On this day: John Mason won in Glasgow East

On this day in 2008, John Mason won a milestone victory for the SNP in Glasgow East and served until the 2010 election. Picture: Ian Rutherford

1411: Battle of Harlaw, in which Donald MacDonald, Lord of the Isles, fought, was stayed by Crown forces under the Earl of Mar.

1567: Abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Loch Leven in favour of her infant son, who became James VI. The Earl of Moray was appointed regent.

1704: Admiral Sir George Rooke captured Gibraltar during War of Spanish Succession.

1790: It rained meteorites in south-west France, and made holes in the landscape. People collected the hot rocks and sent them to the Academy of France, but scientists called the incident a physically impossible phenomenon.

1851: Window tax was abolished in Britain.

1925: Six-year-old Patricia Cheeseman was the first person to be treated successfully with insulin, at Guy’s Hospital in London.

1927: The Menin Gate, a memorial at Ypres to the armies of the British Empire, was unveiled by Lord Plumer.

1935: Greetings telegrams were introduced by the GPO. In a gold envelope, they cost an extra 3d.

1936: Ethel Cain, the Girl with the Golden Voice, chosen from 15,000 applicants, began a 20-year spell as the voice heard telling the time on the telephone.

1946: US made first underwater test of an atomic bomb off Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

1958: Fourteen people were named as the first life peers.

1969: US Apollo 11 astronauts, first men to walk on Moon, splashed down in Pacific Ocean.

1976: United States spacecraft Viking 1 landed on Mars and started tests to determine whether life existed on the planet.

1987: Jeffrey Archer, former Tory Party deputy chairman and MP, won record £500,000 libel damages against the Daily Star over alleged pay-off to a prostitute. Four years later, he was found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice at the 1987 trial and was jailed for four years.

2001: Tiger Woods, at 24 years, six months and 23 days, became the youngest man to win all four golf major championships.

2008: The SNP won Glasgow East, one of Labour’s safest seats, by 365 votes, overturning a Labour majority of 13,507, a swing of 22.5 per cent.

BIRTHDAYS

Lynda Carter, actress 63; Zaheer Abbas, Pakistani cricketer, 67; Danny Dyer, actor and television presenter, 37; Jennifer Lopez, singer and actress, 45; Joe McGann, actor, 56; Michael Richards, actor and comedian (Kramer in Seinfeld), 65; Doug Sanders, golfer, 81; Les Reed OBE, songwriter, 79; Gus Van Sant, film director, 62; Elisabeth Moss, actress, 32; Julia Bradbury, TV presenter, 44; Anna Paquin, actress, 32; Kerry Dixon, former footballer, 53; Martin Keown, 48; TV football analyst and former player; Dino Baggio, Italian former footballer, 44; Tiago Monteiro, Formula One racing driver, 38; Wilfred Bungei, Kenyan Olympic gold medal-winning athlete, 34.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1783 Simon Bolivar, founder of Bolivia; 1802 Alexandre Dumas, author; 1895 Robert Graves, poet, novelist and critic; 1898 Amelia Earhart, aviator.

Deaths: 1862 Martin Van Buren, eighth US president; 1882 Matthew Webb, first person to swim English Channel; 1980 Peter Sellers, film actor and entertainer; 1996 Jock Wallace, football manager; 1997 Brian Glover, actor; 2010 Alex Higgins, snooker player.