On this day: Sir David Murray step downs at Rangers

On this day in 2009, Sir David Murray announced he was to step down as a board director and chairman of Rangers FC. Picture: Neil Hanna

1346: The Battle of Crécy took place, 32 miles south of Boulogne, the scene of Edward III’s victory over Philip VI of France in the Hundred Years’ War. Primitive artillery used for the first time.

1846: The first performance of Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah took place in Birmingham Town Hall, conducted by the composer.

1847: Liberia was proclaimed an independent republic.

1859: Britain and Japan signed a commercial treaty.

1911: Heatwave in Britain was reported to have claimed the lives of 2,600 children.

1920: The right to vote was given to women in the United States by the 19th amendment.

1934: Adolf Hitler demanded that France turn over the Saar to Germany.

1936: Treaty ended British occupation of Egypt, except Suez Canal zone, and Britain and Egypt formed alliance for 20 years.

1942: Germans began round-up of Jews in occupied France.

1952: The Soviet Union announced the first successful intercontinental ballistic missile tests had taken place.

1964: Student and Buddhist riots forced resignation of government of premier Nguyen Khanh in South Vietnam.

1970: North Vietnam sent its chief negotiator back to Vietnam peace talks in Paris after eight-month boycott of negotiations.

1978: Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice was elected as Pope John Paul I. He died 33 days later.

1988: Nationwide strike paralysed government and transport in Burma and anti-government rallies spread.

1989: At least 19 people were killed, including 12 guerrillas, in a battle in the southern Mozambique town of Macio.

1991: In Yugoslavia, fighting between Serbs and Croats brought the country to the brink of civil war.

1994: A health authority revealed a “high level” of misdiagnoses among cancer patients at a bone-tumour service in Birmingham. Up to 42 patients had been given the wrong treatment and 2,000 cases were under review.

2008: Russia unilaterally recognised the independence of the former Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

2009: Sir David Murray announced he was to step down as a board director and chairman of Rangers Football Club.

BIRTHDAYS

Shirley Manson, Edinburgh-born singer (Garbage) and actress, 48;

Chris Boardman MBE, Olympic cycling gold medallist, 46; Howard Clark, golfer and commentator, 60; Michael Cockerell, television reporter, 74; Macaulay Culkin, actor, 34; Gaynor Faye, actress, 43; Charles Humphries, counter tenor, 45; Branford Marsalis, jazz saxophonist, 54; Mark Snow, composer, 68; Alison Steadman OBE, actress, 68; Steve Wright, disc jockey, 60; Valerie Simpson, songwriter (Ashford & Simpson), 68; Jet Black, drummer (The Stranglers), 76; Chris Pine, actor, 34; Roger Kingdom, Olympic gold medal-winning hurdler, 52.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1676 Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, British prime minister 1721 to 1742; 1740 Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, co-inventor of hot-air balloon; 1819 Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria; 1875 John Buchan, novelist and statesman, Governor General of Canada, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir; 1910 Mother Teresa, missionary.

Deaths: 1666 Frans Hals, Dutch painter;1958 Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer.