NOW & THEN
1 APRIL
April Fool’s Day; in Scots, Hunt-the-gowk.
1764: The famous race horse Eclipse was foaled during an eclipse. He was unbeaten in 26 outings, could run four miles in eight minutes, yet had a career of just 17 months before being put to stud.
1817: Blackwood’s Magazine started publication as Edinburgh Monthly Magazine.
1852: Second Burmese War broke out after British ultimatum to King of Burma.
1902: The use of the treadmill in British prisons was finally suspended.
1908: The Territorial Force came into existence. The name was changed to Territorial Army in 1920.
1918: The Royal Air Force was formed by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
1937: India’s Constitution went into effect but All-india Party abstained from forming government, demanding complete independence.
1945: United States started invasion of Okinawa in final Far East campaign of Second World War.
1947: School-leaving age was raised to 15 years in Britain. 1948: Britain’s electricity industry was nationalised. 1960: America launched the first meteorological satellite, Tiros 1.
1960: South African government banned African National Congress and Panafrican Congress.
1962: Swiss referendum rejected manufacture or import of atomic weapons.
1964: François Duvalier had himself installed as president of Haiti for life.
1965: Greater London came into being, comprising the City of London plus 32 Metropolitan boroughs.
1973: Value Added Tax was introduced.
1979: The last Royal Navy warship left Malta, ending British military ties with the island.
1980: Brighton opened a nudist beach.
1990: The longest prison riot in British history began at Strangeways, Manchester, and lasted until 25 April.
1991: Diego Maradona fled to Argentina before the Italian football authorities suspended him for taking drugs.
1993: A poll of Australians showed that 69 per cent wanted the country to become a republic.
1994: A British-new Zealand crew set a record of 74 days 22 hours 17 minutes and 22 seconds for sailing round the world.
1999: Anthony Sawoniuk,
78, was sentenced to two life terms for the murder of 18 Jews during the Second World war, in Britain’s first full war crimes trial.
2001: Same-sex marriage became legal in the Netherlands; the first country to allow it.
2006: The Serious Organised Crime Agency, dubbed the “British FBI”, was created in the UK.
2009: A Super Puma helicopter crashed into the North Sea about 15 miles off Peterhead, killing all 16 people on board.
2009: Croatia and Albania joined Nato.