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1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.

1827 – The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.

1888 - In a Belfast street, a small boy named Johnny Dunlop was riding his tricycle under the supervision of his father. The two rear wheels of the tricycle were the world's first pneumatic tyres and he was testing them.

1900 - The four-month siege of the British garrison at Ladysmith in Natal (South Africa) ended, as a relief force broke through the Boers at Spion Kop.

1922 – The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

1940 – Basketball is televised for the first time, Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden.

1953 – James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature (pub. April 2).

1959 – Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object to achieve a polar orbit, is launched.

1993 – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.

1994 - In the first military action in the 45-year history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), U.S. fighter planes shot down four Serbian warplanes engaged in a bombing mission in violation of Bosnia's no-fly zone.

1997 – GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.

2004 – Over 1 million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (310 mi) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947

1940 - Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African-American actress to win an Oscar. She received the Best Supporting Actress award at the 12th Academy Awards, for her portrayal of Mammy in Gone With The Wind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattie_McDaniel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_Academy_Awards

1960 - An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter Scale devastates the Moroccan city of Agadir.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...829809.stm

1964 - The Queen's cousin, Princess Alexandra, gave birth to a son. James Ogilvy arrived at quarter past midnight in the early hours of leap year day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...758983.stm

1984 - Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau resigns after more than 15 years in office.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...514563.stm

1692 - Sarah Goode and Tituba were accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, resulting in the Salem Witch Trials.

1796 - The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain came into force. It was credited with averting war, resolving issues remaining since the ending of the American Revolution and facilitated peaceful trade between the two nations.

1960 - The first Playboy Club opened in Chicago, Illiniois.

1988 – South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.

1994: West charged as death toll mounts
Fred West has been charged with two further murders following the discovery of more human remains in the garden of his Gloucester home.
He is already facing a murder charge over the disappearance of his 16-year-old daughter Heather, whose dismembered body was found in the garden of the house at 25 Cromwell Street on Sunday.

Police have identified the second body as that of 18-year-old Shirley Robinson. The other body has not yet been identified.

Police using archaeological techniques began carefully digging up the back garden of Fred and Rose West's home on 24 February following a new tip-off about the disappearance of Heather seven years ago.

Heavily pregnant

Detective Constable Hazel Savage began investigating the Wests in 1992 after she received information they had been involved in child abuse. It led her to begin investigating Heather's disappearance.

Fred West has admitted murdering his daughter, but denied Rose had any involvement.

He has not given police any further clues as to the identities of the two other women found buried in his back garden. Police have just released the name of Shirley Robinson.

Detective Superintendent John Bennett said: "She was heavily pregnant, some six to eight months. We also know from our inquiries that a woman using that name had connections with Wolverhampton, Leicester and Bristol."

The other as yet unidentified body is that of a woman in her early 20s.

The excavation of the garden has attracted much interest from neighbours. Some have laid flowers outside number 25.

Police are still trying to contact other members of the West family. Frederick West was married twice and had a total of nine children. But it is not thought the unidentified body is another relative.


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Fred West admits murdering his own daughter but denies his wife was involved






In Context
Fred West was eventually charged with 12 murders. He escaped trial by committing suicide at Winson Green prison on New Year's Day 1995.
Rosemary West was convicted on 22 November 1995 at Winchester Crown Court for the murder of nine young women, including her daughter Heather and stepdaughter Charmaine. She was sentenced to 10 life terms.

The "House of Horrors" as it became known was demolished in October 1996 and has been turned into a landscaped footpath.

West's brother, John, committed suicide while on trial for raping his niece Ann-Marie. She and her brother Stephen have both made failed suicide attempts.

West is believed to have committed other murders, including that of Mary Bastholm, 15, who disappeared in Gloucester in 1968. No other bodies have been found.


Stories From 1 Mar
1950: Communist spy jailed for 14 years
1954: US tests hydrogen bomb in Bikini
1994: West charged as death toll mounts
1973: Palestinian gunmen hold diplomats in Sudan
1971: Workers down tools over union rights
1966: Britain to go decimal in 1971
1990: Secrets act gags whistleblowers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1567038.stm

752 BC – Romulus, legendary first king of Rome, celebrates the first Roman triumph after his victory over the Caeninenses, following The Rape of the Sabine Women.

1565 – The city of Rio de Janeiro is founded.

1692 – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba are brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts, beginning what would become known as the Salem witch trials.

1712 - The Stamp Act imposed a levy of one old penny (1d) per whole sheet on newspapers in England.

1872 - Yellowstone became the first area in the world to be designated a national park, established by an act of Congress.1872 - Yellowstone became the first area in the world to be designated a national park, established by an act of Congress.

1940 - English actress Vivien Leigh won an Oscar for her performance as Scarlett O'Hara in the film Gone with the Wind.

