On this day

1984: Dozens arrested in picket line violence
About 100 pickets have been arrested during violent clashes with police outside two working coal pits in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
The so-called "flying pickets" - striking miners bussed in from other parts of the country - targeted Cresswell colliery in Derbyshire and Babbington in Nottinghamshire.

Figures suggest 46 pits are still working out of a total of 176 across the country. Miners are fighting plans to close 20 pits.

Police at Cresswell say they were taken by surprise when around 1,000 pickets descended on the colliery.

Police criticised

Six officers and a miner were injured in what a spokesman described as "the worst violence we have had in Derbyshire since the strike began".

Several cars belonging to working miners had their windows smashed. One miner who apparently defied the pickets and went into work had the windows of his home smashed.

Despite the pickets, an estimated 60% of the nightshift still turned up for work and the colliery was able to operate.

At Babbington colliery, police faced 2,000 pickets and were pelted with stones when they made more than 60 arrests.

Seven officers needed treatment for cuts to the head and legs. One officer suffered an eye injury and a union spokesman was also hurt.

Less than half the normal shift of 200 men went into work, but the pit was able to continue production.

The violence comes on the eve of an emergency debate in the Commons on the police handling of the miners' dispute.

There have been complaints of heavy-handed tactics. Miners say plain clothes police have infiltrated picket lines and officers have also been turning away pickets thought likely to cause a breach of the peace.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has rejected criticism of officers.

She said: "They have to keep the right of miners to go to work open and they have done it marvellously."


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Watch/Listen

Police made more than 60 arrests at Babbington colliery



Report from the Babbington picket line





In context
The miners' dispute lasted a year - although the NUM did not ballot members on strike action.
Mining pickets were successful in halting production at many pits. But forceful policing limited secondary action and large stockpiles of coal meant the miners did not have the same paralysing effect they had had on the economy in 1972.

As the strike wore on, there were violent scenes outside collieries which continued to work and at steel and power plants where pickets tried to halt production.

Talks were held on and off without success. The miners did not get the full backing of the TUC. Eventually they began drifting back to work with the promise of extra money before Christmas.

They voted for an official return to work in March 1985.

The end of the strike was widely seen as victory for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who did much during her time in office to curb the power of the unions.



Stories From 9 Apr
2003: Saddam statue topples with regime

1976: Young Liberal leader cleared of robbery

2005: Prince Charles marries Camilla

1984: Dozens arrested in picket line violence

1999: President of Niger 'killed in ambush'

1969: Sikh busmen win turban fight





Miners' Strike Special
The end of British coal
The bitter fight for jobs and a way of life



WITNESS ACCOUNTS
'Too much to lose'
A difficult decision for apprentice miner Paul Hayes


'Fighting for a way of life'
Picket co-ordinator Steve Brunt remembers his struggle


Sympathy for the miners
Former police officer John Vipond on policing the pickets


'We lived on potatoes'
Miner's son Stuart Taylorson recalls his family's hardship



KEY ON THIS DAY REPORTS
Miners strike over threatened pit closures


Miners and police clash at Orgreave


Miners call off year-long strike

1413 – Henry V is crowned King of England.

1747 - The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, for high treason. He was the last man to be executed in this way in Britain, in a form of execution which had been reserved for the nobility.

1770 - English navigator James Cook became the first European to arrive in Botany Bay, Australia.

1838 - The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London opened.

1937 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London – it is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.

1940 - During World War II, Nazi Germany invaded neutral Norway and also Denmark.

1957 – The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping.

1959 – Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the Mercury Seven: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Donald Slayton.

1969 – The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford.

1970 - Paul McCartney announced the official breakup of the Beatles.

1989 – The April 9 tragedy in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR an anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strikes, demanding restoration of Georgian independence is dispersed by the Soviet army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

1992 – A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.

