On this day: All-women race, the Goya Stakes, run | Greenock WWII bombing leaves 280 dead

Female jockey's line up at the Goya Stakes ladies race at Kempton Park, Surrey, 6th May 1972. Picture: Getty Images

6 MAY

1626: Manhattan Island, a borough of New York City, was bought from the local Indians by Peter Minuit for goods and trinkets to the equivalent of $24.

1642: City of Montreal was established, as Ville Marie.

1839: House of Commons passed bill to suspend Jamaica’s Constitution after riots due to emancipation of slaves.

1840: The first adhesive British stamps, for general use – the penny black and twopenny blue – were issued by the Post Office.

1882: Lord Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke were assassinated by Fenian “Invincibles” in Phoenix Park, Dublin.

1882: United States banned Chinese immigration for ten years.

1937: The 804-ft German dirigible, Hindenburg, burned at its moorings in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 of the 97 people aboard.

1941: Joseph Stalin became Soviet premier, succeeding VM Molotov.

1941: In the last German bombing attack on the Clyde area, Greenock was worst hit, with 280 dead.

1942: The song White Christmas, by Irving Berlin, was published. It became the greatest selling record of all time. On the recording set no-one believed it was much good except Bing Crosby, who said: “I don’t think you need worry about this one, Irving.”

1954: Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile on the Iffley Road track in Oxford, in three minutes 59.4 seconds.

1954: First radio series for Morecambe and Wise, You’re Only Young Once, was broadcast with Pearl Carr.

1959: The Cod War between Britain and Iceland over fishing rights intensified when Icelandic gunboats fired live ammunition at British trawlers.

1966: Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were found guilty of the Moors murders at Chester Crown Court.

1968: Spain closed border between Gibraltar and Spain to all but Spaniards.

1972: The first all-women race under Jockey Club rules, the Goya Stakes, was run over nine furlongs at Kempton Park.

1976: Earthquake struck north-eastern Italy. About 900 bodies were recovered and 400 people were reported missing.

1994: The Queen and President Mitterrand of France opened the Channel Tunnel.

1996: Stephen Hendry won the Embassy world professional snooker championship for the sixth time, beating Peter Ebdon 18-12 in Sheffield.

1999: The new Scottish Parliament was elected, with 56 Labour MSPs, 35 SNPs, 18 Conservatives, 16 Liberal Democrats, one Green, one Scottish Socialist and one Independent.

2010: The general election took place, but resulted in Britain’s first hung parliament since 1974 with the Conservatives ending up the leading party on 306 seats.

2012: François Hollande was elected president of France.