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How London Was Built: Utilities and Shopping

Sat July 4th at 11:00pm

The British Empire In Colour: A Tryst With Destiny

Mon July 6th at 2:00am

Eve

In the Old Testament, the first woman, wife of Adam. She was tempted by Satan (in the form of a snake) to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and then tempted Adam to eat of the fruit as well, thus bringing about their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

There are two versions of the creation myth in the Bible: in one of them, Eve was created simultaneously with Adam; in the other, she was created from his rib. In the Hebrew writings known as the ‘Midrash’, Lilith was the first woman (and her children were the wives available to Eve's sons Cain and Abel).

372 listings

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Breitling Jet Team - Terms and Conditions

Sky Legacy

Pride and Prejudice

The Constant Gardner

The Planet of The Apes

Victoria's Wars

European History for Dummies

The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant

Zimbabwe's Political History

Global Warming

The Arab-Israeli Conflict

VANISHINGS: Amelia Earhart

Alexander the Great

Ramses, Warrior Pharaoh

Yorkshire Ripper (Peter Sutcliffe)

TECH EFFECT: Waco

VANISHINGS: Lost In The Andes

Nazi Spies In America

RUSSIA: LAND OF THE TSARS Episode 4

The Boys of H Company

THE FIRST 48: At Close Range/Murder in Motor City

The Negotiator

The True Story Of Seabiscuit

Yasser Arafat

Jack the Ripper

The Hunt For Jack The Ripper

Soviet UFO Secrets Revealed

OJ And Company: 10 Years Later

FIRST 48: Desert Bones/Party's Over

The Trial Of Louise Woodward

Isaac's Storm

LOST SHIPS: The Ghost Of The Trafalgar

The Boston Strangler

The Hillside Stranglers

The Crusades

SECRETS OF ARCHAEOLOGY: Pompeii: A City Rediscovered

Richard Ramirez: The Night Stalker

The Baby Blitz

The Industrial Revolution

The Olympics

D-Day

Trafalgar 200

The Great War: Germany’s failed gambit

The Gunpowder Plot

The Killing Fields: The Khmer Rouge and Cambodia

The History Channel - Mobile service

Titanic Heritage Trust

Military History Channel

Captain Cook

China

The Wave

The Baader Meinhof Complex

Military Offer

Voices of the Armistice

Tank Experience Day

'Che' Film Review

Combat Tanks Collection

Pompeii: The Last Day

Dambusters

Churchill's Wizards

Anthony Beevor, D-Day

Titanic: A Tale Of Two Journeys

The American Civil War: The Road to War

The New Big Picture Show: War at Home

NAM - Faces of Battle

Almunia's Favourite Book

A Small Piece of History

Last Voices of World War I

Breitling Media

Imperial War Museum Student Film Festival

Zimbabwe's Political History

Global Warming

The Arab-Israeli Conflict

2 January 1979

Sid Vicious (real name Simon John Ritchie-Beverly), the lead singer of the punk-rock band The Sex Pistols, goes on trial in New York for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. Having been released on bail, Vicious dies from a drugs overdose.

3 January 1496

According to his notes, Leonardo da Vinci tests his flying machine for the first time. The flight was unsuccessful, and he adandoned the idea for several years.

5 January 1976
Ten Protestants are brutally gunned down in Northern Ireland, in what is believed to be a revenge killing after the recent murder of five Catholics.

6 January 1971

A further four US Army officers have charges dropped against them with regard to the massacre of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai. Lieutenant William Calley will be the only soldier ever convicted for the massacre.

7 January 1990

In Italy, The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public for the first time in more than 800 years so that restoration work can begin to prevent it from collapsing.

8 January 2004

The largest passenger ship ever built, RMS Queen Mary 2, is named by Queen Elizabeth II.

10 January 1941

President Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease program, a loan scheme created to aid Britain in its fight against Germany, is brought before the U.S. Congress for consideration.

11 January 1989
After eight years as President of the United States, Ronald Reagan gives his farewell address to the American people. In particular, Reagan emphasises the foreign policy achievements of his administration.

