On this day

1852 – The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, is inaugurated in Sydney.

1865 – Paul Bogle led hundreds of men and women in a march in Jamaica, starting the Morant Bay rebellion.

1957 - The largest radio telescope in the world was switched on at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire.

1962 – Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.

1982 – The Mary Rose, a Tudor Carrack which sank on July 19, 1545, is salvaged from the sea bed of the Solent, off Portsmouth. It was one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.

1984 - On the space shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathy Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space.

1998 - Pope John Paul II canonized the first Jewish-born saint of the modern era: Edith Stein, a nun killed in Auschwitz gas chambers.

2000 – NASA launches STS-92, the 100th Space Shuttle mission, using Space Shuttle Discovery.

1492 – An expedition led by Christopher Columbus makes landfall in the Caribbean, specifically in The Bahamas. The explorer believes he has reached India.

1692 – The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from Massachusetts Governor William Phips.

1773 – America's first insane asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Virginia.

1810 - The Bavarian royalty invited the citizens of Munich to attend the festivities, held for Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig's (later King Ludwig I of Bavaria) wedding to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. The decision to repeat the festivities in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of the annual Oktoberfest.

1823 – Charles Macintosh of Scotland sells the first raincoat.

1915 – World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium.

1928 – An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston

1942 – World War II: Japanese ships retreat after their defeat in the Battle of Cape Esperance.

1964 – The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits

1967 - Zoologist Desmond Morris stunned the world with his book The Naked Ape that compared human behaviour with animals.

1979 – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is published.

1986 – Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the People's Republic of China.

1994 – NASA loses radio contact with the Magellan spacecraft as the probe descends into the thick atmosphere of Venus.

54 – Roman Emperor Claudius is poisoned to death under mysterious circumstances. His 17-year-old stepson Nero succeeds him to the Roman throne.

1307 - Members of the Knights of Templar are arrested throughout France, imprisoned and tortured by the order of King Philip the Fair of France.

1773 – The Whirlpool Galaxy is discovered by Charles Messier.

1843 – In New York City, Henry Jones and 11 others found B'nai B'rith (the oldest Jewish service organization in the world).

1884 – Greenwich, in London, England, is established as Universal Time meridian of longitude.

1917 – The Miracle of the Sun is witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal.

1943 – World War II: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.

1958 – Paddington Bear, a classic character from English children's literature, makes his debut.

1066 – Norman Conquest: Battle of Hastings – In England on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, the Norman forces of William the Conqueror defeat the English army and kill King Harold II of England.

1322 - Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeated King Edward II of England at the Battle of Old Byland in Yorkshire, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's independence.

1586 - Mary, Queen of Scots, went on trial for conspiracy against Elizabeth I of England.

1884 – The American inventor, George Eastman, receives a U.S. Government patent on his new paper-strip photographic film.

1926 – The children's book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne, is first published.

1933 – Nazi Germany withdraws from The League of Nations.

1939 – The German submarine U-47 sinks the British battleship HMS Royal Oak within her harbour at Scapa Flow, Scotland.

1943 – Prisoners at the Nazi German Sobibor extermination camp in Poland revolt against the Germans, killing eleven SS guards, and wounding many more. About 300 of the Sobibor Camp's 600 prisoners escape, and about 50 of these survive the end of the war.

1947 – Captain Chuck Yeager of the U.S. Air Force flies a Bell X-1 rocket-powered experimental aircraft, the Glamorous Glennis, faster than the speed of sound - over the high desert of Southern California - and becomes the first pilot and the first airplane to do so in level flight.

1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane and its pilot fly over the island of Cuba and take photographs of Soviet missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads being installed and erected in Cuba.

1968 – An earthquake rated at 6.8 on the Richter Scale destroys the Australian town of Meckering, Western Australia, and it also ruptures all nearby main highways and railroads.

1979 – The first Gay Rights March on Washington, D.C., the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, demands "an end to all social, economic, judicial, and legal oppression of lesbian and gay people", and draws 200,000 people.

1529 – The Siege of Vienna ends as the Austrians rout the invading Turks, turning the tide against almost a century of unchecked conquest throughout eastern and central Europe by the Ottoman Empire.

