On this day: Camp David peace deal

On this day in 1978, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli premier Menachem Begin embrace after Camp David peace deal. Picture: Getty

1665: Great bubonic plague broke out in London.

1745: Prince Charles Edward Stuart entered Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh.

1787: Thirty-nine delegates, under the chairmanship of George Washington, approved the constitution of the USA.

1871: The seven-mile Mont Cenis railway tunnel opened in Switzerland.

1900: Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed as a federal union of six states.

1908: Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge of the United States Army Signal Corps was killed in a crash with Orville Wright in Fort Meyer, Virginia, to become the first aeroplane fatality.

1931: Long-playing records were first introduced, with a demonstration held at the Savoy Plaza Hotel in New York City.

1939: The USSR invaded Poland.

1949: Fire destroyed Noronic, largest passenger steamer on Great Lakes, at Toronto pier, killing more than 130 people.

1961: More than 800 arrested at Ban the Bomb demonstration in London.

1964: US disclosed development of two weapons systems capable of intercepting and destroying armed satellites.

1970: Open warfare erupted in Jordan between King Hussein’s army and Palestinian guerrillas.

1978: Egypt’s president Anwar Sadat and Israel’s prime minister Menachem Begin concluded meeting at Camp David in United States with signing of framework for Middle East peace.

1981: Twelve divers began work to recover 431 gold ingots, valued at £40 million, from HMS Edinburgh, which sank in Barents Sea in 1942.

1990: Britain ordered the expulsion of two Iraqi military attaches and six support staff after EEC countries’ embassies Kuwait were ransacked by Iraqi troops.

2001: Wall Street suffered its biggest one-day fall – 750 points – amid fears the 9/11 attacks could cause a global recession.

2007: The government took the unprecedented step of guaranteeing all deposits in Northern Rock after four days of turmoil in which savers withdrew £2 billion from the bank.

2008: Lloyds TSB agreed a £12 billion takeover deal of Halifax Bank of Scotland after HBOS suffered a run on its shares.

BIRTHDAYS

Keith Flint, musician (Prodigy), 45; Sir Stirling Moss, racing driver, 85; Ken Doherty, 1997 world snooker champion, 45; Damon Hill OBE, world champion racing driver, 54; Dame Tessa Jowell DBE, Labour MP, 67; Desmond Lynam OBE, television presenter, 72; Rita Rudner, American actress, 61; 32; Kyle Chandler, actor, 49; Catherine Tyldesley, actress (Coronation Street), 31; Michael French, actor (EastEnders and Casualty), 52; Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, 64; Tomas Berdych, tennis player, 29; wayne Riley, golfer, 52; Billy Bonds MBE, former footballer and manager, 68; Edgar Mitchell, pilot and astronaut, 84; Brian Matthew, BBC radio presenter, 86.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1271 Wenceslaus II, king of Bohemia and Poland; 1552 Pope Paul V; 1748 Robert Wainwright, composer; 1897 Sir Isaac Wolfson, philanthropist, founder of Wolfson Foundation; 1901 Sir Francis Chichester, yachtsman and aviator; 1916 Mary Stewart (Lady Stewart), novelist.

Deaths: 1771 Tobias George Smollett, novelist; 1869 John Elder, Glasgow-born marine engineer and shipbuilder; 2000 Paula Yates, TV presenter and writer.