18 January 1283

During the final stages of his second war of conquest in Wales, Edward I gained control of the Conwy valley by capturing the native Welsh castle of Dolwyddelan.

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18 January 1778

Captain Cook encounters the Hawaiian Islands. He names them the Sandwich Islands after his sponsor John Montagu Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty. Cook was killed there the following year on Valentine's Day.


18 January 1879

The Religious Tract Society publishes the first edition of the Boys' Own Paper, a Christian alternative to the various 'penny dreadfuls' that were in circulation at the time. Its first article is My First Football Match, by an Old Boy.


18 January 1882

Birth in Kilburn, North London, of poet, playwright and Winnie the Pooh creator Alan Alexander 'AA' Milne. As a child he attended Henley House School where one of his teachers was, briefly, HG Wells.

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18 January 1911

American aviator Eugene Ely became the first person to land an aeroplane on a warship when he piloted his biplane onto the deck of the armoured cruiser USS Pennsylvania.

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