1992 A fierce fire swept through Windsor Castle, causing extensive damage to its ancient fabric and confronting Britain with a cultural disaster. Queen Elizabeth rushed from Buckingham Palace to survey the scene at her favourite residence and joined castle staff and emergency workers who formed a human chain to move priceless art works and furnishings to safety. “Her Majesty is absolutely devastated,” said the queen’s second son Prince Andrew, who was in the castle area when the fire broke out. Firemen declared the blaze under control four hours after it started in the north east wing of the castle, chief residence of England’s sovereigns for 850 years. But well after night fell, a deep red glow lit the sky as flames leapt furiously from the 19th century Brunswick Tower, where the fire broke out in a private chapel. The blaze spread quickly to St George’s Hall, a richly decorated banqueting chamber used to entertain foreign heads of state, where a wooden vaulted roof was consumed by fire.
Other important events
1789 New Jersey becomes the first US state to ratify the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
1818 Simon Bolivar formally declares Venezuela independent of Spain.
1873 Rival cities of Buda and Pest are united to form the capital of Hungary.
1888 American jeweller William Bundy invents the first time clock, used for recording employees’ working hours.
1910 Revolution breaks out in Mexico, led by Francisco I. Madero.
1917 The Ukrainian Republic is proclaimed.
1924 Kurdish Revolt in Turkey is crushed.
1929 Spanish artist Salvador Dali has his first one-man show.
1947 England’s Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten are married in London’s Westminster Abbey.
1959 Britain, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and Sweden meet to form European Free Trade Association.
1975 Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco dies.
1977 Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to speak before the Israeli Parliament.
1979 Jumeirah Grand Mosque is ceremonially opened in Dubai.
1985 Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released.
1993 Macedonian jetliner carrying 116 people crashes into mountain, only one person survives.
1994 Angolan government and National Union for the Total Liberation of Angola rebels sign an accord.
1995 Polish President Lech Walesa loses to Aleksander Kwasniewski in the presidential runoff.
1999 The new bowling centre officially opens in Abu Dhabi.
2000 Leaders of Japan’s governing party reach a deal to avert the removal of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in a no-confidence vote.
2003 Car bombs explode outside the British consulate and HSBC bank in Istanbul, which left at least 27 people dead.
2006 Chinese President Hu Jintao begins landmark India visit.
2009 Raging floods engulf northern England’s picturesque Lake District following the heaviest rainfall ever recorded in Britain, killing a police officer.
2012 France ends Afghanistan mission after two years.
2013 A dramatic volcanic eruption in the Pacific Ocean has created a tiny new islet in Japan’s territorial waters.
2015 27 people killed after Malian commandos stormed a hotel seized by gunmen to rescue 170 people trapped in the building.
2016 Indore-Patna Express train derails at Pukhrayan in Kanpur, killing 150 people.
