On this day: John de Lorean’s car firm went bust

On this day in 1982 John de Loreans Belfast-based car firm went bust. Picture: Getty

1797: Pope Pius VI, by Treaty of Tolentino, ceded the Romagna, Bologna and Ferrara to France, as Napoleon Bonaparte advanced through Tyrol to Vienna.

1807: British fleet forced way through Dardanelles to support Russia in war against Turkey.

1843: In the middle of a performance of Norma at the Royal Opera House, Madrid, the leading lady rushed off stage to give birth to a daughter, who later became opera singer Adelina Patti.

1901: The Mercedes car, a 35 horsepower model, was named after Mercedes Jellinck, the daughter of a director of the Daimler Company.

1910: Manchester United played their first match on their new ground — Old Trafford. They were beaten 4-3 by Liverpool.

1916: National Savings were introduced in Britain.

1924: Shah of Persia deposed.

1945: Iwo Jima was invaded by United States Marines. The island was conquered on 16 March with the loss of 4,590 lives.

1957: Emergency Ward 10, the first continuous television series, began on ITV — it was shown twice-weekly for ten years.

1976: Iceland broke off diplomatic relations with Britain after the two countries failed to agree on limits in the “Cod War” fishing dispute.

1982: John de Lorean’s sports car firm went into receivership with an estimated loss of at least £17.8 million of taxpayers’ money.

1985: EastEnders began on BBC television.

1988: Bomb shattered crowded bank office in Windhoek, South Africa, killing 14 people and injuring 31.

1989: Norway banned the killing of seal pups for a year.

1992: Sara Keays, former mistress of Cecil (now Lord) Parkinson, won £105,000 libel damages against New Woman magazine.

1994: Four climbers died in a spate of accidents in the Highlands.

2002: Nasa’s Mars Odyssey space probe began to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

2006: A methane explosion in coal mine near Nueva Rosita, Mexico, killed 65 miners.

2010: Golfer Tiger Woods made a televised statement in which he apologised after admitting he had cheated on his wife.

BIRTHDAYS

Smokey Robinson, soul singer, 75; Erin Pizzey, author and founder of first shelter for female survivors of domestic abuse, 76; Jeff Daniels, actor, 60; Tony Iommi, rock guitarist (Black Sabbath), 67; Hana Mandliková, Czech tennis player, 53; Seal (Henry Samuel), soul singer, 52; Gwen Taylor, actress, 76; Benicio del Toro, Puerto Rican actor and film producer, 48; Prince Andrew, Duke of York, 55.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1473 Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer; 1717 David Garrick, actor and theatre manager; 1893 Jimmy Durante, actor and comedian; 1893 Sir Cedric Hardwick, stage and film actor; 1911 Merle Oberon, film actress; 1918 Nigel Ivan Forbes KBE, 22nd Lord Forbes, Premier Lord of Scotland; 1924 Lee Marvin, film actor; 1930 John Frankenheimer, film and television director; 1961 Justin Fashanu, footballer.

Deaths: 1897 Charles Blondin, tightrope walker; 1916 Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist; 1947 André Gide, author; 1972 John Grierson, documentary film maker; 1995 Sir Nicholas Fairbairn QC, MP; 1997 Deng Xiaoping, Chinese leader; 2010 Lionel Jeffries, actor, screenwriter and film director.