NOW & THEN
MAY 17
1532: The Court of Session was instituted.
1536: Archbishop Thomas Cranmer declared the marriage of England’s King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn was invalid.
1756: Britain declared war on France.
1792: United States Stock Exchange founded as 24 merchants and brokers began trading under the cottonwood tree by 68 Wall Street.
1861: The first package holiday was arranged by Thomas Cook. The Whitsun Working Man’s Excursion set off from London Bridge to Paris. The six-day trip cost £2 6s (£2.30) and included travel and hotel.
1900: Mafeking defenders under Colonel Robert Badenpowell were relieved by British forces in the Boer War after a siege of 217 days.
1916: The government introduced the British Summertime Act.
1938: The Marquess of Bute sold half the city of Cardiff for £20 million. It included theatres, farmlands, villages, 20,000 houses, 1,000 shops and 250 pubs.
1978: Compact discs were created by Philips.
1987: Mistaken Iraqi Exocet missile attack on warship USS Stark, patrolling in the Persian Gulf, killed 37 American crewmen.
1991: Iraq jailed Scottish engineer Douglas Brand for 20 years for espionage. He was freed on 17 June after intervention by Edward Heath.
1992: Nigel Mansell won the San Marino Grand Prix to become the first driver to win the opening five races of a Formula One season.
1993: Rebecca Stephens became the first British woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
1993: Nurse Beverly Allitt, 24, found guilty at Nottingham of murdering four children and attacking 13 others in her care at Grantham Hospital.
1994: A report into the Braer tanker disaster off Shetland called for tougher action to reduce the threat of a similar oil spill on Britain’s coastline.
1995: The Conservative Government was caught up in another sleaze row when it was alleged that a former minister, Sir Jerry Wiggin, had tabled an amendment to a Bill in the name of another MP, Sebastian Coe, to cover his own declared interest.
1997: Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo.
2004: Massachusetts became first US state to legalise samesex marriage.
2006: The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef.
2007: The chancellor, Gordon Brown was confirmed as prime minister-in-waiting to succeed Tony Blair.
2009: Dalia Grybauskaitė was elected the first female president of Lithuania.
2011: The Queen began a historic four-day state visit to Ireland; the first ever by a British monarch to the Republic.
2016: SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon was formally re-elected Scotland’s First Minister by MSPS, following the SNP’S victory in the Parliamentary election on 5 May.
David Ogilvy, 13th Earl of Airlie, Lord Chamberlain 1984-97, 96; Sue Carpenter, broadcaster, 66; Andrea Corr MBE, Irish singer, 48; Paul Crossley CBE, British pianist, 78; Professor Ian Deary OBE, Professor of Differential Psychology, Edinburgh University, 68; Enya, singer, 61; Dick Gaughan, Scottish folk singer and guitarist, 74; Sugar Ray Leonard, US boxer, 66; Christine Ohuruogu MBE, British 400 metres Olympic and world gold medallist, 38; Trent Reznor, rock singer, 57; Sir Simon Hughes, Minister of State for Justice 20132015, 71; Johanna Konta, British tennis player, 31.
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1749 Edward Jenner, vaccination pioneer; 1866 Erik Satie, French composer; 1911 Maureen O’sullivan, US actress; Dennis Potter, playwright; 1936 Dennis Hopper, actor; 1936 Lord Gordon of Strathblane CBE, chairman, Scottish Radio Holdings 1996-2005, chairman, Scottish Tourist Board 1998-2001; 1955 Bill Paxton, US actor. Deaths: 1510 Sandro Botticelli, Florentine artist; 1935 Paul Dukas, composer; 1970 Nigel Balchin, novelist; 1998 Lord (Hugh) Cudlipp, journalist; 2012 Donna Summer, singer.