12 January 1982
Mark Thatcher, the son of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, disappears in the Sahara Desert during the Paris-Dakar Rally. He is spotted by a search plane several days later and rescued.

13 January 1966

American President Lyndon Johnson appoints the first African-American to a cabinet position. Robert C. Weaver is made head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

14 January 1963

Segregationist George Wallace is inaugurated as the governer of Alabama, promising his followers 'Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!'

15 January 1947
Elizabeth Short, nicknamed 'The Black Dahlia', is found dead in California, USA. Her murderer has never been found.

16 January 1919
The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, prohibiting the 'manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes', achieves the necessary two-thirds majority for state ratification, and thus becomes the law of the land.

20 January 1987

British police launch their largest ever crackdown on football hooliganism.

23 January 1973

President Nixon announces that he has achieved 'peace with honour', as the Vietnam peace agreement is signed, removing US troops from Vietnam.

26 January 2005

Condoleezza Rice is confirmed as the US Secretary of State. She is the highest ranking African-American woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.

28 January 1917

American forces are recalled from Mexico after searching for nearly eleven months for Mexican revolutionary, Pancho Villa.

30 January 1661

In England, Oliver Cromwell is posthumously executed. His severed head is displayed on a pole outside Westminster Abbey until 1684.

31 January 1950

President Truman announces America’s decision to develop the hydrogen bomb.

1 February 2003
Seven Astronauts are killed as the Space Shuttle Columbia splits up upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

2 February 2006
Royal Dutch Shell announces the highest ever annual profit for a British listed company with 2005 profit of £13.12bn.

3 February 1998
A low flying Nato aircraft kills 20 people at an Italian ski resort by severing their cable car line.

4 February 1974
In England, eleven people are killed and twelve are injured as a bomb explodes on a coach carrying soldiers and civilians on its way to an army base in North Yorkshire.

5 February 1968
The British trawler The Ross Cleveland sinks of the coast of Iceland. Out of a crew of twenty, only one survives.

7 February 1991
British Prime Minister John Major and senior Cabinet Ministers escape unhurt as the IRA fires three mortar shells at 10 Downing Street from a van parked several streets away in the centre of London.

8 February 2006
Japanese Princess Kiko announces that she is pregnant. Princess Kiko eventually gives birth to a baby boy, preventing a constitutional crisis in the Japanese royal family who can only be headed by a male.

9 February 1942
World War II: In the US President Roosevelt institutes daylight saving time.

11 February 2006
Steve Fossett breaks the record for the longest non-stop flight in aviation history, flying 26,389.3 miles.

12 February 2004

South Korean scientists announce they have successfully cloned the world's first human embryo. However, in 2006 it emerges that the results had been faked.

13 February 2001

In Glasgow, Stephen Kelly goes on trial for knowingly infecting a woman with the HIV virus in a case believed to be the first of its kind in Scotland. Kelly is found guilty.

14 February 2005

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

15 February 2005

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

16 February 2001

In Kosovo, a bomb, which is thought to have been planted by ethnic Albanian extremists, explodes on a bus carrying Serbs to a religious ceremony. At least seven people die.

17 February 2005

Seven people are arrested and more than £2 million is recovered by Irish police investigating the £26 million Northern Bank robbery, which touch place in Belfast in December 2004.

18 February 1954

Robert Stevens, Secretary of the US army, orders two generals subpoenaed by anti-Communist senator Joseph McCarthy, to ignore the summons.

19 February 1965

The Vietnam War: South Vietnam’s leader, General Nguyen Khanh is forced to flee Saigon after dissident officers move several battalions of troops into the city with the intention deposing him.

21 February 1995

Steve Fossett becomes the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.

22 February 2006

Thieves break into a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent stealing £53 million, in Britain’s largest every robbery.

23 February 1820

British police uncover 'The Cato Street Conspiracy' to assassinate several Cabinet ministers. All those found guilty are executed.

24 February 1988

In America, the Supreme Court votes 8-0 to overturn the $200,000 settlement awarded to the Reverend Jerry Falwell for his emotional distress at being parodied in Hustler, a pornographic magazine.

