On this day: Uganda achieved its independence

On this day in 1962 Uganda achieved its independence from Britain with the swearing in of premier Milton Obote. Picture: Getty

National day of Uganda

1779: The first Luddite riots broke out in a lace factory in Loughborough, Leicestershire, when workers protested against labour-saving machinery. The rioters claimed loyalty to King Ludd, an attempt to achieve anonymity and spread terror in what was essentially an agitation by skilled workers to protect their jobs at a time of rapid mechanisation.

1874: The Universal Postal Union established, with headquarters in Berne, Switzerland.

1888: The 555ft white marble Washington Monument, designed by Robert Mills, was opened in Washington, DC.

1905: Sarah Bernhardt, playing Floria in Tosca, jumped from a parapet but stage hands had forgotten to put down mattresses and she fell heavily on her right knee. She eventually lost her leg.

1921: The Laird Line Glasgow-Dublin ferry Rowan sank, with the loss of 34 passengers and crew after collisions with two ships off Wigtownshire. After the first collision, in dense fog, with the inward-bound American steamship West Chamak, the ferry’s captain sent out an SOS which was answered in ten minutes by the Clan Malcolm. The Clan Line ship, however, struck the Rowan amidships “with great violence” and she sank within a minute.

1962: Uganda became independent after nearly 70 years of British rule, with Milton Obote as its first prime minister.

1967: Ernesto “Che” Guevara, guerrilla leader and revolutionary, was killed in Bolivia.

1968: Harold Wilson and Ian Smith met on HMS Fearless, off Gibraltar, for unsuccessful talks about Rhodesia’s independence.

1988: The BBC announced a new radio network to be known as Radio 5, which would carry live sport and educational programmes.

1992: The Provisional IRA continued its mainland bombing campaign when two more devices exploded in central London. Nobody was hurt.

1994: A London protest march against the Criminal Justice Bill erupted into a riot as demonstrators clashed with police and then looted shops in Oxford Street.

1999: The last flight of the Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird”.

2004: The Queen opened the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood, in Edinburgh. Designed by the Catalan architect Enric Miralles, it was completed three years late and cost ten times the estimated price. Miralles died of a brain tumour in July 2000.

2006: North Korea allegedly tested its first nuclear device.

2011: German racing driver Sebastian Vettel won the Formula 1 title and became the youngest man to secure two World Drivers’ Championships.

BIRTHDAYS

Brian Blessed, actor and mountaineer, 79; Jackson Browne, singer and songwriter, 67; Sally Burgess, classical singer, 62; John Doubleday, painter, sculptor, 68; PJ (Polly Jean) Harvey MBE, singer and guitarist, 46; Duke of Kent, 80; Sean Lennon, singer, 40; Steve Ovett OBE, athlete, 60; John Pilger, journalist, author and film-maker, 76; Guillermo del Toro Gomez, filmmaker, 51; Sharon Osbourne, TV host and music promoter, 63; Scott Bakula, actor, 61; Jodelle Micah Ferland, actress, 21; Brandon Routh, actor, 36; Nicky Byrne, singer-songwriter (Westlife), 37; Annika Sörenstam, multi major-winning golfer, 45; Steve R McQueen CBE, film director (12 Years A Slave), 46; Mark Viduka, footballer, 40; Hank Pfister, tennis player, 62; Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize-winner, 65; James Fearnley, musician (The Pogues), 61.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1586 Leopold V, Archduke of Austria; 1757 Charles X, king of France; 1835 Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns, composer (Carnival of the Animals; Danse Macabre); 1859 Alfred Dreyfus, French artillery officer wrongly accused of treason; 1900 Alastair Sim, Edinburgh-born actor; 1907 Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone, Lord Chancellor 1970-4 and 1979-87; 1908 Jacques Tati, actor and film director; 1933 Bill Tidy MBE, cartoonist; 1940 John Lennon, songwriter; 1944 John Entwistle, musician (The Who).

Deaths: 1974 Oskar Schindler, industrialist who saved 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust; 1988 John Wankel, engineer; 1995 Alec Douglas Home, Lord Home of the Hirsel, Conservative prime minister, 1963-4; 2000 Colonel Patrick Anthony Porteous VC, Scottish recipient of gallantry award.