18 January 2006

 1991: Iraqi Scud missiles hit Israel

Israel teeters on the brink of joining the Gulf War after Iraq attacks Tel Aviv and Haifa with Scud missiles.

1967: "Boston Strangler" sentenced to life
Albert DeSalvo, who says he murdered 13 women, is given a life sentence for assault and armed robbery.

1981: Nine die in New Cross house fire 
Nine people are killed and 20 injured in a blaze which engulfed a house early this morning in south London.
 

1963: Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell dies 
Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell dies after a sudden deterioration in his heart condition
 

1972: Rhodesia's former leader arrested 
Garfield Todd and his daughter, Judith, are seized after violence erupts over Anglo-Rhodesian plans for independence.
 

1991: Iraqi Scud missiles hit Israel

The Scud missiles hit Tel Aviv while most people were asleep

Iraq has attacked two Israeli cities with Scud missiles, prompting fears that Israel may be drawn into the Gulf War.
Israel's largest city, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, its main seaport, were hit in the attacks, which began at 0300 local time (0100 GMT), when most residents were asleep.

Reports from Tel Aviv say the air was filled with the wail of sirens and minutes later up to eight missiles streaked in and exploded in balls of flame.

Residents scrambled for protective clothing and gas masks, issued to most of the population before the conflict began.

Casualties are believed to have been light - nobody was killed, and only a few people injured.

It is the first time Tel Aviv has been hit in the history of the Israel-Arab conflict.

Chemical warhead

Initial reports that one of the missiles had a chemical warhead were quickly proved wrong.

Air raid sirens went off again this evening amid fears of a second Scud attack, but they were swiftly followed by an all-clear as it proved to be a false alarm.

Israel has the strongest military forces of any Middle Eastern country, and has said that any attack by Iraq would bring massive "punishment".

The American President, George Bush, issued an appeal to Israel to hold back from retaliation for the attack.

Allied commanders have been ordered to make special sorties to seek out and destroy Iraqi missile sites and mobile launchers which could threaten Israel, and Mr Bush emphasised his determination to protect Israel from further attack.

Emergency meeting

The Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, called an emergency meeting of the ministerial defence committee of senior ministers and military officers to decide Israel's response.

After the day-long meeting, the Foreign Minister, David Levy, told journalists no decision had yet been taken on whether to retaliate.

"Israel reserves the right to retaliate in the manner and with the scale and method of its own choosing," he said.

Any Israeli military action could break apart the multi-national coalition against Iraq by provoking the Arab members to withdraw their support.

Meanwhile, the Allied air bombardment of Iraqi military targets is continuing at the rate of 2,000 sorties a day.

back to top

1967: "Boston Strangler" sentenced to life

Albert DeSalvo says he murdered 13 women in the Boston area

The man who claims to be the 'Boston Strangler' has been jailed for life after being found guilty of assault and armed robbery against four women in Connecticut.
Albert DeSalvo says he murdered 13 single women in the Boston area between June 1962 and January 1964, creating a climate of fear in the city.

The women, aged between 19 and 85, were sexually assaulted and then strangled to death in their homes.

Some were found with trademark ribbons around their necks.

But the 35-year-old has not been charged with any of the murders because of a lack of evidence.

During the seven-day trial, DeSalvo's lawyer, F. Lee Bailey, attempted to prove that his client was guilty of the murders, and should be found insane and sent to a psychiatric hospital for life.

Mr Bailey described DeSalvo as "uncontrollable" and sending him to prison would be a cruel punishment.

He said: "There were 13 acts of homicide by a completely homicidal vegetable walking in the form of a human being."

But the jury found DeSalvo legally sane and not guilty of the murders.

The judge said: "This defendant must be incarcerated for as long as he shall live or until psychiatric science can cure him."

'What I had done'

The former military police officer has been held on charges of rape in the Bridgewater State Hospital in Massachusetts since 1964.

He will be kept there pending an appeal against his conviction.

