On this day: Manchester United win European Cup

On this day in 1968 Manchester United won the European Cup at Wembley, under their manager, Bellshill-born Matt Busby. Picture: Getty

1453: Constantinople, capital of Byzantine Empire, was captured by Turks. Some historians list date as end of Middle Ages.

1660: After nearly nine years of exile, Charles II returned to London in triumph and was restored to the throne.

1871: Whit Monday became the first Bank Holiday in Britain.

1923: Palestine Constitution was suspended by British because Arabs refused to co-operate.

1930: The BBC formed its own Symphony Orchestra under the directorship of Sir Adrian Boult.

1950: First episode of The Archers on BBC radio.

1951: Easington Colliery explosion killed 83 miners.

1953: Everest, the world’s highest mountain, was conquered by Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay. The news broke four days later on Coronation Day, 2 June.

1959: Charles de Gaulle formed a government of national safety in France.

1961: First television interview with a member of the Royal Family. The Duke of Edinburgh spoke to Richard Dimbleby on BBC Panorama.

1968: Manchester United became the first English football club to win the European Cup, beating Benfica of Portugal 4-1 at Wembley Stadium.

1984: Sikh terrorists killed seven people in new wave of hit-and-run attacks in India’s troubled Punjab state.

1985: At Heysel Stadium, Brussels, 38 football fans died when a wall collapsed as a result of crowd violence before the Liverpool versus Juventus match.

1990: Boris Yeltsin was elected president of the Russian Federation.

1995: A “state of the nation” opinion poll showed that the majority of Britons had lost faith in the system of government and were in favour of a bill of rights and a written constitution.

1999: Space shuttle Discovery completed the first docking with the International Space Station.

2009: The Scottish Football Association consented to a plan that could pave the way for a team to compete on behalf of Britain at the London Olympics in 2012.

BIRTHDAYS

Noel Gallagher, rock musician and songwriter, 47; 13th Duke of Argyll, chief of Clan Campbell, 46; Mel B (Spice Girl Melanie Brown), 39; Annette Bening, actress, 56; Sir Christopher Bland, chairman, BT 2001-07, 76; Gary Brooker MBE, rock musician (Procul Harum), 69; Rupert Everett, actor, 55; Linda Esther Gray, opera singer, 66; Sir Alan Langlands, former principal and vice-chancellor, Dundee University 2000-09, 62; LaToya Jackson, singer, 58; Nanette Newman, actress, 80; Doctor Gordon Rintoul CBE, director, National Museums of Scotland, 59; Francis Rossi OBE, rock singer (Status Quo), 65; Douglas Scott CBE, mountaineer, 73.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1630 King Charles II; 1874 Gilbert Keith Chesterton, author, poet, wit; 1903 Bob Hope, comedian; 1917 John F Kennedy, 35th US president 1961-63; 1945 Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, MP 1979-87, Lord Advocate 1989-92.

Deaths: 1546 David Beaton, cardinal archbishop of St Andrews, (murdered); 1911 Sir William Gilbert, librettist; 1979 Mary Pickford, film actress; 2010 Dennis Hopper, actor.