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1888 - Scottish inventor John Boyd Dunlop patented pneumatic bicycle tyres.

1903 - Hampden Park football ground - Glasgow, was opened.

1926 - Sir Jimmy Savile, radio and TV entertainer was born.

1926 – Magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured.

1941 - Mount Rushmore National Memorial was completed after 14 years.

1952 - The U.S. exploded its first hydrogen bomb, at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

1982 - The Thames barrier, part of London's flood defences, was raised for the first time.

1984 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two security guards. Riots soon break out in New Delhi and nearly 10,000 Sikhs are killed.

1992 - The Vatican formally rehabilitated Galileo Galilei, who was forced by the Inquisition in 1633 to recant his assertion that the Earth orbits the Sun.

2000 – Soyuz TM-31 launches, carrying the first resident crew to the International Space Station. The ISS has been continuously crewed since.

1966: Viet Cong bombs Saigon
At least eight people have been killed and several wounded after Viet Cong artillery shelled the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon.
Altogether about 30 shells were fired into the city centre.

The first round came as troops and spectators were getting ready to watch a parade to mark National Day, the third anniversary of the overthrow and assassination of former Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem.

There was a lull and then a second round of shells exploded as Prime Minister Nguyen Kao Ky was saluting his troops.

American officer killed

There was chaos as crowds tried to find cover on foot or by motor scooter.

Many found their way blocked by American and South Vietnamese armoured vehicles coming from the opposite direction.

One shell hit the Chapel of Saint Anthony of Padua in the cathedral.

And another exploded just outside the cathedral killing an American officer.

Five other Americans were wounded and at least two Vietnamese killed when a shell hit the crowded central market.

The Viet Cong were firing from bases at the edge of the jungle some three and half miles away from Saigon and amazed military observers with their accuracy.

They also sank an American minesweeper in the Saigon River with a mine later in the day, killing several crew members.

Call for more US troops

So far US armed helicopters and South Vietnamese ground forces have failed to track down any Viet Cong bases.

Yesterday, former US President General Dwight D Eisenhower called for more troops to be sent to Vietnam to bring about a swift end to the conflict.

He told the US News and World Report that the war had been "going on too long" and said America should be "putting in the kind of military strength we need to win" as soon as possible.


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Watch/Listen

Armed helicopters have failed to locate Viet Cong bases in the jungle


An American commentator witnesses the aftermath







In Context
The Viet Cong was a communist movement dedicated to the union of North and South and had been fighting a guerrilla war against South Vietnam since 1954.
They were reinforced by North Vietnamese troops in 1959 in an effort to overthrow the South Vietnamese Government.

In 1961 the US began sending troops to the region to bring a halt to what it saw as the spread of communism in South-East Asia.

In 1965 the US started air raids on the North.

Peace talks in 1969 saw American involvement decrease but war took hold once more in 1970 when the US and South Vietnam invaded Cambodia.

A major communist offensive in 1972, coupled with strong opposition at home to US involvement in the war, led to further peace talks and the Paris Agreement in January, 1973 and the withdrawal of US troops.

Saigon fell to communist forces on 30 April 1975.

Some 900,000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese, 50 000 Americans, and about 400,000 South Vietnamese had died.


Stories From 1 Nov
1966: Viet Cong bombs Saigon
1970: Nightclub inferno 'wipes out generation'
1986: Chemical spill turns Rhine red
1984: Violence follows Gandhi killing
1990: Howe resigns over Europe policy

1512 - Michelangelo's painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling was exhibited for the first time.

1520 – The Strait of Magellan is discovered, the passage immediately south of mainland South America, connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first navigated by Ferdinand Magellan during the first global circumnavigation voyage.

1604 – William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.

1755 – Lisbon earthquake: In Portugal, Lisbon is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between sixty thousand and ninety thousand people.

1848 - WH Smith opened its first railway bookstall at Euston Station in London.

1884 - The International Meridian Conference set up time zones for the world and adopted a treaty making Greenwich, England, the Prime Meridian.

1941 – American photographer Ansel Adams takes a picture of a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico that would become one of the most famous images in the history of photography.

1944 - Britain's Home Guard, formed in 1939 to fight the expected German invasion, was ordered to disband.

1960 – While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps.

1967 - The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine was published.

1968 – The Motion Picture Association of America's film rating system is officially introduced, originating with the ratings G, M, R, and X.

1981 – Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom.

1982 - A new terrestrial television channel, Channel Four, began transmitting its first programme - the word game 'Countdown'.

1993 - The Maastricht Treaty came into effect, formally establishing the European Union. Great Britain, France, Germany, the Irish Republic, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands agreed to work together on economic integration, common foreign and security policies, and cooperation between police and other authorities on crime, terrorism, and immigration issues.

