This Day In History
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1978 Eleven die in sleeper train inferno
Eleven people have been killed and seventeen injured in a blaze on the Penzance-to-Paddington sleeper train. Early reports suggest that the fire was started ... -
1987 Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie gets life
The former Gestapo chief in Lyon, Klaus Barbie, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity. Nine jurors and three judges found ... -
1964 President Johnson signs Civil Rights Bill
The Civil Rights Bill – one of the most important piece of legislation in American history – has become law. US President Lyndon B ... -
1987 Stock-broker guilty of corruption
One of the City’s top investment bankers has received the first conviction for insider dealing since it became illegal in 1980. Geoffrey Collier, former ... -
1971 Space mission ends in tragedy
Three Russian cosmonauts have been found dead in their space capsule after it made what looked like a perfect landing in Kazakhstan. Lieutenant-Colonel Georgi ... -
1974 First female president for Argentina
Maria Estela Isabel Martinez de Peron has been sworn in as interim leader of the Argentine Republic. Her husband President Juan Peron delegated responsibility ... -
1963 Kennedy: ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’
The US President, John F Kennedy, has made a ground-breaking speech in Berlin offering American solidarity to the citizens of West Germany. A crowd ... -
1970 New peace plan for Middle East
The United States has launched its latest plan to bring peace to the Middle East. US Secretary of State William Rogers announced his initiative ... -
1983 US astronaut Sally Ride returns
America’s first woman in space has returned safely to Earth in the Challenger space shuttle after a successful six-day flight. Sally Ride, aged 32, ... -
1985 Air India jet crashes killing 329
A passenger jet has disintegrated in mid-air off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people on board. The Air India flight was only ... -
1975 Missing earl guilty of murder
Lord Lucan murdered the 29-year-old nanny of his three young children, an inquest jury has decided. The earl has not been seen since the ... -
1972: UK’s worst air crash kills 118
All 118 people on board a flight from London Heathrow to Brussels have died when the airliner crashed minutes after take-off. The British European ... -
1970 ‘Babes in the wood’ bodies found
The bodies of two children have been found in a shallow grave in a wood at Waltham Abbey in Essex. Detectives who have been ... -
1963 Soviets launch first woman into space
A former textile worker from the Soviet Union has become the first woman in space. Lieutenant Valentina Tereshkova, 26, was the fifth Russian cosmonaut ... -
1996 Huge explosion rocks central Manchester
A massive bomb has devastated a busy shopping area in central Manchester. Two hundred people were injured in the attack, mostly by flying glass, ... -
1964 Nelson Mandela jailed for life
The leader of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, Nelson Mandela, has been jailed for life for sabotage. Seven other defendants, including the former ... -
1955 Le Mans disaster claims 77 lives
Seventy-seven people have been killed and 77 others injured when two cars collided on the race track and crashed into the spectators’ stand at ... -
1986 Magee convicted of Brighton bombing
A man has been found guilty of planting the Brighton bomb which killed five people and nearly wiped out most of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet ... -
1995 First man jailed for male rape
A man with a history of sex offences has been jailed for life for the attempted rape of another man, in the first case ... -
1982 Fifty die in Argentine air attack
Up to 50 British servicemen have died in an Argentine air attack on two supply ships in the Falklands. Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram ... -
1989 Election boost for Solidarity
Solidarity, Poland’s anti-communist party, looks set to claim a remarkable success in the country’s elections, with initial results suggesting it has done much better ... -
1977 Greece releases UK plane-spotters
Five British plane-spotters imprisoned in Greece for spying have been released after 10 weeks in jail. An Athens appeal court last week reduced their ... -
1957 Noel Coward comes home
Noel Coward has returned to Britain from the West Indies amid criticism that he is living abroad to avoid paying income tax. He arrived ... -
1966 First US space probe lands on Moon
The United States has landed its first spacecraft on the Moon. Scientists were surprised and delighted that Surveyor 1 – America’s first attempt at ... -
1985 Hippies clash with police at Stonehenge
More than 300 people have been arrested after an attempt by police to prevent a convoy of hippies reaching Stonehenge led to a violent ... -
1968 Manchester Utd win European Cup
Manchester United became the first English club to win the European Cup by beating Portuguese side Benfica 4-1. Ten years after the Munich air ... -
1959 Monkeys survive space mission
Two monkeys have become the first living creatures to survive a space flight. Able, a seven-pound female rhesus monkey, and Baker, a one-pound female ... -
1994 Dissident writer Solzhenitsyn returns
Alexander Solzhenitsyn has flown back to his native Russia after 20 years of exile in the United States. His plane touched down in the ... -
1998 Veterans reject Japanese ‘sorrow’
Emperor Akihito of Japan has spoken of his “deep sorrow and pain” over the suffering inflicted by his country during World War II, but ... -
1969 Apollo 10 gets bird’s eye view of Moon
Two US astronauts aboard Apollo 10 are on their way back to the safety of their mother ship after their lunar module came to ... -
1991 Bomb kills India’s former leader Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi, the 46-year-old former Indian prime minister, has been assassinated. He was campaigning for the Congress Party on the second day of voting ... -
1973 Royal Navy moves to protect trawlers
Britain has sent in Royal Navy ships to protect trawlers in the disputed Icelandic 50-mile zone as the so-called “cod war” escalates. Three frigates ... -
2004 Angry dads hit Blair with purple flour
Protesters have hurled condoms full of purple flour at British Prime Minister Tony Blair as he addressed MPs in the House of Commons, prompting ... -
1944 Monte Cassino falls to the Allies
The Polish flag is flying over the ruins of the ancient Italian monastery which has been a symbol of German resistance since the beginning ... -
1954 Queen returns after lengthy voyage
The Royal Family has returned safely from their six-month tour of the Commonwealth to a rapturous welcome in London. Thousands flocked to the banks ...
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