NOW & THEN
18 JULY
AD64: The Great Fire of Rome occurred during the reign of Emperor Nero. He played the lyre, not the violin (which had not been invented), and was 50 miles away when he heard the news.
1290: By the Treaty of Birgham, king Edward I guaranteed the survival of Scotland “separate, apart and free without subjection to the English nation”.
1593: King James VI of Scotland was taken prisoner by the Earl of Bothwell at Holyrood.
1872: Britain introduced voting by secret ballot.
1904: Work began on Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral – the largest in the British Isles. It was completed in October, 1978.
1919: The Cenotaph in London’s Whitehall was unveiled. The First World War memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
1923: Matrimonial Causes Act gave women equality in divorce suits.
1940: The first successful helicopter flight took place in Stratford, Connecticut.
1847: King George VI signed the Indian Independence Bill.
1947: The first official night horse-racing meeting in Britain was held at Hamilton Park.
1953: Elvis Presley made his first recording in Sun studios, Memphis.
1955: The first electric power generated from atomic energy was sold commercially.
1966: Gemini X, America’s 16th manned space flight, splashed down with astronauts John Young and Michael Collins aboard.
1969: Senator Edward Kennedy crashed his car into the Chappaquidick River near Martha’s Vineyard on America’s east coast. Kennedy escaped, but his companion, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. He did not report the incident for ten hours.
1971: Belgian cyclist Eddie Merckx won the Tour de France for the third time.
1972: Reginald Maudling, home secretary, resigned as details emerged of involvement with the corrupt architect John Poulson.
1972: President Anwar Sadat threw 20,000 Soviet military aides out of Egypt.
1976: Nadia Comaneci of Romania became the first competitor in Olympic history to score a perfect ten in gymnastics.
1977: Vietnam became a member of the United Nations.
1988: Iran announced acceptance of United Nations resolution for ceasefire in Gulf war with Iraq.
1989: Tim Waterstone made about £8 million when he sold his chain of bookstores to WH Smith, the firm that had sacked him seven years previously.
1995: A report by the Board of Banking Supervisors into the Barings Bank crash with £827m losses, heaped blame on jailed trader Nick Leeson and the failure of Barings’ internal controls.
1999: Scottish golfer
Paul Lawrie won the Open Championship at Carnoustie.
2012: Kim Jong-un was appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea.