, a festival observed in many parts of the world. Traditionally, to celebrate the occasion, people carve pumpkins into “jack-o-lanterns”, don scary costumes, tell ghost stories, and go “trick-or-treating”: calling... Read more →

Published 31st October, 2022 · 1 min read

Diwali

Today (24/10/2022) marks the start of Diwali, a five-day festival celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains around the world. Known as the “festival of lights”, Diwali always takes place between October and November, at the start of the Hindu New... Read more →

Published 24th October, 2022 · 1 min read

Indigenous Peoples' Day

Today (11/10/2022) is Indigenous Peoples' Day. Honouring the histories and cultures of Native Americans, the day is one of the United States' newest national holidays, formally recognised for the first time by President Joe Biden in October of last year.Initiated... Read more →

Published 11th October, 2022 · 2 min read

Rabi ul-Awal

This month marks the third month in the Islamic calendar, Rabi ul-Awal. This month, which follows the month Safar, translates as “the first spring”, but due to the Islamic calendar being a lunar calendar it does not correspond to the... Read more →

Published 10th October, 2022 · 1 min read

Black History Month (UK)

October marks the start of Black History Month. The month will be marked by a commemoration and celebration of Black history and culture.Black History Month was first celebrated in the UK in 1987. In the UK, Black history centers on... Read more →

Published 1st October, 2022 · 2 min read

Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is the first of the High Holy Days in the Jewish calendar, and normally takes place in September. The two-day holiday began at sunset on Sunday the 25th, and will end tonight. This is an especially important celebration... Read more →

Published 27th September, 2022 · 1 min read

Anniversary of the Death of Noor Inayat Khan

Today, 13th September, marks 78 years since Noor Inayat Khan was executed in a Nazi concentration camp. Descendant of Tipu Sultan, the 18th century ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in South India, Noor Inyat Khan was the first female... Read more →

Published 13th September, 2022 · 3 min read

Women's Equality Day

Today (26/08/2020) is Women's Equality DayOn this day, 26th August 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution came into effect and ended the denial of voting rights on the basis of sex. The Nineteenth Amendment was first introduced... Read more →

Published 26th August, 2022 · 2 min read

Anniversary of the Birth of Marsha P. Johnson

Today (24/08/2022) is the birthday of Marsha P. Johnson, an African-American performer and activist who played a major role in the movement for LGBTQ+ rights, both in the United States and abroad. Marsha was born in New Jersey in 1945,... Read more →

Published 24th August, 2022 · 4 min read

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

Today (23/08/2022) is International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition"It is time to abolish human exploitation once and for all, and to recognize the equal and unconditional dignity of each and every individual. Today, let... Read more →

Published 23rd August, 2022 · 2 min read

Partition of the Indian Subcontinent 75 Years

2022 marks the 75th anniversary of the partition of the Indian subcontinent. After more than 300 years of British rule, on 15th August 1947 the Indian subcontinent gained its independence and was partitioned into two independent nation states: India and... Read more →

Published 15th August, 2022 · 3 min read

International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

Today (09/08/2022) marks the annual celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The day was first pronounced in 1994 by the General Assembly of the United Nations and aims to raise awareness and protect the human rights... Read more →

Published 9th August, 2022 · 2 min read

Emancipation Day

On this date, in 1834, slavery was officially abolished throughout Britain’s colonies, following the approval of the Slavery Abolition Act, twelve months earlier. Since the 16th century, Britain had perpetrated appalling crimes against humanity, participating in a trade that saw... Read more →

Published 1st August, 2022 · 3 min read

Esperanto Day

Today (26/07/2022) is Esperanto Day, an event observed every year to celebrate the birth of the Esperanto language. On this date, in 1887, Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof – a Jewish ophthalmologist from what is now Poland – published the world’s first Esperanto... Read more →

Published 26th July, 2022 · 1 min read

South Asian Heritage Month 2022

This month marks the annual South Asian Heritage Month in the United Kingdom. The month, running from 18th July to 17th August, celebrates the heritage and history of South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal,... Read more →

Published 18th July, 2022 · 2 min read

Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst (née Goulden), the British suffragette known for her uncompromising militancy in pursuit of women’s right to vote, was born on this day in 1858. (15/07)Born in Manchester’s Moss Side, Pankhurst’s family was one steeped in ardent political activism.... Read more →

