On this day: Hindenburg disaster

The Hindenburg disaster in New Jersey, which marked the end of passenger-carrying airships. Picture: Getty

1626: Manhattan Island, a borough of New York City, was bought from the local Native Americans by Peter Minuit for goods and trinkets to the equivalent of $24.

1642: City of Montreal was established, as Ville Marie.

1839: House of Commons passed bill to suspend Jamaica’s Constitution after riots due to emancipation of slaves.

1840: The first adhesive British stamps, for general use – the penny black and twopenny blue – were issued by the Post Office.

1851: American mechanical engineer Linus Yale patented the lock which bears his name.

1877: Britain sent Russia note warning it against attempted blockade of Suez or occupation of Egypt.

1882: US banned Chinese immigration for ten years.

1937: The 804-ft German dirigible, Hindenburg, burned at its moorings in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 of the 97 people on board.

1941: Joseph Stalin became Soviet premier.

1941: In the last German bombing attack on the Clyde area, Greenock was worst hit, with 280 dead.

1954: Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile on the Iffley Road track in Oxford, in three minutes 59.4 seconds.

1959: The Cod War between Britain and Iceland over fishing rights intensified when Icelandic gunboats fired live ammunition at British trawlers.

1960: Princess Margaret married Antony Armstrong-Jones in Westminster Abbey.

1964: South Africa passed Bantu Laws Amendment Bill.

1966: Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were found guilty of the Moors murders.

1968: Spain closed border between Gibraltar and Spain to all but Spaniards.

1972: The first all-women race under Jockey Club rules, the Goya Stakes, was run over nine furlongs at Kempton Park.

1976: Earthquake struck north-eastern Italy. About 900 bodies were recovered and 400 people were reported missing.

1978: United Nations Security Council condemned South Africa for invading Angola and demanded withdrawal.

1989: Chinese students sent new appeal to government and Communist Party for dialogue on their demands for democracy and an end to corruption.

1993: Conservatives lost Newbury in a massive by-election swing to the Liberal Democrats plus control of all but one county council in England and Wales.

1994: The Queen and President Mitterrand of France opened the Channel Tunnel.

1995: Will Carling was sacked as England captain for describing Rugby Football Union officials as “57 old farts”. He was reinstated 72 hours later.

1996: Stephen Hendry won the Embassy world professional snooker championship for the sixth time, beating Peter Ebdon 18-12 in Sheffield.

1999: The new Scottish Parliament was elected, with 56 Labour MSPs, 35 SNPs, 18 Conservatives, 16 Liberal Democrats, one Green, one Scottish Socialist and one Independent.

2010: The general election took place, but resulted in Britain’s first hung parliament since 1974, with the Conservatives ending up the leading party on 306 seats.

2012: François Hollande was elected president of France.

BIRTHDAYS

George Clooney, actor and director, 53; Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, author and painter, 82; Tony Blair, prime minister 1997-2007, 61; Richard Cox, actor, 66; Alan Dale, actor, 67; Joanna Dunham, actress, 78; Neil Foster, cricketer, 52; Lord (John) Hutton, former Labour Cabinet minister, 59; Bob Seger, rock singer, 69; Graeme Souness, Scottish footballer, manager and pundit, 61; Susan Brown, actress, 68; Jeffery Deaver, author, 64; Goran Dragic, Slovenian NBA basketball player, 28; Willie Mays, American baseball Hall of Famer, 83; Julianne Phillips actress and model, 54.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1758 Maximilien Robespierre, French revolutionary leader; 1856 Robert Peary, Arctic explorer who claimed to be the first to reach the North Pole; 1856 Sigmund Freud, pioneer of psychoanalysis; 1895 Rudolph Valentino, silent screen actor; 1901 Sir John Brown, naval architect (Cunard “Queens”); 1913 Stewart Granger, actor; 1915 Orson Welles, actor, writer and director.

Deaths: 1856 Sir William Hamilton, metaphysicist; 1862 Henry David Thoreau, writer and naturalist; 1870 Sir James Simpson, obstetrician and pioneer of chloroform; 1910 King Edward VII; 1911 Maurice Maeterlinck, poet and playwright; 1952 Maria Montessori, physician and educationist; 1987 William Casey, CIA director and President Reagan’s linkman in Iran-Contra scandal; 1992 Marlene Dietrich, actress; 1999 Johnny Morris, naturalist and broadcaster.