On this day: Food rationing ended in Britain

Events, birthdays and anniversaries for 3 July
On this day in 1954 food rationing ended and Smithfield market opened at midnight instead of 6am to cope with demand. Picture: GettyOn this day in 1954 food rationing ended and Smithfield market opened at midnight instead of 6am to cope with demand. Picture: Getty
On this day in 1954 food rationing ended and Smithfield market opened at midnight instead of 6am to cope with demand. Picture: Getty

1583: Russia’s Tsar, Ivan the Terrible, in a fit of rage, killed his son Ivan.

1608: Quebec was founded by the French explorer Samuel de Champlain.

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1863: The Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War ended.

1883: When the SS Daphne capsized after launch, 124 workers were drowned in the Clyde’s worst accident of its type.

1898: Captain Joshua Slocum arrived back on Rhode Island in his 37ft Spray, having completed the first solo circumnavigation.

1912: Board of Trade inquiry into the Titanic disaster found Captain Edward J Smith, who went down with the White Star liner after it hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage, guilty of negligence.

1928: The world’s first television transmission in colour was made by John Logie Baird, at the Baird Studios in London.

1938: The LNER Mallard reached 126mph on the Stoke Bank stretch of line between Grantham and Peterborough, heading south – the world record for a steam locomotive.

1950: United States and North Korean troops clashed for the first time in the Korean War.

1954: Food rationing ended in Britain. Smithfield market opened at midnight instead of 6am to cope with the demand for beef.

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1987: Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand abandoned their hot-air balloon Virgin Atlantic Flyer off Rathlin Island, having flown it from Maine, setting a world distance record.

1987: Klaus Barbie, the former SS officer known as the “Butcher of Lyons”, was jailed for life for war crimes against humanity in France.

1993: Steffi Graf won her fifth Wimbledon ladies singles title – and her third in a row – when she beat Jana Novotna.

1996: John Major, the prime minister, announced that the Stone of Destiny would be returned to Scotland, seven centuries after it was taken to England by Edward I.

2002: The FTSE 100 went into freefall, plummeting 154.2 points to close at 4392.6, its lowest close in five years and wiping more than £37 billion off the value of the UK’s biggest companies.

2011: Novak Djokovic won the Wimbledon singles title after beating defending champion Rafael Nadal in four sets.

BIRTHDAYS

Tom Cruise, actor, 52; Paul Young, Edinburgh-born actor, 70; Evelyn Anthony, British thriller writer, 86; Julie Burchill, journalist, 55; Judith Durham, pop singer (The Seekers), 71; Sir Richard Hadlee, cricketer, 63; Michael Martin, speaker of the House of Commons 2000-09, 69; Oliver Peter St John, 9th Earl of Orkney, 76; Susan Penhaligon, British actress, 65; Sir Tom Stoppard CBE, British playwright, 77; Sebastian Vettel, German racing driver, 26.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1728 Robert Adam, Kirkcaldy-born architect and designer; 1854 Leos Janécek, composer; 1883 Franz Kafka, Austrian novelist; 1923 Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue Ryder), charity worker; 1927 Ken Russell, British director and documentary film maker.

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Deaths: 1582 James Crichton of Eliock, “the Admirable Crichton”; 1904 Theodor Herzl, Hungarian-born journalist and founder of Zionism; 1986 Rudy Vallee, singer and bandleader; 1969 Brian Jones, Rolling Stone (drowned); 1971 Jim Morrison, singer (The Doors); 1995 Pancho Gonzales, tennis player; 2011 Anna Massey CBE, British actress.

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