NOW & THEN
4MAY
1328: Treaty of Northampton ratified. In part, it said: “…if we or our predecessors in past times have sought in any way any rights to the kingdom of Scotland, we renounce and abandon them by these presents to the King of Scots, his heirs and successors”.
1471: The Battle of Tewkesbury, a Yorkist victory in the Wars of the Roses.
1494: Columbus came across West Indian island of Jamaica.
1654: Proclamations at the Mercat Cross, Edinburgh, of the Protectorate and Union with England by General George Monck.
1780: The first Derby was run at Epsom. Lord Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury tossed a coin to determine the name of the race – had the latter won, it would have been called “The Bunbury”. The winner was 6-4 favourite Diomed.
1896: The Daily Mail, founded by Lord Northcliffe, was first published.
1904: Construction started on Panama Canal.
1911: First plans for a national insurance scheme were unveiled by Chancellor David Lloyd George in his budget speech.
1926: The General Strike began at midnight, the first in British history. It was called off on 13 May.
1935: Leicester Square Tube station opened, with the world’s longest escalator.
1949: Thirteen women and girls died in a fire which destroyed Grafton’s four-storey gown store in Argyle Street, Glasgow.
1961: Anthony Wedgwood Benn won by-election in Bristol South East caused by his elevation to the peerage as Viscount Stansgate. He was barred from the Commons but later renounced his peerage.
1976: Waltzing Matilda adopted as the Australian national anthem, but was replaced by Australia Fair in 1986.
1979: Margaret Thatcher became Britain’s first woman prime minister.
1982: HMS Sheffield was hit by an Exocet missile and destroyed during the Falklands conflict, with the loss of 20 men.
1989: Tens of thousands of Chinese students marched to Tiananmen Square, in Peking, calling for freedom and democracy.
1990: Five hospitals were earmarked for closure in Lothian Health Board cuts.
1992: Stephen Hendry was crowned world snooker champion after beating Jimmy White 18-14 in the final.
1994: Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation signed a landmark accord giving Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip self-rule.
2001: The Bank of Scotland and Halifax merged as HBOS in a £28 million deal, putting it in the top five UK banking groups.
2007: The SNP won the Scottish general election and became the largest party in the Scottish Parliament for the first time ever.
2009: Masked attackers raided a wedding party in southeastern Turkey, killing more than 40 people, including six children.
2014: Three female officers became the first women to serve as submariners in the Royal Navy.
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1882 Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst, artist and feminist; 1889 Baron Sieff, president of Marks & Spencer; 1900 Sir Archibald Mcindoe, plastic surgeon; 1923 Eric Sykes CBE, British comedian and writer; 1928 Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt 1981-2011; 1929 Audrey Hepburn, actress.
Deaths: 1924 Edith Nesbit, author (The Railway Children); 1955 Georges Enesco, violinist and composer; 1969 Sir Osbert Sitwell, author; 1974 Geraldo, orchestra leader and entrepreneur; 1980 Marshal Tito, president of Yugoslavia 1953-80; 1984 Diana Dors, actress; 1991 Bernie Winters, comedian; 2009 Dom Deluise, American actor, comedian and author; 2011 Sada Thompson, American actress; 2014 Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian/ British tennis player