NOW & THEN
26 AUGUST
1346: The Battle of Crecy took place, when primitive artillery was used for the first time.
1768: Captain James Cook set sail from England on his first voyage, which took him across the Pacific to New Zealand and Australia.
1843: Charles Thurber patented the first practical typewriter.
1911: Heatwave in Britain was reported to have claimed the lives of 2,600 children.
1914: In the Great War, the German colony of Togoland surrendered to British and French troops after a 20-day campaign.
1936: Treaty ended British occupation of Egypt, except Suez Canal zone, and Britain and Egypt formed alliance for 20 years.
1942: Germans began round-up of Jews in occupied France.
1945: Japanese diplomats boarded USS Missouri to receive instructions on Japan’s surrender at the end of the Second World War.
1951: In Paris, Professor Jan Jongbloed demonstrated a mechanical heart, which he had designed to temporarily replace a person’s actual heart while it was undergoing major surgery.
1959: The Morris Mini-minor, designed by Alec Issigonis, was introduced by the British Motor Corporation.
1963: West Indies defeated England 3-1 in a series to become the first holders of cricket’s Wisden Trophy.
1967: The Beatles, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull met Maharishi Mehesh Yogi in Bangor, north Wales.
1970: North Vietnam sent its chief negotiator back to Vietnam peace talks in Paris after eightmonth boycott of negotiations.
1972: The 20th modern Olympic Games opened in Munich.
1978: Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice was elected Pope John Paul I. Within 33 days, he was dead.
1983: Flooding destroyed most of the old town of Bilbao, Spain.
1988: Nationwide strike paralysed government and transport in Burma and antigovernment rallies spread.
1991: In Yugoslavia, fierce fighting between Serbs and Croats brought the country to the brink of civil war.
1994: A health authority revealed misdiagnoses among cancer patients at a bonetumour service in Birmingham.
Up to 42 patients had been given the wrong treatment and 2,000 cases were under review.
1997: Up to 100 were killed in Beni-ali massacre in Algeria.
1999: Michael Johnson set a time of 43.18 seconds to break the world record for 400 metres.
2008: Russia recognised the independence of the former Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
2009: Sir David Murray announced that he was to step down as a director and chairman of Rangers Football Club.
2012: Fifteen-year-old Lydia Ko of New Zealand became the youngest ever LPGA Tour event winner when she won the Canadian Women’s Open.
2014: The Democratic Republic of Congo’s health ministry informed the World Health Organisation of an outbreak of the ebola virus.