(01-11-2011 12:35 )skully Wrote: [ -> ]1982 - A new terrestrial television channel, Channel Four, began transmitting its first programme - the word game 'Countdown'.

Viewers in Wales had had their first look at the fourth channel a day earlier, as S4C had started transmitting at 6.00 pm the previous evening. After the news and features programme in Welsh came the soap opera "Pobol y Cwm" and then the first English Language programme...."Max Boyce meets the Dallas Cowboys"!!

(01-11-2011 19:08 )mr williams Wrote: [ -> ]

(01-11-2011 12:35 )skully Wrote: [ -> ]1982 - A new terrestrial television channel, Channel Four, began transmitting its first programme - the word game 'Countdown'.

Viewers in Wales had had their first look at the fourth channel a day earlier, as S4C had started transmitting at 6.00 pm the previous evening. After the news and features programme in Welsh came the soap opera "Pobol y Cwm" and then the first English Language programme...."Max Boyce meets the Dallas Cowboys"!!

and s4c are still turning out a load of crap that nobody wants to watch!

1951: 6,000 British troops flown into Egypt
Up to 6,000 British troops from the 1st Infantry Division have arrived at Fayid in the Canal Zone of Egypt.
It is the last phase of what has been described as the biggest airlift of troops since World War II.

Hastings and Valetta aircraft brought in most of the 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards from Tripoli in Libya, in an effort to try to quell anti-British disturbances in the region.

Over the next few days they will be joined by the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards and 1st Battalion, The Cameron Highlanders.

Strikes bring chaos

Some of the planes arriving with troops are expected to take back British service families.

They have been ordered to leave because their safety cannot be guaranteed as there is no more housing left in protected areas.

Many of them have been living here for as long as 20 years and have been subjected to intimidation by local Egyptians as anti-British demonstrations increase daily and workers go on strike.

There are reports of chaos and confusion in the ports of Suez and Port Said as Egyptians downed tools. Clerks at the passport and immigration office at Port Said are also on strike.

Ships coming through the Suez Canal, under British control since 1875, are unable to unload goods and are having to continue their journey fully loaded.

This has also affected goods intended for Egypt itself. The Times reports at least one ship carrying equipment for the Egyptian forces and state railways had to go on to the Far East without dropping off its cargo.

Last night in Cairo, the Minister of the Interior Fuad Serag ed-Din Pasha, was asked his opinion on Pakistan's offer to mediate in the crisis.

He said Egypt had already made its demands clear but would be willing to negotiate if Britain carried out a complete evacuation of its forces in Egypt as was agreed in 1946.

He blamed the British for the Egyptian army's difficulty in defending the Suez Canal and said it had not yet received weapons which had already been paid for.

Meanwhile the dissident Wafd Party has called on Arab nations to break off diplomatic relations with Britain.


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British troops are patrolling the Suez Canal zone


British troops secure Suez Canal zone







In Context
Three weeks later Britain was forced to move out thousands of its citizens trapped in their homes by sporadic gun battles between British soldiers and Egyptian police.
A military coup in 1952 ended the period of constitutional monarchy in 1953 and Arab nationalist Abdel Nasser came to power in 1954.

Two years later he astonished the British and French by nationalising the Suez Canal, provoking an invasion by Israeli and Anglo-French forces, which were forced by the UN to withdraw.

The nationalist Wafd party was formed in 1924, two years after Egypt gained its independence from Britain. It dominated Egyptian politics until the 1952 coup when it was dissolved but re-emerged in opposition in 1984.


Stories From 2 Nov
1986: US hostage freed in Beirut
1988: Dead heat in Israel elections
1995: Ex-minister charged with apartheid murders
2000: Schools watchdog Woodhead resigns
1951: 6,000 British troops flown into Egypt

1721 - Peter the Great, the czar of Russia, changed his title to emperor to be more in line with European thinking. He also founded the new Russian capital of St. Petersburg.

1871 - British police began their Rogues' Gallery, taking photographs of all convicted prisoners.

1896 - The first motor insurance policies were issued in Britain, they excluded damage caused by frightened horses.

1924 - Almost 11 years after its appearance in America, the first crossword puzzle was published in a British newspaper, sold to the Sunday Express by C.W. Shepherd.

1930 - Ras Tafari, King of Ethiopia, was crowned emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

1936 – The British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, the world's first regular, "high-definition" (then defined as at least 200 lines) service. Renamed BBC1 in 1964.

1947 – In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Spruce Goose or H-4 The Hercules; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built.

1960 - Penguin publishers were cleared of obscenity for printing the D.H. Lawrence novel Lady Chatterley's Lover.

1965 – Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker, sets himself on fire in front of the river entrance to the Pentagon to protest the use of napalm in the Vietnam war.

1988 – The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT.

1957: Russians launch dog into space
The Soviet Union has launched the first ever living creature into the cosmos.
The dog, described as a female Russian breed, was projected into space this morning from Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard the artificial space satellite Sputnik II. Sputnik I, launched on 4 October, is still circling the globe.

