NOW & THEN
18 APRIL
1775: Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride from Charlestown to Lexington, accompanied by William Dawes, to warn Massachusetts patriots of the arrival of British troops at the outbreak of the War of American Independence.
1874: Remains of missionary and explorer David Livingstone interred in Westminster Abbey.
1906: San Francisco earthquake shattered the city before dawn, killing between 500 and 700 people, destroying 28,000 buildings and causing $500million worth of damage.
1932: Business reply-paid envelopes were introduced by the GPO.
1946: International Court of Justice opened at The Hague.
1946: League of Nations was dissolved and its assets passed to the United Nations.
1949: The first Bob-a-job Week was inaugurated by the Scout Movement in Britain.
1949: The Republic of Ireland was proclaimed, severing ties with Britain by leaving the Commonwealth.
1954: After seizing power, Colonel Gamal Nasser became prime minister and military governor of Egypt.
1961: George Blake, diplomat and Soviet spy, was charged with espionage under Official Secrets Act.
1968: A United States oil company bought London Bridge, dismantled it and later re-erected it in Arizona.
1985: Postal workers went on strike, abandoning 20 million items of undelivered mail.
1986: Guinness won takeover battle for Distillers.
1987: Journalist John Mccarthy was kidnapped in Beirut by a militant group. He spent more than five years in captivity.
1990: Government announced plans for a privately-funded toll road in Scotland linking the M74 with the M8.
1990: Eleven children and four others were killed when a school bus was set ablaze by streetfighting in Beirut.
1992: Traverse Theatre’s final performance in its Grassmarket premises in Edinburgh, took place 25 years after it was opened by Jenny Lee, Britain’s first minister of the arts.
1994: West Indian batsman Brian Lara broke the record for the highest individual score in Test cricket when he hit 375 off England’s bowlers in Antigua.
1996: More than 100 refugees died when Israel shelled a United Nations peace-keeping base in Lebanon.
2005: MG Rover, Britain’s last major car maker, collapsed with the loss of 6,200 jobs.
2011: It was announced that the Queen’s official residence in Scotland, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, was to be utilised to host corporate events.
2013: Britain’s most successful Olympian, cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, announced his retirement.
2014: Thirteen sherpas were killed and three others were missing when an avalanche hit their group on Mount Everest.
2017: Theresa May called for a snap general election on 8 June as she sought to increase the Conservative majority in parliament and gain a mandate to negotiate a smooth British exit from the European Union.
BIRTHDAYS
Eamonn Bannon, Scottish footballer, 62; Maria Bello, American actress, 53; America Ferrera, actress (Ugly Betty), 36; Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian athlete, 47; Roger Graef OBE, American television documentary producer, 84; Melissa Joan Hart, actress, 44; Rosie Huntingtonwhiteley, British actress and model, 33; Philip Jackson, Scottish sculptor, 76; Jane Leeves, actress, 59; Hayley Mills, British actress, 74; Rick Moranis, Canadian/american actor and comedian, 67; James Woods, American actor and producer, 73; Kourtney Kardashian, fashion designer, model, reality TV star, 41.
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1480 Lucrezia Borgia, illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexander VI; 1740 Francis Baring, banker and merchant; 1817 George Henry Lewes, philosopher; 1878 Humphrey Verdon Roe, aviation pioneer. 1937 Sir Teddy Taylor, MP 1980-2005.
Deaths: 1898 Gustave Moreau, painter; 1955 Albert Einstein, physicist; 1992 Benny Hill, comedian; 2002 Doctor Thor Heyerdahl, explorer, anthropologist and author; 2002 Cy Laurie, jazz clarinettist; 2018 Dale Winton, broadcaster.