NOW & THEN
8MAY
1660: Restoration of the British monarchy.
1701: ‘Captain’ William Kidd was tried at London’s Old Bailey for piracy – he hanged on 23 May.
1886: Coca-cola was invented by Doctor John Pemberton.
1902: Mount Pelée erupted on the Caribbean island of Martinique. In three minutes, molten lava obliterated the town of St Pierre, incinerated ten square miles of countryside and killed more than 30,000 people.
1921: Sweden abolished capital punishment.
1927: Speedway racing took place in Britain for the first time, at Camberley Heath.
1931: A group of leaders from Scottish industry, commerce, trade unions and local authorities convened a meeting in Edinburgh which resulted in the formation of the Scottish National Development Council.
1933: The secret of the treasure ship of Sutton Hoo began to be revealed when the owner of the land, near Ipswich, Suffolk, suggested experts excavate the curiously shaped burial mound in which it stood. Inside was an 89ft-long Anglo-saxon open ship with a burial chamber on deck full of magnificent treasure.
1933: The first execution by gas chamber in the United States was carried out in Nevada.
1942: Naval battle of the Coral Sea ended. Although the United States lost the aircraft carrier Lexington, the battle was the first allied success in the Pacific, saving Australia from invasion.
1945: VE-DAY. Victory came to Europe at one minute past midnight with the unconditional surrender of Germany.
1954: BBC banned Johnny Ray’s song Such a Night, and the publicity sent it to Number One.
1955: The European Cup for the football league champions of the respective nations was approved by Fifa.
1961: George Blake, British naval intelligence officer and Soviet spy, was jailed for 42 years, the longest sentence ever imposed in Britain.
1962: Trolley buses ran for the last time in London.
1970: The Beatles’ final album, Let It Be, was released.
1972: United States president Richard Nixon ordered blockade and mining of North Vietnamese ports, including Hai Phong.
1981: Ken Livingstone, Labour left-winger, was elected leader of the Greater London Council. 1984: The Thames Barrier at Woolwich was officially opened.
1989: United States space shuttle Atlantis glided out of orbit into safe landing in California’s Mojave Desert after four-day mission.
1990: Estonia declared itself a republic, dropped the words “Soviet Socialist” from its name, and restored its pre-war coatof-arms.
1993: British boxer Lennox Lewis became WBC world heavyweight champion, beating Tony Tucker.
1995: Two thousand beacons blazed out across the UK to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe.
2009: British politics was rocked by controversy after the Daily Telegraph began publishing details of MPS’ expenses claims.
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1884 Harry S Truman, 33rd US president; 1903 Fernandel, French film actor; 1916 Joao Havelange, president of Fifa 1974-1998; 1930 Heather Harper CBE, British soprano; 1932 Sonny Liston, heavyweight boxing champion; 1940 Peter Benchley, author (Jaws); 1940 Ricky Nelson, singer.
Deaths: 1794 Antoine Lavoisier, French scientist; 1873 John Stuart Mill, philosopher; 1880 Gustave Flaubert, novelist; 1903 Paul Gauguin, postimpressionist painter; 1986 Lord Manny Shinwell, Labour politician; 1988 Robert Heinlein, sci fi writer; 1999 Sir Dirk Bogarde, actor and author; 2000 Douglas Fairbanks Jr, actor; 2012 Maurice Sendak, US author and book illustrator (Where the Wild Things Are)