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1981 - Moss Side (Manchester) riots

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Space shuttle launches flawlessly after one heart-stopping delay
Countdown to the launch of space shuttle Atlantis stopped with 31 seconds to go while engineers made a final check

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Alok Jha, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 July 2011 17.16 BST
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The shuttle blasts into space one last time. Video: Nasa Link to this video
Atlantis, the last of Nasa's operational space shuttles, has blasted into space for the final time. The launch is the culmination of 30 years of the shuttle programme and marks an end – for now – to America's ability to send astronauts into space.

Atlantis will spend 12 days in Earth orbit in its mission to re-supply the International Space Station in what will be the last American-controlled flight into space for the foreseeable future.

Despite fears that the shuttle would be prevented from launching because of bad weather, the launch went smoothly, apart from a heart-stopping short delay with the countdown clock stopped on 31 seconds to launch. There was a three-minute delay while engineers confirmed the complete retraction of the gaseous vent arm at the launchpad before the countdown resumed.

The launch had been uncertain until late in the morning, with meteorologists warning of inclement weather conditions closing in on the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Shortly before the scheduled time of 11.26am EDT, however, Nasa officials confirmed suitable weather and gave the launch a green light.

The mission, designated STS-135, is led by commander Chris Ferguson, flown by pilot Doug Hurley, and is carrying mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim. In the shuttle's cargo bay is the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module, which contains supplies and spare parts for the space station and its crew.

Before heading for the launchpad, the astronauts enjoyed a hearty breakfast of tenderloin steak, hash browns, tomatoes, salad, strawberries and watermelon.

The launch was attended by dignitaries from the Obama administration including chief science adviser, John Holdren, and the US attorney General, Eric Holder. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and musicians Diana Krall, Alan Parsons and Gloria Estefan were also scheduled to watch Altlantis go up for the final time.

2001: Scientists discover why we are here
A Californian University has thrown more light on why the Big Bang works after nearly 40 years of world-wide research.
Most scientists accept that the universe began with the Big Bang and the existence - in equal amounts - of matter and anti-matter.

The theory has been complicated by the fact that if matter and anti-matter were present in equal amounts they would cancel each other out and there would not be a universe.

Experiments by Stanford University's international team of physicists have provided the most substantial proof yet that matter and anti-matter decay at different rates and this explains the continued predominance of matter.

Charge-parity explained

This process is called charge-parity (CP) violation and derives from research in the 1950s and 1960s by theorists like Andrei Sakharov.

The evidence for CP has rested solely on - increasingly accurate - measurements of the different decay rates of the sub-atomic particle, neutral K meson and its anti-particle.

Now the team working at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (Slac) has observed CP violation in a heavier particle/anti-particle pair related to B meson.

They made their discovery using a 1,200 tonne detector called Babar, designed, built and operated by 600 scientists and engineers, many from the UK.

Babar forces particles to crash into each other and simulate the effects of the Big Bang deep under the Californian landscape.

The findings of the Slac team will be published in the journal Physical Review Letters.


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Microwave map of the cosmos



Facts of the anti-matter
The idea of anti-matter has been around since 1928 when British physicist Paul Dirac suggested the existence of atoms with negatively charged anti-protons at the centre and positively charged electrons - positrons - orbiting them. Ordinary atoms consist of a positively charged nucleus surrounded by negatively charged electrons.
It is very difficult to make anti-matter and requires powerful particle accelerators like Babar.
Scientists estimate that around 20kg of anti-matter like anti-hydrogen - first produced in Switzerland in 1997 - could power a spaceship across the galaxy.
Over the past 10 years particle physicists in Europe, the US and Asia have put together plans for a gigantic, £3bn particle accelerator that they hope to be switched on by 2011.


Stories From 9 Jul
1982: Queen fends off bedroom intruder
1984: Historic York Minster engulfed by flames
1991: Bank collapse costs taxpayers millions
1973: Bahamas' sun sets on British Empire
2001: Scientists discover why we are here

From wikipedia

1540 - England's King Henry VIII had his six-month marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, annulled.

1553 - Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed queen of England in succession to Edward VI. Her reign lasted only nine days. Her successor was Mary I.