1947 - The International Monetary Fund bagan financial operations. Its goal was to stabilize exchange rates and to assist the reconstruction of the world’s international payment system.

1954 - The first American hydrogen bomb was "officially" detonated at the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

1966 - Venera 3, a Soviet probe, collided with Venus. It was the first unmanned spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.

1978 - Charlie Chaplin's coffin was stolen from a Swiss cemetery.

1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina declares its independence from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

2002 - NASA said its Mars Odyssey spacecraft had found evidence that vast regions of Mars may have had water.

2002 – The peseta is discontinued as official currency of Spain and is replaced by the euro (€).

2006 – English-language Wikipedia reaches its one millionth article.

I used to work out of Heathrow and watched this magnificent aircraft take off many times,it was an incredible sight.

1969: Concorde flies for the first time
The supersonic airliner, Concorde, has made a "faultless" maiden flight.
The Anglo-French plane took off from Toulouse and was in the air for just 27 minutes before the pilot made the decision to land.

The first pilot, Andre Turcat, said on his return to the airport: "Finally the big bird flies, and I can say now that it flies pretty well."

The test flight reached 10,000ft (3,000m), but Concorde's speed never rose above 300mph (480kph). The plane will eventually fly at a speed of 1,300mph (2,080kph).

Mr Turcat, his co-pilot and two engineers taxied to the end of the runway at about 1530GMT. Strong winds meant the test flight was in doubt for much of the day.

Spontaneous applause

Two previous test flights had to be abandoned because of poor weather conditions.

Concorde sped down the runway and there was a spontaneous burst of applause from watching reporters and cameramen as the wheels lifted off the ground.

The noise from the four Olympus 593 engines, built jointly by the Bristol division of Rolls Royce and the French Snecma organisation, drowned out any noise from the crowd.

Less than half-an-hour later, the aircraft was brought back down to earth using a braking parachute and reverse thrust.

The crew emerged at the top of the steps, led by Mr Turcat, who gave the thumbs up signal with each hand.

The first British test pilot, Brian Trubshaw, who watched today's flight from the news stand, said, "I was terribly impressed by the way the whole flight was conducted. It was most professional and I would like to congratulate Andre on the way he handled this performance."

The British government has so far invested £155m in the project. It is hoped Concorde will begin flying commercially in 1973, when it will cut the flying time between London and New York from seven hours 40 minutes to three hours 25 minutes.


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Watch/Listen

The maiden flight lasted just 27 minutes


Shots of Concord taking off and landing




In Context
On 9 April 1969, Brian Trubshaw made his first flight in the British-built prototype. The 22 minute flight left from a test runway at Filton near Bristol and landed at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
Concorde completed its first supersonic flight on 1 October 1969.

There were serious doubts at government level about the commercial viability of the Concorde project. Cabinet papers released under the 30 year rule warned the project would be a disaster, costing the UK £900m.

The first commercial flights took place on 21 January 1976 when British Airways flew from London Heathrow to Bahrain and Air France from Paris to Rio.

Concorde was launched at the height of the fuel crisis and a combination of its heavy fuel consumption and small tanks, which meant it could not enter the lucrative trans-Pacific market, made it uneconomic.

Concorde's image was further dented with the crash near Paris on 25 July 2000 in which 113 people died.

£17m was spent on safety improvements and the aircraft went back into commercial service in November 2001.

In April 2003 British Airways and Air France announced the plane would be retired due to falling passenger revenue and rising maintenance costs.

Concorde's final commercial flight was on 23 October 2003.


Stories From 2 Mar
1991: Sri Lankan hardliner among 19 killed in blast
1970: Ian Smith declares Rhodesia a republic
1969: Concorde flies for the first time
2000: Pinochet escapes torture trial charges
1956: King of Jordan sacks British general



http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...539049.stm

1717 – The Loves of Mars and Venus is the first ballet performed in England.

1836 - Texas declared its independence from Mexico.

1882 – Queen Victoria narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Roderick McLean in Windsor.

1923 - Time magazine made its debut.

1930 - David Herbert Lawrence (known as D.H. Lawrence), novelist and poet, died from tuberculosis in Vence - France at the age of 44. His books included Lady Chatterley's Lover, Women in Love and Sons and Lovers.

1933 - The motion picture King Kong, starring Fay Wray, had its world premiere in New York.

1949 – Captain James Gallagher lands his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute.

1958 - The British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic expedition, led by Dr. Vivian Fuchs, completed the first surface crossing of the South Pole.

1970 – Rhodesia declares itself a republic, breaking its last links with the British crown.

1983 – Compact Disc players and discs are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had only been available in Japan before then.

1986 - The Queen signed the Australia Act in Canberra. The Act resolved the anomalous power of the United Kingdom's parliament to legislate over the individual Australian states, a power that it had exercised since colonial times.

1989 – Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century.

