DA

British battleship HMS Formidable is torpedoed by the German submarine U-24 in the English Channel killing 547 men.

Massachusetts Senator, John F. Kennedy announces his candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

First broadcast of the popular British radio programme Mrs Dale's Diary.

The world first learns about Israel’s 'Operation Moses', in which thousands of Jewish Ethiopian refugees have been airlifted out of Sudan, fleeing the famine in Ethiopia.

As a result of the energy crisis, daylight saving time is introduced early in the United States.

Disgraced former Cabinet Minister Jonathan Aitken is released from jail after serving less than half of his 18 month sentence.

Aitken had been convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice after his libel case against the Guardian Newspaper and Granda Television collapsed.

British Airways is forced into an embarrassing climb-down in relation to a campaign of 'dirty tricks' it launched against rival airline Virgin Atlantic. BA is forced to pay damages to both Virgin Atlantic and its boss Richard Branson.

Qubilah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X, is arrested for conspiring to kill Louis Farrakhan. She subsequently accepted a plea bargain from the U.S. government, accepting her responsibility but not guilt in the attempted murder.

World War II: Adolf Hitler takes to his underground bunker, where he remains for 105 days until he commits suicide.

The Charter for the International Military Tribunal for the Far East is proclaimed. The charter creates the legal foundations for the "Tokyo trails", the trials of Japanese war criminals.  

Philippine President Joseph Estrada is replaced by his deputy Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, after the military withdraw their support for Estrada.

On his second day in office American President, Jimmy Carter issues a pardon to all Americans who dogged the Vietnam draft.

In Britain, thousands of public sector workers stage a one day strike to protest against poor pay.

Reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan. He is subsequently murdered.

Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after a Norwegian research rocket is mistaken for missile attack by the Russian early-warning radar station.

The Vietnam War: US Navy Lt. Everett Alvarez Jr. spends his 2,000th day in North Vietnam.

Germany observers its first Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In Britain, the Hutton Report – an enquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly – is published.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair announces a fresh inquiry into 'Bloody Sunday', the killing of 14 people by British troops in Londonderry in 1972.

'Bloody Sunday': British troops shoot dead 13 people during a demonstration in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The troops argued that they opened fire in response to shots from gunmen in a nearby block of flats.

The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

The Gulf War: American planes bomb Baghdad, killing hundreds of Iraqi civilians.

The Philippines is hit but three separate bomb attacks, believed to have been carried out by al-Qaida linked militants.

The singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, wins damages from two UK newspapers which falsely claimed he supported terrorism.

In Wisconsin, U.S.A., serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced to life in prison for murdering and dismembering fifteen young men and boys. Dahmer was later murdered in prison.

Writer Gerd Heidemann meets in secret with the directors of German publishing conglomerate Gruner + Jahr, to sell them what Heidemann claims are Adolph Hitler's diaries. The dairies are later proved to be fakes and Hediemann is sentenced to four years in jail.

The First World War: British and French forces begin the bombardment of Turkish positions in the Dardanelles.

Controversial British historian David Irving is sent to jail in Austria for denying the Holocaust.

In Iraq, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, the Al Askari Mosque, is severely damaged in a bomb attack.

Uganda holds its first multi-party parliamentary and presidential elections for the first time in twenty five years.

The end of the First Burma War, as the British East India Company and the King of Burma sign the Treaty of Yandaboo.

In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni is re-elected for a third term.

The British government sues former British spy David Shayler for breaking the official secrets act.

In the High Court of Justice in London the authors of the 1982 book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, sue Random House, publishers of the Dan Brown novel The Da Vinci Code, claiming that Brown’s book contains ideas stolen from them.

In Waco, Texas US police raid the Branch Davidian church with a warrant to arrest the group’s leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid. A siege starts, which lasts for 51 days.

The Good Friday peace agreement is signed in Northern Ireland.

In a referendum the People of Northern Ireland vote in favour of accepting the Good Friday peace agreement.

NASA publicly unveils its first space shuttle, the Enterprise, during a ceremony in Palmdale, California.

Having first appeared in 1950, the last daily Peanuts comic strip is published as Charles Schulz retires. The comic strip followed the exploits of Charlie Brown and friends and his dog Snoopy.