On this day: Centenary of Forth Bridge fireworks | Britain invaded Afghanistan

Events, birthdays and anniversaries from 7 October

On this day in 1990 a fireworks party celebrated the centenary of the Forth Bridge linking North and South Queensferry. Picture: Hamish Campbell

Close season for trout fishing begins.

1769: Captain Cook reached New Zealand.

1799: The Royal Navy frigate HMS Lutine sank off the coast of Holland. Her bell was later recovered and presented to Lloyd’s of London where it was traditionally struck when news of an overdue ship arrived – once for the loss of a ship and twice for her return.

1806: The first carbon paper was patented by Ralph Wedgewood in London.

1876: The first greyhound race using an artificial hare, the Hendon Cup, was run.

1879: Britain invaded Afghanistan.

1920: Oxford University admitted its first 100 women for full degrees.

1922: The first royal broadcast was made by the Prince of Wales, on 2LO, 11 days before it changed its named to the British Broadcasting Company.

1932: London Philharmonic Orchestra gave its first performance.

1946: Woman’s Hour, a daily programme of music, advice and entertainment for the home, was first broadcast.

1949: The state of East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic, was formed.

1959: The first photographs of the far side of the Moon were transmitted from Russia’s Lunik III.

1963: United States, Britain and Soviet Union signed nuclear test ban treaty.

1970: Egyptian vice-president Anwar Sadat officially succeeded the late General Gamal Abdel Nasser as president.

1981: Egypt’s vice-president Hosni Mubarak was nominated as successor to slain President Anwar Sadat.

1985: Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked by Palestinians in Mediterranean.

1987: Chinese police set up roadblocks and patrolled Lhasa, capital of Tibet, to prevent demonstrations for independence.

1990: Fireworks party celebrated centenary of Forth Bridge.

2001: The US and Britain hit targets across Afghanistan, promising that the Taleban would pay the price for harbouring Osama bin Laden.

2008: As the global credit crisis continued, shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland, the country’s biggest company, fell 39 per cent.

BIRTHDAYS

Clive James CBE, writer and broadcaster, 74; Jenny Abramsky DBE, chairperson, Heritage Lottery Fund, 66; Alesha Dixon, singer, 35; Simon Mark Arthur, 4th Baron Glenarthur, Minister of State, Scottish Office 1986-87, 69; Kevin Godley, rock musician, 68; Thomas Keneally, author (Schindler’s Ark), 78; John Mellencamp, singer, 62; Jayne Torvill, Olympic ice-skating champion 1984, 56; Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town 1986-96, 82.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1552 Sir Walter Raleigh, explorer, poet and courtier; 1885 Niels Bohr, physicist; 1900 Heinrich Himmler, Nazi chief of police; 1929 Robert Westall, author.

Deaths: 1290 Margaret, “The Maid of Norway”, Queen of Scotland; 1796, Thomas Reid, professor of moral philosophy at Aberdeen and Glasgow; 1849 Edgar Allan Poe, writer of macabre stories; 1956 Clarence Birdseye, inventor of deep-freezing process; 1959 Mario Lanza, singer and actor; 1999 Deryck Guyler, actor; 2009 Helen Watts CBE, opera singer; 2011 George Baker MBE, British actor and writer.