ON THIS DAY
1133: Henry II, the first Plantagenet King (1154-89), was born in Le Mans.
1790: Death of Flora Macdonald, Scottish Jacobite heroine who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape to safety after his defeat at Culloden.
1850: The Menai tubular bridge, joining Wales and Anglesey, constructed by Robert Stephenson, was opened.
1879: William Henry Beveridge, who produced the report which laid the foundations of the British welfare state, was born in Rangpur, Bengal.
1918: Moscow was declared the new capital of Russia in place of Petrograd.
1933: The Nazi Party won almost half the seats in the German election.
1936: The Spitfire fighter plane made its maiden flight.
1946: Winston Churchill introduced the phrase “Iron Curtain”. He said in a speech: “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.”
1953: Joseph Stalin, Russian Communist leader, died in
mysterious circumstances officially from a brain haemorrhage. On the same day, Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev died.
1976: The pound fell below two US dollars for the first time.
1984: Scientists warned of a “greenhouse effect” amid growing concern that carbon dioxide, produced by fossil fuels, would damage the environment.
1993: Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was banned for life after failing a drug test.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: A major fire at a refugee camp in Bangladesh left dozens homeless. BIRTHDAYS: Samantha Eggar, actress, 85; Eddy Grant, singer, 76; Elaine Paige, singer, 76; Eva Mendes, actress, 50; Kimberly McCullough, actress, 46; Jake Lloyd, actor, 35.