On this day: John Cobb dies in Loch Ness record bid

EVENTS, birthdays and anniversaries
On this day in 1952, world land and water speed record-breaker John Cobb died after his Crusader vehicle broke up during a record bid on Loch Ness. Picture: Getty ImagesOn this day in 1952, world land and water speed record-breaker John Cobb died after his Crusader vehicle broke up during a record bid on Loch Ness. Picture: Getty Images
On this day in 1952, world land and water speed record-breaker John Cobb died after his Crusader vehicle broke up during a record bid on Loch Ness. Picture: Getty Images

440AD: Pope Leo I (“The Great”) was installed.

1066: William the Conqueror invaded England, landing at Pevensey Bay, Sussex.

1227: Pope Gregory IX excommunicated German emperor Frederick II.

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1399: Richard II became the first English monarch to abdicate – next day he was deposed by parliament, which chose Henry IV as his successor.

1521: Turkish troops occupied Belgrade.

1567: The War of Religion began in France as the Huguenots tried to kidnap king Charles IX.

1650: Henry Robinson opened the first marriage bureau in England.

1662: Samuel Pepys went to the King’s Theatre, London, to see Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In his diary he recorded “… it is the most insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life”.

1829: Britain’s first official police force was mobilised and the men named Bobbies after Robert Peel, then home secretary.

1853: The emigrant ship Annie Jane, sailing from Liverpool to Montreal, sank near Vatersay in the Outer Hebrides, drowning 348 people.

1885: The first electric street tram in Britain ran in Blackpool.

1911: In dispute over Tripoli, Italy declared war on Turkey.

1916: American scientists produce X-ray images.

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1924: By unanimous vote, the Republic of Santo Domingo was elected to join the League of Nations.

1932: Hunger marchers from north-east England invaded Whitehall.

1938: The Munich Pact was signed by Britain, France, Germany and Italy, surrendering the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany.

1944: Soviet troops invaded Yugoslavia.

1946: BBC’s Third Programme, now Radio 3, was instituted.

1952: John Cobb, land and water world speed record-breaker, was killed on Loch Ness when his jet-powered Crusader disintegrated at 240mph.

1953: US government gave France $385 million to fund combat in Indo-China.

1960: “Tell Laura I Love Her” by Ricky Valance reached No 1 in UK music charts.

1962: Ahmed Ben Bella was elected prime minister of Algeria.

1967: Last day of the Home Service, Light and Third Programmes as the BBC switched to Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4.

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1983: The musical A Chorus Line broke the record as the longest-running Broadway show after running since 25 July, 1975, its 3,389th performance.

1989: The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Robert Runcie, met Pope John Paul II in the Vatican Library.

1993: Labour’s conference backed leader John Smith in his battle with the unions over the one-member, one-vote issue.

2006: Two planes collided in midair over Mato Grosso, Brazil, killing 154 people.

2007: Calder Hall, the world’s first commercial nuclear power station, was demolished in a controlled explosion.

2008: Following the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 777.68 points, the largest single-day point loss in its history.

Births: 1518 Tintoretto, artist; 1547 Miguel de Cervantes, writer (Don Quixote); 1571 Caravaggio, artist; 1758 Horatio Nelson, naval commander; 1901 Enrico Fermi, Nobel nuclear physicist; 1904 Greer Garson CBE, actress; 1916 Trevor Howard, actor; 1939 Jim Baxter, footballer.

Deaths: 1902 William McGonagall, weaver and poet; 1902 Emile Zola, novelist; 1913 Rudolf Diesel, inventor of engine; 1973 WH Auden, poet; 1981 Bill Shankly, football manager; 2010 Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwarz), film actor.

ANNIVERSARIES:

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Births: 1518 Tintoretto, artist; 1547 Miguel de Cervantes, writer (Don Quixote); 1571 Caravaggio, artist; 1758 Horatio Nelson, naval commander; 1901 Enrico Fermi, Nobel nuclear physicist; 1904 Greer Garson CBE, actress; 1916 Trevor Howard, actor; 1939 Jim Baxter, footballer.

Deaths: 1902 William McGonagall, weaver and poet; 1902 Emile Zola, novelist; 1913 Rudolf Diesel, inventor of engine; 1973 WH Auden, poet; 1981 Bill Shankly, football manager; 2010 Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwarz), film actor.