Now & Then
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24 MAY
1809: Dartmoor Prison was opened to house French prisoners of war – from 1850 it was used for convicts.
1830: The first passenger railroad was opened in America – the Baltimore and Ohio.
1844: The first telegraphic message in Morse code, “What hath God wrought”, was sent from Washington to Baltimore by its inventor, Samuel Morse.
1862: Westminster Bridge, London, was opened.
1883: New York’s Brooklyn Bridge was opened.
1900: Britain annexed Orange Free State in Africa.
1902: Empire Day was first celebrated in Britain.
1916: Conscription began in Britain.
1930: Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia.
1941: Battle cruiser HMS Hood was sunk by the Bismarck 13 miles off the coast of Greenland. Only three of her 1,421 crew survived. 1956: The first Eurovision Song Contest was won by host country Switzerland.
1959: Empire Day was renamed Commonwealth Day.
1962: London conference of Barbados, Windward and Leeward Islands ended with proposals of “Little Eight” to form new West Indies federation.
1964: 301 spectators died at the football stadium in Lima, Peru, in panic after police used tear gas to stop a riot which broke out when the referee disallowed a goal by Peru against Argentina.
1969: The Black And White Minstrel Show, at London’s Victoria Palace, closed after 4,354 performances in seven years, to become the longest-running musical show in Britain.
1972: Spaghetti Junction, the most complex interchange on the British road system, was opened at Gravelly Hill, Birmingham.
1972: Rangers won the European Cup-winners’ Cup by beating Moscow Dynamo 3-2 in Barcelona. 1974: Giscard d’estaing became president of France.
1976: Supersonic Concorde jets began regular flights from London and Paris to Dulles International Airport near Washington.
1978: Princess Margaret’s 18-year marriage to Lord Snowdon was ended on the grounds of two years’ separation.
1981: Ecuador’s President Jaime Roldos Aguilera was killed in plane crash in Andes Mountains near Peru border.
1990: Flotilla of 76 sailed to Dunkirk to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the British evacuation.
1992: Nigeria was clearing up after ethnic clashes left over 200 dead. 1993: IRA bomb caused £5 million damage to the centre of Magherafelt, Co Londonderry. 1994: Four men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York in 1993 were each sentenced to 240 years in prison. 2000: Israeli troops withdrew from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
2001: Fifteen-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri became the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
2002: Russia and the United States signed the Moscow Treaty. 2004: North Korea banned mobile phones. The ban lasted until 2008.
BIRTHDAYS
Stanley Baxter, Scottish comedian, 98; Jim Broadbent, British actor, 75; Eric Cantona, French footballer, 58; Liz Mccolgan-nuttall MBE, Scottish athlete, 60; Bob Dylan, singer-songwriter, 83; Patti Labelle, US singer, 80; Richard Lochhead, SNP MSP, 55; Alfred Molina, actor, 71; Adrian Moorhouse MBE, swimmer, 60; Dave Peacock, musician (Chas and Dave), 79; Priscilla Presley, US actress, 79; Kristin Scott Thomas, actress, 64; Dermot O’leary, broadcaster, 51
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1836 Joseph Rowntree, cocoa manufacturer and philanthropist; 1854 Admiral Prince Louis Mountbatten; 1899 Suzanne Lenglen, six-time Wimbledon singles champion; 1912 Dame Joan Hammond, operatic soprano; 1928 William Trevor KBE, Irish novelist. Deaths: 1153 David I, first feudal King of Scotland; 1908 “Old” Tom Morris, four times Open champion; 1974 Duke Ellington, jazz musician; 1987 Hermione Gingold, actress; 1994 Forsyth Hardy, co-founder of Edinburgh Film Festival; 2000 David Tomlinson, actor; 2010 Ray Alan, British ventriloquist.