On this day: Hurricane Rita made landfall in the US

On this day in 2005 Hurricane Rita made landfall in the United States causing widespread flooding and disruption. Picture: AP

AD 867: Michael III of Eastern Empire was assassinated.

1568: Spanish captured English ships and booty at San Juan, Puerto Rico, from fleet under Sir John Hawkins.

1688: France’s King Louis XIV declared war against the Holy Roman Empire.

1776: The oldest of the classic horse races, the St Leger, was first run at Doncaster.

1869: “Jubilee” Jim Fiske and Jay Gould tried to corner the gold market, causing financial “Black Friday” in United States.

1935: The first Jaguar car went on sale – for £385.

1943: Soviet army crossed Dnieper River north of Kiev as Germans retreated.

1947: A trainload of 1,200 Muslim refugees fleeing to Pakistan was massacred by Sikhs at Amritsar in the Punjab.

1948: First conference in London of representatives from Britain’s African colonies.

1960: The first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, was launched at Newport, Virginia.

1971: Britain expelled 90 Soviets for espionage activities.

1972: Norway voted by 53.5 per cent not to join the EEC.

1977: United States and Soviet Union said high-level talks had narrowed their differences on proposed agreement limiting bomber and missile forces.

1990: East Germany formally withdrew from Warsaw Pact.

1990: The Supreme Soviet gave Mikhail Gorbachev sweeping powers to rule by decree for 18 months.

1991: Western hostage Jackie Mann, former Battle of Britain fighter pilot, was set free in Beirut after 28 months in captivity.

1994: Ten Haitians died in a firefight with United States marines in Cap-Haitien.

1995: Scot David Coulthard won the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril.

1996: US president Bill Clinton signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.

2005: Hurricane Rita made landfall in the United States.

2007: GMTV’s competition phone-lines company, Opera Telecom, was fined £250,000 for picking potential winners before phone-ins closed.

2008: The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago was topped off at 1,389ft (423m), becoming the world’s highest residence above ground-level.

BIRTHDAYS

Ally McCoist, Scottish footballer, manager and broadcaster, 52; Helen Lederer, comic actress, 60; Dame Elizabeth Blackadder DBE, Scottish artist, Painter and Limner to the Queen, 83; Jack Dee, comedian, 53; Brian Glanville, journalist and author, 83; Billy Kay, Scottish broadcaster and writer, 63; Gerry Marsden MBE (The Pacemakers), 72; Victoria Pendleton, Olympic cycling gold medallist, 34; John Rutter CBE, composer and conductor, 69; Owen Farrell, rugby internationalist, 23; John Watts Young, astronaut, 84; Mike Phelan, football coach and former player, 52.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1725 Arthur Guinness, founder of the Guinness brewery; 1894 Tommy Armour, Edinburgh-born multi-major winning golfer; 1896 Francis Scott Fitzgerald, novelist and short story writer; 1931 Anthony Newley, actor, singer and composer.

Deaths: 1920 Peter Carl Fabergé, Russian artist and jeweller famous for his intricately decorated Fabergé eggs; 1991 Theodor Geisel (aka Dr Seuss), children’s author; 1991 Peter Bellamy, folk singer; 2004 Francoise Sagan, novelist.