ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
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Jon Venables, one of two 10-year-old boys convicted of killing toddler James Bulger in 1993, is charged with possessing indecent images of children. He is later convicted.
5 years ago… Celeb Big
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Brother romp.
Channel 5 airs footage of N-Dubz rapper Dappy and model Jasmine Waltz getting steamy in the house – but cut the more explicit bits!
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9 years ago… Blizzard Britain!
The worst cold spell in nearly 30 years sees heavy snow fall across the country. Some 22 people will die because of the freezing conditions.
14 years ago…
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Desperate Housewives debuts.
The hit show, following the lives of women living on fictional Wisteria Lane and starring Eva Longoria, above, launches on Channel 4.
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26 years ago… Shipping disaster.
The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground off the coast of the Shetland Islands spilling 84,700 tonnes of crude oil into the sea.
38 years ago… Yorkshire
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Ripper charged.
Serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, below, faces justice after being arrested on suspicion of killing a string of women. He would later be convicted of murdering 13.
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48 years ago… Sporting first.
One day international cricket makes its debut with a match between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground following a washed-out Test Match. The Aussies win.
51 years ago…
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Gardeners’ World begins.
The BBC show airs for the first time and would still be on screens half a century later, having been presented by the likes of Percy Thrower, Alan Titchmarsh and Monty Don.
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78 years ago… Amy Johnson killed.
The pioneering female pilot, below – the first to fly solo from England to Australia – drowned when her plane plunged into the Thames estuary in bad weather.
89 years ago… Bonnie
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meets Clyde.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow would become a notorious criminal couple, together launching a bank robbing crime spree through the
1930s, eventually ending with their deaths in a hail of bullets.
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133 years ago… Jekyll and Hyde published.
The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde, a book by Robert Louis Stevenson, hits the shelves. It is the horror tale of a scientist who takes a potion which sees his alter ego become an evil killer.
953 years ago… Edward °
the Confessor dies.