1810 – Napoleon annexes the Kingdom of Holland as part of the First French Empire.

1816 - Argentina declared independence from Spain.

1893 - The first successful open-heart surgery was performed, in Chicago, by noted African-American doctor Daniel Hale Williams.

1900 - The Commonwealth of Australia was established by an act of British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.

1922 – Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the world swimming record and the 'minute barrier'.

1938 - In anticipation of World War II, 35 million gas masks were issued to Britain's civilian population.

1962 – Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans exhibition opens at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles.

1986 – The New Zealand Parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act, legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.

from wikipedia

1940: Luftwaffe launches Battle of Britain
The German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, has mounted a series of attacks on shipping convoys off the south-east coast of England.
It is the first major assault by the Luftwaffe and is being seen as what the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, dubbed in a speech three weeks ago as the beginning of the "Battle of Britain".

Although heavily outnumbered, the British fighter pilots put up a fierce fight and succeeded in driving off the attackers.

The Air Ministry says they inflicted "the greatest damage on the German air force since bombing raids on this country began".

In total the Air Ministry says 14 enemy aircraft were shot down and 23 more were severely damaged.


The scramble was a hurried affair ... a large enemy formation was encountered flying up the Thames Estuary towards London

People's War memories »

Two British fighters were lost, but the pilot of one survived and is safe.

The bombing raids began at dawn hitting airfields along the south and east coasts of England.

But the main attacks took place offshore later in the day, when two shipping convoys were targeted. The first was at 1100 hours off Manston and at 1325 hours a large force of about 120 enemy aircraft approached a convoy between Dover and Dungeness.

Spitfire pilots went into the attack shooting down a number of German Messerschmitts, Me110s and Me109s. Exact numbers are difficult to verify but it seems at least nine planes were shot down.

On landing the Spitfire pilots said when they made their last attack and came round again to carry on the fight the sky was clear of German aircraft.

Towards evening Hurricane pilots sighted nine Heinkel bombers protected by more than 50 fighters attempting to attack shipping off the east coast. The bombers were surrounded by two rings of Messerschmitts - but the Hurricanes broke through and attacked the bombers shooting down at least two.

People watching from the south-east coast say the first sign of the attack was when a wave of about 20 German bombers with a similar number of support fighters dived out of the clouds.

They rained bombs down on a convoy of ships, but did not hit. A second wave of bombers and fighters followed but before a second load of bombs could be released, the ships opened fire with their anti-aircraft guns.

At this moment, a flight of Spitfires appeared and flew straight into the middle of the German formation - hitting one bomber which crashed into the sea.

It appears the intensity of the attack took the Germans by surprise and completely destroyed their formation.

One eye-witness told The Times newspaper: "I saw 10 machines crash into the sea, they included bombers and fighters. The range of operations was too extensive to see everything, for it was over land and sea.

"The British fighters were fewer than the Messerschmitts sent to protect the bombers, but the superiority of our airmen and machines was most convincing."


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Watch/Listen

Two RAF pilots from Fighter Command return from their latest encounter with the Germans unscathed


PM Winston Churchill: "The Battle of Britain is about to begin", broadcast 18.6.40


A dogfight over the British Channel waters - broadcast 14.7.40






In Context
Following the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from Dunkirk, Adolf Hitler had Britain in his sights.
On 16 July 1940 he ordered preparations for the invasion of Britain codenamed Operation Sealion.

Britain retained naval superiority and Hitler knew that an amphibious invasion would be made easier if Germany could establish control of the air in the battle zone.

The battle for control of the skies became known as the Battle of Britain.

The Luftwaffe had the clear advantage - 750 long-range and 250 dive bombers, 600 single-engined and 150 twin-engined fighters - significantly more than RAF Fighter Command's 600 planes.

But the Luftwaffe was hampered by an inconsistent plan of action whereas the British forces were well prepared. Radar technology - being used for the first time in battle - gave plenty of notice of the German bombing raids.

The air attacks were initially focussed on British shipping, ports and airfields along the English Channel but gradually the battle moved inland.

The Germans stepped up their bombing raids in August and targeted London. Britain retaliated by bombing Berlin.

