On this day: Edward Heath becomes leader of Conservative Party

On this day in 1965 Edward Heath succeeded Alec Douglas-Home as leader of the Conservative Party. Picture: Getty

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

1484: Scottish forces led by James III of Scotland defeated a 500-man raiding party led by his brother, Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas.

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

1901: The House of Lords ruled that trade unions could be sued for the actions of its members.

1912: In response to Germany’s increasing naval power, the Admiralty decided to recall British warships from the Mediterranean and base them in the North Sea.

1913: Edinburgh Zoo opened for the first time.

1944: The Bretton Woods Conference on international monetary policy ended.

1960: Cuba nationalised all American-owned sugar factories.

1962: The first US Venus probe, Mariner I, failed at lift-off.

1963: Sonny Liston knocked out Floyd Patterson in the first round to win world heavyweight title.

1965: Edward Heath succeeded Alec Douglas-Home as leader of the Conservative Party.

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

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

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

1983: Australian Dick smith completed the first solo helicopter flight around the world, on the 50th anniversary of Wiley Post’s aeroplane equivalent.

1984: Seve Ballesteros scored 276 to win the Open Championship at St Andrews.

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.

1990: Greg LeMond of USA won his third tour de France.

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 Tory 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 in London after they mistakenly thought he was a suicide bomber.

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.

2011: Norway suffered a twin terror attack, when a car bomb exploded in Oslo, followed by a gun massacre at a youth camp on the nearby island of Utoya. Right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik was convicted after admitting both attacks.

2012: Pranab Mukherjee was elected as president of India.

BIRTHDAYS

Rufus Wainwright, singer, 42; George Clinton, funk musician, 74; Willem Dafoe, actor, 60; Danny Glover, actor, 69; Don Henley, singer, 68; Jimmy Hill OBE, football player, coach and commentator, 87; Rhys Ifans, actor, 48; Bonnie Langford, actress, 51; Rick Davies, vocalist and keboard player (Supertramp), 71; Lasse Viren, Finnish former athlete who won four Olympic gold medals, 66; Mick Pointer, drummer (Marillion), 59; Keith Sweat, R&B singer-songwriter, 54; Bob Dole, politician, 92; Alan Menken, composer, 66; Ben Foden, England international rugby player, 30; Prince George of Cambridge, son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, 2; Terence Stamp, actor and director, 77.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1844 Reverend William Spooner, scholar and clergyman whose verbal confusions were dubbed “spoonerisms”; 1882 Edward Hopper, artist; 1890 Rose Kennedy, philanthropist and socialite (mother of present John F Kennedy); 1898 Alexander Calder, sculptor; 1915 Eric “Digger” Dowling (survivor of “Great Escape” attempt from Stalag Luft III); 1926 Bryan Forbes CBE, actor, director and writer; 1932 Oscar de la Renta, fashion designer.

Deaths: 1497 Francesco Botticini, Renaissance painter; 1645 Michael I, first Romanov Tsar of Russia; 1831 Napoleon II, Emperor of France 1814 and 1815; 1870 Josef Strauss, composer; 1915 Sir Sandford Fleming, Scottish-born engineer; 1932 Florenz Ziegfeld, impresario known for his elaborate Ziegfeld Follies; 1995 Harold Larwood, England Test cricketer (the prime exponent of “bodyline” bowling); 1996 Jessica Mitford, author; 2004 Sacha Distel, singer and guitarist; 2007 Magnus Shearer, Lord Lieutenant of Shetland 1982-94; 2008 Estelle Getty, actress.