NOW & THEN
24 FEBRUARY
1525: Spanish army, using muskets for first time in war, routed French and Swiss forces at Pavia, Italy, as 14,000 men died in battle.
1530: Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor and King of Italy by Pope Clement VII at Bologna – the last imperial coronation by a pope.
1582: Pope Gregory XIII announced the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, replacing the Julian calendar. That was acknowledged by Scotland in 1600, and adopted by England in 1752, by which time a loss adjustment of 11 days had to be “fixed”.
1809: A fire destroyed part of Drury Lane Theatre, London.
1824: Governor-general of India declared war on Burmese after British East India Company territory was violated.
1887: A telephone link between Paris and Brussels opened – the first between capitals.
1905: The Simplon Tunnel through the Alps (12.3 miles) was completed.
1920: Viscountess Astor became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons.
1920: The Nazi Party was organised in Germany.
1923: Flying Scotsman express went into service.
1932: Sir Malcolm Campbell set world land-speed record of 253.96mph on Daytona Beach.
1938: Toothbrushes with nylon bristles, the first commercial nylon product, went on sale in New Jersey, United States.
1945: Egypt’s premier Ahmed Pasha was assassinated after announcing Egypt’s declaration of war against Germany.
1945: American troops liberated Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese occupation.
1946: Juan Peron elected president of Argentina.
1960: Britain’s first king-size cigarette, the Rex, went on sale.
1981: Prince Charles, 32, and Lady Diana Spencer, 19, announced their engagement.
1989: Several passengers were sucked out of a plane 22,000 feet over the Pacific when a hole the size of a bus was torn in a Boeing 747 soon after take-off from Honolulu to Auckland.
1990: The United States, the Soviet Union and China announced plans to send 30-man team to sweep Mount Everest clean of rubbish left by four decades of climbers.
1991: In the first parliamentary
Soviet elections under a genuine multi-party system, voters in Lithuania rejected Communist rule.
1991: Allies launched threepronged assault deep into Kuwait and Iraq. At least 10,000 Iraqi troops are reported to have surrendered.
1992: Australian prime minister Paul Keating was criticised for insulting the Queen with comments about republicanism.
1993: Prime minister Brian Mulroney of Canada resigned as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party after ten years in office.
2000: An independent inquiry was ordered into the cost of the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood, reported to have risen from £40 million to £220m.
2008: Fidel Castro retired as the president of Cuba after nearly 50 years.