NOW & THEN
11 MAY
868: The first printed book, known as the Diamond Sutra, was published in China.
1685: Two female Covenanters were executed by drowning at Wigtown.
1689: The “Claim of Right” was accepted by William and Mary.
1812: Spencer Perceval, Tory prime minister, was shot and killed by a bankrupt Liverpool broker, John Bellingham, as he entered the House of Commons.
1866: Black Friday on London stock market as commercial panic followed stoppage of bankers Overend and Gurney.
1940: Winston Churchill became head of the wartime coalition government.
1941: House of Commons chamber destroyed in Blitz bombing which, on same night, damaged Westminster Abbey, the British Museum and four mainline stations. The death toll was 1,400.
1949: Israel was admitted to United Nations.
1949: Siam changed name to Thailand.
1962: Prince Charles became a pupil at Gordonstoun School.
1971: The Daily Sketch closed after 62 years.
1973: Lower House of West German legislature ratified treaty establishing formal relations between the two halves of divided Germany.
1983: Aberdeen FC won the European Cup-winners’ Cup by beating Real Madrid 2-1 in Gothenburg.
1985: Fire broke out in the main stand of Bradford City football ground and 56 spectators died.
1989: New Official Secrets Act given Royal Assent.
1990: Inflation in Britain, at 9.4 per cent, was the highest for eight years.
1991: New proposals were made to avert a deadlock between Britain and its European partners over economic and monetary union.
1992: Judith Ward, jailed for life in 1974 for the M62 coach bombing in which 12 people died, was released on bail pending an Appeal Court hearing. Her conviction was later quashed.
1994: The late Marquess of Bute left estate valued at £144 million, the bulk of it in trust to his son and heir, racing driver Johnny Dumfries.
1995: The Nolan Committee on standards in public life recommended stringent restrictions on the freedom of MPS to make money from outside interests.
1997: IBM Deep Blue, a chessplaying supercomputer, defeated Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch.
2004: Nine people died when an explosion destroyed the fourstorey Stockline Plastics factory in Maryhill, Glasgow. Seven people were pulled alive from the wreckage. ICL Plastics and ICL Tech were fined £400,000 for health and safety breaches.
2010: Tory leader David Cameron became UK prime minister after the resignation of Labour leader Gordon Brown.
2011: A magnitude 5.3 earthquake killed ten people and damaged several buildings near the town of Lorca in Spain.
2014: The Sunday Times Rich list revealed the number of billionaires living in the UK rose to more than 100 for first time.