NOW & THEN
18 AUGUST
1227: Genghis Khan died. His funeral escort is said to have murdered everyone who even looked at his coffin. He was reckoned to have slaughtered 22 million people, at that time a tenth of the world’s population.
1587: Virginia Dare became the first child born of English parents in the New World – on Roanoke Island, North Carolina – seven days after Sir Walter Raleigh’s second expedition landed.
1736: The earliest successful appendix operation was performed by a surgeon to King George II, Claudius Amyand.
1746: Jacobite noble Arthur Elphinstone, Lord Balmerino, was executed at the Tower of London after being captured at the Battle of Culloden.
1911: Official Secrets Act first passed in Britain.
1914: US president Woodrow Wilson proclaimed American neutrality in First World War.
1920: British and Egyptian delegations conferred on ways to provide for recognition of Egyptian independence.
1932: Glasgow-born James Mollison became the first pilot to fly east to west across the Atlantic, from Portmarnock, Ireland, to Pennfield, New Brunswick.
1940: “The hardest day” in the Battle of Britain as the Luftwaffe attacked the RAF in the largest ever air battle. 71 German aircraft were shot down. The Blitz started as German bombers began an all-night raid on London.
1941: National Fire Service was established in Britain.
1948: Lester Piggott, aged 12, rode his first winner on his seventh ride.
1958: Great Britain issued regional postage stamps for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
1960: The Beatles gave their first public performance at Kaiserkeller in Hamburg.
1964: South Africa was banned from participating in the Olympics because of its racial policies.
1966: The Tay Road Bridge was opened.
1967: Cunard liner Queen Mary was sold to the town of Long Beach, California.
1969: Mick Jagger was accidentally shot and slightly injured when a pistol backfired during filming of the movie Ned Kelly.
1969: The Woodstock music festival in New York state closed, with Jimi Henrix as its final act.
1973: Archaeologists in Greece uncovered evidence that man had gone to sea as early as 7,500BC.
1976: Soviet spacecraft Luna 24 landed in the Sea of Crises on the Moon and scooped up samples of soil.
1977: Elvis Presley was buried in Memphis, Tennessee. It was estimated that 130,000 mourners paid their respects before the burial.
1983: Twelve-year-old Samantha Druce became the youngest female to swim the English Channel.
1990: President Saddam Hussein threatened to starve western babies in Iraq if Iraqi children suffered food shortages as a result of the blockade.
2008: Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan who faced impeachment on charges drawn up by the governing coalition, announced his resignation.
BIRTHDAYS
ROBERT REDFORD Actor and director, 84
Kris Boyd, Scottish footballer, 37; Edward Norton, actor, 51; Roman Polanski, French-polish film director, producer, writer and actor, 87; Mohammad Sarwar, first ever British Muslim MP (Labour 19972010), 68; Christian Slater, actor, 51; Madeleine Stowe, actress, 62; Victoria Coren Mitchell, writer, TV presenter and poker player, 48; Huw Edwards, journalist, TV presenter and newsreader, 59; Just Fontaine, French footballer, record goalscorer in World Cup finals, 87; Gianni Rivera, Italian politician and former international footballer, 77.
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1792 John Russell, first Earl Russell, prime minister and champion of parliamentary reform; 1904 Max Factor, president of cosmetics empire; 1920 Shelley Winters, actress; 1925 Brian Aldiss OBE, author; 1952 Patrick Swayze, actor. Deaths: 1809 Matthew Boulton, engineer and partner of James Watt; 2004 Elmer Bernstein, film score composer; 2012 Scott Mckenzie, singer-songwriter (San Francisco [Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair]); 2017 Sir Bruce Forsyth CBE, entertainer; 2018 Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary-general 1997-2007.