Tag: This Day in History
-
1965 Last farewell to Churchill
Thousands of people have paid their last respects to Britain’s greatest wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill who was buried today after a full state funeral. Silent ... -
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 gas into ... -
1990 Romanians call for government change
Tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators have taken to the streets of the Romanian capital, Bucharest to protest against the interim government of Ion Iliescu. It ... -
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, as well ... -
1950 India becomes a republic
The independent republic of India is officially born today, after nearly 100 years of British rule. A public holiday has been declared throughout the country, and ... -
1971 Britain allowed to sell arms to S Africa
The Commonwealth Conference in Singapore has ended with a compromise over the wording of the Declaration of Commonwealth principles. Talks centred around Britain’s proposal to sell ... -
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 by an ... -
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 Orwell was ... -
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 inaugurated as ... -
1966 Indira Gandhi takes charge in India
Indira Gandhi, only daughter of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, is to become the country’s next leader. She was chosen at the end of a ... -
1979 Shah of Iran flees into exile
The Shah of Iran has fled the country following months of increasingly violent protests against his regime. Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi and his wife, Empress Farah, ... -
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, the president’s ... -
1983 Man shot by police hunting David Martin
A man has been critically injured in a police ambush in a west London street in what may be a case of mistaken identity. Witnesses said ... -
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 was found ... -
1991 US Congress votes for war in Iraq
The United States Congress has voted to authorise the use of military force against Iraq to end its occupation of neighbouring Kuwait. The vote seals the ... -
2005 Abbas triumphs in Palestinian elections
Early indications in the Palestinian presidential elections show former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas is set to win by a comfortable margin. Polling closed at 1900 GMT, ... -
1996 France’s former president Mitterrand dies
France is mourning the loss of its longest-serving president, Francois Mitterrand, who has died at the age of 79 from prostate cancer. The news was announced ... -
1976 Iceland and Britain clash at sea
A British naval frigate has been involved in another collision with an Icelandic gunboat in the Atlantic. HMS Andromeda was dented when the gunboat, Thor, sailed ... -
1994 Mystery assailant attacks top US skater
An unknown man brandishing a metal crowbar has attacked American figure-skater Nancy Kerrigan. The 24-year-old skater was forced to withdraw from the US national championships in ... -
1985 Israel ends major Ethiopian rescue mission
Israel has airlifted thousands of Jewish Ethiopian refugees out of Sudan, it has emerged. Operation Moses, which has been taking place in secret since 21 November ... -
1987 Zeebrugge heroes honoured
Belgians and Britons who displayed heroism during the rescue operation of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster have been recognised in the New Year’s Honours List. A total ... -
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 capital of ... -
1975 New laws to end battle of the sexes
Radical new legislation introducing a woman’s right to equal pay and status in the workplace and in society have come into force in the UK. 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 the feat. ... -
1984 Britain signs over Hong Kong to China
The British colony of Hong Kong is to be returned to China in 1997 after an historic agreement was signed in Peking today. Prime Minister Margaret ... -
1997 Dawn of Scottish parliament
A bill giving Scotland its own parliament for the first time in three centuries has been unveiled in Glasgow today. Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar revealed his ... -
1996 Aid workers killed in Chechnya
Six Red Cross workers have been shot dead as they slept in a hospital in Chechnya. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said they ... -
1984 Gorbachev visit to Britain a ‘success’
Mikhail Gorbachev, the man widely tipped as the next leader of the Soviet Union, has spent five hours in “very friendly” talks with the British Prime ... -
1994 Modahl banned for drug taking
The former 800m Commonwealth gold-medallist, Diane Modahl, has been found guilty of taking a performance enhancing drug and banned from competing for four years. The five-strong ... -
1969 Deadly bomb blasts in Italy
At least 13 people have been killed and more than 100 injured after a bomb exploded at a bank in Milan, Italy. Up to 14 people ... -
1986 BBC Aids slogan angers church
Church leaders have condemned a radio campaign about Aids for “condoning promiscuity”. A Church of England Bishop has joined Roman Catholic authorities in criticising the “Play ... -
1981 Mystery disease kills homosexuals
A mysterious epidemic, which has been discovered in homosexual men, is causing increasing concern in the United States. The unknown condition, which consists of two separate ... -
1977 Egypt severs ties with Arab hardliners
President Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt has broken all relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria and South Yemen. He has ordered their diplomats to leave Egypt within 24 ... -
1961 Birth control pill ‘available to all’
Women who wish to have oral contraception will now be able to get it on the National Health Service. The Health Minister, Enoch Powell, made an ... -
1989 Malta summit ends Cold War
The leaders of the two world superpowers, the USA and the USSR, have declared an end to the Cold War after two days of storm-lashed talks ...
