On this day: General Noriega faced drug charges

Events, birthdays and anniversaries for 3 January

Panamas General Manuel Noriega is escorted by US officials on a flight to Florida in 1990 to face drug charges. Picture: Getty

1815: Austria, Britain and France formed defensive alliance against Prussia and Russia.

1911: Sidney Street siege, with more than 1,000 troops and armed police involved when three anarchists were trapped inside No 100 Sidney Street in London’s East End. The house burned down and two charred bodies were found, but one, “Peter the Painter”, is believed to have escaped.

1915: The first use of tear-gas in warfare was reported – by Germans against Russians in Poland.

1919: Prof Ernest Rutherford split the atom for first time.

1958: Sir Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole with a New Zealand party, the first to do so overland since Captain Scott.

1961: US severed relations with Cuba.

1971: The Open University was inaugurated.

1974: Kuwait reached agreement with Gulf Oil and British Petroleum Companies for 60 per cent takeover of their operations in Persian Gulf state.

1977: Largest loan in 30-year history of International Monetary Fund, almost $4 billion, made to Britain to bolster its currency.

1988: Margaret Thatcher became longest-serving prime minister of the century.

1988: Israeli jets devastated three command centres of Palestinian guerrilla force responsible for November hang-glider attack on Israel.

1989: Amnesty International accused Turkish authorities of routinely torturing political detainees.

1990: General Manuel Noriega surrendered to US troops in Panama and was flown to Florida to face drug charges in America.

1990: Employment secretary Norman Fowler resigned to spend more time with his family.

1990: Lord Young, former trade secretary, refused to give evidence to the public accounts committee on the sale of Rover to British Aerospace.

1996: Jackie Stewart announced that he was to make a comeback in Formula 1 racing as a team owner, 22 years after winning his third world driver’s championship title.

1999: The Mars Polar Lander was launched.

2012: Scotland was hit by another fierce storm following the so-called “Hurricane Bawbag” the previous month. This time, winds reached 102mph, causing millions of pounds of damage and leaving 85,000 homes without power.

BIRTHDAYS

Gavin Hastings OBE, former Scotland rugby captain, 53; David Atherton OBE, conductor, 71; Michael Barratt, broadcaster, 87; Fran Cotton, former England international rugby player and clothing manufacturer, 68; Mel Gibson, actor, 59; Robert Hughes, Baron Hughes of Woodside 1970-97, 83; John Paul Jones, musician (Led Zeppelin), 69; Sir George Martin CBE, composer and Beatles record producer, 89; Victoria Principal, actress, 65; Stephen Stills, singer (Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills and Nash), 70; Michael Schumacher, seven-time world Formula One champion, 46; Thomas Bangelter, musician and composer, 40; Dominic Wood, entertainer, magician and TV presenter (half of Dick and Dom); Bobby Hull, ice hockey Hall of Famer, 76; Jonny Evans, footballer, 27; Robert Loggia, actor and director, 85; Dabney Coleman, actor, 83; Sarah Alexander, actress, 44; Lee Bowyer, footballer, 38; Alex Wheatle MBE, novelist, 52; Baroness Christina von Saltza, multi Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer, 71; Sir Herbert Douglas Ellis OBE, entrepreneur and former Aston Villa chairman.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 106BC Marius Tullis Cicero, Roman orator; 1819 Charles Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal for Scotland; 1865 Sir Henry Lytton, actor and singer; 1883 Clement Attlee, Labour prime minister 1945-51; 1892 JRR Tolkien, author; 1905 Anna May Wong, actress; 1907 Ray Milland, actor and direstor; 1909 Victor Borge, comedian, conductor and pianist; 1910 John Sturges, film director; 1922 Bill Travers MBE, actor; 1929 Sergio Leone, film director; 1935 David Vine, sports commentator; 1942 John Thaw, actor.

Deaths: 236AD Pope Anterus; 1322 Philip V, king of France; 1661 Mary Stuart I, Princess of Orange; 1795 Josiah Wedgwood, potter; 1859 Edwin Muir, writer; 1882 William Ainsworth, historical novelist; 1900 Edwin Monk, organist and composer; 1946 William Joyce (“Lord Haw Haw”), hanged for treason; 1967 Jack Ruby, who shot Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged assassin of president JF Kennedy; 1970 Gladys Aylward, christian missionary; 1979 Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels; 1980 Joy Adamson, naturalist; 2014 Phil Everly, singer (the Everly Brothers).