NOW & THEN
29 JULY
1030: St Olaf, King of Norway, was killed in battle. Several churches in Shetland and Orkney were dedicated to him.
1565: Mary, Queen of Scots, married her cousin Lord Darnley, in the Old Abbey Chapel at Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh.
1567: James VI was crowned King of Scotland at the church of the Holy Rude in Stirling, following the abdication of Mary Queen of Scots five days earlier.
1588: The Spanish Armada was sighted off Cornwall. It was defeated by the English fleet under Howard and Drake, the battle beginning off Plymouth.
1783: Skaptar volcano in Iceland erupted, killing 9,000 people.
1836: The inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe took place in Paris.
1848: During the Irish Potato Famine, the Tipperary Revolt – an unsuccessful revolt against British rule – was put down by police.
1907: Sir Robert Baden-powell formed the Boy Scouts.
1928: Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie, the movie in which Mickey and Minnie Mouse made their debuts, wasreleased.
1929: Maurice De Waele won the Tour de France.
1930: Airship R300 made the first passenger-carrying flight from the UK to Canada.
1943: One million inhabitants of Hamburg fled the city to escape bombing by the Allies.
1945: The BBC Light Programme began broadcasting.
1948: King George VI opened the 14th Olympic Games at Wembley. They were to become known as the wettest ever held.
1949: The BBC televised the first regular weather forecast.
1954: Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of Lord of the rings by JRR Tolkein, was published in London.
1968: Pope Paul VI declared that any artificial form of birth control was prohibited.
1978: Penny Dean swam the English Channel in a record time of 7 hours 40 minutes.
1981: The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer were married at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.
1986: South Africa’s president PW Botha rejected British foreign secretary’s plea for unconditional release of Nelson Mandela.
1988: The South African government banned the anti-apartheid film Cry Freedom.
1989: London Weather Centre announced that 1989 had reached the record for the sunniest summer of the century.
1990: South Africa’s Communist Party was relaunched after 40 years underground. Nelson Mandela urged a peaceful transition to democracy and the dismantling of apartheid.
1992: Chris Boardman became the first British cyclist for 84 years to win an individual Olympic gold medal when he won the 4,000 metres pursuit on his “superbike” in Barcelona.
2009: A tornado hit Stornoway, causing widespread damage.
2010: A very rare broadsword to commemorate the carrying of Robert the Bruce’s heart on crusade fetched £10,800 at auction.
2013: €103 million of diamonds were stolen from the Carlton Intercontinental hotel, Cannes.
BIRTHDAYS
Viv Anderson MBE, English football player and coach, 64; Sally Gunnell OBE, Olympic, world, Commonwealth and European champion athlete and broadcaster, 54; Fernando Alonso, world motor racing champion 2005-6, 39; Stephen Dorff, actor, 47; Diane Keen, actress, 74 Alexandra Paul, US actress, 57; Carl Cox, DJ and producer, 58; Graham Poll, football referee, 57; Nellie Kim, multi gold medal-winning Olympic gymnast, 63; David Warner, British actor, 79;.
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1801 George Bradshaw, cartographer, printer and publisher (Bradshaws railway timetables);1883 Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator; 1892 William Powell, actor; 1905 Dag Hammarskjöld, secretary-general of United Nations 1953-1961; 1905 Clara Bow, silent movie actress. Deaths: 1833 William Wilberforce, anti-slave trade philanthropist; ; 1890 Vincent Van Gogh, painter (two days after shooting himself ); 1974 Cass (“Mama Cass”) Elliot, singer (The Mamas and Papas); 1976 Mickey Cohen, US mafia boss; 1983 David Niven, actor; 1983 Raymond Massey, actor; 2015 Sir Peter O’sullevan KBE, horse racing commentator, journalist.