NOW & THEN
11 OCTOBER
1727: The Coronation of George II took place.
1737: An earthquake destroyed half of Calcutta, India, with the loss of around 300,000 lives.
1797: Dutch fleet was defeated by the British, under Scottish admiral Duncan, off Camperdown, Holland.
1868: Thomas Edison patented his first invention – the electric voice machine.
1887: The world’s first adding machine, the comptometer, was patented. It was made from a macaroni box, staples, elastic bands and meat skewers.
1899: The Second South African War began between Britain and the Republics of Orange Free State and the Transvaal.
1911: Earthquake killed 700 in southern California.
1919: The first airline meals were served on a Handley-page flight from London to Paris. They were pre-packed lunch boxes at 3/- each (15p).
1923: Rampant inflation in the German economy had the mark dropping to an exchange rate of ten billion to the pound.
1926: BBC Children’s Hour started on BBC radio; Uncle Mac (Derek Mccullough) was the best-remembered presenter. The show was cancelled in 1964 after a massive decline in listenership
1956: A Test cricket slow-scoring record was set when Australia scored 80 and Pakistan 15 for the loss of two wickets in a full day’s play in Karachi.
1957: The radio telescope at Jodrell Bank, Cheshire, planned by Sir Bernard Lovell, went into operation.
1958: The BBC TV sports programme, Grandstand, was first transmitted. It finally went off air in 2007.
1959: The first postcodes were introduced in the UK.
1963: United Nations condemned repression in South Africa by 106-1 vote.
1968: Apollo 7 spacecraft was launched with Walter Schirra, Don Eiselle and Walter Cunningham.
1972: Panama adopted its constitution.
1973: Hector Jose Campora was elected as president of Argentina.
1976: Reports from China said Chairman Mao’s widow and three others, the Gang of Four, had been arrested.
1980: Soviet cosmonauts Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin set a space endurance record of 185 days during their flight to the Salyut 6 space station.
1982: Henry VIII’S flagship, the Mary Rose, was raised in the Solent where she had lain since she ‘turned turtle’ in 1545.
1987: Indian peacekeeping troops, using artillery and mortars, killed more than 120 Tamil rebels in a weekend offensive on Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka.
1992: Ion Iliescu was elected president of Romania with 60 per cent of the vote.
1994: James Kelman won the 1994 Booker Prize with his novel, How Late It Was, How Late.
2000: Nasa launched 100th Space Shuttle mission, using Space Shuttle Discovery.
2010: Pop star George Michael was released from prison after serving a four-week sentence for driving and drug offences.
BIRTHDAYS
Emily Deschanel, American actress, 45; Dawn French, actress and comedienne, 64; Daryl Hall, musician and singer-songwriter, 75; Rodney Marsh, English former footballer and television pundit, 77; John Nettles OBE, British actor, 78; Alan Pascoe MBE, British athlete, 74; Michelle Wie, golfer, 32; Joan Cusack, actress, 59; Gemma Merna, actress, 37; Gene Watson, country singer, 78; Seamus Coleman, footballer, 33; David Morse, actor, director, writer, 68; Jane Krakowski, actress, 53; Steven Pressley, Elgin-born football manager and former player, 48; Sean Patrick Flanery, actor, 56
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1844 HJ Heinz, founder of “57 Varieties” empire; 1872 Emily Davison, suffragette; 1918 Jerome Robbins, theatre producer and dance choreographer; 1925 Richard Burton, actor; 1930 Sir Michael Edwardes, Britishsouth African industrialist; 1966 Luke Perry, actor.
Deaths: 1887 “Chico” Marx, comic; 1963 Edith Piaf, singer; 1963 Jean Cocteau, novelist; 1993 Andy Stewart, Scottish entertainer; 2000 Donald Dewar, secretary of state for Scotland 1997-9, First Minister 1999-2000; 2004 Keith Miller, cricketer