On this day: Scottish independence| Modern Olympic Games

6 April

1320: Declaration of Independence sent to Pope John XXII from the Scottish Parliament at Arbroath Abbey.

1789: George Washington was elected as first US president.

1830: The Mormon movement (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), was founded in New York state by Joseph Smith.

1843: William Wordsworth was appointed poet laureate.

1850: Koh-i-Noor diamond was sent from India to become part of British Crown jewels.

1866: Civil Rights Act, giving full citizenship to American blacks after Civil War, was passed by United States Congress.

1868: Ku Klux Klan was founded.

1896: Modern Olympic Games revived by Pierre de Coubertin at Athens.

1909: The first man at the North Pole was Robert Peary, an American explorer who arrived with a servant and 246 dogs. It was his sixth attempt in 15 years to reach the Pole.

1917: The US declared war on Germany.

1943: British and United States armies linked up in North Africa after retreat of Rommel’s forces.

1944: Pay As You Earn income tax, devised by Sir Cornelius Gregg, came into operation.

1955: Sir Anthony Eden succeeded Sir Winston Churchill as prime minister.

1965: The communications satellite Early Bird was launched by the US.

1984: The 17-year-old South African barefoot runner Zola Budd, who was brought by the Daily Mail to Britain, was granted British citizenship by home secretary Leon Brittan after a matter of weeks.

1985: Henrietta Shaw became the first woman to cox Cambridge University in the boat race.

1990: Police opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators in Nepal, killing at least 35 people.

1993: Labour dropped its last commitment to nationalisation when it published its new proposals for industrial strategy.

1995: The Conservatives were all but eliminated from Scottish local government as Labour dominated council elections.

2000: MSPs voted 68-56 to go ahead with the Holyrood parliament building in Edinburgh, but with a fixed price of £195m.

2006: Almost 1,000 square miles of Scotland were placed under quarantine after the first British case of the deadly strain of H5N1 bird flu was confirmed in a swan found dead at Cellardyke in Fife.

BIRTHDAYS

Rory Bremner, Scottish impressionist, 52; Rodney Bickerstaffe, trade unionist and pensions campaigner, 68; Joan Carlyle, soprano, 82; Roger Cook, investigative reporter, 70; Myleene Klass, singer and presenter, 35; James Graham, 8th Duke of Montrose, 78; Reverend Ian Paisley, first minister, Northern Ireland 2007-8, 87; Dame Felicity Palmer DBE, mezzo-soprano, 69; André Previn KBE, pianist, conductor and composer, 84; Paul Rudd, actor, 44; Prof James D Watson KBE, joint discoverer of DNA, 85.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1671 Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, poet; 1773 James Mill, Scottish philosopher, father of John Stuart Mill; 1866 Butch Cassidy, train robber (with Sundance Kid); 1870 Oscar Strauss, composer; 1874 Harry Houdini, escapologist; 1890 Anthony Fokker, aircraft designer.

Deaths: 1199: Richard I, Coeur de Lion; 1528 Albrecht Dürer, artist and engraver; 1971 Igor Stravinsky, composer; 1996 Greer Garson, actress; 1998 Tammy Wynette, singer and songwriter; 2010 Corin Redgrave, actor and director.