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1968: Dozens die in NZ ferry disaster
Fifty-one people have died after a ferry capsized in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand during one of the worst storms ever to hit the country.
The TEV Wahine, carrying 610 passengers and 125 staff, ran aground as it entered the harbour in the early hours of this morning.

Many passengers drowned or were dashed against the rocks as they abandoned ship and several life-rafts capsized in the raging seas.

Rescue efforts were severely hampered as coastguards battled against 18ft (5.49m) waves to reach the stricken vessel.

Violent seas

The tragedy began in the early hours of this morning as a warm tropical front met a cold southerly storm in Cook Strait between the South Island and the North Island.

This created violent seas and winds of more than 99mph (160km/h) on the approach to Wellington Harbour.

As the Wahine entered the harbour it was dashed into rocks on Barrett reef and the vessel's radar system was incapacitated.

Captain Hector Robinson immediately dropped both the ship's anchors in an attempt to steady the ship, but she was dragged through the harbour towards Seatoun.

The ferry, listing from side to side, was battered by heavy seas for several hours before rescuers were able to reach her.

The order to abandon ship was not given until about 1330hrs, by which time much of the lower deck of the boat was flooded.

Hundreds of people managed to make their way to the shore where they were rescued by local volunteers.

A base was set up at Muritai School where survivors were given drinks, food and blankets. Most of those who perished were elderly or infirm.

In total 44 passengers, six crew and one stowaway died.

The abandoned ship finally sank to the seabed at about 1430hrs after rolling completely onto her starboard side.

When the ferry had left Lyttelton harbour on New Zealand's South Island at 2040hrs last night weather conditions were good.

Although there had been weather warnings there had been no indication that the storms would be so severe.





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The ferry capsized in Wellington Harbour




In Context
Attempts were made to salvage the Wahine but storms the following month broke up the wreck.
Ten weeks after the disaster a Court of Inquiry was set up.

In December of the same year it published a list of errors and omissions made both onshore and aboard the ferry.

At the same time it was noted that these occurred under very difficult and dangerous conditions.

The Inquiry found that the primary reason for the Wahine's loss was the presence of water on the vehicle deck.

Fault was found with Captain Robertson for failing to report this to those onshore.

A memorial made from ventilation pipes, an anchor and chain from the ship has been erected on the foreshore at Seatoun to mark the last resting place of the ship.



Stories From 10 Apr
1998: Northern Ireland peace deal reached

1972: Earthquake kills thousands in Iran

1968: Dozens die in NZ ferry disaster

1981: Hunger striker elected MP

2000: Damages for sacked HIV manager

1633 - Bananas went on display in Thomas Johnson's shop window in London. This was the first time the fruit had been seen in Britain.

1710 - The Copyright Act came into effect in Britain. It allowed authors to hold exclusive rights to their work for up to 50 years after their death.

1849 - The safety pin was patented in the U.S. by Walter Hunt of New York.

1858 – The original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonne bell for the Palace of Westminster is cast in Stockton-on-Tees by Warner's of Cripplegate. This however cracked during testing and was recast into the 13.76 tonne bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry and is still in use to date.

1912 - The British built luxury liner Titanic set sail on its ill-fated maiden voyage from Berth 44, White Star Line dock, Southampton to New York.

1925 - The novel The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published.

1953 – Warner Brothers premieres the first 3-D film from a major American studio, entitled House of Wax.

1991 – A rare tropical storm develops in the South Atlantic Ocean near Angola; the first to be documented by satellites.

2003 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill creating a national Amber Alert system and strengthening child pornography laws.

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1951: MacArthur fired - Ridgway takes over
US President Harry S Truman has dismissed General Douglas MacArthur as commander of United Nations and US forces in the Far East after disagreements over foreign policy in Korea.
General MacArthur will be replaced by Lieutenant-General Matthew Ridgway, appointed as head of the 8th Army in Korea by General MacArthur himself last December.

