NOW & THEN
JANUARY 28
1547: Nine-year-old Edward VI succeeded Henry VIII as king of England.
1561: French persecution of the Huguenots was suspended by the Edict of Orleans.
1580: King James VI signed the Confession of Faith, later incorporated into the National Covenant of 1638.
1807: London’s Pall Mall was the first street in any city to be illuminated by gaslight.
1813: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was first published.
1829: William Burke, Irish bodysnatcher, who joined William Hare in Scotland in selling bodies for research, and eventually murdering to supplement their stock, was hanged for his crimes. Hare escaped the gallows by turning king’s evidence.
1884: The first Ireland versus Scotland football international took place in Belfast. Scotland won 5-0.
1887: Construction work began on the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
1896: The first speeding fine was handed out to a British motorist, Walter Arnold of Kent, for exceeding 2mph in a built-up area. He was doing 8mph.
1909: US control in Cuba ended.
1926: Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, fell from his horse and broke his collar bone. Later that year he fell again, causing MPS to complain about risks taken by the man “who will one day be king”.
1935: Iceland passed a law legalising abortion on medical/ social grounds, the first country to introduce such legislation.
1944: Six hundred and eightythree British bombers attacked Berlin during the Second World War.
1953: Derek Bentley, 19, was hanged at Wandsworth Prison, despite much public protest. He and Christopher Craig, 16, had been found guilty of murdering a policeman, but Craig escaped the gallows because of his age. Bentley was pardoned in 1998.
1958: The Lego Company patented their design of Lego bricks, which are still compatible with the bricks produced today.
1959: Two women passengers and the driver died when a Glasgow tram caught fire after collision with a lorry.
1960: BBC broadcast the final episode of The Goon Show.
1986: The space shuttle Challenger exploded soon after lift-off from Cape Canaveral, killing the crew of seven, including Christa Mcauliffe, a woman
schoolteacher selected as the first to fly in the “citizen in space” programme.
1990: Mr Justice Taylor’s report into Hillsborough disaster called for all-seater stadia by 1999 and tagging of football hooligans.
1997: Members of a Blairite group were accused of mounting a “sinister conspiracy” to take over the Scottish Labour Party.
1998: “Christ and the Woman of Samaria”, a black chalk drawing by Michelangelo, was sold for $7.4million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York.
2004: Gavyn Davies resigned as chairman of the BBC governors after the corporation was criticised and the government cleared by the Hutton report of “sexing up” a dossier on Iraq weapons of mass destruction. The BBC’S director-general, Greg Dyke, quit the next day.
BIRTHDAYS
Dave Mcpherson, Scottish footballer, 57; Alan Alda, actor and director, 85; John Edmonds, trade unionist, 77; Bill Jordan, Baron Jordan CBE, trade unionist and economist, 85; Nick Price, golfer, 64; Robert Wyatt, musician, 76; Nicolas Sarkozy, former French president, 66; Elijah Wood, actor, 40; Dame Jessica Ennishill DBE, Olympic heptathlon champion, 35; Nick Carter, singer (Backstreet Boys), 41; Gianluigi Buffon, Italian goalkeeper, 43; Anthony Hamilton R&B singersongwriter, 50; Jamie Carragher, football pundit and former player, 43; Takuma Sato, racing driver, 44; Susan Howard, actress, 77.
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1912 Jackson Pollock, painter; 1918 Harry Corbett OBE, puppeteer (Sooty); 1921 Alfred Marks OBE, actor and comedian; 1927 Ronnie Scott, jazz saxophonist and club owner; 1929 Acker Bilk MBE, jazz clarinettist; 1933 Sacha Distel, singer; 1944 Prof Sir John Tavener, composer. Deaths: 1983 Billy Fury, singer; Astrid Lindgren, children’s author; 2006 Henry Mcgee, actor; 2014 Kenneth Rose, biographer; 2017 Sir Christopher Bland, chairman, BT 2001-07; 2020 Nicholas Parsons CBE, broadcaster.