ON THIS DAY
1791: The optical telegraph (semaphore machine) was unveiled in Paris.
1836: Texas was proclaimed a republic, independent of Mexico.
1882: Robert MacLean tried unsuccessfully to assassinate Queen Victoria at Windsor.
1930: Novelist DH Lawrence died in France of tuberculosis.
1949: The first round-the-world non-stop flight was completed by Captain James Gallagher and his 13-man USAF crew. It took 94 hours, during which the plane, Lucky Lady II, was refuelled four times in flight.
1958: A British team led by Vivian Fuchs completed the first crossing of the Antarctic, covering 2,158 miles from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea in 99 days.
1969: The French-built supersonic airliner Concorde made its maiden flight from Toulouse.
1970: Southern Rhodesia broke away from Britain and became a republic under Ian Smith.
1986: The Queen signed the Australia Bill in Canberra, formally severing any Australian constitutional ties with Britain.
1988: A new political party was born when Liberals merged with the Social Democrats to form the Social and Liberal Democrats.
1995: Financial dealer Nick Leeson, whose multimillion-pound dealings on the high-risk derivatives market in Singapore bankrupted Barings Bank, was arrested at Frankfurt airport after a week-long manhunt.
On this day last year: There is no black hole in the system previously thought to house the closest black hole to Earth, astronomers found.
Birthdays
John Irving, novelist, 81; JPR Williams, former rugby player, 74; John Altman, actor, 71; Ian Woosnam, golfer, 65; Jon Bon Jovi, actor/rock singer, 61; Daniel Craig, actor, 55; James Arthur, singer, 35.
PA
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