Tag: This Day in History
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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 Dobrovolsky, Vladislav ... -
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 after doctors ... -
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 to encourage ... -
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, captured the ... -
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 45 minutes ... -
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 night Sandra ... -
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 Airways plane ... -
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 investigating the ... -
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 to go ... -
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, and seven ... -
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 secretary-general of ... -
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 Le Mans ... -
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 two years ... -
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 of its ... -
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 were anchored ... -
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 than predicted. ... -
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 at Southampton ... -
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 a “soft” ... -
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 confrontation. The ... -
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 crash, which ... -
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 squirrel monkey, ... -
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 far eastern ... -
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 in the ... -
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 – the ... -
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 an urgent ... -
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 of the ... -
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 of the ... -
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 youths. Her ... -
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 and say ... -
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 are in ... -
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. Mr Smith’s ... -
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 the tunnel, ... -
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 life on ... -
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 from the ... -
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 Isle of ...
