On this day
» 1850: Sir Thomas Lipton, founder of Lipton’s grocery chain, who went from errand boy to millionaire by the age of 30, was born in Glasgow.
» 1869: The first US transcontinental railroad was completed when the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways were joined.
» 1940: Neville Chamberlain resigned as prime minister and Winston Churchill formed a coalition wartime government, saying: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
» 1941: The worst night of the London Blitz when the Houses of Parliament were damaged.
» 1941: Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy, parachuted into Scotland in an effort to negotiate a peace settlement, but was arrested and imprisoned for the remainder of the war.
» 1963: The Rolling Stones recorded their first single, the Chuck Berry song ‘Come On’, at Olympic Studios, London.
» 1994: Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first black president of South Africa.
» 2002: A passenger train derailed at Potters Bar in Hertfordshire. Seven people died.