25 February 2006

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

27 February 2002

In India, a train carrying Hindu pilgrims catches fire, killing fifty seven people.

1 March 1978
The coffin of film star Charlie Chaplin is stolen from a Swiss cemetery three months after his funeral. It is found several miles away on May 17.

3 March 2005
Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly a plane solo, non-stop around the world without refuelling.

4 March 1976
At the Old Bailey in London the “Maguire seven” are all convicted of offensives in relation to aiding the IRA. In 1991, all of their convictions are quashed the by the Court of Appeal.

6 March 1981
In America, distinguished CBS Evening News anchorman Walter Cronkite reads the news for the last time.

7 March 1973
Sheikh Mujib Rahman becomes prime minister of Bangladesh, after winning victory in the country's first ever general election.

8 March 1971

In Britain, after seven weeks out on strike postal workers return to work after agreeing a new pay deal.

9 March 2005
In America, long-time anchorman of CBS news Dan Rather makes his last broadcast reading the evening news.

10 March 1940
U.S. Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles meets with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to discuss a peacemaking proposal to prevent a widening of the European war.

11 March 1977
In America, film director Roman Polanski is charged with the rape a 13-year-old girl. Polanski subsequently fled to France and has never returned to the U.S.

12 March 1968
Mauritius achieves independence from Britain.

15 March 1976
In England, the driver of a London Underground train is shot dead whilst chasing a gunman who is believed to have detonated a bomb on his train.

16 March 2001
In Britain, 18 year-old women Claire Marsh becomes the youngest ever female to be convicted of rape.

18 March 1979
In England, three men are killed in an underground explosion at Golborne colliery, in Lancashire. A total of 10 men eventually lost their lives as a result of the accident.

23 March 1981
In attempt to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain, the government bans all animal transport on the Isle of Wight and in southern Hampshire.

24 March 1989
The oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez, runs aground off the Alaskan coast, releasing eleven million tonnes of crude oil.

26 March 1999
In Britain, the government reaches an out of court settlement with Ex-miners who have developed illness as a result of their jobs. The miners negotiate a deal worth £2 billion.

27 March 1964
Measuring 8.4 on the Richter scale, America’s largest ever earthquake hits Alaska, killing 125 people and injuring thousands more.

28 March 1964
The Beatles surpass Elvis Presley seven-year record for most hits on Billboard's Hot 100 at the same time.

2 April 1986
A bomb believed to have been planted by Palestinian terrorists explodes on a TWA plane flying over Greece, killing four people.

3 April 1996
U.S. secretary of commerce Ron Brown dies in a military plane crash in Croatia along with several senior American corporate executives.

5 April 1992
Several hundred thousand people converge on Washington D.C., America to protest in favour of abortion rights for women.

6 April 1909
American explorer Robert Peary reaches what he believes to be the North Pole. Decades later evidence emerges which suggests Peary was in fact a few miles short.

8 April 1935
In America, Congress approves the Works Progress Administration, one of the central tenants of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's “New Deal.”

9 April 1959
NASA introduces to the press the United States' first seven astronauts who will take part in America’s first manned space programme.

10 April 2000
In County Durham, England a shop manager who was sacked for being HIV positive reaches an out-of-court settlement believed to be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

12 April 1975
America withdraws from Cambodia, ending a highly unsuccessfully attempt to prevent the Khmer Rouge take over the country.

14 April 2006
The Danube River rises to dangerous levels, causing floods in Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania.

15 April 1994
More than 120 countries around the world finally sign the new GATT World Trade Treaty after negotiations which lasted for seven years.

17 April 1969
Bernadette Devlin becomes the youngest ever MP elected to the House Commons.

20 April 1978
Soviet aircraft force a Korean Air Lines passenger jet to land in the Soviet Union after the jet veers into Russian airspace. Two people are killed and several others injured after the jet was forced to make an emergency landing. .

22 April 1970
Earth Day, an event to increase public awareness of the world's environmental problems, is celebrated in the United States for the first time.

28 April 1965
22,000 U.S. troops land in the Dominican Republic in order to prevent, what President Johnson calls, a “communist dictatorship” taking over the country.

