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1065 - Westminster Abbey was consecrated. Its founder Edward the Confessor could not attend due to illness.

1612 – Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star.

1694 - Mary II, joint sovereign of England, Scotland and Ireland, died from smallpox, leaving William III to reign alone.

1734 - The death of Robert Roy MacGregor (Rob Roy), the famous Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century.

1836 - Mexico's independence was recognized by Spain.

1869 - Chewing gum was patented by William F. Semple of Mount Vernon, Ohio.

1879 – The Tay Bridge Disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapses as a train passes over it, killing 75.

1908 - The most destructive earthquake in European history struck Messina, Italy, flattening the city and killing more than 80,000 people. The earthquake registered 7.5 on the Richter scale.

1950 - Derbyshire's Peak District became Britain’s first National Park.

1993 - Customs officials at Felixstowe seized £70m of Colombian cocaine.

2009 – 43 people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims are observing the Day of Ashura.

1170 - Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas à Becket, was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights, believing they were acting on direct orders from King Henry II. He subsequently became a saint and martyr in both the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church.

1607 - Indian chief Powhatan spared John Smith's life because of the pleas of Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas.

1845 – According with International Boundary delimitation, U.S.A annexes the Mexican state of Texas, following the Manifest Destiny doctrine. For others, the Republic of Texas, which had been independent since the Texas Revolution of 1836, is admitted as the 28th U.S. state.

1851 - The first U.S. branch Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) was established, in Boston. The organization started in London in 1844.

1860 - HMS Warrior, Britain's first seagoing iron-clad warship, was launched. She froze to the slipway when she was launched during London's coldest winter for 50 years and six tugs were required to haul her into the river. In later years Warrior was saved from being scrapped by the efforts of the Maritime Trust. The restoration took 8 years. Today, the ship is used as a venue for special events, and can be privately hired as a wedding venue.

1940 - London suffered its most devastating air raid, and approximately 1,500 fires were started, when Germany started dropping incendiary bombs on it during World War II.

1997 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.

1998 - Khmer Rouge leaders apologized for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed one million lives.

1853 - The United States bought 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase. The treaty established the final boundaries of the southern United States.

1879 - The first performance of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Pirates of Penzance, at the Royal Bijou Theatre, Paignton, Devon.

1880 - In British South Africa, the Transvaal province was declared an independent Boer republic, which set off an armed conflict with Britain.

1887 - A petition, signed by more than 1 million women in Britain, was sent to Queen Victoria calling for public houses to be closed on Sundays.

1924 – Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galaxies.

1927 – The Ginza Line, the first subway line in Asia opens in Tokyo, Japan.

1940 - California's first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, was officially opened.

1986 - According to new plans by the government, more than 200 canaries would be 'phased out' of Britain's mining pits. New electronic devices would replace canaries as detectors of harmful gasses, because they were said to be cheaper in the long run and more effective.

2005 – Tropical Storm Zeta forms in the open Atlantic Ocean, tying the record for the latest tropical cyclone ever to form in the North Atlantic basin.

New Year's Eve.

1600 - Queen Elizabeth I of England granted a formal charter to the London merchants trading to the East Indies, hoping to break the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade.

1695 - The window tax was imposed in Britain. It resulted in many being bricked up, evidence which remains to this day.

1720 - The birth, in Rome, of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart), also known as the Young Pretender.

1759 - Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and started brewing Guinness at the St. James's Gate Brewery, Dublin. Ten years later Guinness exported his ale for the first time, when six and a half barrels were shipped to Britain.

1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, NJ.

1890 - New York's Ellis Island opened its doors to what would be millions of immigrants to the United States.

1923 - The chimes of Big Ben were broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.

1960 - The farthing coin, which had been in use in Great Britain since the 13th century, ceased to be legal tender.

1999 – Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.

2004 – The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).

1971: Sixty-six die in Scottish football disaster
Sixty-six football supporters have been killed following a match between Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers at the Ibrox Park stadium in Glasgow.
The disaster occurred when crush barriers collapsed as thousands of fans made their way out of the stadium.

Initial reports suggest the tragedy, which happened on stairway 13 of the stadium, was caused when hundreds of Rangers fans began leaving the match early believing Celtic had won.

Jimmy Johnstone had scored for Celtic with just a minute to go, but Colin Stein scored an equalising goal for Rangers during injury time causing a huge roar to erupt inside the stadium.

According to eye-witnesses, fans attempting to get back up the stairs after hearing the roar, collided head-on with those coming down the stairs.


Everyone was struggling to get out, suffocating - it was essentially a fight for survival


Rescuers, who were on the scene within minutes, tried to force their way through the crowds, but their efforts were mostly in vain. One man who managed to struggle out of the crush, described the scene.

"I was making my way out of the stadium down the stairs when suddenly everything seemed to stop," he said.

"The lads at the back just kept coming forward down the stairs.

"I went down with the rest of the crowd, being pushed and pulled onto the ground.

"Everyone was struggling to get out, suffocating - it was essentially a fight for survival. After 10 or 15 minutes I was dragged out by a policeman and brought to hospital by ambulance."

Eighteen-year-old Margaret Ferguson was the only female fan to be killed in the tragedy.

Alick Buchanan-Smith, Scottish minister for Home Affairs, has called for an immediate inquiry into the disaster.


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Watch/Listen

The tragedy happened as fans left the stadium


Radio commentary on the aftermath at Ibrox




In Context
A public inquiry later discounted the initial version of events which suggested fans had been attempting to go back up the stairway.
It is now believed the crush was caused simply by the downward force of so many supporters leaving at the same time.

The momentum of the crowd meant that once people started to fall, there was no way of holding the mass of bodies back.

The disaster remains the worst in the history of Scottish football and is surpassed only by the Hillsborough tragedy in British football.


