1989: Crackdown at Tiananmen begins
With protests for democratic reform entering their seventh week, the Chinese government authorises its soldiers and tanks to reclaim Beijing's
Tiananmen Square at all costs. By nightfall on 4th June, Chinese troops had forcibly cleared the square, killing hundreds and arresting thousands of demonstrators and suspected dissidents. The Tiananmen Square protest began after the mid-April death of
Hu Yaobang, a Chinese leader who had supported reforms. Students mourning Hu, gathered at Tiananmen, and launched an impromptu
demonstration. By May, close to a million people had filled the square. The army was called in to end the protest, but demonstrators blocked their advance, leading to a tense standoff that ended with the brutal crackdown on 3rd June.
2006
Montenegro declares its independence from Serbia.1997
Lionel Jospin becomes Prime Minister of
France. 1991
The British Army shoot dead 3
IRA members in Northern Ireland.
1989
An explosion of gas from a leaking pipeline engulfs two passenger trains on the Trans-Siberian
railway in the Ural Mountains in Russia killing 575 people.
1982
The Israeli ambassador to
Britain, Shlomo Argov, is shot in the street in London. Argov survives the attack but was permanently paralysed.
1977
Bob Marley and the Wailers release their classic album,
Exodus. 1973
A Soviet supersonic airliner, a Tupolev 144, crashes while flying at the Paris Air Show, killing 14 people.1972
In
Northern Ireland, Protestant marchers and the British Army clash at the end of a protest march.
1968
In America, radical feminist writer Valerie Solanas shoots artist
Andy Warhol. Warhol survives the attack and Solanas was sentenced to three years in prison.
1965
Launch of U.S.A.’s Gemini 4 spaceship manned by James McDivitt and Edward
White. During the flight Edward White becomes the first American to walk in space.
1962
An Air France Boeing 707 crashes on take-off at Orly Airport in
Paris, killing the 130 people on board.
1940
The Second World War: The
Luftwaffe bomb Paris, killing 254 people.
1937
Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor and former heir to the throne of England, marries American divorcee Wallis Simpson in France.1326
The Treaty of Novgorod is signed ending the Swedish-Novgorodian Wars.1098
After a five month siege during the First Crusade, the Crusaders capture the city of
Antioch (in modern day Turkey).
1966
Pakistan cricket captain Wasim Akram.1950
Musician Suzi Quatro.1948
British jockey Bob Champion - winner of the Grand National riding Aldaniti.1945
British golfer Brian Barnes.1945
American golfer Hale Irwin. Winner of the US Open in 1970; 1979 and 1990.1942
English singer Anita Harris. 1925
American
actor Tony Curtis - real name Bernard Schwartz.
1911
Actress Paulette Goddard - born Marion Levy. Stars with silent movie comedian Charlie Chaplin in films such as Modern Times and The Great Dictator. Married to Chaplin 1935-1942.1910
Sir Christopher Cockerell, inventor of the Hovercraft.1865
King
George V of England. Reigns from 1910 until his death in 1936.
1992
English
actor Robert Morley.
1989
Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini aged 86.1986
English actress Dame
Anna Neagle - real name Marjorie Robertson.Films included Odette; Victoria The Great and Spring in Park Lane.
1899
Austrian composer Johann Strauss. Works included the Blue Danube Waltz.1898
Politician
Samuel Plimsoll - introduces a maximum safety load-line for shipping.
1875
French composer George Bizet.1657
English physician
William Harvey. Discovered the true nature of the circulation of blood and the heart's function as a pump.