29 April 1429
During the Hundred Years' War between France and England, Joan of Arc achieves her first military victory by relieving the Siege of Orleans.

1 May 1963
James Whittaker becomes the first American to reach the top of Mount Everest.

2 May 1568
Mary I of Scotland escapes from Loch Leven Castle and raises a small army.

6 May 1966
At Chester Crown Court in England, Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are found guilty of torturing and killing several children before burying their bodies.

8 May 1968
In England, East End gangsters Reginald, Ronnie and Charlie Kray are arrested in London on suspicion of murder. They are eventually found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

10 May 1996
During a storm eight climbers die whilst attempting to climb Mount Everest.

11 May 1987
Klaus Barbie, the “Butcher of Lyon”, goes on trial in Lyon, France for war crimes committed during the Second World War. He is eventually found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

13 May 1995
Brit, Alison Hargreaves, becomes the first female to climb Mount Everest without the assistance oxygen or sherpas.

14 May 1995
The Dalai Lama, proclaims six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama.

15 May 1756
England declares war on France, beginning the Seven Years War.

16 May 1975
Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

18 May 1900
In the Boer War in South Africa, a small British cavalry force relieves the town of Mafeking after a 217 day siege by the Boers. The British garrison commander is Colonel Robert Baden-Powell.

19 May 2005
The final film in the Star Wars series, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, is released in America.

20 May 1941
The Second World War: German paratroopers invade the Mediterranean island of Crete - the first airborne invasion of a country ever attempted.

21 May 1966
American boxer Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali) ends the hopes of British heavyweight champion Henry Cooper winning the world heavyweight titles when the bout is stopped in Round 6 because of a severe cut above Cooper's eye.

22 May 2003
In America, Swedish golfer Annika Sorenstam becomes the first female to play in a men’s PGA tour event since 1945.

31 May 2005
Former FBI assistant director, W. Mark Felt, is revealed as being “Deep Throat”, the secret source who helped unravel the Watergate scandal.

1 June 1993
Serb forces launch an artillery barrage on a make-shift football match in Bosnia killing eleven people.

2 June 1912
Carl Laemmle merges his movie studio, the Independent Motion Picture Company, with several others, creating Hollywood's first major studio, Universal.

4 June 1917
The first ever Pulitzer Prizes are awarded in America.

8 June 1950
Sir Thomas Blamey is appointed Field Marshal becoming the only Australian to ever hold this position in the army.

12 June 1978
American mass murderer David Berkowitz is sentenced to 25 years in prison, the maximum penalty allowed, with a recommendation that he is never released.

13 June 1972
Severe weather conditions over the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico begin to converge and form a tropical depression that becomes Hurricane Agnes.

15 June 1971
In Britain, the Conservative Secretary of State for Education, Margaret Thatcher, pushes ahead with the Government’s controversial policy to end free school milk for children over the age of seven, as the Bill narrowly passes its second reading in Parliament.

16 June 1992
Andrew Morton publishes a controversial book about Diana Princess of Wales, claiming she attempted suicide on several occasions.

17 June 1923
Enrico Ferrari wins his first race, a 166-mile event at the Circuito del Savio in Ravenna, Italy.

20 June 1984
The British Government announces that it will abolish O-Level and CSE exams and replace them with GCSE’s.

22 June 2004
A court in Belgium sentences Marc Dutroux to life in prison for the kidnap, rape and murder of several young girls.

23 June 1959
The German born scientist Klaus Fuchs, who helped develop the U.S. atomic program and then subsequently turned into a Soviet spy, is released from a British prison.

25 June 1530
The Augsburg Confession, the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church, is presented to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the Diet of Augsburg by several rulers of German principalities.

27 June 1979
Muhammad Ali announces his retirement from boxing after 59 professional fights beginning in 1960. However, Ali would go on to to fight two more fights.

29 June 1972
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that capital punishment, as it is currently employed on the state and federal level, is unconstitutional.

30 June 1992
Margaret Thatcher takes her place in the House of Lords as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven.

