On this day: Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska
1267: St Louis of France called his knights to Paris to prepare for his second crusade to Holy Land.
1595: Peace of Boulogne ended England’s war with France and Scotland.
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Hide Ad1603: King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the throne of England to begin reign as James I of England on the death of Queen Elizabeth.
1783: Spain recognised independence of United States.
1882: Robert Koch, German bacteriologist, announced isolation of tuberculosis germs.
1891: Britain and Italy reached agreement in Ethiopia, defining frontiers of their Red Sea colonies.
1920: Royal Commission on decimal coinage reported against changing the existing system.
1924: Greece was proclaimed a republic.
1927: Chinese Communists seized Nanking.
1929: Fascists “won” single-party elections in Italy.
1942: The “national loaf” was introduced in Britain.
1946: Alistair Cooke read his first Letter from America on BBC radio. He read his weekly letter for 58 years, the last one a few weeks before his death at the age of 95 in 2004
1962: Benny Paret taken to hospital with brain injury sustained in defending world welterweight title against Emile Griffith in New York. He died on 3 April.
1964: Stansted was provisionally chosen as the site of London’s third airport.
1972: As political and military situation deteriorated in Northern Ireland, Westminster announced that direct rule would be imposed.
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Hide Ad1974: Uganda crushed coup attempt against president Idi Amin following machine-gun and mortar battle with rebels.
1976: Isabel Peron ousted as president of Argentina in a military coup.
1980: In broad daylight, on a main road in Barking, Essex, 321 silver bars imported from Germany were hijacked. Ten weeks later, 309 ingots were found in a garage near Enfield.
1989: Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska polluted large areas of United States north-western seaboard.
1990: Soviet tanks and troops moved into Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
1991: Police shot dead 11 ANC activists at a rally near Johannesburg.
1992: Graham Gooch and Ian Botham walked out of a cricket World Cup dinner in Melbourne when an Australian comedian made jokes about the Queen.
BIRTHDAYS
Mo Farah CBE, Somali-born British athlete, 31; Dario Fo, Italian playwright, actor and Nobel laureate, 88; Archie Gemmill, Scottish footballer and coach, 67; Alyson Hannigan, actress, 40; Curtis Hanson, film director, 69; Tommy Hilfiger, fashion designer, 63; Sonia Lannaman, athlete, 58; Kelly LeBrock, actress, 54; Nick Lowe, rock performer and composer, 65; Benjamin Luxon CBE, baritone, 77; Patrick Malahide, actor, 69; 38; Liz McColgan MBE, Scottish athlete, 50; Peter Powell, disc jockey, 63; Baron (Alan) Sugar, businessman, 67; Stephen Yardley, actor, 72.
ANNIVERSARIES
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Hide AdBirths: 1834 William Morris, artist and poet; 1887 Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, silent film comedian; 1903 Malcolm Muggeridge, author and broadcaster; 1909 Clyde Barrow, one half of United States outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.
Deaths: 1603 Queen Elizabeth I of England (after reigning for 44 years); 1953 Queen Mary, wife of King George V; 1976 Viscount Montgomery of Alamein; 2012 Jocky Wilson, Fife-born darts player.