It happened today – this day in history – May 12

1191: Richard I (the Lionheart) marries Berengaria of Navarre in Cyprus.

1215: English barons serve an ultimatum on King John which eventually leads to the creation and signing of the Magna Carta.

1789: William Wilberforce makes his first major speech on abolition in the House of Commons, reasoning the slave trade is morally reprehensible.

1797: Napoleon conquers Venice. On the same day, Royal Navy sailors mutiny on the Thames and blockade London.

1870: Manitoba becomes a province of Canada.

1820: Birth of Florence Nightingale.

1890: The first-ever official cricket County Championship match begins. Yorkshire beats Gloucestershire by eight wickets at Bristol. George Ulyett scores the first century in the competition.

1908: George Bernard Shaw’s “Getting Married” premieres in London.

1915: Croatians plunder Armenia.

1916: James Connolly and Sean McDermott are executed following their involvement in the Easter Rising in Dublin.

1925: Uzbekistan & Kirgizistan become autonomous Soviet republics.

1926: Dmitri Shostakovich’s first Symphony premieres in Leningrad. On the same day, General Jozef Pilsudski returns to power in Poland after a coup against the Witos regime and the general strike in Britain ends after nine days, although mine workers stay on strike.

1928: Benito Mussolini ends women’s rights in Italy.

1932: The body of the kidnapped son of aviator Charles Lindbergh is discovered in Hopewell, New Jersey.

1937: The coronation of George VI at Westminster Abbey.

1940: Nazi blitzkrieg and the conquest of France begins with the crossing of the Muese River.

1941: Martin Bormann replaces Rudolf Hess as Hitler’s deputy. On the same day, British forces march into Alexandria.

1942: 1,500 Jews are gassed in Auschwitz concentration camp.

1943: Axis forces in North Africa surrender. On the same day, British prime minister Winston Churchill arrives in the US.

1944: Crimea is purged of Nazi troops.

1948: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates.

1949: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit of India becomes the first female ambassador to the US.

1959: Elizabeth Taylor marries Eddie Fisher.

1963: Bob Dylan walks out of rehearsals for the Ed Sullivan show after being told he can’t perform his song Talking John Birch Paranoid Blues due to it mocking the US military and segregation.

1965: The Rolling Stones record (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction at RCA Hollywood studios. On the same day, Wilson Pickett records In The Midnight Hour with Stax house band members Steve Cropper (co-writer of the song with Pickett), Donald “Duck” Dunn, Al Jackson and the Memphis Horns. On the same day, Israel and West Germany begin diplomatic relations.

1967: The Government gives the go-ahead to convert Stansted into an international airport. On the same day, Pink Floyd perform at the Games for May concert in London, featuring the first quadrophonic sound system, which is stolen after the gig. Also, “Blowup” directed by Michelangelo Antonioni wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the Cannes Film Festival and Poet Laureate John Masefield dies aged 88.

1968: Brian Jones makes his final live appearance with The Rolling Stones at the New Musical Express Poll Winners Concert at the Empire Pool, Wembley.

1970: Race riots break out in Augusta, Georgia.

1971: Mick Jagger marries Bianca Pérez-Mora Macias in St Tropez.

1976: Bayern Munich beats Saint-Etienne 1-0 at Hampden Park, Glasgow to win the European Cup.

1977: Virgin records announces it has signed The Sex Pistols, the band’s third record company in six months.

1980: West Ham United win the FA Cup, beating Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley Stadium. Trevor Brooking scores with a rare header.

1981: Francis Hughes starves to death in the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland, in a republican campaign for political status to be granted to IRA prisoners. On the same day, singer Meat Loaf files for bankruptcy.

1982: Barcelona win the European Cup Winner’s Cup against Standard Liège 2-1 in Barcelona. On the same day, in Fatima Portugal, a Spanish Traditionalist priest who opposed Vatican II reforms, is stopped prior to his attempt to attack the Pope with a bayonet.

1989: Retired British pilot Jackie Mann is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists in Lebanon.

1991: Singles chart

1. The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss) – Cher
2. Last Train To Transcentral – The KLF
3. Gypsy Woman (La Da Dee) – Crystal Waters
4. Sailing On The Seven Seas – OMD
5. Touch Me (All Night Long) – Cathy Dennis
6. Promie Me – Beverley Craven
7. Senza Una Donna (Without A Woman) – Zucchero ft Paul Young
8. There’s No Other way – Blur
9. Get The Message – Electronic
10. Tainted Love – Soft Cell

Album chart:

1. Greatest Hits – Eurythmics
2. Time, Love and Tendernesss – Michael Bolton
3. Schubert Dip – EMF
4. Joyride – Roxette
5. Sugar Tax – OMD
6. The White Room – KLF
7. Out Of Time – REM
8. Real Life – Simple Minds
9. Best Of 81-90 – The Waterboys
10. Gold Mother – James

1993: Palma defeat Royal Antwerp 3-1 to win the European Cup Winner’s Cup at Wembley Stadium.

1994: Labour leader John Smith dies aged 55.

1996: 17-year-old Bernadette O’Brien dies a day after being injured while ‘body surfing’ at a Smashing Pumpkins gig at The Point, Dublin.

1997: Russia and Chechnya sign a peace deal after 400 years of conflict.

1999: Sir David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.

2000: Ford announces that car production in Dagenham is to stop with the loss of 3,000 jobs.

2001: Singer Perry Como dies aged 88. On the same day, Liverpool beat Arsenal, 2-1 to win the FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

2004: Model and actress Ali Landry divorces actor Mario Lopez due to infidelity less than two weeks after getting married.

2005: Actress Anne Parillaud and musician Jean-Michel Jarre marry in Paris.

2008: An earthquake, measuring 7.8 in magnitude occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 87,000 people.

2011: Kings of Leon singer Caleb Followill marries model Lily Aldridge in California.

2013: Thieves steal more than one million rand (£70,000) in takings after a Justin Bieber concert at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium.

2018: Serial killer Dennis Nilsen dies aged 72.

2019: Manchester City beat Brighton, 4-1 to claim back-to-back English Premier League titles. On the same day, Jodie Comer wins a BAFTA award for her role as Villanelle in the show Killing Eve.

2020: Militants storm a hospital and a funeral in Kabul, Afghanistan, shooting an estimated 40 people dead including new mothers and their babies. On the same day, German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, who took iconic early photos of The Beatles, dies aged 81.

2021: Republicans vote to demote their No.3 Liz Cheney from the party leadership after she publicly rebuke Donald Trump over lies about the election.

2022: Unvaccinated North Korea orders a national lockdown after confirming its first COVID-19 cases with the Omicron variant.

BIRTHDAYS: Susan Hampshire (Lady Kulukundis, CBE), actress, 87; Pam St Clement (Clements), actress, 82; Chris Patten, former politician, 80; Steve Winwood, singer-songwriter/musician, 76; Gabriel Byrne, actor, 74; Greg Phillinganes. Keyboardist, 68; Ving (Irving) Rhames, actor, 65; Billy Duffy, guitarist (The Cult) 65; Emilio Estevez, actor/director, 62; Vanessa Williams, actress/singer, 61; Stephen Baldwin, actor, 58; Tony Hawk, skateboarder, 56; Catherine Tate (Ford) comedian/actress/writer, 55; Jim Furyk, golfer, 54; Samantha Mathis, actress, 54; Mark Morrison, singer, 52; Bruno Lage, football manager, 48; Malin Akerman, actress, 46; Jason Biggs, actor, 46; Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister, 44; Rami Malek, actor, 43; Domhnall Gleeson, actor, 41; Frenkie de Jong, footballer, 27.