2 July 2005
The global music event Live 8 takes place in an attempt to increase awareness about poverty in Africa.

3 July 1940
The Second World War: British warships destroy the French fleet in Mers-el-Kebir, a port in Algeria, to prevent their ships from falling into German hands.

5 July 2003
The World Health Organisation announces that all person-to-person transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has ceased.

6 July 1978
In England, eleven people are killed as fire breaks out on the Penzance-to-Paddington sleeper train.

8 July 2005
In Gleneagles, Scotland, G8 leaders agree to significantly increase aid to developing countries and to cancel the debt of the 18 poorest nations in Africa.

9 July 1991
The Bank of Credit and Commerce International is forced to close amid allegations of fraud, severely affecting around 20 councils in England who had money with the bank.

10 July 1976
A leak of weed killer from a chemicals factory in Northern Italy forms a toxic cloud around the town of Seveso killing 40,000 animals and destroying crops.

11 July 1789
In France, Louis XVI, dismisses Jacques Necker as Finance Minister which eventually leads to the storming of the Bastille.

13 July 1573
In the Netherlands, the Siege of Haarlem ends after seven months as the city surrenders to the Spanish Army.

14 July 2001
Northern Irish politicians fail to resolve the deadlock in the peace process after six days of crisis talks in Staffordshire, England. The Northern Ireland Assembly is eventually suspended in August.

16 July 1950
The largest ever crowd at a football match - more than 199,000 in Montevideo to see Uruguay beat Brazil 2-1 in the World Cup final.

22 July 2005
Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes, is shot dead in Stockwell Underground station, London by British police who mistakenly believe him to be a terrorist.

23 July 1995
1,200 British troops are sent to relieve the besieged Bosnian capital, Sarajevo.

24 July 2005
American cyclist Lance Armstrong wins a record breaking seventh consecutive Tour de France title.

26 July 1983
In Britain, in a test case at the High Court in London, Victoria Gillick fails to prevent doctors prescribing contraception to under-16s without parental consent. This case has had wider ramifications for the right of minors to make potentially life-changing decisions for themselves, without parental consent.

30 July 1975
In America, notorious teamster leader, Jimmy Hoffa, goes missing from a car park in Detroit. Hoffa is never seen again and his body has never been found.

31 July 1962
In England, the right-wing leader Oswald Mosley is assaulted and prevented from speaking at a rally in London’s East End as protests flood the area.

1 August 1975
The United States, the Soviet Union, Canada and every European nation (except Albania) sign the Helsinki Final Act at the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

2 August 1939
Scientist Albert Einstein, concerned that Germany is working on powerful uranium bombs, writes to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt urging him to start research into building an atomic bomb.

3 August 2003
The Anglican Church in America votes to approve the appointment of the openly gay bishop, the Reverend Canon Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

4 August
Baron Simon de Montfort is defeated by the Royalist forces of the future King Edward I at the Battle of Evesham.

5 August 1861
American President Abraham Lincoln imposes the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act.

6 August 1996
American scientists reveal that they have found evidence of ancient life on Mars in the remnants of a meteorite discovered in Antarctica.

9 August 1969
In America, the bodies of actress Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski, and four others are found at a house in Beverly Hills, California. Members of a commune known as The Family, led by Charles Manson are later arrested, tried and jailed for the killings.

10 August 2003
Britain records its hottest day ever up to this date, with temperatures reaching 38.1C (100.6F).

11 August 1984
In order to test a microphone before a radio broadcast American President Ronald Reagan famously jokes, “My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

13 August 1920
Polish – Soviet War: Start of the Battle of Warsaw, which the Polish eventually win.

14 August 1980
In Gdansk, Poland, shipyard workers successfully manage to reinstate a sacked colleague after striking. The incident was just one of several challenges to the communist authorities, which eventually led to the fall of communism in Poland.

15 August 1985
British businessman Richard Branson fails in his attempt at the fastest-ever Atlantic crossing as his speedboat capsizes off the south-west of England.

16 August 2001
In Britain, the Princess of Wales’ former butler, Paul Burrell, is charged with theft from her estate. Burrell’s trial eventually collapses.

