Now & Then
1768:
Captain Cook set off on his first voyage, to explore the Antipodes.
The first drama school in Britain, Miss Kelly’s Theatre, was opened in Dean Street, London.
The House of Commons passed the Bank Holiday Act, creating public holidays on Easter Monday, Whit Monday and Christmas Day.
The first 24-hour motor race, called the Endurance Derby, was held in Philadelphia. The winning car covered a distance of 791 miles.
The House of Commons passed Irish Home Rule Bill.
Second Battle of Ypres ended.
Jesse Owens, American athlete, set six world records within 45 minutes at Ann Arbor in Michigan.
The spies Guy Burgess and Donald Mclean escaped from Britain en route to Moscow.
Chris Chataway set a twomile run record of eight minutes and 49.6 seconds.
Coventry’s new cathedral, designed by Sir Basil Spence, was consecrated, after six years of building.
Leaders of six African nations, meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, formed the Organisation of African Unity.
Celtic, managed by Jock Stein, became the first British football club to win the European Cup, beating Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon.
Destroyer HMS Coventry was sunk by Argentine Exocet missiles in Falklands war.
Chinese premier Li Peng denied that troops surrounding Peking were deployed to crush student protests.
Prime minister Margaret Thatcher pledged to stabilise UK carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2000, and called for tough international efforts to save the earth from global warming.
In a two-day airlift, Israel rescued about 18,000 Ethiopian Jews as civil war engulfed Addis Ababa.
Camelot, a consortium including Cadbury Schweppes, security printer De La Rue and communication group Racal, won the contract to run the National Lottery.
The Scottish Nationalists
1840:
1871:
1907:
1914:
1915:
1935:
1951:
1953:
1962:
1963:
1967:
1982:
1989:
1990:
1991:
1994:
1995:
captured the late Sir Nicholas Fairbairn’s parliamentary seat of Perth and Kinross in an 11.5 per cent swing from the Tories.
A woman swam for four hours to try to get help when a clam dredger sank in the Firth of Clyde. She survived, but her four companions drowned.
Israel withdrew its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion in 1978.
Thirty-two-year-old
Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, became the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
A train crash in Tenga, Mozambique killed 197 people.
Gordon Strachan resigned as manager of Celtic a day after his team lost the Scottish Premier League title to Rangers. However, in his four years with the club, Strachan won three league titles.
As part of his state visit to the UK, American president Barack Obama addressed MPS and peers in Westminster Hall, describing his country’s alliance with the UK as “indispensable”.
1996:
2000:
2001:
2002:
2009:
2011:
Alastair Campbell, former spin doctor, 67; Julian Clary, comic, 65; David Jenkins, Scottish athlete, 72; Sir Ian Mckellen CBE, actor and director, 85; Mike Myers, Canadian actor, 61; Cillian Murphy, Irish actor, 48; Frank Oz, US film director and original Fozzie Bear, 80; Dave Lee Travis, British DJ, 79; Anthea Turner, TV presenter, 64; Paul Weller, British musician, 66; Jonny Wilkinson CBE, rugby player, 45; Mark Mcghee, Glasgow-born footballer and manager, 67.
American president Barack Obama, pictured with First Lady Michelle Obama, was on a state visit tot the UK today in 2011