1998: India explodes nuclear controversy
The Indian government announces it has carried out a series of underground nuclear tests in a move which has shocked the world.

First flight over the North Pole
Aboard the semirigid airship Norge, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, American scientist Lincoln Ellsworth, and Italian engineer Umberto Nobile made the first undisputed flight over the North Pole on this day in 1926.

1940 British politician Winston Churchill faced the House of Commons for the first time as prime minister and told the members that “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

Declaration of Israel's statehood
On this day in 1948—just before the expiry of the British mandate in Palestine—David Ben-Gurion and the Jewish People's Council proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel, precipitating the first Arab-Israeli war.

1957: Britain drops its first H-bomb
After just two years of development, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb over Christmas Island, as the arms race begins to escalate.

Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut—who won three gold medals at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, West Germany, where she captivated audiences with her charm, youth, and diminutive size—was born in Belorussia (now Belarus).

1943: RAF raid smashes German dams
An audacious raid into the industrial heartland of Germany uses revolutionary bombs to flood the Ruhr valley.

1991: Sharman becomes first Briton in space
Britain's first astronaut, 27-year-old Helen Sharman from Sheffield, has blasted into orbit.

1643 During the Thirty Years' War, the French army—led by Louis II de Bourbon—defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Rocroi, ending Spain's military ascendancy in Europe.

1973: Royal Navy moves to protect trawlers
Britain sends in Royal Navy ships to protect fishing boats in the disputed Icelandic 50-mile zone.

1958: Trunk dialling heralds cheaper calls
Automated telephone connection making calls easier and cheaper will be introduced in December.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
BRITISH AUTHOR
BORN
May 22, 1859
Edinburgh, Scotland

DIED
July 7, 1930 (aged 71)
Crowborough, England

1998: Leaders welcome 'yes' vote for N Ireland
The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, welcomes the resounding "yes" vote in the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland calling it "a day for joy".

Queen Victoria
QUEEN OF UNITED KINGDOM

BORN
May 24, 1819
Kensington Palace, England

DIED
January 22, 1901 (aged 81)
near Cowes, England

1994: Camelot wins UK lottery race
The Camelot consortium wins the contract to run Britain's first national lottery starting in November.