Mr Bailey has said that shortly after DeSalvo arrived at the hospital, which has a designated section for patients with criminal records, he told other inmates that he murdered the women.

DeSalvo has said: "I would go home and watch what I had done on TV. Then I would cry like a baby."

Because DeSalvo's police record was filed under "breaking and entering", he never came under suspicion during the murder hunt.

Detectives, pathologists and psychologists were investigating known sex offenders.

Some women in Boston were so terrified by the murders that they carried pepper, ammonia and tear-gas bombs to protect themselves.

back to top

1981: Nine die in New Cross house fire

Police are treating the fire as suspicious

Nine people were killed and 20 injured in a blaze which engulfed a house early this morning in south London.
Police have launched a murder inquiry after survivors described how they saw a car being driven away from the incident as the fire broke out.

Commander Graham Stockwell, head of south London CID, is heading the investigation because of the "seriousness and magnitude" of the attack.

He added that police had found evidence of a liquid substance which may have assisted the spread and intensity of the fire.

Birthday party

Victims of the fire, all young black men and women, were among guests celebrating a joint birthday party for two girls in a house in New Cross Road, Deptford.

One of the birthday girls, Yvonne Ruddick, is seriously ill in hospital. Angela Jackson, who shared the party, escaped injury after she left early.

Evidence suggests the fire started on the ground floor and quickly spread. Revellers were trapped upstairs by the smoke and flames.

Nineteen year-old Walton Williams tried to drag a friend to safety through an upstairs window "but the drainpipe collapsed and the next thing I remember is lying on the pavement," he said.

Walton was taken to hospital where he learned that his friend had died.

Police believe revenge may have been the motive. Officers had been called to the house earlier in the evening after receiving complaints about noise levels.

They have suggested someone may have started the fire because they were angry about the loud music, or because they were not welcome at the party.

Miss Jackson says she and five other girls saw a white car parked outside the house which promptly drove off when the fire started.

A search is now under way to trace a white Austin Princess seen driving away from the incident.

back to top

1963: Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell diesGilmore executed by firing squad

Hugh Gaitskell fought hard to make the Labour party 'relevant and realistic'

The leader of the Labour party, Hugh Gaitskell, has died this evening after a sudden deterioration in his heart condition.

Mr Gaitskell, who was 56, died at 2120 this evening in the Middlesex hospital in Marylebone. His wife, Dora, was at his bedside.

A short statement issued to journalists after his death said, "Mr Gaitskell's heart condition deteriorated suddenly and he died peacefully".

Shortly afterwards the Queen sent a message to Mrs Gaitskell expressing her "deep distress".

Tremendous fight for life

Other messages of sympathy came from former Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, former Labour leader Earl Attlee, US President John F Kennedy and other world leaders.

The Gaitskells' two daughters, Cressida and Julia, were summoned to his bedside after the news of his death had been broken to them.

John Harris, Labour Party official spokesman, said doctors told him Mr Gaitskell had put up a "tremendous fight for life" and had shown "quite extraordinary courage".

Mr Gaitskell became ill with flu in mid-December. A medical check-up showed he was fit to travel to the USSR on 1 January for talks with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and he appeared well over Christmas.

But immediately after the holiday he became ill with another virus and was admitted to hospital on 4 January.

Two days ago his condition deteriorated suddenly and it became clear his kidneys had been affected.

The night before his death, doctors attempted to treat Mr Gaitskell using a kidney dialysis machine.

A total of nine doctors and 40 other medical staff were involved in the operation to link up his body to the machine.

Although initial results suggested there was some improvement in his condition, it was later felt the machine was putting too much strain on his already-weakened heart and he had to be taken off it again.

His death comes as Labour appears poised for victory at the next election thanks largely to Mr Gaitskell's efforts to make the party "relevant and realistic".

His rise to leadership of the party just 10 years after entering Parliament was one of the most spectacular in modern political history.