On this day: Battle of Langside | Pope John Paul II shot

Pope John Paul II is in pain after being shot in an assassination attempt in St Peter's Square, Rome, on this day in 1981. Picture: Getty

1568: Battle of Langside, in which a force raised by Mary, Queen of Scots, after her escape from Loch Leven Castle, was defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants. It was her last attempt to regain the throne from her son and his adherents.

1607: Captain John Smith and 105 Cavaliers in three ships landed on the Virginia coast and started the first permanent English settlement in the New World, in Jamestown.

1779: France abandoned Goree, West Africa, to Britain.

1787: A fleet of 11 ships containing about 730 convicts set out from England to Australia, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, on a journey that lasted until January.

1871: Law of Guarantees in Italy declared Pope’s person inviolable and allowed him possession of the Vatican.

1891: Bogey score in golf introduced.

1949: The first British-designed jet bomber, English Electric Canberra B Mark One, was test flown at Warton, Lancashire, by Wing Commander RP Beaumont.

1957: The first regular schools programmes on television began on BBC.

1968: Peace negotiations officially opened in Paris between United States and North Vietnam.

1973: Nineteen nations began talks in Vienna aimed at cutting number of troops in Europe.

1975: United States marines, warships and planes were placed on alert in western Pacific after seizure of US merchant ship Mayaguez by Cambodians.

1981: An attempt was made on the life of Pope John Paul II in  St Peter’s Square, Rome. He was shot at close range by a Turkish terrorist.

1988: Riot police stormed sacred Temple Mount complex  in Jerusalem and fired  rubber bullets at Muslim worshippers.

1991: South African judge convicted Winnie Mandela of conspiracy in kidnap and assault of four youths in Soweto, including Stompie Moeketsi, later murdered.

1995: Alison Hargreaves, 33, a mother of two from Spean Bridge, became the first woman to climb Everest solo and without oxygen. She died three months later while descending K2, the world’s second-highest mountain.

2000: Donald Dewar was elected as First Minister of the Scottish Parliament.

BIRTHDAYS

Peter Gabriel, pop singer (Genesis), 63; Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw, advocate, explorer, Rothesay Herald of Arms, 69; Frances Barber, actress, 55; Rosie Boycott, journalist and broadcaster, 62; Joe Brown MBE,actor and singer, 72; Dr Jane Glover CBE, conductor, 64; Harvey Keitel, actor, 74; Richard Madeley, television presenter, 57; Samantha Morton, actress, 36; Julianne Phillips, actress and model, 53; Tim Pigott-Smith, actor and director, 67; Dennis Rodman, basketball player and actor, 52; Selina Scott, TV presenter, 62; Helen Sharman, astronaut, 50; Zoë Wanamaker CBE, American-English actress, 64; Stevie Wonder, singer and songwriter, 63.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1828 Josephine Butler, social reformer; 1882 Georges Braque, French Cubist painter; 1907 Dame Daphne du Maurier, novelist; 1922 Bea Arthur, actress; 1924 Alexander Robert Leslie-Melville, 14th Earl of Leven.

Deaths: 1835 John Nash, architect; 1907 Alexander Buchan, meteorologist, founder of the Ben Nevis Observatory; 1982 Ralph Reader, creator of Gang Shows; 1997 Laurie Lee MBE, author and poet.