This Day In History
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1966 Football’s World Cup stolen
The football World Cup has been stolen while on exhibition at Central Hall in Westminster, London. The £30,000 solid gold Jules Rimet trophy disappeared ... -
1964 ‘Ambitious’ plans for south east
Three new cities are proposed for south east England as part of the largest regional expansion plan in Britain. A study, published today, estimates ... -
1992 South Africa votes for change
White South Africans have backed an overwhelming mandate for political reforms to end apartheid and create a power-sharing multi-racial government. In a landslide victory ... -
1968 Anti-Vietnam demo turns violent
More than 200 people have been arrested after thousands of demonstrators clashed in an anti-Vietnam war protest outside the United States embassy in London. ... -
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 ... -
1961 Five Britons accused of spying for Moscow
Three men and two women have gone on trial at the Old Bailey charged with plotting to pass official secrets to the Russians. All ... -
1964 Hoffa faces eight years behind bars
The president of the powerful American Teamsters union has been sentenced to eight years in jail on bribery charges. James Hoffa has also been ... -
1985 Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader
There is a new man in charge at the Kremlin – Mikhail Gorbachev has taken over following the death of Konstantin Chernenko. Chernenko, 73, ... -
1969: Martin Luther King’s killer gets life
James Earl Ray has been jailed for 99 years by a court in Memphis, Tennessee, after admitting he carried out the murder of the ... -
1945 Black Sea talks plan defeat of Germany
Plans are being drawn up by London, Washington and Moscow for the final phase of the war against Germany. Leaders of the three countries, ... -
1993 Angolans die in battle for Huambo
More than 350 people have died in a battle between Unita rebels and Angolan government forces in the city of Huambo, according to Angolan ... -
1953 Soviet leader ‘on brink of death’
Rumours are circulating in Moscow that Joseph Stalin, the long-time leader of the Soviet Union, is near death. The first official news of Mr ... -
1975 Comic genius Chaplin is knighted
Silent film legend Charlie Chaplin has become Sir Charles after a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The star of such films as The Kid and ... -
1974 Turkish jet crashes killing 345
A Turkish Airlines DC10 has crashed near Paris killing all 345 people on board. The plane was on a regular flight from Ankara to ... -
1986 Swedish prime minister assassinated
The Swedish prime minister has died after being shot in a street ambush in central Stockholm. His wife was wounded. Olof and Lisbeth Palme ... -
1963 Argoud charged over de Gaulle plot
Antoine Argoud, President De Gaulle’s arch enemy and a former colonel in the French Army, has been charged with an assassination attempt on the ... -
1984 US troops withdraw from Beirut
American forces have withdrawn almost all of their troops from the Lebanese capital, Beirut. About 1,000 US Marines left the coast beside the international ... -
1964 Cassius Clay crowned world champion
Cassius Clay, 22, has been crowned heavyweight champion of the world after beating Sonny Liston in one of the biggest upsets in boxing’s history. ... -
1968: South Vietnamese recapture Hue
The South Vietnamese are celebrating the recapture of the country’s third city, Hue, after a battle lasting three weeks. Their allies, American Marines, finally ... -
1972 Nixon makes historic visit to China
The American President Richard Nixon has arrived in China at the start of a week-long summit aimed at ending 20 years of frosty relations ... -
1986 Soviets launch space station Mir
The Soviets have opened a new phase in space exploration with the launch of the world’s biggest space station, Mir. The successful launch of ... -
1997 China’s reformist Deng Xiaoping dies
China’s paramount leader Deng Xiaoping has died at the age of 92. He had been suffering from failing health for several years and was ... -
1954 McCarthy hunts ‘army Communists’
The Secretary of the US army has ordered two generals, subpoenaed by anti-Communist senator Joseph McCarthy, to ignore the summons. The move by Robert ... -
1959 Turkish leader involved in fatal crash
Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes has survived an air crash near London that killed 12 people. Mr Menderes was on his way to the ... -
1989 Ayatollah sentences author to death
Iranian Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini has issued a death threat against British author Salman Rushdie and his publishers over the book Satanic Verses. ... -
1954 New authority for atomic energy
A new body has been established to control the production and development of atomic energy in the UK. The Atomic Energy Authority Bill was ... -
1975 Tories choose first woman leader
The British Conservative Party has chosen Margaret Thatcher as its new leader. She will be the first woman to head a British political party ... -
1955 US evacuates Pacific islands
The American Navy has moved thousands of people from the Chinese Nationalist Tachen Islands. Communist forces on the Chinese mainland – within firing distance ... -
1987 S Korea clashes over student death
South Korean police have made hundreds of arrests in the country’s biggest demonstrations for six years. Rallies went ahead across the country to commemorate ... -
2001 Sharon sweeps to power
The leader of the right-wing Likud party, Ariel Sharon, has won a landslide victory to become the new prime minister of Israel. He called ... -
1996 First GM food goes on sale in UK
The first genetically modified, or GM, food goes on sale today in British supermarkets. Genetically modified tomato puree, which will be available in Safeway ... -
1987 Aquino suppresses rebel uprising
President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino has forced a group of heavily armed rebels occupying a television station to surrender. Her troops fired tear ... -
1990 Romanians call for government change
Tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators have taken to the streets of Bucharest to protest against the interim government of Ion Iliescu. It was ... -
1945 Auschwitz death camp liberated
The Red Army has liberated the Nazis’ biggest concentration camp at Auschwitz in south-western Poland. According to reports, hundreds of thousands of Polish people, ... -
1961 End of the road for Monroe and Miller
The Hollywood screen star Marilyn Monroe has divorced her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, after less than five years of marriage. The divorce was granted ...
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