On this day: Saddam Hussein’s sons killed in Mosul

On this day in 2003 Saddam Husseins sons, Uday and Qusay, were killed by American soldiers in Mosul, northern Iraq. Picture: AFP/Getty

1298: Battle of Falkirk, in which English troops under King Edward I defeated the Scots under Sir William Wallace.

1793: Alexander MacKenzie, Lewis-born explorer, reached the Pacific Ocean – “from Canada by land” – after first crossing of North America.

1812: The Battle of Salamanca took place in western Spain, resulting in a Duke of Wellington victory over the French in the Peninsular War.

1921: Truce agreed between the British government and Sinn Fein forces fighting for Irish independence.

1944: The Bretton Woods Conference was held in New Hampshire in the United States to develop international monetary policy after the war.

1968: Israeli airliner bound for Israel from Rome with 48 people on board was hijacked and diverted to Algeria.

1971: The last United States infantry units were pulled out of South Vietnam’s northern border area.

1973: A Soviet space probe began a six-month journey towards Mars.

1977: Egypt bombed and strafed major air base in Libya in the second day of conflict between the two countries.

1986: House of Commons voted for the abolition of corporal punishment in state schools.

1990: More than 800 young people were arrested at an “acid house” party in Yorkshire.

1991: John Major introduced his Citizen’s Charter, its 70 proposals including British Rail privatisation, an end to Post Office monopoly and other ideas to improve the standards and accountability of public services.

1993: John Major was defeated in the Commons as more than a dozen Conservative rebels voted against him over the Maastricht Treaty.

2003: Saddam Hussein’s sons, Uday and Qusay, died in a shoot-out with American troops in Mosul, northern Iraq.

2005: Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police after they mistakenly thought he was a suicide bomber entering the London Underground.

2008: Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s most wanted men, was arrested in Serbia after more than a decade on the run.

BIRTHDAYS

Terence Stamp, actor and director, 76; George Clinton, funk musician, 73; Willem Dafoe, actor, 59; Danny Glover, actor, 68; Don Henley, singer, 67; Jimmy Hill, football player, coach and commentator, 86; Rhys Ifans, actor, 47; Bonnie Langford, actress, 50; Rufus Wainwright, singer, 41; Lasse Viren, Finnish distance runner, 65; Louise Fletcher, actress, 80; Ben Foden, England rugby player, 29.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1844 Reverend William Spooner, scholar and clergyman whose verbal confusions were dubbed “spoonerisms”; 1849 Emma Lazarus, poet; 1882 Edward Hopper, artist; 1898 Alexander Calder, sculptor;

1909 Dorino Serafini, racing driver; 1915 Eric “Digger” Dowling (survivor of “Great Escape” attempt from Stalag Luft III); 1926 Bryan Forbes CBE, actor, director and writer.

Deaths: 1497 Francesco Botticini, Renaissance painter; 1645 Michael I, first Romanov Tsar of Russia; 1870 Josef Strauss, composer; 1915 Sir Sandford Fleming, Scottish-born engineer; 1934 John Dillinger, gangster and bank robber; 1995 Percy Humphrey, jazz trumpeter and bandleader; 2004 Sacha Distel, singer and guitarist; 2007; 2013 Dennis Farina, actor.