Now & Then
◆ 24 FEBRUARY
1530: Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor and King of Italy by Pope Clement VII at Bologna.
1582: Pope Gregory XIII announced the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, replacing the Julian calendar. That was acknowledged by Scotland in 1600, and adopted by England in 1752, by which time a loss adjustment of 11 days had to be “fixed”.
1809: A fire destroyed part of Drury Lane Theatre, London.
1824: Governor-general of India declared war on Burmese after British East India Company territory was violated.
1905: The Simplon Tunnel through the Alps (12.3 miles) was completed.
1920: Viscountess Astor became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons.
1920: Nazi Party was organised in Germany.
1923: Flying Scotsman express went into service.
1932: Sir Malcolm Campbell set a world land-speed record of 253.96 mph on Daytona Beach.
1938: Toothbrushes with nylon bristles, the first commercial nylon product, went on sale in New Jersey, United States.
1945: Egypt’s premier Ahmed Pasha was assassinated after announcing Egypt’s declaration of war against Germany.
1946: Juan Peron elected president of Argentina.
1960: Britain’s first king-size cigarette, the Rex, went on sale.
1964: Henry Cooper beat Brian London to win his second Lonsdale Belt.
1981: Prince Charles, 32, and Lady Diana Spencer, 19, announced their engagement.
1989: Several passengers were sucked out of a plane 22,000 feet over the Pacific when a hole the size of a bus was torn in a Boeing 747 soon after take-off from Honolulu to Auckland.
1990: The United States, the Soviet Union and China announced plans to send a 30-man team to sweep Mount Everest clean of rubbish.
1991: In the first parliamentary Soviet elections under a genuine multi-party system, voters in Lithuania rejected Communist rule.
1991: Allies launched threepronged assault deep into Kuwait and Iraq. At least 10,000
Iraqi troops reported to have surrendered.
1992: Australian prime minister Paul Keating was criticised for insulting the Queen with comments about republicanism.
1999: A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashed on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern the People’s Republic of China, killing 61.
2000: An independent inquiry was ordered into the cost of the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood, reported to have risen from £40 million to £220m.
2006: Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-arroyo declared Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in an attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
2007: Japan launched its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.
2008: Fidel Castro retired as the president of Cuba after nearly 50 years.
2011: Final Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103).
◆ BIRTHDAYS
Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player (US Open 2001, Wimbledon 2002), 43; Paul Jones, British singer (Manfred Mann and Blues Band), actor, and radio presenter 82; Denis Law CBE, Scottish footballer and commentator, 84; Floyd Mayweather Jr, American boxer, 47; Ben Miller, English comedian and actor (Armstrong and Miller), 58; Alain Prost OBE, racing driver, 69; Michelle Shocked, singer, 62; Daniel Kaluuya, actor, 35.
◆ ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1786 Wilhelm Grimm, German collector of fairy tales; 1866 Sir Arthur Pearson, founder of Daily Express; 1885 Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of United States Pacific Fleet in Second World War; 1926 Jean Alexander, British actress (Coronation Street’s Hilda Ogden).
Deaths: 1825 Thomas Bowdler, censor of “naughty bits” in the works of Shakespeare (hence “bowdlerise”); 11993 Bobby Moore, footballer; 2014 Harold Ramis, American actor, director and writer; 2015 Joseph Beltrami, Scottish lawyer.