On this day: London Bridge | Traverse | MG

EVENTS, birthdays and anniversaries for April 18

The Scout Association's first 'bob-a-job' week began on this day in 1949. Picture: Getty

1775: Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride from Charlestown to Lexington, accompanied by William Dawes, to warn Massachusetts patriots of the arrival of British troops at the outbreak of the War of American Independence.

1874: Remains of missionary and explorer David Livingstone were interred in Westminster Abbey.

1906: San Francisco earthquake shattered the city before dawn, killing between 500 and 700.

1932: Business reply-paid envelopes were introduced by the GPO.

1934: The first launderette (called a Washateria) was opened in Fort Worth, Texas.

1946: International Court of Justice was opened at The Hague.

1949: The first Bob-a-Job Week was inaugurated by the Scout Movement in Britain.

1949: The Republic of Ireland was proclaimed, severing ties with Britain by leaving the Commonwealth.

1961: George Blake, diplomat and Soviet spy, was charged with espionage.

1966: The film world’s biggest musical money-maker, The Sound Of Music, won an Oscar, after bringing $60million to the box office in its first year.

1968: A United States oil company bought London Bridge, dismantled it and later re-erected it in Arizona.

1978: The death penalty was abolished in Spain.

1985: Postal workers went on strike, abandoning 20 million items of undelivered mail.

1986: Guinness won takeover battle for Distillers.

1987: Journalist John McCarthy was kidnapped in Beirut. He spent more than five years in captivity.

1990: Government announced plans for a privately-funded toll road in Scotland linking the M74 with the M8.

1992: Traverse Theatre’s final performance in its Grassmarket premises in Edinburgh took place 25 years after it was opened.

1994: West Indian batsman Brian Lara broke the record for the highest individual score in Test cricket when he hit 375 off England’s bowlers in Antigua.

2005: MG Rover, Britain’s last major car-maker, collapsed with the loss of 6,200 jobs.

2011: It was announced that the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh was to be used to host corporate events.

BIRTHDAYS

David Tennant, Scottish actor (tenth Doctor Who), 42; Eamonn Bannon, Scottish footballer, 55; America Ferrera, actress (Ugly Betty), 29; Haile Gebrselassie, athlete, 40; Melissa Joan Hart, actress, 37; Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, actress and model, 26; Philip Jackson, Scottish sculptor, 69; Hayley Mills, actress, 67; Rick Moranis, actor and comedian, 60; David Spaven, former chairman of Transform Scotland and Scottish Green Party speaker, 61; Sir Teddy Taylor, MP 1980-2005, 76; James Woods, actor, 66.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1480 Lucrezia Borgia, illegitimate daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexander VI; 1819 Franz von Suppé, composer; 1878 Humphrey Verdon Roe, aviation pioneer; 1929 Peter Jeffrey, actor; 1934 Mark Kingston, actor.

Deaths: 1898 Gustave Moreau, painter; 1945 Sir John Fleming, electrical engineer; 1949 Will Hay, comedy film actor; 1955 Albert Einstein, physicist; 1964 Ben Hecht, journalist and playwright; 1992 Benny Hill, comedian; 1993 Dame Elisabeth Frink, sculptor; 2002 Doctor Thor Heyerdahl, explorer, anthropologist and author, leader of Kon-Tiki Expedition.