February 28th
1888 In a Belfast street, a small boy named Johnny Dunlop was riding his tricycle under the supervision of his father. The two rear wheels of the tricycle were the world's first
pneumatic tyres and he was testing them. The test was so successful that his father was granted patent number 10607 on 23rd July.
1918 The birth of
Alfred Burke, British actor best known for his portrayal of Frank Marker in the drama series
Public Eye, which ran on television for ten years.
1925 The birth of the actor
Harry H. Corbett. In the early 1950s, he added the initial "H" to avoid confusion with the television entertainer Harry Corbett, who was known for his act with the glove-puppet Sooty. A chance meeting with writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who had been successful with Hancock's Half Hour, changed Corbett's life. He is best known for his starring role in the popular and long-running BBC Television sitcom
Steptoe and Son. Early in his career he was dubbed 'the English Marlon Brando' by some sections of the British press.
1931 Having left the Labour Party,
Sir Oswald Mosley formed the "New Party" which he said was dedicated to turning parliament "from a talk-shop into a workshop". The party later evolved into the British Union of Fascists.
1942 The birth of
Brian Jones, English musician and a founding member of
The Rolling Stones. He died at the age of 27 by drowning in the swimming pool at his home in East Sussex thus becoming a member of the so called '27 Club'. Members are all former musicians who died at the age of 27 and the list includes Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse.
1975 At 8.37 am in the London rush hour, a Northern Line underground train crashed through the buffers at
Moorgate station and hit a solid dead-end wall, killing 41 people and seriously injuring 50. The rescue operation took three days to complete.
1986
Olof Palme, the prime minister of Sweden, is shot dead and his wife Lisbeth wounded in a street ambush in central Stockholm.
1993 A raid by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ATF agents who were trying to serve warrants for illegal guns on the heavily armed compound of a religious cult 10 miles outside of Waco, Texas turned into a
bloody gun battle, leaving at least four Federal agents and two cult members dead and at least 15 agents injured.
2001 A GNER train from York to London King's Cross crashed at Great Heck between Goole and Selby, North Yorkshire, on the East Coast main line. Gary Hart
fell asleep at the wheel of his Land Rover and plunged 40ft down the railway embankment from the M62 into the path of an express train. The 4.45am Great North Eastern Intercity service from Newcastle to London King's Cross ploughed into the Land Rover before colliding with a coal train travelling north. 10 people, including both train drivers, died and more than 70 were injured. With an estimated closing speed of 142 mph the collision between the trains is the highest speed railway incident that has occurred in the UK. Hart was convicted of ten charges of causing death by dangerous driving, but served just 30 months of a five-year jail term.
And Finally.
2005 Celebrity chef and Norwich City supporter
Delia Smith grabbed a microphone at halftime of a match against Manchester City. It was tied 2-2 before Smith asked the fans where they were and implored them to support the team, and they went on to lose the match thanks to a 90th minute winner by Robbie Fowler. They also got relegated.
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