Now and Then
16 AUGUST
1620: The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, taking pilgrims to religious freedom in the New World of America. 1819: The Peterloo Massacre occurred in St Peter’s Fields, Manchester. A meeting petitioning for parliamentary reform was dispersed by the army, killing 11. 1949: Tate & Lyle introduced Mr Cube, figure of a personalised sugar cube, to fight its battle against proposals in Labour’s election manifesto to nationalise the sugar industry. 1952: Bristol Britannia airliner made its maiden flight. 1956: First London conference to discuss Suez Canal was boycotted by Egypt’s president Nasser. 1959: Cyprus became an independent republic. 1962: Pete Best, the original drummer with the Beatles, was fired by Brian Epstein and replaced by Ringo Starr. 1964: Major-General Nguyen Khan took over presidency of South Vietnam, ousting MajorGeneral Duong van Minh. 1972: Morocco’s King Hassan II escaped assassination attempt by Moroccan Air Force jets over Rabat. 1974: Turkish invaders of Cyprus completed division of island into two areas and declared ceasefire. 1989: Palestinian activists in Gaza Strip called for two-week boycott of jobs in Israel to protest against computerised identity cards for day labourers. 1990: Nine people were hacked to death at train station in Soweto, South Africa. 1990: President Saddam Hussein of Iraq offered to end ten years of conflict with Iran, buying peace with one arch-enemy in order to concentrate Iraq’s forces against the international army mustered in Saudi Arabia after the invasion of Kuwait. 1991: In the United States, airlines worldwide were advised to ban the use of reverse thrust mechanisms in Boeing 767s after a Lauda Air 767 crash over Thailand. 1992: Nigel Mansell clinched his first world drivers’ championship. 2006: Private Harry Farr, pardoned 90 years after he was executed by firing squad for cowardice during the First World War, was the first of 300 soldiers shot for military offences in the war to receive pardons. 2009: Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt set a new 100m world record of 9.58 sec in Berlin.
BIRTHDAYS
George Galloway, MP, 60; Angela Bassett, actress, 56; Frankie Boyle, Scottish comedian, 42; James Cameron, film director, 60; John Challis, actor, 72; John Craven, TV presenter, 74; Katharine Hamnett CBE, fashion designer, 67; Timothy Hutton, actor, 54; Ulrika Jonsson, TV presenter, 47; Sir Trevor MacDonald OBE, broadcaster, 75; Madonna, singer 56; Steve Carell, actor, 52; Suzanne Farrell, ballerina, 69; Ann Blyth, actress, 86; Julie Newmar, actress, dancer and singer, 81; Joleon Lescott, footballer, 32; Jeff Thomson, Australian cricketer, 64; Hasely Crawford, Trinidadian Olympic 100m champion, 64; Shivnarine Chanderpaul, West Indies cricketer, 40.
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1766 Carolina Oliphant (Lady Nairne), Perthshire-born poet; 1902 Georgette Heyer, novelist; 1913 Menachem Begin, ex-PM of Israel; 1930 Ted Hughes, poet; 1930 Robert Culp, actor. Deaths: 1678 Andrew Marvell, poet and politician; 1888 John Pemberton, chemist, inventor of Coca-Cola; 1938 Robert Johnson, blues singer; 1956 Béla Lugosi, actor; 1977 Elvis Presley, singer; 2003 Idi Amin, Uganda dictator; 2007 Max Roach, jazz drummer.