Now & Then
◆ 4 MARCH
1824: Royal National Lifeboat Institution was founded.
1882: The first electric tramcars ran in London, at Leytonstone. 1890: The Forth Bridge was officially opened by the Prince of Wales, who drove home the last rivet.
1909: The first electric fans went on sale, at Selfridges in Oxford Street, London.
1917: German army began major withdrawal on Western Front. 1924: The song Happy Birthday To You was published by Clayton F Summy.
1941: British forces, assisted by local Norwegians, raided the German-occupied Lofoten Islands, destroying 11 ships.
1945: German radio reported that city of Dresden had been “wiped off the map” of Europe by Allied bombers.
1945: Soviet troops reached Baltic Sea to drive across Germany’s province of Pomerania.
1945: Princess Elizabeth joined the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) as Second Subaltern Windsor 230873.
1958: United States nuclear submarine Nautilus travelled under the ice cap at the North Pole. 1964: Malta became fully independent.
1965: Syria ordered nationalisation of nine oil companies, including affiliates of two US concerns. 1967: The first North Sea gas was pumped ashore at Easington, County Durham.
1970: French submarine Eurydice was lost in the Mediterranean off the Riviera, with the loss of crew of 57.
1972: Soviet Union signed an agreement with Libya to develop and refine Libyan oil, a pact seen as a pressure tactic against western oil companies.
1973: Eight Black September terrorists ended their occupation of Saudi Arabian embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, after killing three foreign diplomats.
1974: Edward Heath resigned as Conservative prime minister and a minority Labour government, led by Harold Wilson, took office. 1977: Earthquake devastated Bucharest and other towns in Romania, and the death toll eventually reached more than 1,000. 1986: The first edition of Eddy Shah’s national newspaper, Today, was published.
1988: Sikh separatists slaughtered dozens of Hindus at a religious festival in Kari Sari, India.
1990: ANC loyalists overthrew the government of the South African homeland of Ciskei.
1991: Flight Lieutenant John Peters, RAF pilot captured after his Tornado was shot down over Iraq on 17 January, was handed over to the International Red Cross with two other British Pows.
1994: Control of Celtic passed from the White-kelly family dynasty, who had run the football club for 100 years, to tycoon Fergus Mccann.
2001: A massive car bomb exploded in front of the BBC Television Centre in London, seriously injuring one person. The attack was attributed to the Real IRA.
2007: Voters in Estonia took part in the world’s first nationwide voting via the internet.
2011: Labour won the Barnsley Central by-election.
◆ BIRTHDAYS
Sir Kenny Dalglish MBE, Scottish footballer and manager, 73; Evan Dando, US rock singer, 57; James Ellroy, US crime writer, 76; Emilio Estefan, Cuban-american musician and producer, 71; Harvey Goldsmith CBE, British impresario, 78; Patsy Kensit, actress, 56; Adrian Lyne, British film director, 83; Paula Prentiss, US actress, 86; Chris Rea, British rock musician, 73; Shakin’ Stevens, pop singer, 76; Sam Taylor-johnson OBE, British artist and film-maker, 57.
◆ ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1756 Sir Henry Raeburn, artist; 1923 Sir Patrick Moore, British astronomer; 1928 Alan Sillitoe, writer; 1932 Miriam Makeba, singer and civil rights activist; 1944 ; Bobby Womack, US soul singer; 1954 Willie Thorne, snooker player. Deaths: 1470 Sir Thomas Malory, author of Morte d’arthur; 1852 Nikolai Gogol, playwright and novelist; 1972 Richard Church, poet and novelist, 1993 Albert Sabin, developer of oral polio vaccine; 2012 Paul Mcbride QC, Scottish criminal lawyer; 2019 Keith Flint, musician (Prodigy); 2019 Luke Perry, actor.