1666 - Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary that Charles II had started wearing the first known waistcoat. The King was so overweight that he left the bottom button undone, a fashion custom followed to this day.

1815 – Napoleon I of France begins his exile on Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.

1888 - A 'From Hell' letter was sent to George Lusk, then head of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, claiming to be from the serial killer Jack the Ripper. It was delivered with a small box containing half of what doctors later determined was a human kidney, preserved in ethanol. One of his victim's kidneys had been removed by the killer, which gave the letter some authenticity. The letter ended with the words - 'Catch me when you can Mister Lusk.', but the Ripper was never caught.

1917 – World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for the German Empire.

1928 – The airship, Graf Zeppelin completes its first trans-Atlantic flight, landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, United States.

1956 - The last RAF Lancaster bomber was retired from service.

1966 – The Black Panther Party is created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.

1987 – The Great Storm of 1987 hits France and England.

1997 – The first supersonic land speed record is set by Andy Green in ThrustSSC (United Kingdom), exactly 50 years and 1 day after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in the Earth's atmosphere.

1793 – Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis XVI, is guillotined at the height of the French Revolution.

1834 - The original Houses of Parliament were almost completely destroyed by fire. The blaze, which started from overheated chimney flues, spread rapidly throughout the medieval complex and developed into the biggest conflagration to occur in London since the Great Fire of 1666.

1869 – The Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, is "discovered".

1902 - Britain opened its first Borstal detention centre, at the village of Borstal in Kent.

1923 – The Walt Disney Company is founded by Walt Disney and his brother, Roy Disney.

1958 - Britain's most popular children's television programme Blue Peter was first broadcast on BBC TV. The first presenters were Leila Williams and Christopher Trace.

1984 – The Bill debuted on ITV, eventually becoming the longest-running police procedural in British television history.

1984 – Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1986 – Reinhold Messner becomes the first person to summit all 14 Eight-thousanders.

1995 – The Skye Bridge is opened, connecting mainland Highland with the Isle of Skye, Scotland.

2002 – Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated.

1996: Handguns to be banned in the UK
The British Government has announced plans to outlaw almost all handguns following the shocking massacre at Dunblane in Scotland.
On 13 March Thomas Hamilton walked into the gym at Dunblane primary school and killed 16 young children and their teacher. He also injured 13 other children and three teachers. Hamilton, a former scout master, then shot himself.

Today's announcement follows publication of Lord Cullen's inquiry into the massacre which concluded Hamilton's horrific attack could not have been predicted.

But it made 23 recommendations to tighten rules on gun ownership and monitor those who work with children.

The proposal to ban all handguns - except .22-caliber target pistols - would leave Britain with some of the toughest laws on private possession of guns.


Isn't it time to conclude that, literally and metaphorically, the game is up for handguns now?

Tory MP David Mellor

Home Secretary Michael Howard told a packed House of Commons he would make sure the measures were passed as quickly as possible through parliament.

But the move has angered both those for and against private gun ownership.

The Snowdrop Campaign, set up by victims' families after Dunblane, wants to see a total ban on handguns and called the plan an "unacceptable compromise".

The opposition Labour Party welcomed the report and the government's swift reaction to it but urged ministers to bring about a complete ban.

Shadow Home Secretary Jack Straw said politicians should have acted in a similar vein nine years ago after the Hungerford massacre.

Former Tory cabinet minister David Mellor also felt the proposals did not go far enough.

He asked: "Isn't it time to conclude that, literally and metaphorically, the game is up for handguns now?"

But gun club owners warned thousands of jobs would be in jeopardy if the proposal became law.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, Ross Armstrong, owner of Medway Shooting Club in Kent said: "People are killed by drunk drivers but no-one demands a ban on cars. Further restrictions suit no-one."



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The ban on handguns follows the Dunblane massacre



In Context
The Conservative Government's proposals became law in February 1997.
When Labour came to power three months later they brought in an amendment banning all handguns. This became law in November 1997. The Snowdrop Campaign was ended in the same year.

The Gun Control Network set up a few months after Dunblane as the UK's first gun control organisation continues to campaign for - among other things - a national gun register.

