On this day

1692: The first of the Salem witches was hanged. She was Bridget Bishop, one of 150 respectable citizens accused of witchcraft by a hysterical band of young girls in the isolated Puritan community in Massachusetts.

1829: The first Oxford and Cambridge boat race took place, two miles from Hambleden Lock to Henley Bridge. It was won easily by Oxford. 1909: The SOS signal was first used in an emergency. The call, which replaced CQD code in 1906, was recognised by two steamers who went to the aid of the Cunard liner SS Slavonia, wrecked off the Azores. 1983: Margaret Thatcher won her second term as prime minister. 1989: Britain’s last lightship was towed from its position north-west of Guernsey to Harwich, ending an era of 157 years for the vessels.