On this day

57 YEARS AGO (1961)

We declared a “Day of Triumph” as South Africa withdrew from the Commonwealth amid opposition to apartheid. It was readmitted in 1994.

30 YEARS AGO (1988)

Saddam Hussein’s forces launched a chemical attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja in northern Iraq, killing up to 5,000 civilians.

65 YEARS AGO (1953)

Yugoslavia’s Marshal Josip Broz Tito was greeted by PM Winston Churchill as the first Communist head of state to visit Britain.