The German forces were losing bombers quicker than they could replace them and so they switched to night-time raids which continued until March 1941.

Britain had won the Battle of Britain - and Operation Sealion was postponed until further notice.


Stories From 10 Jul
1940: Luftwaffe launches Battle of Britain
1996: Girl survives murder of mother and sister
1943: Western Allies invade Sicily
1985: Rainbow Warrior sinks after explosion
1972: Whitelaw's secret meeting with IRA
2000: UK tidal wave of web users

138 – Emperor Hadrian (the Roman Emperor Hadrian who ordered the building of a wall across northern England) dies after a heart failure at Baiae, he is buried at Rome in the Tomb of Hadrian beside his late wife, Vibia Sabina.

988 – The city of Dublin is founded on the banks of the river Liffey.

1040 - Lady Godiva rode naked on horseback through the streets of Coventry to force her husband, the Earl of Mercia, to lower taxes.

1821 – The United States takes possession of its newly bought territory of Florida from Spain.

1900 - The Paris underground railway, the Metro, was opened.

1958 - Britain's first parking meters were installed, in Mayfair, London.

1962 – Telstar, the world's first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.

1973 - The Bahamas became independent after three centuries of British colonial rule.

1985 - Bowing to consumer pressure, the Coca-Cola Company said it would resume selling old-formula Coke.

1985 - The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior was blown up in Auckland harbour, New Zealand, by French DGSE agents.

1997 – In London scientists report the findings of the DNA analysis of a Neanderthal skeleton which support the "out of Africa theory" of human evolution placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

2002 – At a Sotheby's auction, Peter Paul Rubens' painting The Massacre of the Innocents is sold for £49.5million.

2011 - The last ever edition of the News Of The World. The newspaper was launched in 1843 and its closure comes after a string of new allegations about the paper's extent of phone hacking and corrupt payments made to police officers.

(08-07-2011 11:56 )skully Wrote: [ -> ]1947 – Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico.

What really happened at Roswell may never be known, but in the mid-1990s, the United States Air Force issued two reports that, they said, accounted for the debris found and reported on in 1947, and that also accounted for the later reports of alien recoveries. The reports identified the debris as coming from a top secret government experiment called Project Mogul, which tested the feasibility of detecting Soviet nuclear tests and ballistic missiles with equipment on high-altitude balloons. Accounts of aliens were explained as resulting from misidentified military experiments that used anthropomorphic dummies, accidents involving injured or killed military personnel, and hoaxes perpetrated by various witnesses and UFO proponents.

One of the most unlikely witnesses to this event was the "Opportunity Knocks" and "Double Your Money" TV presenter Hughie Green.

Although born in London, Green was a Canadian citizen and was in the Canadian Air Force in 1947. He had been taking part in a joint Canadian/USAF exercise and just happened to be at Roswell Airbase the day the story broke.

He said in one of his books that two days later he had flown to the East Coast expecting the flying saucer story to be the talk of the nation but was astonished to find that there wasn't a mention of it in the New York media.

Green died in 1997 at the age of 77. After his death a DNA test ended decades of speculation and proved that he was indeed the biological father of TV presenter Paula Yates.

Unlike Roswell, that was one urban legend that was proved to be true!

10 July 1992 - last death sentence passed in British Isles

On this day in 1992 19-year-old Tony Teare was sentenced to death by hanging at the High Court of the Isle of Man. He was convicted of carrying out the contract killing of 22-year-old Corinne Bentley, for which he had been paid just £600.

Crimes of this nature were (and still are) rare in the Isle of Man and there had not been a single murder in the previous ten years. The UK hadn't carried out an execution since 1964 when the death penalty was suspended for a five-year period. In 1969 it was abolished for everything except High Treason and (strangely) "Arson in a Naval Dockyard". The arson category was abolished in 1981 and the final abolition came in 1997, when the UK signed up to the Human Rights Act which outlaws capital punishment. Although not used in more than 30 years, a working gallows was maintained and regularly tested at Wandsworth Prison, and Harry Allan was still officially recognised as Chief Public Hangman up until his death in 1992.

Teare's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by UK Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke, and the Isle of Man abolished the death penalty later in 1992.