1992 - A sombre Norman Lamont, the British Chancellor, effectively conceded that the pound has been virtually devalued after a day of unprecedented and costly turmoil on the foreign exchanges. The sterling crisis intensified dramatically when the government abandoned its battle to defend the pound and announced it was suspending Britain’s membership of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. But Lamont reversed an earlier decision to push up interest rates to 15 per cent to defend sterling. The dramatic U-turn was a humiliating climb down by Prime Minister John Major and Lamont. Both had staked their authority on resisting a devaluation. But their gamble failed to halt the slide in the value of the pound.
Other important events
1810 - Mexicans begin their revolt against Spanish rule.
1915 - The first Women’s Institute in Britain is established in Anglesey, North Wales.
1941 - Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, replaces his father on the throne.
1955 - Argentine President Juan Peron is ousted.
1963 - Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore form the Federation of Malaysia.
1966 - The Metropolitan Opera House is officially opened at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City.
1970 - Weeklong “Black September” civil war starts in Jordan.
1978 - More than 11,000 people are feared dead after an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale hits the southeast region of Iran.
1978 - Zia-ul-Haq, former chief-of-staff of the Pakistani army and administrator of martial law, is proclaimed president.
1979 - Afghanistan President Noor Mohammad Taraki is overthrown in a coup.
1982 - Kuwait diplomat Najeeb Sayed Hashem Al Refai is shot and killed in Madrid.
1986 - A fire at a gold mine in Kinross, South Africa, kills 177 people.
1990 - Iraq opens Kuwait’s borders and thousands of Kuwaitis attempt to flee their country.
1992 - Russia and Cuba reach an agreement on the withdrawal from Cuba of a 1,500-troop brigade stationed there by the former Soviet Union.
1997 - Typhoon Oliwa hits southwestern Japan, killing six and forcing 80,000 people from their homes.
1999 - Typhoon York pounds Hong Kong with a direct hit.
2000 - Sri Lankan Ports Minister M.H.M. Ashraff is killed in a helicopter crash together with all 14 others on board.
2002 - Iraq agrees to unconditional return of UN arms inspections.
2007 - The budget One-Two-Go Airlines domestic flight OG269, carrying 123 passengers, crashes in Phuket, Thailand.
2009 - Sa’ad Hariri is reappointed as Lebanon’s Prime Minister to form a new government.
2015 - Dubai government launches the Arab Reading Challenge competition.
