On this day: Protesters at RBS’s Edinburgh HQ

On this day in 2010, climate change protesters gathered outside RBSs headquarters in Edinburgh Gogarburn. Picture: Ian Georgeson

1138: Battle of the Standard, and total defeat of the Scots under David I by the English near Northallerton.

1282: Devorgilla, Countess of Galloway, founded Balliol College, Oxford.

1485: The Battle of Bosworth Field, ending the War of the Roses.

1567: Duke of Alba established “Council of Blood” and began reign of terror as military governor in the Netherlands.

1582: Ruthven raid in which Protestant supporters captured King James VI while he was hunting and held him captive until June 1583.

1642: Civil War in England began between the supporters of Charles I (Royalists or Cavaliers) and of Parliament (Roundheads), when the king raised his standard at Nottingham.

1654: Jacob Barsimson, said to be first Jewish immigrant to America, landed at New Amsterdam.

1717: Spain attacked Sardinia under pretext that some Spanish subjects had been arrested in Italy.

1788: British settlement in Sierra Leone, Africa, was founded as asylum for freed slaves and homeless Africans.

1840: The first school railway excursion in Britain took Gateshead Fell National School to Tynemouth.

1910: Japan formally annexed Korea.

1941: Nazi troops reached outskirts of the Soviet city of Leningrad.

1960: Satirical revue Beyond The Fringe opened in Edinburgh.

1962: Fifteen terrorists attacked General de Gaulle in the worst of 31 attempts on his life. Despite being sprayed with 150 shots, he received only superficial cuts.

1972: Rhodesia was asked to withdraw from 20th Olympic Summer Games because of its racial policies.

1985: A British Airtours Boeing 737 burst into flames at the end of the runway at Manchester Airport when the take-off was aborted. Although 80 escaped, 55 died in the flames and fumes.

1986: Angolan guerrilla leader said Soviet-aided government forces had started using chemical warfare in ten-year struggle for control of nation.

1990: Scores of angry smokers blocked the streets near Moscow’s Red Square to protest about summer-long cigarette shortage.

1990: Sir Claus Moser, president of the British Association, said that Britain was in danger of becoming the worst educated country in the industrialised world.

1991: Prime minister John Major announced plans for a government-backed “Citizen’s Charter”.

1996: Bill Clinton signed welfare reform into law, representing major shift in US welfare policy.

2004: A version of The Scream and Madonna, two paintings by Edvard Munch, were stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway.

2006: Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612 crashed near the Russian border over eastern Ukraine, killing all 170 people on board.

2007: The Storm botnet, a botnet created by the Storm Worm, sent out a record 57 million e-mails in one day.

2010: More than 100 climate change protesters, dressed in white bio-hazard suits, stormed the Edinburgh HQ of RBS.

BIRTHDAYS

James Corden, actor and comedian, 36; Tori Amos, singer and songwriter, 51; Marc Bohan, fashion designer, 88; Laura Breckenridge, actress, 31; Steve Cradock, rock singer (Ocean Colour Scene), 45; Howie D, pop singer (Backstreet Boys), 41; Steve Davis OBE, world snooker champion, 57; Jenna Leigh Green, actress, 40; Valerie Harper, actress, 75; Sheree Murphy, actress, 39; Roland Orzabal, pop musician (Tears For Fears), 53; Mats Wilander, tennis player, 50; Cindy Williams, 67.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1827 Joseph Strauss, Austrian composer and conductor; 1847 Sir Alexander Mackenzie, composer; 1862 Claude Debussy, composer; 1893 Dorothy Parker, American satirical writer, wit and theatre critic; 1902 Leni Riefenstahl, film director and photographer; 1904 Deng Xiaoping, Chinese leader; 1908 Henri Cartier-Bresson, photographer; 1920 Ray Bradbury, American sci-fi author; 1948 Doctor Rob Buckman, British-Canadian television presenter; 1934 Norman Schwarzkopf, United States Army general who commanded coalition forces in first Gulf War.

Deaths: 1485 Richard III (Battle of Bosworth); 1922 Michael Collins, Irish patriot and IRA leader (assassinated); 1963 Viscount Nuffield, car magnate and philanthropist; 1978 Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president in 1964; 1980 Norman Shelley, radio actor; 1992 Raymond Brooks-Ward, showjumping commentator; 2012 Nina Bawden CBE, British novelist.