Now & Then
16 MARCH
1322: King Edward II’S forces defeated Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, at the Battle of Boroughbridge.
1521: Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippine Islands.
1660: England’s Long Parliament was dissolved after sitting for 20 years.
1802: The United States Military Academy at West Point was established.
1830: Only 31 shares were traded in the slowest day ever at the New York stock exchange.
1834: HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, anchored at Berkeley Sound in the Falkland Islands.
1867: The Lancet published the first article by Joseph Lister, outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery.
1872: The first English FA Cup final took place. Wanderers, a team formed by university and ex-public school players, beat the Royal Engineers 1-0 at The Oval in London.
1888: The first recorded sale of a manufactured motor car was to Emile Roger of Paris, who bought a petrol-driven Benz.
1900: Sir Arthur Evans uncovered the ancient city of Knossos, Crete. 1904: The first books of stamps were issued by the GPO. They cost two shillings-and-a-halfpenny for 24 penny stamps.
1926: The first liquid-fuelled rocket was demonstrated in America, by Doctor Robert H Goddard.
1935: Hitler renounced the Versailles Treaty and introduced conscription.
1972: John Lennon and Yoko Ono were issued with deportation papers by the US government. 1973: The Queen opened the new London Bridge. The old one was sold to an oil tycoon for £1 million, and rebuilt at Lake Havasu in America.
1976: Harold Wilson retired as prime minister after leading the Labour Party for 13 years.
1988: A Loyalist gunman opened fire indiscriminately and hurled grenades into a crowd of mourners at an IRA funeral for three people killed by the SAS in Gibraltar ten days before.
1998: Pope John Paul II asked God for forgiveness for the inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust. 2005: Israel officially handed over Jericho to Palestinian control. 2009: Robin Barr revealed he was to retire as chairman of AG Barr, the makers of Irn-bru, after more than 50 years at the family business. 2010: Scotland approved ten marine energy projects in the Pentland Firth which would have the potential to power a third of the country’s homes.
2011: The world’s largest online child abuse ring, with up to 70,000 followers, was smashed, police revealed.
2012: Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar became the first player to score 100 international centuries by compiling a ton in a one-day defeat by Bangladesh in Dhaka. 2012: Actor George Clooney was arrested during a demonstration outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington DC, while protesting against human rights abuse in Sudan.
2014: Following a referendum in Crimea, 97 per cent of voters backed a proposal to join Russia.