Media tycoon Maxwell found dead at sea and Aussies win World Cup final

This week in 1991, the body of media tycoon Robert Maxwell was found in the sea off the coast of Tenerife. The body of the millionaire publisher was then flown to Gran Canaria for identification.

Maxwell had been cruising around the Canary Isles aboard his luxury yacht, the Ghislaine, and was thought to have fallen overboard.

After his death, it emerged that the Mirror Group’s debts vastly outweighed its assets – and £440m was missing from the company’s pension funds.

In other news, US President George Bush encouraged Arabs and Israelis to “lay down the past” in his opening speech to the Middle East peace conference in Spain.

It was the first time in 43 years that Israel had sat down with all its Arab neighbours to discuss peace.

“Territorial compromise is essential for peace,” said President Bush.

“We seek peace, real peace. And by real peace I mean treaties. If we cannot summon the courage to lay down the past for ourselves then let us do it for the children.”

Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev added: “We have a unique opportunity, and it would be unforgivable to miss this opportunity.”

Also in this week, computer retailer PC World opened its first branch in Croydon, Surrey.

PC World became part of Dixons Retail in February 1993 and then part of Dixons Carphone after the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse in August 2014.

In sport, the Rugby World Cup final was played at Twickenham in London, and saw Australia triumph 12-6 against England, thanks to a first-half try from prop Tony Daly.

Elsewhere, the golden girl of British athletics, Liz McColgan, added a sensational victory in the New York marathon to her world 10,000 metre title.

True to her pre-race prediction that she would win, the Dundee runner scorched away from the international field to collect a first prize of more than £20,000 and bag herself a Mercedes car.