1990 – Nelson Mandela is elected deputy President of the African National Congress.

1995 - British financial dealer Nick Leeson, who bankrupted Barings Bank, was arrested at Frankfurt Airport.

1998 – Data sent from the Galileo spacecraft indicates that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.

2001 - Joanne Kathleen Rowling (J. K. Rowling), author of Harry Potter, received an OBE from HRH Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace.

2002 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities).

(01-03-2012 14:56 )bombshell Wrote: [ -> ]1994: West charged as death toll mounts

A mate of mine was running a pub in Gloucester at the time of the Fred West case and it was just a couple of hundred yards from Cromwell Street.

Although it was a morbid way to make money, he was doing a roaring trade with journalists and camera crews from all around the world boosting his takings.

Another group to make money was Fred West's neighbours. As soon as the extent of the West's misdeeds became apparant they were besieged non-stop by reporters knocking on their door and phoning them morning, noon and night.

Had there been a hotel, cafe or restaurant in the immediate vicinity they would have had a licence to print money during their 15 minutes of fame, but there wasn't. Realising that their requests for privacy were going to be ignored, the neighbours got together to beat the media at their own game. The families whose houses backed onto the West's garden agreed that a newspaper could borrow their back bedrooms.....for £300 a day. Others started offering bed & breakfast at £100 a night; notices started appearing in people's windows - bacon sandwiches £2; coffee £1 etc

The media paid up without question. When the news of the neighbours exploits came to light, there was some criticism of their actions but the majority agreed that they were justified given the media's behaviour. I remember that a spokesman for the Inland Revenue was interviewed pointing out that any income had to be reported and was taxable but if anything came of that I don't know!

1966 - The BBC announces plans for colour television to be broadcast within the next year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...514719.stm

1974 - Turkish Airlines Flight DC10 crashes near Paris, killing all 345 people on board.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...514823.stm

1982 - The Barbican Centre in London, a new venue for art exhibitions and conferences, is opened by The Queen.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...249605.stm

1997 - The Sky Tower is opened in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the tallest free standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Tower

1969: Kray twins guilty of McVitie murder
The Kray twins, Ronald and Reginald, are facing life sentences after being found guilty of murder at the Central Criminal Court.
The jury deliberated for six hours and 55 minutes before returning the unanimous guilty verdict for the murder of Jack McVitie.

Christopher and Anthony Lambrianou and Ronald Bender were also found guilty of murder.

Ronald Kray and John Barrie were also convicted of murdering George Cornell.

Anthony Barry was found not guilty of murder and discharged. Albert Donaghue who pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder earlier in the trial will be sentenced tomorrow.

The Kray's elder brother, Charles, Frederick Foreman and Cornelius Whitehead were all found guilty of being accessories to the murder of Mr McVitie.

The judge, Mr Justice Melford Stevenson, will pass sentence tomorrow.

The accused were brought up into the dock one, by one, to hear the jury's verdict.

The Old Bailey trial has lasted 39 days so far, the longest and most expensive-ever held at the London court.

In the dock were 10 men, the judge tried to make them wear numbers to make life easier for the jury, but the twins just ripped them off.

The court was told how Ronald Kray shot dead George Cornell in front of customers at the Blind Beggar pub in the East End in 1966 for calling him a "fat poof".

It also heard how Jack "The Hat" McVitie was repeatedly stabbed by Reginald Kray in a north London flat while his brother held him down. Their elder brother, Charles, was convicted to helping to dispose of the body.

After the verdicts, the judge turned to the jury and thanked them for the "devoted and selfless attention" they had given to the evidence.

He added: "You set a standard with which I shall judge all juries in the future."


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Watch/Listen

Ronnie and Reggie Kray: notorious East End gangsters


Look back at the Krays' murder trial







In Context
The Kray twins were both sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation they should be detained for a minimum of 30 years - the longest sentences ever passed at the Old Bailey for murder.
Charles Kray was jailed for 10 years.

John Barrie, Christopher and Anthony Lambrianou and Ronald Bender were all given life. Frederick Foreman was jailed for 10 years. Cornelius Whitehead was sentenced to seven years. Albert Donaghue was jailed for two years.

In April, the Krays were back in court again, pleading not guilty to the murder of Frank "Mad Axeman" Mitchell. They were cleared of murder - but Reginald Kray was convicted of plotting Mitchell's escape from Dartmoor eleven days before he died.

Reginald Kray died in October 2000 after 31 years in jail. His twin brother, Ronald had died in jail in 1995.

Charles Kray died in prison in April 2000 while serving time for masterminding a £69m cocaine smuggling plot.


Stories From 4 Mar
1976: Guilty verdict for 'Maguire Seven'
1989: Six die in Purley rail crash
1969: Kray twins guilty of McVitie murder
1980: Mugabe to lead independent Zimbabwe
1975: Comic genius Chaplin is knighted