Tag: This Day in History
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2002 Riots force Miss World out of Nigeria
The Miss World contest is moving to London from Nigeria after riots by Muslim youths opposed to the show left more than 100 people dead and ... -
1963 Kennedy shot dead in Dallas
The President of the United States has been assassinated by a gunman in Dallas, Texas. John F Kennedy was hit in the head and throat when ... -
1985 Superpowers aim for ‘safer world’
The Geneva summit has ended in optimism but with no agreement on the “Star Wars” space defence system. Both United States President Ronald Reagan and Soviet ... -
1978 Mass suicide leaves 900 dead
The bodies of 914 people, including 276 children, have been found in Guyana in South America. Most of the dead – members of the People’s Temple ... -
1989 Police crush Prague protest rally
Riot police in Czechoslovakia have arrested hundreds of people taking part in a protest march. More than 15,000 people, mostly students, took part in the demonstration, ... -
1976 Bank robbers jailed for 100 years
Seven men who took part in an £8m bank robbery have received jail terms totalling nearly 100 years. The raid at the Bank of America in ... -
1977 Princess Anne gives birth to Master Phillips
Princess Anne has given birth to a boy – the first royal baby to be born a commoner for more than 500 years. Both baby and ... -
2000 Fuel protesters rally for tax cut
Convoys of lorries and tractors have converged on the capitals of England and Scotland to mark the 60-day deadline for government action to cut fuel tax. ... -
1975 Divided Angola gets independence
The southern African state of Angola has gained its independence from former colonial power Portugal. The leader of one of the country’s rival factions, Dr Agostinho ... -
1982 Brezhnev rumours sweep Moscow
Speculation is growing that Leonid Brezhnev, who has ruled the Soviet Union for the past two decades, has died. Suspicions that a senior Communist party figure ... -
1989 Berliners celebrate the fall of the Wall
The Berlin Wall has been breached after nearly three decades keeping East and West Berliners apart. At midnight East Germany’s Communist rulers gave permission for gates ... -
1990 Ireland elects first woman president
Voters in the Republic of Ireland have chosen their first female president. Unofficial returns suggest that Mary Robinson, who is standing as an independent, took nearly ... -
1989 Protests force out East German rulers
East Germany’s Communist-dominated government has resigned – the first time such an event has occurred in the country’s 40-year history. The decision by the Council of ... -
1956 Soviet troops overrun Hungary
The Soviet air force has bombed part of the Hungarian capital, Budapest, and Russian troops have poured into the city in a massive dawn offensive. At ... -
1990 Howe resigns over Europe policy
The UK’s deputy Prime Minister, Sir Geoffrey Howe, has resigned. He informed the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of his decision at around 1800 on Thursday. ... -
1984 Indian prime minister shot dead
Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, has been killed by assassins in New Delhi. Mrs Gandhi was thought to have been walking through her gardens ... -
1979 Chairman Hua arrives in London
The first Chinese leader to visit Britain, Chairman Hua Kuo-Feng, has arrived in London at the start of a six-day visit. He was welcomed at Heathrow ... -
1950 Hunt for missing atomic scientist
The British intelligence service MI5 has been brought into the hunt for the missing atomic scientist Bruno Pontecorvo who has not been seen for about seven ... -
1979 South Korean President killed
The President of South Korea, Park Chung Hee, has been “accidentally” shot dead by the chief of his intelligence service, Kim Jea Kyu. Five other people, ... -
1983 US troops invade Grenada
United States marines and army rangers have invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada, seized the country’s two airports and taken Cuban and Soviet prisoners. The action, ... -
2003 End of an era for Concorde
The legendary supersonic aircraft, Concorde, has landed at the end of its last commercial passenger flight, amid emotional scenes at Heathrow airport. The final transatlantic flight, ... -
1982 Sinn Fein triumph in elections
Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Provisional IRA, has won its first seats in the elections to the new Ulster Assembly. Gerry Adams, vice president ... -
1967 Thousands join anti-war movement
The biggest demonstration yet against American involvement in the Vietnam War has taken place in the town of Oakland, in California. An estimated 4,000 people poured ... -
1987 Shares plunge after Wall Street crash
The world’s stock market has collapsed after shares on Wall Street suffered a wave of panic selling. The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted by a record ... -
1989 East Germany leader ousted
The Communist leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, has been forced to step down as leader of the country. After 18 years in power he will ... -
1980 Pope welcomes Queen to the Vatican
The Queen has made history after becoming the first British monarch to make a state visit to the Vatican. Pope welcomed Her Majesty and the Duke ... -
1992 Thousands of miners to lose their jobs [in UK]
The government is planning to close a third of Britain’s deep coal mines, with the loss of 31,000 jobs. The President of the Board of Trade, ... -
1976 China’s ‘Gang of Four’ arrested
The new chairman of China’s Communist Party, Hua Guofeng, has ordered the arrest of four leading radicals in Peking. It is a sign that China is ... -
1980 Thatcher ‘not for turning’
The Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has made a defiant speech to Conservatives at the party conference in Brighton. In it she stressed her determination to stick ... -
2000 Milosevic quits, street celebrations continue
Slobodan Milosevic, President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has resigned, following mounting pressure to quit over allegations of vote-rigging. The Yugoslav Constitutional Court, which only ... -
1960 Khrushchev anger erupts at UN
The Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev has disrupted a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly with several angry outbursts. Twice he pounded his desk and twice ... -
1996 Afghan forces routed as Kabul falls
The capital of Afghanistan has fallen to opposition militia after three days of fierce fighting. Taleban forces consolidated their grip on Kabul after storming the presidential ... -
1980 War breaks out between Iran and Iraq
Three weeks of border clashes between Iran and Iraq appear to have finally erupted into all-out war. Iraq has bombed several Iranian air and military supply ... -
1998 Clinton’s Grand Jury testimony released
Bill Clinton’s testimony about his relationship with a young female assistant has been released to the United States public. The video of the American president’s 17 ... -
1967 Queen Elizabeth 2 takes to the waves
The Queen has launched the new Cunard cruise liner named after her, the Queen Elizabeth 2, at a ceremony on the Clydebank. Tens of thousands of ...
