Now & Then
27 FEBRUARY
1545: The Scots under the Earl of Angus defeated English under Sir Ralph Eure at the Battle of Ancrum. 1700: Southwest Pacific island of New Britain was discovered by English navigator William Dampier. 1861: Warsaw Massacre when a crowd was fired upon by Russian troops during demonstration against Russian rule.
1900: Labour Party was formed with Ramsay Macdonald as secretary.
1907: The Central Criminal Court, on the site of Newgate Prison, and commonly called the Old Bailey, was opened.
1918: British hospital ship Glenart Castle was sunk by U-boat in the Bristol Channel.
1933: Reichstag, German parliament building in Berlin, was burned, and Nazis blamed Communists.
1939: Britain and France recognised General Francisco Franco’s government in Spain. 1952: United Nations held first meeting in New York headquarters. 1965: Goldie the eagle escaped London Zoo and settled in Regent’s Park. His freedom flights were followed by TV and newspapers until his capture on 10 March. 1976: Eskimo leaders in Canada presented the government with a claim to quarter of a million square miles of land.
1978: Egypt restricted special privileges of Palestinians living in that country, and said they would be treated as any other Arab aliens. 1982: D’oyly Carte Opera Company gave its last Gilbert and Sullivan performance, at the Adelphi Theatre, London.
1985: A “Save the Doctor” campaign was started in Britain when the BBC left Dr Who out of plans for BBC1.
1986: Ferdinand Marcos started life in exile in Hawaii after a hurried departure from the Philippines. 1989: Derrick Morris, 58, of Swansea, became Britain’s longest surviving heart swap patient, nine years after his operation. He lived another 16 years.
1989: Yugoslavia imposed emergency measures in the striketorn southern province of Kosovo. 1991: Allies pinned down Iraqi Republican Guards near Basra in the biggest tank battle since Second World War.
1991: Nine Orkney children from four families on South Ronaldsay were taken into care after allegations of child sex abuse. They returned home on 4 April.
1992: A bomb exploded at London Bridge train station, injuring 28 people. IRA claimed responsibility as part of threatened pre-election bombing campaign.
1993: Three shoppers badly hurt in an IRA bomb blast in Camden Town, north London.
1995: Appeal judges ordered eight Ayrshire children, victims of alleged abuse, to be reunited with their parents nearly five years after they had been taken from them. 2002: Ryanair Flight 296 caught fire at London Stansted Airport. Investigations criticised Ryanair’s handling of the evacuation. 2004: A bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines’ worst terrorist attack killed 116. 2007: The Shanghai Stock Exchange fell 9 per cent – the largest drop in a decade.
2010: Central Chile was hit by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake which left more than 700 people dead and two million affected.