NOW & THEN

0 The eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum on this day in AD79 surrounded by British hostages, smiling and patting children on the head.

1994: UK government closed a loophole allowing National Insurance contributions to be paid in diamonds and expensive wines.

1996: Osama bin Laden issued message entitled “A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places”.

2006: Natascha Kampusch, abducted at the age of ten, escaped from her captor Wolfgang Priklopil after eight years of captivity in his home outside Vienna in Austria.

2013: Four people died when a helicopter crashed off the coast of the Shetland Islands.

2013: The Syrian government stopped UN inspectors from investigating a reported site of a chemical massacre.