This Day In History
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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 ... -
1973 Nixon announces Vietnam peace deal
The US president, Richard Nixon, has appeared on national television to announce “peace with honour” in Vietnam. Statements issued simultaneously in Washington and Hanoi ... -
1980 Soviet dissident Sakharov banished
One of the Soviet Union’s most outspoken critics, nuclear physicist Dr Andrei Sakharov, has been ordered into internal exile. Officials in Moscow were angered ... -
1950 Acclaimed author George Orwell dies
The writer, George Orwell, has died after a three-year battle against tuberculosis. Until the last, news had been positive and it was hoped Mr ... -
1961 John F Kennedy sworn in as US president
The Democrat John F Kennedy has been sworn in as the youngest ever elected president of the United States. The 43-year-old Roman Catholic was ... -
1994: Massive earthquake hits Los Angeles
A huge earthquake has rocked Los Angeles, killing more than 20 people. The earthquake, which measured 6.6 on the Richter scale and lasted for ... -
2001: DR Congo President Kabila shot
The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Laurent Kabila, is reported to be fighting for his life after being shot and seriously wounded ... -
1973: Nixon orders ceasefire in Vietnam
President Nixon has ordered a halt to American bombing in North Vietnam following peace talks in Paris. The decision comes after Dr Henry Kissinger, ... -
2002 UK declared free of foot-and-mouth
The foot-and-mouth crisis that began almost 11 months ago will officially end at midnight, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) ... -
2004 Serial killer Shipman found hanged
Harold Shipman, the former GP who is believed to have killed more than 200 people, has been found dead in his prison cell. He ... -
1954 Comet jet crashes with 35 on board
Thirty-five people are missing, feared dead, after a Comet jet airliner crashed into the Mediterranean. The plane – a British Overseas Airways Corporation jet ... -
1979 Vietnam forces Khmer Rouge retreat
Hundreds of Khmer Rouge troops have fled Cambodia after being crushed by Vietnamese-led rebel forces. The capital, Phnom Penh, has been seized and Pol ... -
1980 Gandhi returned by landslide vote
The people of India have voted Indira Gandhi back into power – less than three years after rejecting her “emergency dictatorship”. When the last ... -
1993: US and Russia halve nuclear warheads
The United States of America and the Russian Federation have agreed to cut the number of nuclear warheads they have by between 3,000 and ... -
1999: Putin takes over as Yeltsin resigns
Boris Yeltsin has resigned as Russian president, taking the country and the rest of the world completely by surprise. Mr Yeltsin made the shock ... -
1958: Castro’s rebels edge closer to capital
A vicious house-to-house battle between rebel guerrillas, led by Fidel Castro, and the Cuban army is raging around the town of Santa Clara, the ... -
1968 First astronauts orbit Moon
The Apollo 8 spacecraft has taken its crew of three astronauts safely into orbit around the Moon, the first manned space mission to achieve ... -
1973 Spanish prime minister assassinated
The Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, has been killed in a car bomb attack in Madrid. The 70-year-old, his bodyguard and a ... -
2003 Libya gives up chemical weapons
Libya has made a surprise announcement undertaking to destroy its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. The government of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has ... -
1950: Radio Times hits Christmas deadline
The Christmas edition of the Radio Times will be out in time for families to plan their festive viewing and listening – despite recent ... -
1976 Opec members split over prices
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have rejected an increase in the price of oil of 15% suggested by the Organisation of Petroleum ... -
1969: MPs vote to abolish hanging
MPs have voted by a big majority for the permanent abolition of the death penalty for murder. A great cheer went up in the ... -
1995 Riots break out in Brixton
Hundreds of black and white youths have taken to the streets of Brixton, in south London attacking police, ransacking shops and burning cars after ... -
1967 Stones guitarist escapes jail for drugs
Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones has had a nine month jail sentence overturned at the Court of Appeal in London. He has been ordered ... -
1941 Germany and Italy declare war on US
Germany and Italy have announced they are at war with the United States. America immediately responded by declaring war on the two Axis powers. ... -
1961 Apartheid attacked at Nobel ceremony
Albert Luthuli, leader of the banned African National Congress, has appealed for racial equality in South Africa after accepting the Nobel peace prize for ...
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