On this day: Giant pandas arrived at London Zoo

On this day in 1974 Chia-Chia and Ching-Ching, giant pandas, arrived at London Zoo gifts from the Chinese government. Picture: Getty

1812: Napoleon entered Moscow in his disastrous invasion of Russia. Tsar Alexander’s troops started fires throughout the city.

1829: Treaty of Adrianople ended Russo-Turkish war.

1854: Allied forces landed unopposed in Crimean War with Russia.

1864: Japan agreed to truce following attack by British, French and Dutch fleets in Shimonoseki Straits in reprisal for Japan’s closing ports and expelling foreigners.

1886: The typewriter ribbon was patented by George Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee.

1901: Theodore Roosevelt elected as 26th US president, and the youngest at 42.

1911: Peter Stolypin, Russian premier, was assassinated.

1918: Austria-Hungary made peace offer to Allies in First World War.

1923: Miguel Primo de Rivera assumed dictatorship in Spain.

1927: Isadora Duncan, the American dancer, was strangled by her scarf when the fringe caught in one of the wheels of a Bugatti sports car in which she was riding.

1938: The largest rigid airship ever built, the 803ft German Graf Zeppelin II, made its maiden flight.

1959: The Soviet space probe Lunik II landed on the Moon.

1964: The Daily Herald newspaper ceased publication and was replaced by the Sun.

1971: China said it would refuse seat at United Nations while Chinese nationalists remained.

1972: The tonsure, the circular shaving of the head for monks, was abolished after centuries, by Pope Paul VI.

1974: Chia-Chia and Ching-Ching, giant pandas, arrived at London Zoo.

1982: Bashir Gemayel, president-elect of Lebanon, was killed in a bomb blast in Beirut. He was succeeded by his brother Amin.

1990: Britain announced intention to send 6,000 troops and 120 tanks to the Gulf as part of huge military build-up.

1990: Inflation reached 10.6 per cent – the highest level since February, 1982.

1994: Colin Stagg, accused of murdering Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common, London, was freed by an Old Bailey judge, who condemned police attempts to lure him into a confession.

1995: Campaigners welcomed a reprieve for the London-West Highland sleeper train.

2003: In a referendum, Estonia approved joining the EU.

2007: Japan launched its first successful lunar probe, Selene.

2008: An Aeroflot plane on its way from Moscow to Perm crashed after it caught fire in mid-air, killing all 88 people on board.

2009: Three men who plotted to detonated liquid bombs on flights from the UK to North America were jailed for life at Woolwich Crown Court.

2011 : Ten people died and 70 were injured when a passenger train collided with a stationary train in Tamil Nadu, India.

BIRTHDAYS

Morten Harket, Norwegian singer (A-ha), 55; Tinchy Stryder, rapper, 29; Walter Koenig, actor (best known as Chekov in Star Trek), 78; Paul Allott, English cricketer, 58; Amanda Barrie, actress, 79; Mary Crosby, actress, 53; David Gilford, golfer, 49; Sam Neill OBE, actor, 67; Ray Wilkins MBE, English footballer, coach and commentator, 58; Ashley Roberts, actress, dancer, singer (the Pussycat Dolls), 34; Jessica Brown Findlay, 26; Dmitry Medvedev, prime minister of Russia, 50; Melissa Leo, actress, 55; Martin Tyler, football commentator, 70; Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, musician (Sha Na Na) and game show host, 68; Ben Cohen MBE, England rugby union intenrationalist, 37; Hicham El Guerrouj, Morroccan double Olympic gold medal-winning athlete; Kepler Wessels, former South Africa Test cricket captain, 58

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1737 Johann Michael Haydn, composer; 1742 James Wilson, founding father of USA and signatory of Declaration of Independence; 1909 Sir Peter Scott, naturalist; 1914 Clayton Moore, actor (The Lone Ranger); 1936 Terence Donovan, photographer; 1936 Nicol Williamson, actor; 1949; Steve Gaines, musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd); 1950 Paul Kossoff, guitarist (Free); 1983 Amy Winehouse, singer-songwriter; 1950 Paul Kossoff, guitarist (Free).

Deaths: 891AD Pope Stephen V; 1164 Emperor Sutoku of Japan; 1321 Dante, Italian poet;1523 Pope Adrian VI; 1638 John Harvard, English clergyman after whom Harvard University is named; 1851 James Fenimore Cooper, author; 1852 Augustus Pugin, architect; 1852 the Duke of Wellington, victor at Waterloo; 1901 William McKinley, US president (assassinated); 1927 Isadora Duncan, dancer; 1936 Irving Thalberg, film producer; 1982 Princess Grace of Monaco (as the result of a car crash); 1996 Juliet Prowse, dancer; 2005 Robert Wise, film director and producer; 2009 Keith Floyd, television chef; 2009 Patrick Swayze, actor.