NOW & THEN

2 Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan debuted with the first issue of The Dandy on this day in 1937 a Nimrod MR2 from Kinloss, which exploded in midair in Afghanistan, found that it was caused by a fuel leak after airto-air refuelling and blamed the Ministry of Defence and the RAF for failing to ensure that the aircraft was safe.

2008: Karen Matthews, the mother of nine-year-old Shannon, was convicted of her kidnap. The trial in Leeds heard that Matthews and co-accused Michael Donovan kept Shannon “drugged, subdued and hidden from the public” so they could claim £50,000 in reward money.

2011: Two giant pandas began settling into their new home at Edinburgh Zoo after a nine-hour flight from China. They were on loan to the zoo for ten years.

2014: The United Nations announced that the world was on course for the warmest year since record began.