17 August 1943
The Second World War: U.S. General. Patton arrives in Messina several hours before British Field Marshal Montgomery, winning the unofficial “Race to Messina” and completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.

18 August 1931
The Yangtze River in China peaks during a horrible flood that kills 3.7 million people directly and indirectly over the next several months.

20 August 1992
Englishman Paul Ride is sentenced to seven years in jail by a court in Iraq for allegedly illegally entering the country.

21 August 1993
NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft. It has never re-established it.

23 August 1990
The Gulf War: Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi television with several Western hostages.

25 August 1758
Seven Years War: Prussia and Russia fight to an inconclusive finish at the Battle of Zorndorf in Poland.

27 August 1950
The BBC broadcasts from Calais, France in the first ever live transmission from across the Channel.

28 August 1964
In the wake of several incidents between the police and the black community in Philadelphia, America race riots begin.

29 August 1756
Seven Years War: The beginning of the war as Frederick the Great of Prussia attacks Saxony.

30 August 1922
Greco-Turkish War: Turkey defeats Greece at the Battle of Dumlupınar, which eventually leads to the creation of the Turkish Republic.

31 August 1959
In Britain, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and American President Dwight Eisenhower hold the first ever live television broadcast from Downing Street.

1 September 1997
French police reveal that the driver of the car in which Princess Diana was fatally injured, Henri Paul, who was also killed, was three times over the French drink-drive limit and may have been driving at more than 120 mph.

2 September 1901
The then Vice President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, makes his famous remark regarding American foreign policy saying America should, ‘speak softly and carry a big stick.’

4 September 2006
The Australian wildlife enthusiast and television presenter Steve Irwin, known as the “The Crocodile Hunter”, is killed by a stingray during a dive off the Australian coast.

5 September 1986
Pakistani troops storm a hi-jacked Pan Am Boeing 747. 22 people are killed -including several of the hostages. The hi-jacking began 16 hours earlier when 4 Palestinian terrorists boarded the plane at Karachi.

6 September 1915
The British Army tests its latest military development for the first time – a tank.

7 September 2005
The people of Egypt vote in their first ever contested Presidential election - Hosni Mubarak, the incumbent, wins.

8 September 1998
In Northern Ireland, The Real IRA announces a ceasefire, although it is thought that they continued to carry out illegal activities even after the declaration.

9 September 2004
A car bomb explodes outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. The bombing, which killed several people, was carried out by the Islamic extremist group Jemaah Islamiah.

11 September 1980
In England, two Chicago gangsters steel jewellery from a shop in London worth in excess of £1 million. The two thieves are later apprehended.

14 September 1993
British tourist Gary Colley is murdered in Florida, U.S.A. Colley’s murder was one of several in Florida committed against foreign tourists that year.

15 September 2000
The end of the fuel protests in Britain which had brought the country to a standstill for seven days.

16 September 1940
The Second World War: American President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Selective Service and Training Act, which requires all male citizens between the ages of 26 and 35 to register for the military draft.

18 September 2001
In America, the first letter containing the poison anthrax is posted. Several letters are subsequently sent media offices and U.S. Senators. Nobody has ever been brought to justice for this.

21 September 1964
The British Admiralty announces that it has annexed Rockall a tiny formation of rocks 300 miles of the west coast of Scotland in order to prevent the Soviets spying on missile tests.

23 September 2000
British rower Steve Redgrave wins his fifth consecutive Olympic medal by helping Britain to win the coxless fours at the Sydney Olympics. Redgrave previously won gold in Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996.

24 September 1992
The heritage minister and Conservative MP David Mellor is forced to resign from the government following a series of tabloid revelations about his private life.

25 September 1977
In South Africa, 15,000 people attend the funeral of murdered anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko.

26 September 1983
Racing yacht Australia II beats the American boat Liberty in the deciding race off Newport, Rhode Island to deprive the United States of the America’s Cup, a trophy the Americans had never lost in the 132 year history of the event.

27 September 1590
Pope Urban VII dies 13 days after being elected to the Papacy; it is the shortest ever reign.

28 September 2002
In Britain, former Conservative minister Edwina Currie reveals that she had an affair with former Prime Minister John Major.

