ON THIS DAY

NATIONAL DAY OF GREECE

1306: Robert Bruce was crowned King of Scots at Scone.

1655: Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, was discovered by Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens.

1807: The Slave Trade Act became law. The act abolished the slave trade in Britain and Ireland.

1843: The Thames Tunnel, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, opened to pedestrians between Rotherhithe and Wapping in London.

1957: Six nations (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) signed the Treaty of Rome to create the European Economic Community.

1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono began their week-long ‘bed-in’ peace protest at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel.

1975: Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal was assassinated by his nephew Prince Faisal Ibu Musaed, who was later executed for the killing.

1980: Robert Runcie was enthroned as the 102nd Archbishop of Canterbury.

1980:The British Olympic Association announced it would defy the government and send athletes to the Olympic Games in Moscow despite the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, which caused a United States-led boycott of the games.

1989: The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race crews both had women coxes for the first time. Oxford won by two-and-a-half lengths.

1992: Pakistan beat England by 22 runs to win the ICC Cricket World Cup in Melbourne, Australia.

1996: The EU’s Veterinarian Committee banned the export of British beef and its by-products due to fears over mad cow disease (BSE).

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Two African antelopes escaped from a zoo in Wales, with members of the public urged to ‘remain calm’ if they saw them.

BIRTHDAYS: Richard O’Brien, actor/ writer (Rocky Horror Show), 79; Paul Michael Glaser, actor, 78; Sir Elton John, singer/songwriter, 74; Sarah Jessica Parker, actress, 56.