On this day: Mary Queen of Scots married Dauphin of France

Events, birthdays and anniversaries for 24 April
On this day in 1994, nine people died in a bomb attack near ANC HQ in Johannesburg ahead of the first post-apartheid elections. Picture: GettyOn this day in 1994, nine people died in a bomb attack near ANC HQ in Johannesburg ahead of the first post-apartheid elections. Picture: Getty
On this day in 1994, nine people died in a bomb attack near ANC HQ in Johannesburg ahead of the first post-apartheid elections. Picture: Getty

1558: The 16-year-old Mary Queen of Scots married the Dauphin of France at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

1567: First printed book ever published in Gaelic, translated from English by Bishop John Carswell of the Isles, was Forms of Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Catechism of the Christian Faith.

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1633: Privy Council gave warrant to Sir John Hepburn to raise regiment of 1,200 men to fight in the French service. It was recruited mainly from Scottish mercenaries of Gustavus Adolphus in the 30 Years’ War. It later became the First Regiment of Foot, the Royal Scots.

1898: Spain declared war on United States after receiving US ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.

1916: The Easter Rising, a nationalist rebellion against British rule, began in Dublin on Easter Monday.

1927: English Table Tennis Association was formed.

1963: Princess Anne was chief bridesmaid at the wedding of Princess Alexandra to Angus Ogilvy.

1970: Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth, having been a British colony since 1843.

1970: China launched its first satellite.

1986: Pre-dawn bomb blast damaged British Airways office and other stores in Lumley Street, off Oxford Street, London.

1989: Muslim rebels shelled eastern Afghanistan city of Jalalabad, and at least 54 people were killed.

1992: Chris Patten was named governor of Hong Kong.

1993: An IRA bomb devastated a huge area of the City of London. One man was killed.

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1994: Nine people died and 100 were injured in a car-bomb blast in Johannesburg in the run-up to South Africa’s first post-apartheid elections.

1996: Lord Cameron ruled that doctors could withdraw artificial feeding from Janet Johnston, to allow her a “peaceful and dignified” death, the first right-to-die decision in Scotland.

2005: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was inaugurated as the 265th Catholic Pope, taking the name Benedict XVI.

2005: Snuppy, the world’s first cloned dog, was born in South Korea.

2010: Yazoo City, in the US state of Mississippi, was struck by a tornado, which killed ten people.

2011: More than 470 inmates at a prison in southern Afghanistan escaped through a tunnel hundreds of metres long and dug from outside the jail.

BIRTHDAYS

Barbra Streisand, singer and actress, 72; Jean-Paul Gaultier, fashion designer, 62; Djimon Hounsou, actor, 50; Chris Kelly, broadcaster, writer and producer, 74; Gabby Logan, television presenter, 41; Shirley Maclaine, actress, 80; Michael O’Keefe, actor, 59; Bridget Riley CBE, artist, 83; Peter Spence, screenwriter and journalist, 70; Sachin Tendulkar, Indian Test cricketer, 41; John Williams, classical guitarist, 73: Lee Westwood OBE, golfer, 41; Laura Trott OBE, Olympic cyclist, 22.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1815 Anthony Trollope, novelist and inventor of pillar box; 1825 RM Ballantyne, Edinburgh-born novelist; 1882 Lord Dowding, RAF commander in Battle of Britain; 1924 Sir Clement Freud, writer, broadcaster, MP 1973-1987; 1928 Johnny Griffin, jazz saxophonist.

Deaths: 1731 Daniel Defoe, author and adventurer; 1986 Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Simpson), wife of the former King Edward VIII; 1993 Oliver Tambo, former African National Congress president.