NOW & THEN
29 MAY
1453: Constantinople, capital of Byzantine Empire, was captured by Turks. Some historians list date as end of Middle Ages.
1660: After nearly nine years of exile, Charles II returned to London in triumph and was restored to the throne.
1871: Whit Monday became the first Bank Holiday in Britain.
1922: Horatio Bottomley, journalist, MP and founder of John Bull magazine, was jailed for seven years for selling fraudulent Victory Bonds after the First World War.
1923: Palestine Constitution was suspended by British because Arabs refused to co-operate.
1930: The BBC formed its own permanent Symphony Orchestra under the directorship of Sir Adrian Boult.
1950: First episode of The Archers on BBC radio.
1951: Easington Colliery explosion killed 83 County Durham miners.
1953: Everest, the world’s highest mountain, was conquered by Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay. The news broke four days later on Coronation Day, 2 June.
1959: Charles de Gaulle formed a government of national safety in France.
1961: First television interview with a member of the Royal Family. The Duke of Edinburgh spoke to Richard Dimbleby on BBC Panorama.
1966: Buddhist nun burned herself to death outside a pagoda in South Vietnamese city of Hue in protest against country’s military government.
1968: Manchester United became the first English football club to win the European Cup, beating Benfica of Portugal 4-1 at Wembley Stadium.
1984: Sikh terrorists killed seven people in new wave of hit-and-run attacks in India’s troubled Punjab State.
1985: At Heysel Stadium, Brussels, 38 football fans died when a wall collapsed as a result of crowd violence before the Liverpool versus Juventus match.
1990: Boris Yeltsin was elected president of Russian Federation.
1992: Australian tycoon Alan Bond was jailed for 30 months for dishonesty.
1993: Rangers completed the treble when they beat Aberdeen 2-1 in the Scottish Cup final.
A “state of the nation” opinion poll showed that the majority of Britons had lost faith in the system of government and were in favour of a bill of rights and a written constitution.
1999: Space Shuttle Discovery completed the first docking with the International Space Station.
2004: The Second World War Memorial was dedicated in Washington DC.
2009: The Scottish Football Association consented to a plan that might have paved the way for a team to compete on behalf of Britain at the London Olympics in 2012.
2014: Retired army field marshal Abdel Fattah al-sisi won 92 per cent of the votes in Egypt’s presidential election, which was held to bestow ‘legitimacy’ on his military ousting of predecessor Mohammed Morsi the previous July.
BIRTHDAYS
CAROL KIRKWOOD Inverness-born BBC weather presenter, 58
Torquhil Campbell, 13th Duke of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell, 52; Annette Bening, US actress, 62; Michael Berkeley, Baron Berkeley of Knighton CBE, British composer and broadcaster, 72; Rupert Everett, British actor, 61; Noel Gallagher, rock musician, 53; Linda Esther Gray, Scottish opera singer, 72; Latoya Jackson, singer, 64; Sarah Millican, British comedian, 45; Nanette Newman, British actress, 86; Martin Pipe CBE, racehorse trainer, 75; Gordon Rintoul CBE, director, National Museums of Scotland, 65; Francis Rossi OBE, British rock singer and guitarist (Status Quo)
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1874 Gilbert Keith Chesterton, author; 1897 Erich Korngold, Austrian composer; 1898 Beatrice Lillie, actress; 1903 Bob Hope, comedian and film actor; 1917 John F Kennedy, 35th US president 1961-63; 1925 Mick Mcgahey, Scottish miners’ leader;.
Deaths: 1829 Sir Humphry Davy, chemist who invented miner’s safety lamp; 1911 Sir William Gilbert, librettist of Gilbert and Sullivan operas; 1942 John Barrymore, film actor; 1979 Mary Pickford, film actress; 1982 Romy Schneider, actress; 2010 Dennis Hopper, American actor