29 September 1988
Stacy Allison becomes the first American women to successfully climb Mount Everest.

4 October 1927
In America, sculpting begins on the face of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota; it takes another 12 years to finish the monument George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

5 October 1947
In America, President Harry Truman makes the first-ever televised presidential address from the White House.

6 October 1854
In England, the Great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead begins. The fire eventually claims the lives of 53 people.

7 October 1959

A fire on Southend Pier in England traps 300 people as the pier gets split by the blaze. The fire is eventually contained and there are no casualties.

9 October 1991
As part of the Japan festival in Britain, the first ever Sumo wrestling tournament to be held outside of Japan takes place at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

12 October 1978
In America, the former Sex Pistol front man Sid Vicious is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen in New York. Vicious never faced trail dying from a heroin overdose in February 1979.

13 October 1984
British darts player John Lowe achieves the first televised 9-dart 501 in a major event during the world match play championships in England.

14 October 1983
In Britain, Cecil Parkinson, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, resigns following further revelations about his affair with his former secretary Sara Keays.

15 October 2003
China becomes only the third country to successfully send a manned spacecraft into orbit, following the achievement of the U.S. and Russia.

17 October 1980

Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first ever British monarch to make a state visit to the Vatican.

18 October 1967
The Soviet space probe Venera 4 enters the atmosphere of the planet Venus, the first such probe to achieve this.

19 October 2004
The Iraq War: A British aid worker, Margaret Hassan, who was married to an Iraqi national, is kidnapped. Despite widespread international condemnation and protests in Iraq her kidnappers eventually kill her.

20 October 1944
In America, two liquid gas tanks explode in Cleveland, Ohio killing 130 people.

21 October 1959
German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun starts work for NASA in America. Previously Von Braun developed the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

22 October 2006
Seven times Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher finishes fourth at Brazilian Grand Prix in his last professional race.

23 October 1941
The Second World War: Chief of the Soviet general staff, Georgi Zhukov, assumes command of Red Army operations in order to try and prevent Germany’s rapid advance into the heart of Russia.

24 October 2001
Eleven people are killed in Switzerland as two lorries crash head on in the Gotthard road tunnel.

25 October 2001
The British Crime Survey reveals that crime is at its lowest rate since 1981.

27 October 1659
William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, two Quakers who came from England in 1656 to escape religious persecution, are executed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in America for their religious beliefs.

28 October 312
The two Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius clash at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. Constatine wins and eventually goes onto secure sole rule of the Empire.

29 October 1998
Nearly four decades after he became the first American to orbit the Earth, Senator John Glenn Jr., returns to space on board the shuttle Discovery. At 77 years old, Glenn is the oldest human ever to travel in space.

30 October 1961
The Soviet Union conducts the world’s largest ever nuclear test over the Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya.

2 November 1988
A General Election in Israel results in a hung parliament, which is eventually resolved by the formation of a national coalition led by the Likud party.

3 November 1986
The Lebanese magazine Ash Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling arms to Iran in an effort to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.

4 November 1952
Second World War commander Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democrat Adlai Stevenson in the American Presidential election.

5 November 1991
Millionaire publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell is found dead at sea several hours after mysteriously disappearing from his yacht off the Canary Islands.

6 November 1996
Bill Clinton becomes the first Democratic President since Franklin D Roosevelt to be re-elected.

7 November 2000
Hilary Clinton is elected as a Senator for New York making her the only ever First Leader to win an elected office in American history.

8 November 1974
In Britain, the police start searching for Lord Lucan following the death of his children’s nanny and an attack on his wife the previous night. Despiet many alleged appearances Lucan has never been found.

9 November 1985
Garry Kasparov becomes the youngest ever world chess champion.

12 November 1948
Japan’s former premier Hideki Tojo and several other Japanese leaders are sentenced to death by an international war crimes tribunal in Tokyo for their parts in the Second World War.

13 November 2002
One of the oil tanker Prestige’s 12 tanks bursts during a storm off Galician coast. The tanker eventually splits in half and sinks on the 19th causing significant devastation to the surrounding wildlife.