Published 15th July, 2022 · 3 min read

Bastille Day

Today (14/07/2022) is Bastille Day (the ‘Fête nationale française’), a national holiday celebrated throughout France and its overseas territories every year, as well as in former French colonies, including parts of Canada and India. The event commemorates the storming of the... Read more →

Published 14th July, 2022 · 1 min read

Eid al-Adha

Today (09/07/2022) marks the Eid al-Adha religious holiday in Islam. The celebration, which is also known as the “Feast of Sacrifice”, is all about remembering the sacrifices that Prophet Ibrahim made for this faith. Following Eid prayers the act of Qurbani,... Read more →

Published 9th July, 2022 · 1 min read

50th Anniversary of First Official UK Gay Pride Rally

"We Are Nature's Children Too" - Gay Pride March, (1974)This month marks fifty years since the first official UK Gay Pride rally, which took place in London on the 1st of July 1972. Now known as the annual ‘London Pride’... Read more →

Published 5th July, 2022 · 2 min read

Happy July 4th

BOA would like to wish all who celebrate a happy July 4th.Did you know that while fireworks are considered a ubiquitous part of Independence Day celebrations these days, the modern firework wasn’t invented until the 1830s?While some iteration of firework... Read more →

Published 4th July, 2022 · 1 min read

Windrush Day

Today, (June 22, 2022), marks the fifth annual Windrush Day in the United Kingdom. This commemorative day was introduced in June 2018 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Windrush migration. On June 22, 1948, over 1,000 people from the Caribbean... Read more →

Published 22nd June, 2022 · 2 min read

Summer Solstice

Today marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. Also known as ‘Midsummer’, this is the longest day of the year and, historically, it has been an important cultural event in many countries. In the UK, pagans often observe the summer... Read more →

Published 21st June, 2022 · 1 min read

World Ocean Day

World Ocean Day has been celebrated every June since 1992, when it was first instigated by the International Centre for Ocean Development and the Ocean Institute of Canada, respectively.The organisation’s network now operates in 150 countries, raising awareness about the... Read more →

Published 8th June, 2022 · 1 min read

Eid al-Fitr

Today (02/05/2022) marks the Eid al-Fitr religious holiday in Islam. The celebration, which falls on the first day of Shawwal in the Islamic calendar, is an important religious holiday for Muslims as it marks the end of the holy month... Read more →

Published 2nd May, 2022 · 1 min read

May Day (International Workers’ Day)

Today (01/05/2022) is International Workers’ Day (or ‘May Day’), an annual event observed all over the world to celebrate the history of organised labour, and to campaign for better working and living conditions. The first May Day event took place... Read more →

Published 1st May, 2022 · 1 min read

Easter

Today is Easter Sunday, the most important event of the Christian calendar. Marking the end of Lent (a period of remembrance lasting for 40 days, in which many Christians give up certain luxuries, such as eating unhealthy foods, drinking alcohol,... Read more →

Published 17th April, 2022 · 1 min read

Pesach (Passover)

Pesach (Passover) Today (15/04/2022) marks the first day of Passover, the celebration of the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt, as told in the Bible. To commemorate the Exodus, in which Moses led the Israelites away from persecution... Read more →

Published 15th April, 2022 · 1 min read

Ramadam

Today (02/04/2022) marks the start of the Islamic holy month Ramadan. Throughout this month Muslims all across the world partake in fasting between sunrise and sunset, prayer and self-reflection. Ramadan is the 9th month in the Islamic calendar, a lunar calendar... Read more →

Published 2nd April, 2022 · 1 min read

Women's History Month

This March marks the annual Women’s History Month, a month long celebration that began in 1987 in the United States of America. Despite discrimination, hardships, and exclusion, women throughout history have strived for equality. Women’s History Month provides an opportunity... Read more →

Published 30th March, 2022 · 7 min read

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Between the 16th and the 19th centuries, approximately 15 million people were violently removed from Africa and transported to the Americas. Those who survived the ‘middle passage’ across the Atlantic (and their successors) were subsequently enslaved and, for the most... Read more →

Published 25th March, 2022 · 1 min read

St Patrick’s Day

Today (17/03/2022) marks Saint Patrick’s Day, Lá Fhéile Pádraig in Irish, a cultural and religious celebration held annually to celebrate Ireland’s foremost patron saint.The 17th March was chosen as the traditionally recognised death date of Saint Patrick (c.385 – 461).... Read more →

