On this day: Seamus Heaney won Nobel Prize for Literature

Events, birthdays and anniversaries for 5 October
On this day in 1995 Irish poet Seamus Heaney won the Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm. Picture: GettyOn this day in 1995 Irish poet Seamus Heaney won the Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm. Picture: Getty
On this day in 1995 Irish poet Seamus Heaney won the Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm. Picture: Getty

1568: The trial of Mary, queen of Scots began at the Conference of York.

1789: During the French Revolution, the women of Paris staged their March to Versailles to confront Louis XVI over his refusal to promulgate the decrees on the abolition of feudalism, demand bread and have the king and his court moved to Paris.

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1793: Christianity disestablished in France, making the republic a secular state.

1830: The world’s first bathing costume was put on sale in a shop in London. Made of linen, muslin and light worsted, it covered the wearer from neck to ankles.

1895: The first time trial for racing cyclists was held over a 50-mile course near London.

1900: Golfer Harry Vardon, from Jersey, won the US Open at Wheaton, Illinois. Eight Scottish players finished in the top ten.

1908: Bulgaria declared independence from Turkey.

1910: In a coup d’etat organised by the Portuguese Republican Party, the country’s constitutional monarchy was overthrown and a republic was established.

1917: Sir Arthur Lee gave his mansion of Chequers in the Chiltern Hills outside London to the nation for use as a country home for British prime ministers.

1919: During a referendum held in Norway over two days, 61.6 per cent of the population agreed to prohibition.

1927: The Labour Party voted to nationalise coal mines at party conference in Blackpool.

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1930: Lord Thomson declared the R101 “as safe as houses”, as he embarked on the maiden flight from Cardington to India of the world’s biggest airship. Nearing Beauvais in France at 2am, the airship went into a dive, hit a hill and was torn apart by exploding hydrogen. Only six of the 54 crew and passengers survived; Lord Thomson died.

1931: Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon completed the first non-stop flight across Pacific Ocean, arriving in the US state of Washington 41 hours after take-off from Japan.

1936: The Jarrow march of unemployed shipyard workers from Jarrow to London began, led by a Labour MP, Ellen Wilkinson.

1947: Harry Truman made the first televised presidential address from the White House.

1954: Britain, US, Italy and Yugoslavia agreed that Free Territory of Trieste should be divided into Italian and Yugoslav zones.

1962: The Beatles’ first single, Love Me Do, was released.

1969: The first Monty Python’s Flying Circus shown on television.

1972: The Congregational Church in England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church of England combined to form the United Reformed Church.

1974: The IRA bombed two pubs in Guildford, killing five people and injuring 65.

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1991: Elizabeth Taylor was married for the eighth time, to Larry Fortensky, whom she met at an alcohol clinic.

1995: Irish poet Seamus Heaney won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1999: The Ladbroke Grove rail crash in London killed 31 people.

2000: Slobodan Milosevic, the president of Yugoslavia, was toppled by a popular uprising.

2010: A major fire destroyed most of Hastings Pier in East Sussex, a day after redevelopment plans were invited.

BIRTHDAYS

Bob Geldof KBE, singer and initiator of Band Aid, 64; Clive Barker, author and director, 63; Stephanie Cole OBE, actress, 74; Dame Laura Davies DBE, golfer, 52; Glynis Johns, actress, 92; Parminder Nagra, actress, 40; Guy Pearce, actor, 48; Nicola Roberts, singer (Girls Aloud), 30; Steve Miller, singer and guitarist, 72; Brian Johnson, singer (AC/DC), 68; Jesse Eisenberg, actor, 32; Michael Morpurgo OBE, children’s Laureate 2003-2005, 72; Nick Robinson, journalist and broadcaster, 52; James Valentine, musician (Maroon 5), 37; Nicky Hilton, 
fashion designer and model, 32; Kevin Mirallas, footballer, 28.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1240 Margaret, Queen of Scots; 1713 Denis Diderot, encyclopaedist; 1721 Dr William Wilkie, the “Scottish Homer” (at Dalmeny); 1795 Alexander Keith, Caithness-born Canadian politician and brewer; 1864 Louis Jean Lumière, pioneer of photography; 1936 Václav Havel, Czech writer and politician; 1945 Brian Connolly, Glasgow-born singer (Sweet).

Deaths: 1880 Jacques Offenbach, composer; 1984 Leonard Rossiter, actor and comedian; 1985 Nelson Riddle, composer and arranger; 1997 Andrew Keir, actor; 2011 Bert Jansch, musician.