This Day In History
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1981 Charles and Diana marry
Crowds of 600,000 people filled the streets of London to catch a glimpse of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer on their wedding day. ... -
1965 US orders 50,000 troops to Vietnam
President Johnson has committed a further 50,000 US troops to the conflict in Vietnam. Monthly draft calls will increase from 17,000 to 35,000 – ... -
1996 Bomb rocks Atlanta Olympics
A bomb has exploded at a crowded concert in Atlanta, Georgia, the city hosting this year’s Olympic Games. Two people are reported to have ... -
1974 Nixon ‘must hand over Watergate tapes’
The United States Supreme Court has ordered President Nixon to surrender tape recordings of White House conversations about the Watergate affair. Giving the judgement ... -
1974 Greek military rule gives in to democracy
The military government in Greece has collapsed and the former prime minister Constantine Karamanlis has been invited to return. Huge crowds gathered to greet ... -
2003 Saddam’s sons killed in gun battle
The United States says the two sons of Saddam Hussein, Uday and Qusay, have been killed by US troops in Iraq. The bodies of ... -
1969 Man takes first steps on the Moon
American Neil Armstrong has become the first man to walk on the Moon. The astronaut stepped onto the Moon’s surface, in the Sea of ... -
1944 Hitler survives assassination attempt
Adolf Hitler has escaped death after a bomb exploded at 1242 local time at his headquarters in Rastenberg, East Prussia. The German News Agency ... -
1976 African countries boycott Olympics
The opening ceremony of the 21st Olympic Games in Montreal has been marred by the withdrawal of 25 African countries. They are all protesting ... -
1969 Apollo 11 takes off for the Moon
The Apollo 11 space rocket has taken off successfully from Cape Kennedy, Florida, at the start of the first attempt to land a man ... -
1997 Versace murdered on his doorstep
Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace has been shot dead on the steps of his Miami mansion. The incident happened shortly before 0900 local time ... -
1971 Suicide note reveals murder confession
Cheshire Police have called off the hunt for the murderer of three French tourists after another body was found in Staffordshire. The body of ... -
1985 Live Aid makes millions for Africa
The Live Aid concert for the starving in Africa has raised triple the £10m expected. And as the London event draws to a close ... -
1996 Girl survives murder of mother and sister
The battered bodies of Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan have been found half a mile from their home in Kent. Nine-year-old Josie ... -
1982 Queen fends off bedroom intruder
A man has broken into Buckingham Palace and spent ten minutes talking to the Queen in her bedroom. At around 0715 BST Michael Fagan, ... -
2003 Conjoined twins die in separation op
Conjoined Iranian twins who volunteered to go ahead with a major operation to separate them have both died during surgery. Laleh and Ladan Bijani ... -
2005 Bomb attacks on London
A series of bomb attacks on London’s transport network has killed more than 30 people and injured about 700 others. Three explosions on the ... -
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 ...
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