NOW & THEN
22 JULY
1298: Battle of Falkirk, in which English troops under King Edward I defeated the Scots under Sir William Wallace.
1484: Scottish forces led by James III of Scotland defeated a 500-man raiding party led by his brother, Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas.
1793: Alexander Mackenzie, Lewis-born explorer, reached Pacific “from Canada by land” – first crossing of North America.
1901: The House of Lords ruled that trade unions could be sued for the actions of its members.
1912: In response to Germany’s increasing naval power, the Admiralty decided to recall British warships from the Mediterranean and base them in the North Sea.
1913: Edinburgh Zoo opened.
1921: Truce agreed between Sinn Fein forces fighting for Irish independence and British government.
1933: Wiley Post completed the first solo flight around the world after seven days, 18 hours, 49 minutes.
1962: The first US Venus probe, Mariner I, failed at lift-off.
1963: Sonny Liston knocked out Floyd Patterson in the first round to win the world heavyweight title.
1965: Edward Heath succeeded Alec Douglas-home as leader of the Conservative Party.
1968: Israeli airliner bound for Israel from Rome with 48 people on board was hijacked and diverted to Algeria.
1973: Soviet space probe begins six-month journey towards Mars.
1983: Australian Dick Smith completed the first solo helicopter flight around the world, on the 50th anniversary of Wiley Post’s aeroplane equivalent.
1984: Seve Ballesteros scored 276 to win the Open Championship at St Andrews.
1986: House of Commons voted for the abolition of corporal punishment in state schools.
1987: Said Aouita of Morocco set a world record of 12:58.39 for the 5,000 metres in Rome.
1991: John Major introduced his Citizen’s Charter, its 70 proposals including British Rail privatisation, an end to Post Office monopoly and other ideas to improve the standards and accountability of public services.
1993: John Major was defeated in the Commons as more than a dozen Tory rebels voted against him over the Maastricht Treaty.
2003: Saddam Hussein’s sons, Uday and Qusay, died in a shootout with US troops in Mosul, northern Iraq.
2005: Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police in London after they mistakenly thought he was a suicide bomber.
2008: Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s most wanted men, was arrested in Serbia after more than a decade on the run.
2011: Norway suffered a twin terror attack, when a car bomb exploded in Oslo, followed by a gun massacre at a youth camp on the nearby island of Utoya. Right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik was convicted after admitting both attacks.
2019: Glasgow-born Jo Swinson became the first female leader of the Liberal Democrats, in succession to Sir Vince Cable.
BIRTHDAYS
George Clinton, funk musician, 80; Willem Dafoe, actor, 66; Danny Glover, actor, 75; Don Henley, singer, 74; Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor, 54; Bonnie Langford, actress, 57; Rufus Wainwright, Canadian singer, 48; Lasse Viren, Finnish former athlete who won four Olympic gold medals, 72; Mick Pointer, drummer (Marillion), 65; Louise Fletcher, actress, 87; Keith Sweat, R&B singer-songwriter, 60; Bob Dole, politician, 98; Sharni Vinson, model, actress, dancer, 38; Emilio Butragueno, Spanish footballer and administrator, 58; Alan Menken, composer, 72; Ben Foden, England international rugby player, 36
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1882 Edward Hopper, artist; 1926 Bryan Forbes CBE, British actor, director and writer; 1928 Jimmy Hill OBE, football player, coach and commentator; 1932 Oscar de la Renta, designer. Deaths: 1932 Florenz Ziegfeld, impresario known for his elaborate Ziegfeld Follies; 1934 John Dillinger, gangster and bank robber; 1996 Jessica Mitford, author; 2004 Sacha Distel, French singer; 2007 Magnus Shearer, Lord Lieutenant of Shetland 1982-94; 2008 Estelle Getty, actress; 2013 Dennis Farina, US actor.