This Day in History: 1952 India passes first test of democracy

The Congress Party of India, led by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, has won an outright victory in the country’s first general election. The party has won 249 of the 489 seats contested

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: 1950 McCarthy launches anti-red crusade

He made the startling allegation in a public speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, saying the State Department was infested with communists and brandished a sheet of paper which purportedly contained

This Day in History |1971 Man plays golf on the Moon

There was just one moment of serious concern: as Apollo 14 left its orbit around the Earth for the Moon, a docking probe failed to work, putting the mission’s ability

This Day in History: 1982 Laker Airways goes bust

After a four-hour board meeting at London’s Gatwick Airport, company chairman Sir Freddie Laker asked Clydesdale Bank to appoint a receiver. All 17 Laker aircraft have been ordered to return to

This Day in History: 1968 More Kenyan Asians flee to Britain

The party included nine children under two, and all flew in on cut-price one-way tickets costing about £60 - less than half the normal single fare. Omar Sharmar, an Indian who

This Day in History: 1988 Nurses protest for better pay

In the House of Commons Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher condemned the health workers’ strike saying it was prolonging waiting lists and deserting patients. But just 200 of the 9,000 operations planned

This Day in History: 1979 Sid Vicious dies from drugs overdose

There had been a party in the flat to celebrate Mr Vicious’ release on USD50,000 bail yesterday pending his trial for the murder of his former girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, last

This Day in History: 1959 Fog brings transport chaos

London has been worst affected - but many areas of the Midlands, East Anglia, southern England and east and south Wales have also been shrouded in fog and frost for

This Day in History: 1986 Seven dead in space shuttle disaster

The five men and two women - including the first teacher in space - were just over a minute into their flight from Cape Canaveral in Florida when the Challenger

This Day in History | 1984 Michael Jackson burned in Pepsi ad

The 25-year-old entertainer was singing his hit “Billie Jean” for a Pepsi Cola commercial in Los Angeles when the special effects went wrong. Three thousand fans saw a firework display erupt

This Day in History: 1950 India becomes a republic

A public holiday has been declared throughout the country, and millions of people have been celebrating with processions and ceremonies to hoist the new flag of India for the first

This Day in History: 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 interview Dr Sakharov gave

This Day in History: 1992 UN threatens Libya with sanctions

The United Nations has ordered Libya to surrender intelligence agents accused of the Lockerbie and French airliner bombings. The 15-nation Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution urging Libya ‘’immediately to provide

This Day in History: 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 the 35th president on a

This Day in History: 1966 Indira Gandhi takes charge in India

Following her win, Mrs Gandhi pledged herself to serve the Congress Party and the country, and said she would “strive to create what my father used to call a climate

This Day in History: 2001 Dr Congo President Kabila shot

Eyewitnesses said they had heard gunfire for about an hour around the president’s hilltop home in Kinshasa, known as the Marble Palace and usually heavily guarded by soldiers and a

This Day in History: 1953 East German purge begins

Several officers, including the Christian Democratic Foreign Minister, Georg Dertinger, and a number of Jewish politicians, have either been removed or have disappeared in the past few days. The arrests follow

This Day in History: 1994 Duchess of Kent joins Catholic church

The duchess was received into the Catholic church in a private service conducted by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Basil Hume. An act of parliament in 1701 banned heirs to the

This Day in History: 2004 Serial killer Shipman found hanged

He was found hanging by a bed sheet strung around the bars of his cell at Wakefield Prison at 0620 GMT. Prison staff tried to revive him but he was

This Day in History: 1991 US Congress votes for war in Iraq

The vote seals the United Nations’ 15 January deadline for the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, to order his troops out of Kuwait, or face military action. After three days of sometimes

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