NOW & THEN
3 SEPTEMBER
301AD: San Marion, the world’s oldest existing republic, was formed by Saint Marinus.
1189: Coronation of King Richard I, the Lion Heart, in Westminster Abbey.
1650: Scottish army of Charles II, under Sir David Leslie, routed by the English Parliamentarians under Oliver Cromwell at Dunbar.
1651: Oliver Cromwell defeated Royalist troops at Battle of Worcester.
1658: Richard Cromwell became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth upon the death of his father, Oliver Cromwell.
1725: Britain, France, Hanover and Prussia signed the Covenant of Hanover, due to growing concern over a potential conflict with Spain.
1745: James Francis Stuart proclaimed King James VIII of Scotland by his son, Prince Charles Edward, at Perth.
1752: 3 September became 14 September with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar by Britain and the British Empire, including the American colonies. Crowds were said to have flocked in the streets, crying: “Give us back our 11 days.”
1787: Weavers rioted against wage-cutting in Glasgow. After bricks were thrown, injuring magistrates and military, troops were ordered to fire on the rioters, killing three and fatally wounding three others before the crowd dispersed.
1878: The Princess Alice pleasure paddle-steamer was sliced in half on the Thames near Woolwich by the 1,400-tonne collier iron steamer the Bywell Castle: 700 people died.
1916: The first German Zeppelin airship was shot down by Captain Robinson in Cufley, Hertfordshire. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.
1917: The first night of bombing London by German aircraft.
1935: Sir Malcolm Campbell reached a speed of 301.337mph in his Blue Bird car at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, the first automobile to exceed 300mph.
1939: Britain declared war on Germany following the invasion of Poland, followed six hours later by France and joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada.
1940: Hitler ordered the invasion of Great Britain – Operation Sealion – on 21 September.
1945: Singapore was returned to British control after being
occupied by Japanese since 1942.
1966: Captain John Ridgway and Sergeant Chay Blyth became the first Britons to row across the Atlantic. The journey, in English Rose III, took 91 days.
1971: Qatar declared independence from Britain.
1976: Viking 2 set down on Mars after a journey lasting six days short of one year.
1978: Pope John Paul I was installed as the 263rd pontiff.
1995: Ebay was founded.
2004: The Beslan school siege in North Ossetia, in the Russian Federation, by Islamic separatist militants ended with the massacre of 385 people, mostly teachers and children.
2015: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that Scotland would take 1,000 refugees fleeing war.