Three months after the Dunblane massacre in March 1996, there was a national firearms amnesty that saw nearly 23,000 firearms and 700,000 rounds of ammunition surrendered.

This was considerably less than the 48,000 weapons surrendered after the Hungerford killings nine years before.

In January 2003 the killing of teenagers Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare in Birmingham provoked another gun amnesty.

Nearly 43,000 firearms and more than a million rounds of ammunition were handed in to police stations across the UK.

Cullen report's main proposals
All handguns over .22 calibre to be banned
Guns of .22 calibre or less to be held in secure club armouries or surrendered
A ban on "dum-dum" bullets, except for deer-shooting
Increased security measures at gun clubs
Gun clubs to register attendance of members
Every gun bought, sold, destroyed or transferred to be reported to police
Stricter rules for anyone applying for a gun licence
Schools to prepare a safety strategy
Central system of accreditation of all youth clubs and leaders



Stories From 16 Oct
1996: Handguns to be banned in the UK
1987: Hurricane winds batter southern England
1974: Maze prison goes up in flames
1967: Joan Baez arrested in Vietnam protest
1978: Polish bishop is new Pope


http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...534669.stm



http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates...543277.stm

1091 – London Tornado of 1091: A tornado thought to be of strength T8/F4 strikes the heart of London.

1346 – Battle of Neville's Cross: King David II of Scotland is captured by Edward III of England near Durham, and imprisoned in the Tower of London for eleven years.

1771 – Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Wolfgang Mozart, age 15.

1814 – The London Beer Flood occurs in London, killing nine.

1905 – The October Manifesto is issued by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

1931 - Mobster Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

1933 – Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States.

1956 – The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II at Sellafield, in Cumbria, England.

1964 – Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies opens the artificial Lake Burley Griffin in the middle of the capital Canberra.

1973 - The start of a major world oil crisis when oil producing Arab states (OPEC) increased prices by 70 per cent and cut production in protest at US support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War.

1980 – As part of the Holy See – United Kingdom relations a British monarch makes the first state visit to the Vatican

2000 - Hatfield rail crash: Four people were killed when a high speed passenger train derailed in Hatfield, just north of London. The accident was a defining moment in the subsequent collapse of Railtrack.

1009 – The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.

1356 – Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.

1599 – Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia, defeats the Army of Andrew Bathory in the Battle of Şelimbăr, leading to the first recorded unification of the Romanian people.

1851 - Herman elton's book Moby-Dick was first published as 'The Whale' by Richard Bentley of London.

1860 – The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty.

1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.

1910 - The trial of English murderer Dr Crippen began at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London.

1922 - The British Broadcasting Company was officially formed, to operate from Marconi House in London, under the management of John Reith. It established a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.

1967 – The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.

1991 – The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopts a declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

1995 - Red Rum, three times winner of the Grand National at Aintree, died at the age of 30, an exceptional age for a horse. He was buried at Aintree.

2007 – Karachi bombings: A suicide attack on a motorcade carrying former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto kills 139 and wounds 450 more. Bhutto herself is not injured.

1781 - The American War of Independence came to an end when British commander Lord Cornwallis surrendered his 8,000 troops to George Washington at Yorktown, in Virginia, after a three week siege.

1813 – The Battle of Leipzig concludes, giving Napoleon Bonaparte one of his worst defeats.

1914 - World War I - The start of the First Battle of Ypres. It saw the British and French defeat repeated German attempts to break their lines in an attempt to capture the channel ports.

1933 - Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, an intergovernmental organization, founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. I

1935 – The League of Nations places economic sanctions on fascist Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.

1959 – The first discothèque opens, the Scotch-Club in Aachen, Germany.

1970 - British Petroleum announced the first major discovery of oil under the British sector of the North Sea.

1987 - Black Monday. Millions of pounds were wiped off the value of shares and other financial markets around the world. Wall Street ended the day down 22%, a greater fall than the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

1989 - The Guildford Four had their convictions quashed after wrongly serving 14 years in prison for the IRA bombings at Guildford and Woolwich.

2001 – SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sinks in international waters with the loss of 353 people.

2003 – Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II.