BRITAIN AND THE WORLD SINCE 1953
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| Jan9 | Yachtsman Tony Bullimore was found alive, five days after his boat capsized in the freezing Southern Ocean, 2,200km off the coast of Australia. |
| Jan17 | Comedian/actor Bill Cosby's only son was shot to death, the victim of a possible robbery attempt while changing a flat tyre on his Mercedes convertible along a freeway, police said. The body of Ennis William Cosby, age 27, was found about 1:45 a.m. in a pool of blood next to the car of a woman passer-by. The murder occurred in near the Santa Monica Mountains not far from the exclusive Bel-Air section of Los Angeles. |
| Szymon Serafinowicz a 86 year old former carpenter from Banstead Surrey is cleared of the murder of jews in Mir Bylorussia in 1941 - 942. The jury judged him unfit to plead but the evidence pointed strongly at his involvement in an auxillary police unit that assisted the Germans in the massacre of the local Jewish population | |
| Jan20 |
Her Majesty's Royal Yacht Britannia began her final voyage . The journey included a visit to Hong Kong for the handover from the British rule to China. The boat is now moored at the Port of Leith in Edinburgh as a visitor attraction |
| Jan30 | Underground anti-road protester Swampy ends his sit-in at the site of the Newbury Bypass |
| Feb4 | 16 months after O.J. Simpson was cleared of murder charges, a civil trial jury blamed him for the killings of his ex-wife and her friend and ordered him to pay $8.5 million in compensatory damages. |
| Feb5 | Three of Switzerland's biggest banks created a 100 million Swiss franc Holocaust memorial fund after international pressure from critics |
| Feb6 | In the UK Diane Blood, 32 won the right to use her dead husbands sperm to conceive a child |
| Feb23 |
Science takes a giant, if controversial, leap forward as the existence of a sheep named 'Dolly' is announced to the world. Dolly's special status was due to her being the first mammal ever cloned from an adult cell. After her death, she was stuffed and placed in state in the Royal Museum of Scotland. |
| Feb27 | Divorce became legal in Eire. |
| Apr14 | 343 people die In Fire In Hajj, Saudi Arabia. More than 300 people, mainly from the Indian sub continent, died and a further 1,300 were injured when fire raged through a massive pilgrim camp on the Plain of Mena, seven miles form Mecca. |
| Former Nazi SS captain Erich Priebke, accused of Italy's worst World War II atrocity, went on trial for the second time in a year. He was found guilty and sentenced to five years imprisonment (22July). | |
| Mar27 | The bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult were found after killing themselves in a mass suicide; they said they hoped they would join aliens following the Hale Bopp comet. |
| Apr7 | In Konton, Hong Kong, fire destroys a 21-story building - 9 dead |
| 150th Grand National steeplechase was won by Lord Gyllene (14-1), ridden by Tony Dobbin; Suny Bay came second; Camelot Knight came third and Buckboard Bounce came fourth. The race was held on a Monday for the first time because of an IRA bomb scare on 5th April led to the evacuation of the course | |
| Apr11 | Turin Cathedral, Italy is damaged. In the early morning fire broke out in the city's C15th Cathedral of St John, repository of the famous holy relic, the Turin Shroud. The fire gutted the Guarini chapel, where the shroud was housed, but the relic and the rest of the cathedral were saved. You can visit Italy and see the damage that was done to the Guarini chapel. |
| Apr21 | The ashes of 1960s LSD guru Timothy Leary and "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry were blasted into space in the world's first space funeral. |
| Apr22 | Peruvian troops stormed the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima, freeing 71 hostages. One hostage, three soldiers and all 14 guerrillas were killed |
| May4 | Labour win a landslide victory in the General Election ending 18 years of Conservative government. Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister and chooses Gordon Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer |
| Jul7 | The U.S. Pathfinder probe landed on Mars |
| Jul9 | Mike Tyson was banned from boxing for biting Evander Holyfield's ear. |
| Jul13 | Body of Che Guevara is returned to Cuba for burial |
| Jul15 | Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was shot outside his Miami beach mansion by Andrew Cunanan. |
| Aug31 | Princess Diana dies in a Paris car accident. |
| Sep6 | Over 2 billion people tuned in to watch Princess Diana's funeral. |
| Sep26 | 234 dies in air crash in Indonesia. Probable cause was the increasing smoke rising from numerous forest fires in Indonesia |
| Jun30 | Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty after 99 year lease expired on the colony |
| Nov6 | Paul Ricard, France's
King of Pastis and one of the country's richest and most
influential men, died aged 88. His "Pastis de Marseilles" brand was sold in 150 countries and was the world's number three alcoholic drink. |
| Nov20 | Boeing 727 of Portuguese TAP airline company crashes just before landing in Funchal airport in Madeira - 123 dead |
| Dec1 | 14-year-old Michel Carneal opened fire on students in West Paducah, Ky. killing three students and wounding five |
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Last Updated 10/04/13 09:31