On this day: Spirit Rover was launched for Mars

On this day in 2003 the Spirit Rover was launched for Mars. Mission manager Jennifer Trosper displays model of the lander. Picture: Getty

1692: The first of the 14 Salem witches was hanged. Bridget Bishop was one of the 150 respectable citizens accused of witchcraft by young girls who, for nearly 20 months, fascinated the strict Puritan community in Massachusetts.

1719: The Battle of Glenshiel defeat of Scottish Jacobite and Spanish troops by Hanoverian forces.

1768: Forth and Clyde Canal construction started.

1794: Power of French revolutionary tribunals was increased, leading to mass executions.

1829: The first Oxford and Cambridge University boat race took place, 2.25 miles from Hambledon Lock to Henley Bridge – and was won easily by Oxford.

1864: Over-arm bowling was legalised for cricket matches.

1909: SOS signal first used in an emergency. The SOS call, which replaced CQD emergency call in 1906, was recognised by two steamers which went to the rescue of the Cunard liner SS Slavonia, wrecked off the Azores.

1917: Sinn Fein riots in Dublin.

1946: Italy became a republic, replacing King Humbert II.

1967: Israel agreed to United Nations ceasefire with Egypt, with Israel holding conquered territory four times its own size.

1971: United States lifted 21-year-old embargo on trade with China.

1978: Larry Holmes won the world heavyweight boxing title in Las Vegas, defeating Ken Norton on points.

1983: Margaret Thatcher won her second term as prime minister.

1990: BA pilot Captain Timothy Lancaster was sucked half-way out of his BAC 1-11 cockpit after the windscreen blew out at 23,000 feet. His legs were held by crew members until the plane landed.

1997: Before fleeing his northern stronghold, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot ordered the killing of his defence chief Son Sen and 11 of Sen’s family members.

2003: The Spirit Rover was launched, beginning Nasa’s Mars Exploration Rover mission.

2009: At precisely 11:22am Stratford-upon-Avon time, chosen to honour the birthplace of Shakespeare, the phrase “Web 2.0” entered the English language as its official millionth word.

2014: Sunni Islamist militants seized control of Iraq’s mainly Kurdish second city, Mosul, after four days of fighting.

BIRTHDAYS

Duke of Edinburgh, 94; Faith Evans, R&B singer, 42; Gina Gershon, actress, 53; Arthur Campbell Hamilton, Lord Hamilton, Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice-General, 73; Elizabeth Hurley, actress, 50; Sir Simon Jenkins, columnist, editor of the Times 1990-2, 72; Bill Longmuir, golfer, 62; Jeanne Tripplehorn, actress, 52; Mark-Anthony Turnage, composer, 55; Helen Young, weather forecaster, 46; Princess Madeleine of Sweden, 33; Carlo Ancelotti, football manager, 56; Andy Schleck, professional cyclist (Tour de France winner), 30.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1688 James Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender; 1911 Sir Terence Rattigan, playwright; 1915 Saul Bellow, novelist; 1922 Judy Garland, actress and singer; 1926 Lionel Jeffries, actor and director; 1941 Michael Kenny, sculptor.

Deaths: 1560 Marie of Guise, Queen Regent; 1727 King George I; 1836 Andre Ampere, French physicist; 1934 Frederick Delius, composer; 1946 Jack Johnson, world heavyweight boxing champion; 1967 Spencer Tracey, actor; 2004 Ray Charles, singer.

UNIONIST REPLIES TO A SOCIALIST CIRCULAR

10 June, 1925

ADDRESSING a women’s meeting at Irvine yesterday afternoon, Colonel Moore dealt at some length with the circular sent out by the Labour party, signed by Mrs Dollan, the wife of the Socialist candidate.

It stated that the Tory party refused to grant women the vote on the same terms as men. That was absolutely untrue. The Government did mean to give equal political rights, and the Prime Minister intended to do that by agreement with all parties, and so hoped it would be carried out by this Parliament. He also characterised as untrue the statement that the Tories were opposed to all measures intended to help women, children and the aged, and asked why anyone could makes such a statement to an intelligent electorate, when Mrs Dollan must know the Unionist Government had included provisions for pensions in the Budget.

• archive.scotsman.com