Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. The justification was an old territorial claim on the Gulf state, but the main reasons were economic. Iraq had built enormous debts with its…
Browsing: Events
Halley’s Comet has been observed by our ancestors since 240 BC. The comet is significant in that it can be seen from the earth by the naked eye. However, many…
On Sunday 25 May 1986, Americans were asked to simultaneously hold hands across a 4,137-mile route stretching from California’s Santa Monica Pier to New York’s Battery Park in an effort…
In October 1956, Hungary rose in revolt against Soviet domination. For three days the ordinary people fought Soviet tanks and the hated security police, the AVH, and demanded freedom from…
The term “Irangate” was used to describe the 1987 US political scandal involving senior members of the Reagan administration (the name echoes the Nixon administration’s Watergate). Congressional hearings in 1986 and 1987 revealed that the…
Iraq had, since 1970, enjoyed a fluctuating relationship with Syria, sometimes distant and sometimes close enough to contemplate a complete political and economic union. By 1980, however, the atmosphere was…
A small island separated from the UK mainland by the waters of the Solent, the Isle of Wight at the end of the 1960s was a steadfastly uncontroversial place. The…
On 4 May 1970, four students, two of them girls, were killed by shots fired by the National Guard who were called in to control an anti-war rally at Kent…
At the end of World War II, Korea – formerly occupied by Japan – was divided along the 38th Parallel. In the north, the Russians installed a communist regime, headed by…
On 25 November 1984, 36 British recording artists gathered at a studio in Notting Hill, London to donate their time and talent to a song written by Bob Geldof (Boomtown…
Pan Am flight 103 – a Boeing 747-121 named Clipper Maid of the Seas – left London Heathrow Airport at 6:25 pm on 21 December 1988 en route for New York JFK…
The Mandela Day Concert staged on 11 June 1988 at London’s Wembley Stadium was organised by Special AKA main man Jerry Dammers and Britain’s Artists Against Apartheid. The 70th birthday…
In February 1954, actress Marilyn Monroe travelled to Korea to entertain the American troops stationed over there. Marilyn was asked if she wanted to do a solo show or entertain…
“There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the coloured citizen is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our…
British strike against pit closures that lasted almost a year from April 1984. The National Union of Miners (NUM), led by its Marxist president, Arthur Scargill (pictured below left) called…
The most memorable musical event of 1967 was the Monterey International Pop Festival, held in the Californian sunshine over three days between June 16th – 18th. If the “Summer of…
It seemed the whole world had stopped. Then, clear as crystal, came those immortal words . . . “That’s one small step for man – one giant leap for mankind”.…
On 28 February 1975, a tube train rammed into the end of a dead-end tunnel at Moorgate on the London Underground, killing the driver and 41 passengers. As rescue workers…
In one of the most horrific incidents of violence against civilians during the Vietnam War, a company of American soldiers brutally killed the majority of the population of the South…
Young British men in the 1950’s were confronted by the daunting prospect of being “called up” for National Service. Under the terms of the National Service Act of 1948 all…
