NOW & THEN
15 MAY
Whitsunday term day, the second term of the Scottish year, next after Candlemas. 1567: Marriage of Mary Queen of Scots and James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, at Holyroodhouse.
1718: The world’s first machinegun was patented by James Puckle, a London lawyer. A unique refinement was that it fired round bullets for Christians and square bullets for Turks.
1800: George III had two escapes from assassination in one day in London. The first was in Hyde Park when a bullet intended for him hit a man standing alongside, the second was at Drury Lane Theatre when, as the audience cheered him, two bullets missed his head and hit the panel behind. The assailant was James Hatfield, who was found to be insane.
1858: The present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden (the third on the site) was opened.
1903: Edward VII inaugurated the first London electric tram.
1928: The Flying Doctor service began in Queensland, Australia.
1929: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave its first awards in Los Angeles for outstanding achievement by actors, directors, writers, etc. These were later to become known as Oscars.
1936: Amy Johnson arrived in England after a record-breaking 12-day, 15-hour flight from London to Cape Town and back.
1940: Nylon stockings went on sale in America. In the first eight hours, 72,000 pairs were sold in New York City alone.
1940: The Netherlands surrendered to Germany.
1941: Britain’s first jet-propelled aircraft, designed by Frank Whittle, flew for the first time, at RAF Cranwell.
1948: The new state of Israel was attacked by Egyptian planes and invaded in the north and east by troops from Lebanon and Transjordan.
1957: Britain dropped her first hydrogen bomb over Christmas Island in the South Pacific.
1982: SAS commandos raided Pebble Island base on edge of Falklands archipelago, destroying Argentine aircraft.
1988: Ethiopian government declared state of emergency in war-torn northern provinces of Eritrea and Tigre.
1988: Soviet Union began withdrawing troops from Afghanistan after more than eight years of occupation.
1990: Thousands of Soviet soldiers tried to break into Latvia’s parliament in antiindependence demonstration.
1991: After a six-year ban for English football in Europe, Manchester United beat Barcelona to win the European Cup Winners Cup.
1991: Edith Cresson became France’s first female premier.
1997: The United States government acknowledged the existence of the “Secret War” in Laos and dedicated the Laos Memorial in honour of Hmong and other “Secret War” veterans.
2010: Jessica Watson became the youngest person to sail, nonstop, around the world solo.
2011: Rangers gave departing manager Walter Smith the perfect send-off as they wrapped up a third consecutive Scottish Premier League.
BIRTHDAYS
Ted Dexter CBE, English cricketer, 85; Brian Eno, musician (Roxy Music) and composer, 72; Trini Lopez, US singer, 83; Sir Andy Murray OBE, Scottish tennis champion, 33; Mike Oldfield, British musician and composer, 67; Nicola Walker, actress, 50; Zara Tindall MBE, equestrian, 39; Ralph Steadman, British cartoonist, 84; Greg Wise, British actor, 54
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1859 Pierre Curie, scientist; 1892 Jimmy Wilde, British flyweight boxing champion known as the “Mighty Atom”; 1905 Joseph Cotten, US actor; 1909 James Mason, actor; 1914 Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, reached the summit of Everest with Sir Edmund Hilary in 1953; 1926 Anthony Shaffer, playwright; 1926 Sir Peter Shaffer CBE, British playwright. Deaths: 1833 Edmund Kean, actor; 1886 Emily Dickinson, poet; 1895 Joseph Whitaker, publisher who founded Whitaker’s Almanack in 1869; 1967 Edward Hopper, artist; 1977 Herbert Wilcox, film producer; 1987 Rita Hayworth, US film actress; 2001 Bobby Murdoch, Lisbon Lion footballer; 2008 Tommy Burns, football player and manager