At 0100 local time, Washington issued the official announcement of the general's dismissal along with several documents showing he had ignored orders to refrain from making political statements.

The move has shocked the American public and angered Republican politicians who revere General MacArthur as a distinguished soldier and leader.

In a broadcast to the nation tonight, the president acknowledged the general was one of America's greatest military commanders. But he added: "The cause of world peace is more important than any individual."



The cause of world peace is more important than any individual.

President Harry S Truman


Last month, General MacArthur called for an attack on China itself unless Communist forces laid down their arms in Korea.
Tonight President Truman re-affirmed his belief that extending the battle beyond Korea could lead to a third world war if the Soviet Union decided to enter the fray.

"A number of events have made it evident that General MacArthur did not agree with that policy," he said. "I have therefore considered it essential to relieve General MacArthur so that there would be no doubt or confusion as to the real purpose and aim of our policy."

He also made it clear he was ready to negotiate with the North Koreans on a peace settlement as long as fighting stopped.

Republican leaders in Congress and the Senate expressed their anger saying the dismissal had endangered national unity and they called for Congress to investigate foreign policy in Korea.

General MacArthur's successor, Lt-General Ridgway, is a highly respected paratrooper commander who jumped with his men in World War II during the invasion of Sicily and on D-Day.

He earned many awards for bravery along with the nickname "the fighting and jumping general".

Since his arrival in Korea last year, Lt-Gen Ridgway has regrouped retreating allied forces, boosted army morale and hit back at the enemy in what he calls a "limited offensive" pushing the Communists back north across the 38th parallel.

British troops have compared him to General Montgomery in the way he inspires his men on the battlefield.

His habit of wearing a hand grenade at his shoulder is as familiar to the troops as Montgomery's beret.


Your Memories?
Write your account of the events.


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Paratrooper general Matthew Ridgway is renowned for wearing a hand-grenade





In Context
When General MacArthur returned to the US he received a hero's welcome, and told Congress, "Old soldiers never die; they only fade away."
He had been sent to Korea to stop North Koreans under Kim Il-Sung taking over the South.

He succeeded in driving back the enemy beyond the 38th parallel but UN and US troops were pushed back south when Chinese Communist forces joined the war.

General Ridgway agreed to ceasefire talks in July 1951 but they broke down.

In 1952, some Republicans tried but failed to nominate General MacArthur for the US presidency after which he retired from public life.

It was General Dwight D Eisenhower who was elected US President that year and General Ridgway took over his job as supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe (Nato).

Fighting did not stop until 1953 with the signing of the armistice on 27 July.

But a peace deal has never been reached. American troops remain stationed in the de-militarized zone on and around the 38th parallel separating North and South Korea.



Stories From 11 Apr
1981: Brixton ablaze after riot

1961: Nazi war crimes trial begins

1996: Israel launches attack on Beirut

1951: MacArthur fired - Ridgway takes over

1990: Customs seize 'supergun'

1957: Britain agrees to Singapore self-rule





BBC News >>
The unresolved conflict between North and South Korea


Country Profile: South Korea
Facts and figures including timeline


Country Profile: North Korea
Key details of the politics, people and society

1713 - The War of the Spanish Succession ended with the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht; France ceded Newfoundland and Gibraltar to Britain.

1775 – The last execution for witchcraft in Germany takes place.

1814 - Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as emperor of France and was banished to the island of Elba.

1855 - Britain's first pillar boxes were put up in London. There were six of them, all painted green.

1905 – Albert Einstein reveals his Theory of Relativity (special relativity).

1951 – The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey.

1970 – Apollo 13 is launched.

1973 - The British Government introduced a tar content table to be printed on cigarette packets

1981 – A massive riot in Brixton, South London, results in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries.

2006 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that Iran has successfully enriched uranium.

(11-04-2011 11:37 )skully Wrote:  1855 - Britain's first pillar boxes were put up in London. There were six of them, all painted green.

