On this day: Colliery slag tip kills 144 people

Events, birthdays and anniversaries for 21 October
On this day in 1966, a colliery slag tip engulfed buildings in the Welsh village of Aberfan, killing 144 people, 116 of them children. Picture: GettyOn this day in 1966, a colliery slag tip engulfed buildings in the Welsh village of Aberfan, killing 144 people, 116 of them children. Picture: Getty
On this day in 1966, a colliery slag tip engulfed buildings in the Welsh village of Aberfan, killing 144 people, 116 of them children. Picture: Getty

Close season for killing of stags begins

1805: Battle of Trafalgar in which Lord Nelson defeated the combined French and Spanish fleets, blocking a French invasion.

1824: Portland cement was patented by Joseph Aspdin, of Wakefield, Yorkshire.

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1858: The Can-Can was first performed in Offenbach’s Orpheus In The Underworld, in Paris.

1879: The first effective electric light bulb worked for 14hr 30min. It was invented by Thomas Edison of New Jersey.

1918: The “Spanish flu” epidemic began in Britain, eventually killing about twice as many people as died in the First World War.

1940: Purchase tax introduced in Britain.

1948: A KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Constellation, flying from Amsterdam to New York, crashed in poor visibility near Tarbolton as it tried to land at Prestwick, with the loss of 39 lives. One passenger survived.

1950: Chinese forces occupied Tibet.

1952: Britain declared state of emergency in Kenya as Mau Mau guerrilla activity intensified. More than 2,000 terrorism suspects were rounded up and Jomo Kenyatta, president of the Kenyan African Union, was arrested.

1958: First women peers were introduced to the House of Lords.

1960: Britain’s first nuclear-powered submarine, Dreadnought, was launched at Barrow, Lancashire.

1966: A colliery slag tip slid down the side of a hill and engulfed houses, a farm, and a school in the Welsh mining village of Aberfan, killing 144 people, 116 of them children.

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1967: Israeli destroyer Eilat was sunk by Egyptian missiles.

1969: Willy Brandt was elected chancellor of West Germany.

1971: Gas explosion tore apart the centre of a block of 26 shops at Clarkston, Glasgow, killing 20 and injuring 105.

1990: Edward Heath met Saddam Hussein, who promised to release some “human shield” hostages.

1993: Garry Kasparov beat Nigel Short by 12.5 matches to 7.5 in an unofficial world chess championship encounter.

1996: It was announced that the Stone of Destiny would be housed in the Crown Room at Edinburgh Castle when it was returned on St Andrew’s Day.

BIRTHDAYS

Carrie Fisher, actress, novelist, screenwriter, 58; Angus MacFadyen, Glasgow-born actor, 50; Geoff Boycott OBE, cricketer and commentator, 74; David Campese, rugby player, 52; Julian Cope, musician and writer, 57; Maureen Duffy, poet, playwright and novelist, 81; Natalia Makarova, ballerina, 74; Peter Mandelson, Baron Mandelson PC, 61; Manfred Mann, musician, 74; Kim Kardashian, media personality, 34; Judith Sheindlin, lawyer and TV personality (Judge Judy), 72; Andrew Scott, actor, 38; Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, 65; Steve Cropper, musician (Booker T & the MGs), 73; Eric Faulkner, Edinburgh-born musician (Bay City Rollers), 61.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1772 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet; 1788 George Cooke, Edinburgh-born phrenologist; 1833 Alfred Nobel, chemist and inventor of dynamite in 1867, founder of Nobel prizes; 1917 “Dizzy” Gillespie, jazz trumpeter and composer.

Deaths: 1422 Charles VI, king of France; 1805 Lord Nelson, naval hero (killed in action off Cape Trafalgar); 1969 Jack Kerouac, poet and novelist; 1984 François Truffaut, film maker and actor.

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