The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
ON THIS DAY
1782: Spain captured Menorca from the British.
1811: The Prince of Wales became Prince Regent on the established insanity of George III.
1840: Two British inventors were born: Sir Hiram Stevens, who perfected the machine gun, and Scottish veterinary surgeon John Boyd Dunlop, inventor of the pneumatic bicycle tyre.
1924: The BBC “pips”, or time signals, from Greenwich Observatory were heard for the first time.
1936: Charles Chaplin’s film Modern Times had its premiere in America.
1953: Sweet rationing ended in Britain after eleven years in force.
1957: Bill Haley and His Comets arrived in London at the start of their British tour and received a wildly enthusiastic welcome.
1961: The Sunday Telegraph began publication.
1967: The Musicians’ Union banned the Rolling Stones’s Let’s Spend The Night Together from Eamonn Andrews’s television show.
1982: Laker Airlines, created by former pilot Sir Freddie Laker to cut prices and make air travel more accessible, collapsed with debts of £270 million.
1994: A mortar bomb exploded in the main market square in Sarajevo, killing 68 and wounding 200 people.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
The Princess of Wales urged a group of youngsters to “keep talking about your feelings”, whilst joining them for a craft lesson to mark Children’s Mental Health Week.
BIRTHDAYS:
Susan Hill, novelist and playwright, 82; Michael Mann, film director, 81; Charlotte Rampling, actress, 78; Barbara Hershey, actress, 76; Russell Grant, astrologer, 73; Jennifer Jason Leigh, actress, 62; Jose Maria Olazabal, golfer, 58; Bobby Brown, singer, 55; Andy Hinchcliffe, former footballer, 55; Cristiano Ronaldo, footballer, 39.