Now & Then
29 MARCH
1461: England’s bloodiest battle raged for ten hours around the village of Towton in Yorkshire
– it was fought in a blinding snowstorm, and 28,000 soldiers were said to have died. Henry VI was deposed, and Edward became Edward IV.
1783: The Royal Society of Edinburgh incorporated by charter. 1801: Britain seized Danish and Swedish islands in the West Indies. 1849: Britain annexed Punjab in India by treaty with Maharajah of Lahore.
1864: Ionian Islands were ceded by Britain to Greece.
1867: Independence of Canada began when parliament created the Dominion of Canada.
1871: The Royal Albert Hall, London, built in memory of Prince Albert, was opened by Queen Victoria. One of the prince’s own compositions was played at the opening.
1886: The first batch of Cocacola was brewed over a wood fire by graduate chemist John S Pemberton. Launched as an “Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage” it was recommended for headaches, hangovers and as a general pickme-up.
1903: Regular news service between London and New York began using Marconi’s wireless. 1928: The House of Commons overwhelmingly passed the Equal Franchise Bill, giving the vote to all women aged 21 or over.
1939: The Spanish Civil War was declared to have ended. Franco was named Caudillo, or leader of the nation.
1940: Metal strips were introduced into Bank of England £1 notes as an anti-forgery device. 1946: New constitution in Gold Coast, which became the first British African colony with majority of Africans in legislature.
1951: First performance of The King And I at St James’s Theatre, Broadway, with Yul Brynner as the King and Gertrude Lawrence as Anna.
1973: Last American troops left South Vietnam, ending the direct military role of the United States in the Vietnam war.
1981: The first London Marathon was run. It was won by American Dick Beardsley and Norwegian Inge Simonsen. 1986: World’s first test-tube quins were born in London.
1989: Two Czechoslovak teenagers hijacked a Hungarian airliner from Prague to Frankfurt in an attempt to reach the United States.
1990: Prime minister Bob Hawke claimed victory in Australian election, becoming the first Labour winner of four consecutive terms. 1993: The president of Hoover Europe was dismissed after a freetravel sales promotion, heavily oversubscribed, ended in chaos. 2004: The Republic of Ireland became the first country to ban smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants. 2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined Nato as full members.
2008: Thirty-five countries and more than 370 cities joined Earth Hour for the first time.
2010: Thirty-nine people were killed and more than 60 injured in two suicide bomb attacks on the Moscow Metro during the morning rush hour.