NOW & THEN
7 AUGUST
Ascot became “Royal” with the attendance of Queen Anne at the races.
Parliament passed an act prohibiting the employment of climbing boys as chimney sweeps.
Ottawa, the choice of Queen Victoria, was made the capital of Canada.
The telephoto lens was patented by a Frenchman, A Duboscq.
British Summer Time became permanent feature with the passing of the Daylight Saving Act.
The first British motor racing Grand Prix was held, at the Brooklands track, over 287 miles.
Guadalcanal, in the southern Solomon Islands, was assaulted by United States Marines in one of the most costly Pacific campaigns of the Second World War. It was finally won the following January.
The Litter Act came into force in Britain.
Chinese invaded Northeast Frontier province of India.
Ivory Coast became independent of France.
People’s Republic of the Congo was proclaimed.
Three US Apollo 15 astronauts made safe splashdown in Pacific Ocean after their Moon visit.
First issue published of Scotland on Sunday, sister paper of The Scotsman.
A four-mile wide slick of orange algae appeared off the Cornish coast after a heatwave and bathers were warned that it could irritate the skin.
At 12:34 and 56 seconds on this day, 7.8.90, the sequence of numbers ran from 1 to 0. It occurs once each century.
The US announced it would send troops to Saudi Arabia to defend it against threatened invasion by Iraq.
A report showed a 63 per cent rise in heterosexual Aids cases in the United Kingdom.
Britain called for United Nations action to end concentration camp atrocities in Serbia.
More than 4,300 people visited Buckingham Palace on the first day it was open to the public, well down on the 7,000 expected.
Britain’s Jonathan Edwards broke his own world triple jump record twice, becoming the first man to clear 18 metres, when he won gold at the world athletics championships in Gothenburg.
Tony Blair ordered an inquiry into the Labour Party in Paisley after the suicide of MP Gordon Mcmaster.
The United States embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya killed approximately 212 people.
The second Chechen war began.
Georgia launched a military offensive against South Ossetia to counter the alleged Russian invasion, starting the South Ossetia War.
A survey by the Road Users’ Alliance revealed that Britain had one of the poorest motorway networks in Europe.
Sir Chris Hoy took the gold medal in the men’s keirin final at the London Games, making him the most successful British Olympian ever.
BIRTHDAYS
PAUL LAMBERT Scottish football manager and former player, 51
Tobin Bell, American actor, 78; Greg Chappell MBE, Australian cricketer and commentator, 72; Brian Conley, British comedian and actor, 59; Bruce Dickinson, heavy metal musician (Iron Maiden), 62; David Duchovny, American actor (The X Files), 60; Tina O’brien, British actress, 37; Matthew Parris, MP 1979-87, broadcaster and columnist, 71; Nick Ross, British broadcaster, 73; Alexei Sayle, British comedian, 68; Charlize Theron, South Africanborn film actress, 45; Robert Mueller, director of FBI 2001 to 2013,.
ANNIVERSARIES
1783 John Heathcote, lace-making pioneer who invented the earp-loom; 1876 Margarete Geertruida Zelle (Mata Hari), Dutch-born dancer, courtesan and German spy; 1903 Louis Leakey, anthropologist; 1924 Kenneth Kendall, British broadcaster; 1961 Walter Swinburn, British jockey and trainer.
1834 Joseph Jacquard, inventor of first loom to weave patterns; 1903 Martha Jane Cannary, American frontierswomen Calamity Jane; 1931 Bix Beiderbecke, jazz cornet-player and composer; 1995 Tom Scott, poet, critic and essayist; 1996 Ossie Clark, Sixties fashion designer.