The first pillar box in the world is generally acknowledged to have been installed in Paris in the 1650's and so precedes this by more than 200 years. The first one in the British Isles can be traced to Jersey in 1852, and although the London ones were indeed set up in 1855 some sources credit the first one on the mainland to Carlisle in 1853.

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1975: US pulls out of Cambodia
The US has admitted defeat in Cambodia and removed its remaining embassy personnel from the capital, Phnom Penh.
Early this morning 276 people were airlifted from a football field near the embassy by a fleet of 30 helicopters.

Those on the airlift included 159 Cambodians who had worked with the Americans.

Foreign journalists who had been covering the civil war between the communist Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian government were also airlifted out of the country.

It was feared "Operation Eagle Pull", as the evacuation was dubbed, would come under Khmer Rouge fire and more than 300 armed Marines guarded the field.

However, the operation passed off uneventfully.

Some of Cambodia's most senior government ministers, including the Acting President, Saukham Khoy, were among the evacuees.

The country's Prime Minister, Long Boret, has remained in Phnom Penh.

Long Boret's decision not to leave came as a surprise as he has been condemned to death by the advancing Khmer Rouge.

'Heavy heart'

The evacuees were flown to American war ships, the Okinawa and the Hancock, in the Gulf of Thailand.

In Washington, President Ford explained the reasons why the US had pulled out of Cambodia.

Mr Ford said he had taken the decision with "a heavy heart" but had done so to ensure the safety of Americans who had "served valiantly".

The American withdrawal is an inglorious end to five years of involvement in Cambodia's civil war.

Its presence in the country was closely linked to the war it is conducting in neighbouring Vietnam.

Between 1970 and 1973 the US bombed Cambodia in order to stop its North Vietnamese enemies using the country as a base.

If Phnom Penh does fall, Cambodia will become the first country since Cuba 16 years ago to pass into Communist hands.




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The evacuees were airlifted to a US warship



BBC News crew flees Cambodia




In Context
After the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh on 17 April its leader, Pol Pot, immediately set about realising his vision of an agrarian utopia.
He forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave urban areas and become farmers.

Pol Pot's reforms led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people - some were executed but many died of disease and starvation.

In 1979 Cambodia's old enemy, Vietnam, invaded and the Khmer Rouge fled.

In 1991 a United Nations-brokered peace agreement was signed which ended the country's civil war.

In 1997 Pol Pot was convicted of treason by a "people's tribunal" and was sentenced to life under house arrest.

He died in April 1998.



Stories From 12 Apr
1961: Soviets win space race

1975: US pulls out of Cambodia

1997: Bosnian bomb plot fails to stop Pope

1984: Scargill vetoes national ballot on strike

2000: Queen honours NI police





BBC News >>
Country profile
Cambodia's - key facts and figures

1961 - Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space


Yuri Gagarin was (and still is) worshipped by the Russian people, and it would be very uncomfortable for them to have to consider that he wasn't the first man in space. However, rumours and speculation that there were unannounced earlier Soviet space missions which ended in disaster just will not go away. Some have been proved to be hoaxes and others misinterpretations fuelled by the tensions of the Cold War and the secrecy of the Soviet system, but there may be more than a grain of truth in some of the allegations, especially given the Soviets cavalier attitude to their cosmonauts. All that mattered was beating the Americans, the crews were expendable.

If the conspiracy theorists are to believed there were more than a dozen unsuccessful and unannounced manned space flights before Gagarin, the first one being as early as late 1957 when Alexis Ledosky was supposedly lost after a sub-orbital flight.

Cosmonauts who didn't make the grade or who otherwise fell out of favour with the authorities simply disappeared from Soviet history books or were air-brushed out of official photographs and this led to speculation that they had been killed. One such disappearing cosmonaut, Valentin Bonderenko, had indeed been killed in 1961 but during training on the ground when a fire broke out in a capsule with an oxygen-rich environment. The official news of his death wasn't announced until 1986 to the disbelief of the Americans, as had this been known at the time the lessons learned could have prevented the deaths of the Apollo 1 crew who were killed in almost identical circumstances in 1967.

