NOW & THEN
5 AUGUST
1388: Battle of Otterburn in which James, Earl of Douglas, was killed and Henry Percy (Hotspur), son of the Earl of Northumberland, was captured.
1583: Sir Humphrey Gilbert founded St John’s, Newfoundland, the first English colony in North America.
1600: The Gowrie Conspiracy, an unsuccessful attempt by Alexander, Lord Ruthven, and the Earl of Gowrie to seize King James at Gowrie House in Perth.
1704: The Act of Security was approved. It allowed the Estates of Scotland to choose a successor to Queen Anne other than the one elected by the English parliament if Scottish conditions were not met, and precipitated an English demand for an Act of Union.
1858: First transatlantic telegraph cable was completed. Laid by USS Niagara and HMS Agamemnon, it was opened by Queen Victoria and President James Buchanan exchanging greetings. But its current was so weak that transmission of 90 words took 67 minutes and its insulation failed three weeks later. The first successful cable was laid by the Great Eastern in 1866.
1891: First travellers’ cheque was cashed, for $50, on American Express, at the Hotel Hauffe, Leipzig.
1901: Britain’s first cinema opened in the Mowhawk’s Hall, Upper Street, Islington.
1939: British transatlantic airmail service was inaugurated.
1943: Capture of Catania gave Allied forces command of Sicilian Straits off Italy.
1963: United States, Britain and Soviet Union signed treaty outlawing nuclear tests in atmosphere, in space and under water.
1973: Two men identified as Black September guerrillas attacked travellers at Athens Airport with grenades and machine-guns, leaving three dead and 55 wounded.
1974: Ex-president Richard Nixon admitted his complicity in the Watergate affair.
1986: Princess Anne rode her first winner as an amateur jockey, Gulfland, at Redcar.
1990: Sunday postal collections were resumed in some areas of Britain after 20 years.
1991: Iraq admitted to United Nations inspection team that it carried out germ warfare research for four years, but claimed it abandoned research shortly after 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
1992: Britain’s Sally Gunnell won the Olympic 400 metres hurdles in Barcelona.
1995: The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, was captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm.
2003: A car bomb exploded in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.
2010: The Copiapó mining accident occurred, trapping 33 Chilean miners approximately 2,300ft below the ground.
2011: A US helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan killing 31 US special forces and seven Afghan commandos.
2012: Scottish tennis star Andy Murray won a gold medal after an emphatic victory over Roger Federer in the Olympic men’s singles final at Wimbledon. Later in the day, Murray took a silver medal in the mixed doubles.
Jan Francis, British actress, 73; Baron John Monks, life peer and former secretary-general, European Trades Union Confederation (1993-2003), 75; Rodney Pattisson MBE, British yachtsman, 77; John Whitaker MBE, British showjumper, 65; Janet Mcteer OBE, British actress, 59; Louis Walsh, Irish entertainment manager and TV talent show judge, 68; Maureen Mccormick, American actress and author, 64Mark Strong, British actor, 57; Kara Tointon, actress (Eastenders), 37; Antony Cotton, actor (Coronation Street), 45; Ray Clemence MBE, former England international goalkeeper, 72
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 11862 Joseph Merrick, the “Elephant Man”; 1906 Joan Hickson OBE, actress; 1906 John Huston, American film director; 1930 Professor Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on the Moon, 20 July, 1969; 1968 Colin Mcrae, rally driver.
Deaths: 1778 Robert Mackay (Rob Donn), Gaelic poet of Sutherland; 1792 Lord North, Prime Minister 1770-82; 1955 Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-brazilian singer, dancer, movie star; 1962 Marilyn Monroe, American film actress; 1984 Richard Burton, actor; 2000 Sir Alec Guinness, actor.