In 1996 French President Jacques Chirac announces an end to French testing of its nuclear weapons. President Chirac was under pressure from home and abroad to stop the testing in the pacific Ocean near French Polynesia. They had tested six bombs in the area since June 1995 with their last and largest bomb tested the day before. The UN’s nuclear watchdog, under the request of France, tested the area and found no dangerous levels of nuclear radiation present.
In 1985 the University of Oxford refused to honour former student Mrs Margret Thatcher with an honorary degree. She becomes the first Oxford-educated Prime Minister not to be granted the honorary degree. The vote not to bestow the honour on Mrs Thatcher was greeted with cheers from the Universities students who had petitioned against it. Academics in England have shown a fear that the cuts made to education spending shows a lack of support particularly for scientific research in the UK which was considered to be at crisis level.
In 1976 the IRA (Irish Republican Army) planted 13 bombs throughout the west end of London, England. Luckily only one person was injured by the explosives.
In 1861 Kansas became the 34th state of the United States of America.
In 1820 King George III of Great Britain and Ireland died. King George III had suffered from mental illness since 1810 which is thought top have been caused by porphyria, a hereditary blood disease that, if untreated, can cause mental illness. His son King George IV ascended to the throne.
