On this day: Prince Charles at Gordonstoun| David Cameron becomes PM

On this day in 1962 Prince Charles pictured with Prince Philip and Capt Iain Tennant became a pupil at Gordonstoun, Moray

11 May

National day of Laos.

AD868: The first printed book, known as the Diamond Sutra, was published in China. It was discovered in 1900.

1685: Two female Covenanters executed by drowning at Wigtown.

1689: The “Claim of Right” was accepted by William and Mary.

1812: Spencer Perceval, Tory prime minister, was shot and killed by a bankrupt Liverpool broker, John Bellingham, as he entered the House of Commons.

1824: British forces took Rangoon in Burma.

1866: Black Friday on London stock market as commercial panic followed stoppage of bankers Overend and Gurney.

1908: The foundation stone of the Liver Building, Liverpool, was laid.

1922: The British radio station 2LO was established at Marconi House, in The Strand, London.

1940: Winston Churchill became head of the wartime coalition government.

1941: House of Commons chamber destroyed in Blitz bombing which, on same night, damaged Westminster Abbey, the British Museum and four mainline stations. The death toll was 1,400.

1949: Israel was admitted to United Nations.

1949: Siam changed name to Thailand.

1960: The world’s longest liner, SS France, was launched by Madame de Gaulle.

1962: Prince Charles became a pupil at Gordonstoun School.

1971: The Daily Sketch closed after 62 years.

1983: Aberdeen FC won the European Cup-winners’ Cup by beating Real Madrid 2-1 in Gothenburg.

1985: Fire broke out in the main stand of Bradford City football ground and 56 spectators died.

1989: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats became London’s longest-running musical, celebrating its eighth birthday.

1994: The late Marquess of Bute left estate valued at £144 million, the bulk of it in trust to his son and heir, racing driver Johnny Dumfries.

2004: Nine people died when an explosion destroyed the four-storey Stockline Plastics factory in Maryhill, Glasgow. Seven people were pulled alive from the wreckage. ICL Plastics and ICL Tech were fined £400,000 for health and safety breaches.

2010: Conservative leader David Cameron became the new UK prime minister after the resignation of Labour leader Gordon Brown.

BIRTHDAYS

Eric Burdon, rock singer (The Animals), 72; Lady Rachel Billington OBE, writer, 71; Andrés Iniesta, Spanish football player, 29; John Parrott, snooker player and commentator, 49; Jeremy Paxman, television presenter, 63; Ian Redpath, Australian cricketer, 72; Holly Valance, Australian actress and singer, 30; Judith Weir CBE, composer, 59.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1713 James Drummond, 3rd Duke of Perth, Jacobite and Lieutenant General in the army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart; 1888 Irving Berlin, songwriter; 1892 Dame Margaret Rutherford, actress; 1904 Salvador Dali, artist; 1912 Phil Silvers, comedy actor; 1963 Natasha Richardson, stage and screen actress.

Deaths: 1778 William Pitt the Elder, statesman; 1871 Sir John Herschel, pioneer of celestial photography; 1981 Bob Marley, reggae musician; 1988 Harold “Kim” Philby, double agent; 2001 Douglas Adams, author (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy); 2006 Floyd Patterson, boxing champion; 2008 Jeff Torrington, Gorbals-born writer.