1 January 1825 The Guardian’s editor offers “grateful and hearty thanks for the patronage with which it has been favoured” over the previous year. He also reflects that the paper “is not indebted for any portion of its success to an excitement of vulgar passions, or a catering for prurient appetites.”
31 December 1831: Spread of the cholera from Sunderland: the accounts are of the most formidable nature.
1 January 1894: Opening of the Manchester ship canal: Six years in the making, the world’s largest navigation canal gives the city direct access to the sea.
1 January 1900: The ringing out of the old year and the ringing in of the new is a familiar and long-established custom, which, happily, still survives.
1 January 1913: New Year’s superstitions: if we are to be superstitious about 1913 we must observe the weather omens this morning.
1 January 1934: Manchester Guardian exposes reality of Dachau: report on the concentration camp’s organisation, routine, punishment and ill-treatment of prisoners.
1 January 1964: The paperback memoirs of Miss Rice-Davies: the Mandy Report turns out to be a slim paperback with lots of pictures.
1 January 1973: Britain becomes a member of the European Community.
2 January 1975: Knighthoods for ‘exiles’ Chaplin and Wodehouse: there is an element of forgiving and forgetting since both men were unexpectedly and very bemusedly involved in unpleasant political controversy at the height of their fame.
31 December 1987: Downing Street berates Sun in honours storm: Mrs Thatcher said to be furious after the newspaper broke an embargo on publication of the New Year’s honours list.
31 December 1999: Farewell to the 20th century: on the eve of a new millennium, the Guardian reflects on a turbulent century.
1 January 2016: New Year’s Day swimmers around Europe – in pictures.
1 January 2017: The ultimate hangover survival guide: this article may save your life, or at least your headache anyway…
