On This Day... February 3 | Nostalgia

FEAST OF ST BLAISE – patron of throats and woolcombers. An annual blessing of throats is held at St Ethelreda’s Church in London.1488: Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Diaz became the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope.1730: The first stock exchange quotations were published in the Daily Advertiser, London.1762: English dandy and gambler Richard ‘Beau’ Nash died.1877: Chopsticks, the novelty piano piece, was registered at the British Museum.1935: The jingle ‘We are the Ovaltineys, little girls and boys’ was first sung on radio. Listeners were invited to join the Ovaltiney Club (with badge and rule book) and a coded message was given out each week.1959: Buddy Holly, US singer and guitarist, died in an air crash, aged 22. With him were fellow rock ‘n’ rollers Ritchie Valens and JP ‘Big Bopper’ Richardson.1960: British prime minister Harold Macmillan made his historic ‘wind of change’ speech to the South African parliament in Cape Town, predicting the growth of national consciousness.1966: The Russians made the first rocket-assisted controlled landing on the Moon with Luna 9.1977: The government said it would hold referendums in Scotland and Wales on devolution.1983: UK unemployment hit a record high of 3.22 million.ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The World Health Organisation (Who) began working with Google to ensure people got facts from the UN health agency first when they searched for information about the new coronavirus.

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