Now & Then
9 SEPTEMBER
490 BC: The Battle of Marathon was fought between the Athenian army and invading Persian forces. 1087: William Rufus (Red Rufus) came to the throne of England after the death of William the Conqueror in Rouen, France, from injuries received when his horse stumbled. 1513: The Battle of Flodden Field took place near Branxton in Northumberland, in which James IV was defeated and killed by English troops under Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey.
1543: Mary Stuart, aged nine months, was crowned Queen of Scotland at Stirling Castle.
1813: San Sebastian, Spain, fell to British forces under Duke of Wellington.
11914: First Battle of Marne ended when Von Moltke’s advance on Paris was halted by the British Expeditionary Force and the French under Joffre and Foch. 1919: Alexander Graham Bell’s HD-4, a hydrofoil, set a world marine speed record of 70.86 mph. 1938: The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the female branch of the army, was formed.
1950: Soap rationing ended in Britain.
1958: Race riots began in London’s Notting Hill Gate. TV crews were accused of encouraging the rioting by staging reconstructions of events in the streets.
1963: Jim Clark became the world’s youngest motor racing champion.
1965: French president Charles de Gaulle announced that France was withdrawing from Nato, to protest the US domination of the organisation.
1969: Canada’s House of Commons passed the Official Languages Act which gave French and English equal status.
1970: The first hijack of a British aircraft took place near Beirut. 1971: Geoffrey Jackson, British ambassador to Uruguay, was released after being held hostage by left-wing guerrillas for eight months.
1973: Jackie Stewart finished fourth in the Italian Grand Prix, which was enough to clinch the world drivers’ championship for the third time.
1985: US president Ronald Reagan ordered sanctions against South Africa.
1987: Iraq launched co-ordinated air raids on Iranian power plants, factories and oil centres.
1989: RSPCA announced the introduction of food labels for “humanely produced” meat. 1992: Boxer Mike Tyson was indicted for the rape of Desiree Washington.
1993: Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation ended decades of hostility by agreeing terms for mutual recognition. 1994: The space shuttle Discovery was launched into orbit.
1995: Former champion jockey Lester Piggott retired aged 59, having won more than 5,000 races. 1997: Sinn Fein accepted the Mitchell Principles on paramilitary disarmament.
2001: Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, was assassinated in Afghanistan. 2010: A court in the Philippines ordered Imelda Marcos to repay the government almost $280,000 for funds taken from the National Food Authority by Ferdinand Marcos in 1983.
2012: Armenia won the 40th FIDE chess olympiad.