The sources for the rumoured earlier flights range from defecting officials to snippets in official Soviet newspapers that had mysteriously disappeared by the second edition, to so-called Western intelligence and notably the Torre Bert tracking and reconnaissance listening station in Italy. They claimed to have picked up signals and heard conversations (even distress calls) coming from space, but their credibility was damaged when cosmonaut Alexey Belokenov, who they had supposedly heard making a frantic distress call before being killed in 1962, turned up at a Kremlin reception five years later!

One story that just will not go away is the case of Vladimir Ilyushin, son of the legendary Soviet aircraft designer, who, it is claimed, went into space in the fortnight before Gagarin. He supposedly went way off course and made a forced landing in China. Although badly injured, he survived and was held captive by the Chinese for over a year before quietly being returned. Radio signals had been picked up in the west backing up the story but the Soviets, whilst admitting that a flight had taken place, insisted that it was an unmanned test flight, and the reason for radio transmissions was because a dummy had been put aboard wired up with life-support and radio simulators to test tracking equipment. They also mischievously announced that the dummy was called “Ivan”, which (although he had no Russian heritage whatsoever) was the middle name of American astronaut Virgil Grissom and who at the time was widely tipped to be the first American in space (as it was he turned out to be the second and ironically was one of those killed in Apollo 1 and whose death could possibly have been prevented had the Soviets come clean about the fate of Bonderenko).

As with any conspiracy theory, most of the events can be explained away quite logically and much of the continued discussion was and still is caused by the secrecy of the Soviet state. Even now, the Russians will not open all the former Soviet archives but whereas some see this as meaning that they must have something to hide, the Russian view (and you have to understand the Russian mindset to fully appreciate this) is why on earth do they have to prove anything to the Western countries who have had it in for Russia for hundreds of years?

If it ever were to be proved that Gagarin was not the first man in space it would be a hammer blow to Russian prestige, even after all these years, and for that reason we may never discover the whole truth. Although he stayed on the active list Gagarin never went into space again, as the Soviets weren't going to risk anything happening to their "Golden Boy" (the Americans grounded John Glenn for the same reason!).

Gagarin was killed in 1968 when his MIG-15 jet crashed during a routine training flight. For years rumours circulated in the West that that he had been drinking but there was no truth to this at all. The far more probable cause of the crash was that the weather conditions in the area had deteriorated badly, air traffic controllers were giving out of date information and as a result another jet in the vicinity came in far too fast and too low. Gagarin either had to take urgent evasive action to avoid a collision and could not regain control in time or - and this second theory is supported by fellow cosmonaut Alexei Leonov who was flying a helicopter just a few miles away - the other jet actually broke the sound barrier and it was the shock wave caused by the sonic boom that caused Gagarin's plane to go out of control.

1567 - The Earl of Bothwell was found not guilty of the murder of Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Bothwell and Mary then married.

1606 - The Union Flag became the official flag of Britain. It combined the flags of St. George (England) and St. Andrew (Scotland). As Wales was not a Kingdom but a Principality it could not be included on the flag. In 1801 the cross of St. Patrick (Ireland) was incorporated to create the flag that has been flown ever since.

1633 – The formal inquest of Galileo Galilei by the Inquisition begins.

1934 – The strongest surface wind gust in the world at 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire.

1937 – Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.

1955 – The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.

1961 - Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, in Vostok 3KA-2 (Vostok 1).

1981 - The space shuttle Columbia was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, becoming the first reusable manned spacecraft to travel into space.

1989 - Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats was performed for the 3,358th time, making it Britain's longest running musical.

1992 – The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland in Marne-La-Vallee, France. The resort and its park's name were subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris.

2009 – Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwe Dollar as their official currency.