The dog has been fitted with monitors to check its heartbeat and other vital signs and was reported to be calm during the first hours of the flight.

Russian scientists are particularly interested in the effects of solar radiation and weightlessness on living organisms.

Fury of animal lovers

Moscow Radio reported the second satellite was launched to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution and gave details about the spacecraft's contents and orbit.

Sputnik II weighs half a ton (508kg) and carries instruments for studying solar and cosmic rays, temperature and pressure, two radio transmitters and a hermetically-sealed container with "an experimental animal" inside, as well as oxygen and food supplies.

It is travelling more than 900 miles, (nearly 1,500 km) above the Earth - higher than Sputnik I - and is orbiting at about five miles (8km) a second.

It will take one hour and 42 minutes to circle the Earth.

The satellite is transmitting telegraphic signals that are being picked up from receiving stations around the globe.

Animal welfare organisations expressed outrage at news that the Russians have sent a dog into outer space.

The National Canine Defence League is calling on all dog lovers to observe a minute's silence every day the dog is in space.

The RSPCA said it received calls of protest even before the Moscow Radio announcement of the launch had ended.

It has advised those who wish to protest to do so at the Russian Embassy in London.

'Dog was trained for mission'

It is believed the Russians are planning to catapult the dog back to Earth although there has been no official announcement confirming this.

One British scientist told newspaper reporters the dog had probably been trained for the journey but was unlikely to survive.

"A terrified dog would be useless scientifically," said Dr William Lane-Petter, Director of the Laboratory Animals Bureau of the Medical Research Council.

"It would not give them the information they want. This dog will have been trained long for the task and subjected to similar simulated conditions, and this flight is just another experience of the same sort."


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The dog is reported to be calm in the first few hours of her historic flight






In Context
The following day, after several inquiries from Western journalists, Russian officials confirmed the dog's name as Laika.
The Soviet authorities said Laika died painlessly after a week in orbit but in 2002 new evidence revealed the dog died from over-heating and panic just a few hours after take-off.

Laika's "coffin" burned up in the Earth's atmosphere over Barbados on 14 April 1958, five months after launch.

Three years later, the Russians achieved another space first by sending Yuri Gagarin into orbit on 12 April 1961.

The Sputnik II flight made Laika one of the world's most famous animals and allowed Russian scientists to learn much about the prospects for human space travel.


Stories From 3 Nov
2004: George W Bush wins second term
1957: Russians launch dog into space
1975: North Sea oil begins to flow
1964: Election triumph for Lyndon B Johnson
1985: Agents plead guilty in Rainbow Warrior trial
1997: Angry truckers blockade French ports

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2367681.stm

1507 - Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to paint Lisa Gherardini, the Mona Lisa.

1534 - England's Parliament met and passed an Act of Supremacy which made King Henry VIII head of the English church, a role formerly held by the Pope.

1843 - The statue of English Admiral Horatio Nelson was raised to the top of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London.

1913 – The United States introduces an income tax.

1973 – Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury. On March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet.

1975 - Queen Elizabeth II opened the North Sea pipeline (the first to be built underwater) bringing ashore 400,000 barrels a day to Grangemouth Refinery on the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

1985 - Two French agents in New Zealand pleaded guilty to sinking the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior and to the manslaughter of a photographer on board. They were sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

1997 – The United States of America imposes economic sanctions against Sudan in response to its human rights abuses of its own citizens and its material and political assistance to Islamic extremist groups across the Middle East and Eastern Africa.

1998 - Former pro wrestler Jesse (The Body) Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota.

(03-11-2011 11:55 )bombshell Wrote: [ -> ]1957: Russians launch dog into space
The Soviet Union has launched the first ever living creature into the cosmos.

Although Laika is generally remembered as the first living space traveller, it was later revealed that both sides had secretly been experimenting with animal space flights for more than a decade.

Strictly speaking, the title belongs to a colony of fruit flies launched by the Americans on a captured V-2 rocket in 1947. In 1949 an American monkey by the name of "Albert I" was killed when the rocket blew up on ascent. "Albert II" was successfully launched into space and instruments showed the occupant successfully survived the launch, 10gs of force and a period of weightlessness, but the parachute failed on re-entry and the monkey died on impact.

In 1951 the Russians successfully recovered two dogs (Tsygan and Dezik) after a sub-orbital flight.

After Laika many species made the trip aloft, including Ham and Enos, the famous American chimps. Russia sent up the first guinea pigs and frogs in 1962 and France sent up the first rat and cat in 1963 (although the cat was the second choice moggy as the first candidate named "Felix" sensibly managed to run away the day before the launch!). Even Argentina got into the act, launching a rat called "Bellisario" in 1967. The first space tortoise went into orbit in 1968 and the first fish and spider in 1972.