NOW & THEN
FEBRUARY 6
1685: The “merry monarch” Charles II died. His last words to his brother James were: “Don’t let poor Nellie starve,” – a reference to his favourite mistress Nell Gwynne.
1788: Massachusetts became the sixth United States state to join the union.
1817: The Argentinian San Martin crosses the Andes with an army in order to liberate Chile from Spanish rule.
1838: Sir Henry Irving, English actor, was born in Somerset. He was the first thespian to be knighted.
1840: Treaty signed between Britain and Maori chiefs.
1899: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the US and Spain, was ratified by the US Senate.
1900: The international arbitration court at The Hague was created.
1918: The Representation of the Peoples Act received Royal Assent, granting the vote to women over 30.
1927: A ten-year-old violinist in short trousers, Yehudi Menuhin, caused a sensation in Paris when he performed Symphonie Espagnole.
1942: The United Kingdom declared war on Thailand.
1952: Princess Elizabeth, aged 25, acceded to the British throne on the death of her father, George VI.
1958: Eight Manchester United footballers – Busby’s Babes – were among those killed when their aircraft crashed in thick snow at Munich Airport.
1964: France and Britain agreed to build a Channel tunnel.
1976: In testimony before a US Senate sub-committee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admitted the company had paid out around $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka.
1978: One of the worst blizzards to hit New England struck the region, with sustained winds of 65mph and snowfall of 4in an hour.
1981: The National Resistance Army of Uganda launched an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.
1983: Nazi fugitive Klaus Barbie was charged in Lyon, France, with crimes against humanity.
1987: Justice Mary Gaudron was appointed to the High Court of Australia, the first woman to be appointed.
1989: The Round Table Talks started in Poland, thus marking the beginning of overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.
1996: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, caused more than $500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.
1998: Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
2000: During the second Chechen war, Russia captured Grozny, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.
2012: A 21-gun salute was fired at Edinburgh Castle to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’S accession to the throne.
2013: Royal Bank of Scotland agreed to pay a £391 million fine imposed on it over the Libor rate-rigging scandal.