Stories From 2 Jan
1971: Sixty-six die in Scottish football disaster
1993: Round table talks on peace for Bosnia
1980: Steel workers strike over pay
1996: US peacekeepers pour into Bosnia
1969: Murdoch wins Fleet Street foothold


http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witne...368963.stm

1769 - The Royal Academy, founded through a personal act of King George III on 10th December 1768, was opened in Piccadilly, London.

1839 - French photographer Louis Daguerre took the first photograph of the Moon.

1929 - The United States and Canada reached an agreement to preserve Niagara Falls.

1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the U.S.S.R.

1987 - The publishers of Enid Blyton's Noddy books bowed to pressure groups and agreed to expunge racism by changing the golliwog characters to gnomes.

2004 – Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.

1642 - Under the orders of King Charles I, armed soldiers entered Parliament. The English Civil War started shortly afterwards.

1847 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.

1865 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City.

1885 – The first successful appendectomy is performed (in the US) by William W. Grant on Mary Gartside.

1932 - Gandhi was arrested and his National Congress of India declared illegal by the British administration.The warrant for Gandhi's arrest merely said that he was being arrested 'for good and sufficient reasons.'

1936 - The first pop-music chart was compiled, based on record sales published in New York, in Billboard magazine.

1948 – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1967 – Donald Campbell is killed on Coniston Water while attempting to break the world water speed record.

1972 - Rose Heilbron became Britain’s first woman judge at the Old Bailey. Her career included many 'firsts' for a woman - she was the first woman to win a scholarship to Gray's Inn, the first woman to be appointed King's Counsel in England, the first to lead in a murder case, the first woman Recorder, the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey and the first woman Treasurer of Gray's Inn.

1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota.

2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.

2010 – The Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building is officially opened.

1981: Man arrested for Ripper murders
A 35-year-old lorry driver from Bradford, suspected of carrying out 13 murders across West Yorkshire over the past five years, has appeared in court.
Peter William Sutcliffe, of 6 Garden Lane, Bradford, is accused of murdering 20-year-old university student Jacqueline Hill, who was killed in Leeds seven weeks ago.

Sutcliffe, who was also charged with the theft of two number plates, was remanded in custody for eight days by magistrates in Dewsbury today.

Miss Hill is the latest victim in a spate of murders across West Yorkshire.

Following Sutcliffe's arrest in Sheffield last Friday, police told reporters they were confident they had apprehended the notorious Yorkshire Ripper.

A crowd of more than 2,000 people, who had gathered outside the court, shouted abuse and threats as Sutcliffe, handcuffed to a police officer, was ushered into the court.

Accompanied by his wife Sonia and her father Sutcliffe was led up into the dock surrounded by uniformed police officers.

Wearing a blue cardigan and grey trousers, he stood motionless in the dock during the ten-minute hearing.

He spoke only to say that he understood the charges he was facing and to confirm that he had no legal representation.

The investigation into the Yorkshire ripper murders has involved hundreds of police officers and thousands of man-hours.

Sutcliffe will make his next court appearance on 13 January.


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Peter Sutcliffe is a long distance lorry driver


Angry mob witness Sutcliffe's arrival at court




In Context
Peter Sutcliffe's reign of terror as the Yorkshire Ripper lasted from 1976 to 1981, during which time he killed 13 women in the north of England and tried to kill seven others.
Sutcliffe, who claimed he was driven to commit the murders by messages from God, became the subject of one of the largest police manhunts this country has ever seen.

His victims were mainly prostitutes and many of their bodies were horribly mutilated with hammers and knives.

He was arrested on Friday 2 January, 1981 and following a two-week trial was sentenced to no less than 30 years behind bars on Friday 22 May 1981.


Stories From 5 Jan
1985: Israel ends major Ethiopian rescue mission
1976: Ten dead in Northern Ireland ambush
1993: Oil tanker runs aground off Shetland
2001: Shipman 'may have killed hundreds'
1981: Man arrested for Ripper murders
1952: Churchill renews 'special relationship'


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1318641.stm

1066 – Edward the Confessor dies childless, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman Conquest of England.

1531 - Pope Clemens VII forbade English King Henry VIII to re-marry. The event led to the creation of the Church of England.

1896 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Roentgen has discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays.

1914 – The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor.

1933 – Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.

1993 – The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.

2001 - A report funded by The Department of Health found that the convicted serial killer, former GP Harold Shipman, may have killed in excess of 300 of his patients.

2005 – Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, is discovered by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.

1066 - The coronation of Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England, succeeding Edward the Confessor. He reigned for ten months before he died at the Battle of Hastings while fighting the Norman invaders led by William the Conqueror.

1412 - The birth of St Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orléans. She was a great heroine of French history and believed that she had a divine mission to drive the British from France. She died at the stake after being captured by the Burgundians and sold to the British.

1540 - King Henry VIII married Anne of Cleves (the Flanders Mare), his fourth wife. She was Queen of England from 6th January to 9th July 1540. The marriage was never consummated and following the annulment, Anne was given a generous settlement by the King, she was referred to thereafter as the King's Beloved Sister. She lived to see the coronation of Henry's daughter, (Mary I) and outlasted all of Henry's wives.

1839 – The most damaging storm in 300 years sweeps across Ireland, damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin.

1916 - World War I - The British Government introduced conscription, to replace the many thousands killed in the trenches in France.

1929 – Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta, India, to begin her work among India's poorest and sick people.

1938 - The 82 year old Sigmund Freud (the pioneer of psychoanalysis), arrived in London from Vienna with several of his students, to escape the persecution of Jews.

1942 - The Pan American Airways Pacific Clipper arrived in New York after making the first round-the-world trip by a commercial airplane.

1978 – The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.

1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.