Now & Then
◆ 6 FEBRUARY
1685: The “merry monarch” Charles II died. His last words to his brother James were: “Don’t let poor Nelly starve,” – a reference to his favourite mistress, Nell Gwynne. 1815: New Jersey grants the first American railroad charter, to John Stevens.
1817: The Argentinian San Martin crosses the Andes with an army in order to liberate Chile from Spanish rule.
1838: Sir Henry Irving, English actor, was born in Somerset. He was the first actor to be knighted. 1840: Treaty signed between Britain and Maori chiefs.
1899: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, was ratified by the United States Senate.
1900: The international arbitration court at The Hague is created. 1918: The Representation of the Peoples Act received Royal Assent, granting the vote to women over 30.
1927: A ten-year-old violinist in short trousers, Yehudi Menuhin, caused a sensation in Paris when he performed Symphonie Espagnole.
1942: The United Kingdom declared war on Thailand.
1952: Princess Elizabeth, 25, acceded to the throne on the death of her father, George VI.
1958: Eight Manchester United footballers – Busby’s Babes – were among those killed when their aircraft crashed in thick snow at Munich Airport.
1964: France and Britain agreed to build a Channel Tunnel.
1976: In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admitted the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka.
1978: One of the worst blizzards to hit New England struck the region, with sustained winds of 65mph and snowfall of 4in an hour.
1981: The National Resistance Army of Uganda launched an attack on a Ugandan Army base in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War. 1983: Nazi fugitive Klaus Barbie was charged in Lyon, France, with crimes against humanity.
1987: Justice Mary Gaudron was appointed to the High Court of Australia, the first woman to be appointed.
1989: The Round Table Talks started in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe. 1996: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, caused more than $500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.
1998: Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
2000: During the second Chechen war, Russia captured Grozny, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.
2009: Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson apologised for calling Gordon Brown, the prime minister, a “one-eyed Scottish idiot”.
2012: A 21-gun salute was fired at Edinburgh Castle to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne.
2013: Royal Bank of Scotland agreed to pay a £391 million fine imposed on it over the Libor raterigging scandal.
◆ BIRTHDAYS
Rick Astley, British singer, 58; Mike Batt, British songwriter, 75; Dave Berry, British singer, 83; Tim Sherwood, football manager and former player, 54; Axl Rose, rock singer, 62; Jimmy Tarbuck OBE, British comic, 84; Kevin Whately, British actor (Lewis, Inspector Morse), 73; Calum Best, British actor, model, 43; Mike Farrell, actor (M*A*S*H), 85; Brendan Taylor, former Test cricketer, 38; Alice Eve, British actress, 42; Mamie Van Doren, US actress, 93.
◆ ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1802 Sir Charles Wheatstone, inventor of electric clock; 1865 Isabella Beeton, writer; 1899 Ramon Navarro, actor; 1917 Zsa Zsa Gabor, actress; 1922 Patrick Macnee, British actor; 1922 Denis Norden CBE, TV presenter; 1931 Fred Trueman, cricketer; 1945 Bob Marley, reggae singer. Deaths: 1935 Lewis Grassic Gibbon, author; 1952 King George VI; 1993 Arthur Ashe, tennis champion; 1994 Joseph Cotten, actor; 2010 Sir John Dankworth CBE, jazz musician; 2011 Gary Moore, rock guitarist; 2016 Alastair Biggar, Scottish rugby player.