TODAY: THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2018

ON THIS DAY

42 YEARS AGO (1976)

Israeli commandos swooped to free 104 hostages at Uganda’s Entebbe airport, held by four Palestinian and German hijackers on an Air France plane. The hijackers, 45 Ugandan soldiers and three hostages were killed in the 90-minute operation.

72 YEARS AGO (1946)

The bikini went on sale after its debut at a Paris fashion show. Designer Louis Reard named it after Bikini Atoll, the site four days earlier of the first nuclear weapons test.

37 YEARS AGO (1981)

Gangs of youths fought running battles with police as riots broke out in Toxteth, Liverpool. It followed similar violence at Brixton and Southall in London. The riots were triggered by police stop-and-search tactics used against mainly black youths and came amid a recession and high unemployment.