Published 17th March, 2022 · 2 min read

FA Cup - 150th Anniversary

Today (16/03/2022) marks the 150th Anniversary of the first ever Football Association Cup Final, in which Wanderers Football Club beat Royal Engineers Football Club 1-0 in front of a crowd of 2000. The scene would instill a degree of confusion... Read more →

Published 16th March, 2022 · 1 min read

International Women’s Day (IWD)

International Women’s Day is a global holiday celebrated annually on 8th March. This day commemorates cultural, political, social and economic achievements of women. It has become a focal point in the women’s rights movement, and is used to spotlight issues... Read more →

Published 8th March, 2022 · 3 min read

Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is a key event in the Christian calendar, which takes place every year before the commencement of Lent (the 40-day period leading up to Easter). For many Christians, Lent is a time of sacrifice, when it is customary to... Read more →

Published 1st March, 2022 · 1 min read

International Mother Language Day

“Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage” - United NationsThe 21st February marks International Mother Language Day. The annual observance, first declared in 1999, promotes awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and... Read more →

Published 21st February, 2022 · 3 min read

50th Anniversary of Nixons's Visit to China

Today (21/02/2022) marks the 50th anniversary of President Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972, which signaled the end of the decades long hostility between the two nations. Since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the US... Read more →

Published 21st February, 2022 · 2 min read

Darwin Day

Today (12/02/2022) is Darwin DayCharles Darwin is perhaps Britain’s most famous naturalist and biologist, known for his contribution to the theory of evolutionary biology. On the Origin of Species (1859), in which Darwin posits the idea that populations evolve over... Read more →

Published 12th February, 2022 · 1 min read

Black History Month (US)

“History is a people’s memory, and without a memory, man is demoted to the lower animals.” – Malcolm XThis February marks Black History Month in the United States. Black History Month is an annual observance that officially began in 1970,... Read more →

Published 9th February, 2022 · 2 min read

70th Anniversary of the Accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the British Throne

Today (06/02/2022) marks the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the British throne. Elizabeth Windsor is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch, as well as the longest-serving female head of state in history.On this day in... Read more →

Published 4th February, 2022 · 2 min read

LGBT History Month

This month marks the 17th LGBT History Month in the United Kingdom. LGBT History month is an annual observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history and the history of the gay rights movement. It was founded by co-chairs of... Read more →

Published 2nd February, 2022 · 2 min read

Chinese New Year

The whole team at British Online Archives would like to wish all our customers a happy Lunar New Year. When the clock strikes 00:00 on February 1st, China’s population and its worldwide diaspora will celebrate the coming of the Year... Read more →

Published 31st January, 2022 · 2 min read

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

Today (27/01/2022) marks the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in south-west Poland by troops from the Soviet Union. Since then, the 27th of January has come to commemorate the horrors of the Holocaust and remember all those who... Read more →

Published 27th January, 2022 · 1 min read

Burns Night

Tonight (25/01/2022) is Burns Night, a tradition observed annually throughout Scotland, on the birthday of Robert Burns (1759-1796). Burns wrote many well-known poems and songs (primarily in Scots), including ‘Ae Fond Kiss’, ‘Tam o’Shanter’ and, of course, ‘Auld Lang Syne’,... Read more →

Published 25th January, 2022 · 1 min read

International Day of Education

Today (24/01/2022) is the fourth International Day of Education. Started by the United Nations in 2018, this initiative aims to promote education as a human right, as well as a key contributor to global peace and development. As the UN notes,... Read more →

Published 24th January, 2022 · 1 min read

Martin Luther King Day

Today (17/01/2022) the U.S. remembers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Dr. King was a leader of the civil rights movement in the U.S.In 1955 he led the Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted 382 days, and ended segregation on buses. Between 1957... Read more →

Published 17th January, 2022 · 1 min read

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

The 2nd December marks International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, it is a yearly event organised by the United Nations General Assembly. Slavery has existed in all societies across history, however, it has manifested itself differently. The most well-known... Read more →

Published 2nd December, 2021 · 1 min read

34th Black History Month (UK)

October 2021 marks the 34th Black History Month in the United Kingdom. Black History Month is an annual observance that originated in the United States in 1970. However, as a result of local community activism it was also brought to... Read more →

Published 12th October, 2021 · 3 min read

Human Rights Day

Today (10/12/2021) is Human Rights Day“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. [...] Unless these rights... Read more →

Published 10th October, 2021 · 3 min read