NOW & THEN
2 JULY
1266: By the Treaty of Perth, Norway renounced its claim on the Hebrides.
1644: Scottish forces under David Leslie helped the victory of the Parliamentary forces over Royalists at the Battle of Marston Moor near York. The Cromwellian victory over Prince Rupert was the turning point in the Civil War.
1645: The Marquis of Montrose defeated Lieutenant-general Baillie at the Battle of Alford, in which Lord Gordon was killed.
1687: King James II disbanded parliament.
1865: Former Methodist minister William Booth and wife Catherine founded the Salvation Army, initially known as the East London Christian Mission.
1881: James Garfield, 20th United States president, was shot by Charles Guiteau in Washington DC. He died on 19 September.
1900: Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin flew his first airship from a field on the outskirts of Berlin.
1901: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid robbed a train of 40,000 dollars at Wagner, Wyoming.
1908: Dumfries recorded a record high temperature of 32.8C (91F).
1928: By the Representation of the People Act, the British parliament reduced the age at which women could vote to 21.
1937: Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an attempted circumnavigation of the globe.
1940: Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion of Britain (Operation Sealion).
1940: The Vichy government was formed after the collapse of France, with Henri Pétain as head of state.
1940: More than 440 interned Italians, many from families settled in Scotland, drowned when a German submarine sank British prison ship Arandora Star on her way to Canada.
1948: Henry Cotton won the Open Championship at Muirfield with a score of 284.
1971: The Erskine Bridge over the River Clyde was opened.
1976: North and South Vietnam were formally reunified.
1985: The European Space Agency launched Giotto, a robotic spacecraft which flew by and observed Halley’s Comet.
1990: Failure of a ventilation system in the pedestrian tunnel linking holy city of Mecca and tent city caused a stampede in which 1,400 pilgrims died.
2001: Barry George was jailed for life at the Old Bailey for the murder of the television presenter Jill Dando on the doorstep of her home in west London in 1999. His conviction was judged unsafe by the Court of Appeal and quashed in 2007. After a retrial, on 1 August, 2008, he was found not guilty and freed.
2003: Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy, assumed the EU council presidency and immediately caused outrage when he insulted German MEP Martin Schulz, by saying he would be ideal for a film role as a Nazi concentration camp leader.
2012: Monsoon rain in east India killed 79 people and left 2.2 million homeless.
Jerry Hall, actress and model, 64; Kenneth Clarke, MP, chancellor of the Exchequer 1993-7, Secretary of State for Justice, Lord Chancellor 2010-2012, 80; Peter Kay, actor and comedian, 47; Mark Kermode, film critic, radio and TV presenter, 57; Lindsay Lohan, actress, 34; David Owen, Baron Owen, foreign secretary 1977-80, 82; George Simpson, Baron Simpson of Dunkeld, chief executive, Marconi 1996-2001, 78; Pierre Cardin, fashion designer, 98; Richard Petty, seven-time NASCAR champion, 83; Carl Froch MBE, four-time world super-middleweight boxing champion, 43; Gillian Philip,
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1903 Alec Douglashome, British prime minister 1963-64; 1904 René Lacoste, tennis champion; 1939
Paul Williams, singer (The Temptations); 1946 Ron Silver, actor director, producer. Deaths: 862 Saint Swithun; 1961 Ernest Hemingway, novelist; 1973 Betty Grable, actress; 1991 Lee Remick, actress; 1994 Andres Escobar, Colombian footballer, murdered after losing in World Cup finals; 2010 Dame Beryl Bainbridge DBE, novelist; 2016 Caroline Aherne, comedian, writer, actress