28th October 1216 Henry III was crowned. His son was England's warrior king, Edward I. 1664 The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly referred to as the Royal Marines, was established (350 years ago today). It was originally known as The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot. 1794 The birth of Robert Liston, Scottish physician who carried out Britain's first operation with the aid of an anaesthetic. 1831 English physicist Michael Faraday demonstrated the dynamo, founding the science of electro-magnetism. 1893 HMS Havelock, the Royal Navy's first destroyer, went on trials. 1912 The birth of Sir (William) Richard Doll, English physician and cancer researcher who first proved the link between cigarette smoking and cancer. 1930 The birth of Bernie Ecclestone English business magnate who is generally considered the primary authority in Formula One motor racing. His early involvement in the sport was as a competitor and then manager and, in 1972, he bought the Brabham team, which he ran for fifteen years. As a team owner he became a member of the Formula One Constructors' Association. 1938 David Dimbleby, TV journalist and commentator was born. 1949 The glove puppet Sooty, with Harry Corbett, made his first appearance on BBC TV. 1958 The State Opening of Parliament was televised for the first time. 1959 The first use of a car phone, with a call from Cheshire to London. A mere twenty five people had paid the astronomical sum of £200 each for one of the phones. 1962 The opening of Britain's first urban motorway - the M62 (now M60) around Manchester. 1971 The House of Commons backed Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath and, by a majority of 112, voted for Britain to apply to join the EEC - the European Economic Community. 1974 Sports Minister Denis Howell's wife and young son survived a bomb attack on their car. The attack was thought to be the work of the Provisional IRA and the first on a serving minister during the current IRA campaign. 1979 Chairman Hua Kuo-Feng, the first Chinese leader to visit Britain, was welcomed at Heathrow by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. (Additional note - Margaret Thatcher was born at this former grocer's shop in Grantham Lincolnshire) 2000 Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble narrowly won party support to keep a Northern Ireland power sharing government alive. 2011 Commonwealth leaders pledged to amend legislation dating back to the 17th century to allow daughters of the monarch to take precedence over younger sons in the line of succession. 2011 Vincent Tabak, a 33 year old Dutch engineer with an obsession for violent sex and pornography, was found guilty of strangling landscape architect Joanna Yeates for sexual thrills. Her body was found, covered with leaves on Christmas morning 2010. The police initially suspected and arrested Christopher Jefferies, Yeates' landlord, who lived in a flat in the same building. The nature of press reporting on aspects of the case led to 'substantial, undisclosed libel damages' from eight newspapers being awarded to Mr. Jefferies.