15 November 2003
In Turkey, two suicide attacks, thought to have been carried out by al-Qaeda, destroy the Beth Israel and Neve Shalom synagogues in Istanbul killing a total of 27 people, along with the two bombers.

16 November 1965
The Soviet Union launches the unmanned spacecraft Venera 3, which eventually lands on the surface of the planet Venus, becoming the first space probe to successfully land on another planet.

18 November 1987
In America, a Congressional report into the Iran-Contra scandal, severely criticises the Reagan administration.

19 November 2006
Former Russian spy Aleksander Litvinenko, who defeated to Britain, is admitted to hospital after being poisoned. Litvinkenko eventually dies, and police try to unravel the conspiracy behind his death.

20 November 1992
A fire breaks out in Windsor Castle in England, severely damaging one of the royal residences.

21 November 2004
The Second round of the Ukrainian Presidential elections is held. In what was regarded a fraudulent result, Viktor Yanukovych is eventually declared the winner, sparking what become known as the Orange Revolution.

22 November 1986
20 year old American boxer Mike Tyson becomes the youngest ever world heavyweight champion defeating Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas, U.S.A.

25 November 1982
The American Attorney General, Edwin Meese, reveals that proceeds from arms sales to Iran were illegally being diverted to the anti-communist Contra forces in Nicaragua.

26 November 1941
American President Franklin D. Roosevelt officially establishes the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

27 November 1942
The Second World War: The French fleet is scuttled in Toulon Harbour to prevent the warships falling into German hands.

28 November 1999
In England, wearing no clothes Eden Strang enters a church in south London wielding a sword. Eden injurers eleven people and is eventually detained in psychiatric hospital under the Mental Health Act.

30 November 1981
Representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union open talks to reduce their intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) in Europe. However, they fail to reach an agreement.

1 December 1942
The Beveridge report is published in Britain, it lays the foundations for the modern welfare system in the country.

5 December 1945
The legend of the so-called Bermuda Triangle is born in the Atlantic Ocean, as five U.S. Navy bombers from Fort Lauderdale in Florida disappear while flying over the area. No trace is ever found of any of the planes or the pilots.

7 December 1987
Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in America to meet President Ronald Reagan. The two leaders eventually sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty.

11 December 1979
The Rhodesian parliament votes to revert back to British rule until democratic elections are held in the country which is eventually renamed Zimbabwe.

14 December 2006
In Britain, Lord Stevens' report in to the death of Diana, the Princess of Wales in 1997 concludes her death was an accident.

15 December 1978
President Jimmy Carter states that as of 1st January 1979, the United States will formally recognise the People's Republic of China and sever relations with Taiwan.

16 December 1960
In America, two planes collide in mid-air during a severe snowstorm in New York killing 134 people.

17 December 1961
A fire breaks out in a circus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil killing more than 300 people and severely burning hundreds more.

21 December 1937
Walt Disney’s first full-length colour animated cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premieres in Los Angeles, U.S.A.

22 December 1956
A baby gorilla named Colo becomes the first-ever gorilla born in captivity at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, U.S.A.

24 December 1994
Four Islamic extremists hijack Air France plane in Algiers. The plane is allowed to land in Marseilles, France where it is eventually stormed and the siege ended.

26 December 1944
The Second World War: American troops under the command of General George S. Patton attempt to relieve Allied soldiers at Bastogne in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.

28 December 1908
An earthquake in Sicily kills over 100,000 people and destroys several towns as well causing devastation on the southern Italian mainland.

31 December 1968
Scientist Marie Curie receives a second Nobel Prize - an unprecedented event in the history of the award. Born in Poland, Marie won her first Nobel Prize along with her husband, French scientist Pierre Curie, in 1903.

3 December 1947
The first-ever performance of Tennessee Williams’ play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ on Broadway in America.

3 January 1961

President Eisenhower closes the American embassy in Havana and severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.

2 December 1977
In South Africa, the police are cleared of responsibility for the death of black rights leader Steve Biko, who died whilst in police custody.

1776: United States declares independence
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Ancient Chinese Sports

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The Plague (Part 2 of 2)

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