Today in history

1095 – Pope Urban II calls for a crusade.

1582 – William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway.

1703 – Coastal storm in England takes estimated 8000 lives. 1826 – JohnWalker invents friction match in England.

1931 – Don Bradman scores 200 for Australia in the first cricket test at the Gabba, Brisbane, against South Africa.

1940 – Germany annexes French province of Lorraine during World War II. 1942 – The French navy at Toulon scuttles its ships and submarines to keep them out of the hands of the Nazis

1948 – The United Nations Security Council gives full authority to continue negotiations with India and Pakistan for a truce and plebiscite in Kashmir.

1962 – Britain agrees to provide arms to India to resist Chinese aggression.

1983 – A huge rally called by all Uruguayan political parties demands the end of the dictatorship and return to civilian democratic rule.

1989 – Colombian airplane crashes, killing 107 people.

1990 – John Major is elected prime minister of Britain.

1993 – After weeks of denial, the British government admits contacts with the Irish Republican Army.

1998 – Sensing growing popular pressure to get troops out of Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises a thorough review of Israel’s policy.

1999 – Northern Ireland’s biggest party clears the way for the formation of an unprecedented ProtestantCatholic administration, the longelusive goal of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord.

2002 – Prominent Pakistani doctor Dr Amer Azia, who admitted to treating Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders before and after the September 11, 2001 attacks, says that the terrorist mastermind is in excellent health and shows no signs of kidney failure.

2009 – Star golfer Tiger Woods is injured in an early morning car accident outside his mansion, the start of one of the biggest descents ever in public esteem after reports emerge of serial marital infidelity and lead to a divorce from his Swedish wife Elin Nordegren.

Today’s Birthdays:

Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer and inventor of Celsius scale (1701-1744); Bruce Lee, ChineseAmerican actor (1940-1973); Jimi Hendrix, American rock guitarist (1942-1970); Caroline Kennedy, daughter of US President John F Kennedy (1957-).