On this day: Skytrain from London to New York begins

Events, birthdays and anniversaries for 25 September
On this day in 1977, the maverick entrepreneur Freddie Laker began his Skytrain airline service from London to New York. Picture: GettyOn this day in 1977, the maverick entrepreneur Freddie Laker began his Skytrain airline service from London to New York. Picture: Getty
On this day in 1977, the maverick entrepreneur Freddie Laker began his Skytrain airline service from London to New York. Picture: Getty

1066: The Saxon King Harold II defeated the Norwegians at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire, unaware that William of Normandy was already invading the south coast.

1493: Columbus set sail on his second expedition with a fleet of 20 ships.

1857: The relief of Lucknow by Havelock and Outram began.

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1894: British annexed Pondoland, connecting Cape Colony and Natal, in Africa.

1911: The French battleship Liberté exploded in Toulon harbour, killing 226.

1915: British forces used poisonous gas for the first time in the First World War.

1915: The Battle of Loos began, in which Piper Daniel Laidlaw, 7th King’s Own Scottish Borderers, won the Victoria Cross for mounting a parapet during heavy bombardment and playing his regiment “over the top”.

1923: Forty miners died when water broke through from old workings and on to the 66-man nightshift at Redding No 23 pit, near Polmont, Stirlingshire.

1940: German High Commissioner in Norway set up a government headed by Vidkun Quisling.

1941: General de Gaulle announced over BBC World Service the creation of a French wartime government in exile.

1956: Inauguration of the first transatlantic telephone cable, running between Oban and Newfoundland.

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1962: Sonny Liston won the world heavyweight boxing title, knocking out Floyd Paterson in the first round, in Chicago.

1970: Jordan’s King Hussein and Palestinian guerrilla leaders agreed on ceasefire to end fighting in Jordan.

1973: Three-man crew of US space laboratory, Skylab 2, splashed down in Pacific after record 59 days in orbit.

1977: Freddie Laker’s first Skytrain service began between Gatwick and New York.

1989: President George Bush said the US would destroy 98 per cent of its chemical weapons if the Soviet Union would do the same.

1990: At least 54 were killed in gas truck blast in Bangkok.

1996: The last of the Magdalene Asylums closed in Ireland.

2010: Ed Miliband beat his brother David by a wafer-thin margin to be elected leader of the Labour Party.

BIRTHDAYS

Catherine Zeta-Jones CBE, actress, 45; Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, member European Commission 1989-99, 75; Declan Donnelly, TV presenter and entertainer, 39; Michael Douglas, actor and producer, 70; Colin Friels, Glasgow-born actor, 62; Mark Hamill, actor, 63; Felicity Kendal CBE, actress, 68; Timothy Severin, author and historian, 74; Will Smith, actor and singer, 46; Robert Walden, actor, 71; Heather Locklear, actress, 53; Jessie Wallace, actress, 43; Cheryl Tiegs, model, actress, 67; Jodie Kidd, model, 36; Michael Madsen, actor, 56; Onnie McIntyre, Lennoxtown-born musician (Average White Band), 69.

ANNIVERSARIES

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Births: 1889 Charles Kenneth Scott-Moncrieff, Stirlingshire-born translator of Proust; 1897 William Faulkner, novelist; 1903 Mark Rothko, artist; 1906 Dmitri Shostakovich, composer; 1920 Ronnie Barker, comedian; 1952 Christopher Reeve, actor.

Deaths: 1849 Johann Strauss the Elder, composer; 1970 Erich Maria Remarque, author; 1980 John Bonham, drummer and songwriter (Led Zeppelin); 2003 Robert Palmer, rock singer.