This Day In History
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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 ... -
1991 Mandela’s wife jailed for kidnaps
Winnie Mandela, the wife of anti-apartheid campaigner Nelson Mandela, has been given a six-year prison sentence for her part in the kidnap of four ... -
1981 Thousands see Pope shot in Rome
The Pope has been shot four times as he blessed the crowds in St Peter’s Square in Rome. Surgeons have performed a five-hour operation ... -
1971 Row rocks Rolling Stone wedding
The Rolling Stones singer, Mick Jagger, has married his fiancée Bianca Pérez-Mora Macias at the town hall in the French Mediterranean town of St ... -
1985 Fans killed in Bradford stadium fire
At least 52 people are known to have died and many are missing after fire engulfed the Bradford City football stadium. Hundreds of people ... -
1984 Moscow pulls out of US Olympics
Twelve weeks before the opening ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympic Games, the USSR has announced it is boycotting them. It is expected most ... -
1965 Huge Rhodesia election win for Smith
White voters in the African colony of Rhodesia have overwhelmingly backed Prime Minister Ian Smith’s Rhodesian Front which is demanding independence from the UK. ... -
1994 President and Queen open Chunnel
The Queen and France’s President Francois Mitterrand have formally opened the Channel Tunnel during two elaborate ceremonies in France and Britain. After travelling through ... -
1981 Bobby Sands dies in prison
Hunger striker Bobby Sands has died in prison 66 days after first refusing to eat. The 27-year-old republican spent the last days of his ... -
1945 Germany announces Hitler is dead
Adolf Hitler has been killed at the Reich Chancery in Berlin, according to Hamburg radio. At 2230 local time a newsreader announced that reports ... -
1958 Historic Sheerness docks to close
The government has announced the closure of one of the oldest naval dockyards in the UK. All 2,500 jobs at Sheerness Docks on the ... -
1958 My Fair Lady dazzles London
The Broadway musical My Fair Lady has opened for its first night in London, to a rapturous reception. The event, at the Drury Lane ... -
1945 Italian partisans kill Mussolini
Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy until his downfall in 1943, has been killed by partisans along with his mistress, Clara Petacci, and some close ... -
1961 Sierra Leone wins independence
Sierra Leone has become the latest West African state to win independence, after more than 150 years of British colonial rule. The new nation ... -
1975 Baader-Meinhof blow up embassy
A tense stand-off at the West German embassy in Stockholm has ended in violence, with the death of at least three people. Five Baader-Meinhof ... -
1984 Scientist finds Aids virus
The discovery of a virus which may cause Aids, the fatal disease sweeping through America, has been hailed as a “monumental breakthrough” in medical ... -
1971 Haitian dictator dies
Haiti’s ruler, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, has died after 14 years in power. President Duvalier, who declared himself “president for life” in 1964, died ... -
1987 Tamil Tigers blamed for bus garage blast
More than 100 people have been killed after a bomb exploded in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. Nearly three hundred others were wounded when ... -
1972 Apollo 16 safely on Moon after engine crisis
The Apollo 16 mission has landed on the Moon after a seven-hour crisis that nearly aborted the mission altogether. Astronauts John Young and Charles ... -
1984 Libyan embassy shots kill policewoman
A police officer has been killed and ten people injured after shots were fired from the Libyan People’s Bureau in central London. WPC Yvonne ... -
1964 ‘Great Train Robbers’ get 300 years
Some of the longest sentences in British criminal history have been imposed on men involved in the so-called “Great Train Robbery”. Sentences totalling 307 ... -
2000 White farmer shot dead in Zimbabwe
A white farmer in Zimbabwe has been shot dead by squatters occupying his land. David Stevens was taken from his property 75 miles (120 ... -
1970 Critical explosion cripples Apollo 13
An explosion on board Apollo 13 has caused one of the most critical situations in American space history and put the lives of the ... -
1975 Beirut street battle leaves 17 dead
At least 17 people have been killed and 30 wounded in an ambush by right-wing Lebanese forces on a bus carrying Palestinians in Beirut. ... -
1998 Northern Ireland peace deal reached
The Northern Ireland peace talks have ended with an historic agreement. The accord – dubbed the Good Friday Agreement – was reached after nearly ... -
1999 President of Niger ‘killed in ambush’
The president of Niger, Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, has been shot dead in an apparent coup attempt. However, his death has been described as a ... -
2000 Asylum voucher scheme enforced
Asylum seekers in the UK will now receive vouchers to buy food and clothes, under controversial plans which have come into effect despite months ... -
1998 Papon guilty of war crimes
Former French cabinet minister Maurice Papon has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for his part in deporting Jews from France during World ... -
1957 BBC fools the nation
The BBC has received a mixed reaction to a spoof documentary broadcast this evening about spaghetti crops in Switzerland. The hoax Panorama programme, narrated ...
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