NOW & THEN
28 FEBRUARY
201BC: The coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gauzu of Han took place, initiating four centuries of Han Dynasty rule in China.
1638: The Scottish National Covenant was signed in Edinburgh.
1710: The Battle of Helsingborg, saw 14,000 Danish invaders defeated by Swedish forces.
1759: Pope Clement XIII allowed the Bible to be translated into various languages.
1784: John Wesley signed the “deed of declaration” of the Wesleyan faith.
1827: The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
1893 Edward Acheson patented an abrasive which he named “carborundum”.
1900: General Buller relieved Ladysmith, besieged by Boer forces for 118 days.
1912: The world’s first parachute jump from an aeroplane was made over Missouri, by Albert Berry.
1922: Egypt attained independence from the UK, though British troops remained on station within the country.
1933: One day after his victory in Germany’s general election, Adolf Hitler banned the German Communist Party.
1939: Britain recognised General Franco’s regime in Spain.
1940: Sandy’s Half Hour began on radio, with Sandy Macpherson at the organ. It was the start of the modern listeners’ request programme.
1942: The heavy cruiser USS Houston was sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew killed, along with HMAS Perth, which lost 375 men.
1948: The Royal Family went to see Danny Kaye at the London Palladium, the first “non-command performance” attended by a reigning monarch.
1966: Liverpool’s Cavern Club, where The Beatles made their name, went into liquidation.
1974: The British general election resulted in a hung parliament. A further election was held in October, won by the Labour Party.
1975: A train from Drayton Park crashed through buffers at Moorgate Tube station, killing 42 people.
1984: Michael Jackson won eight Grammys at the 26th Grammy Awards.
1985: Provisional IRA carried out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
1997: Around 3,000 people died when an earthquake struck Iran.
2001: Ten people died and 76 were injured when a Land Rover and trailer careered off the M62 and derailed a Newcastlelondon express which collided head-on with a freight train, at Selby, in north Yorkshire.
2011: Actress Joanna Lumley attacked parenting in Britain, claiming that children were being brought up with “slack” morals.
2013: Pope Benedict XVI resigned as the Pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first Pope to do so since 1415.