SIGNIFICANT EVENTS - TODAY IN HISTORY

On a world-impact scale, the following qualified as newsworthy landmarks for this day:



[ ON THIS DAY 21 January

1950: Acclaimed author George Orwell dies
The writer, George Orwell, has died after a three-year battle against tuberculosis.

Until the last, news had been positive and it was hoped Mr Orwell was improving.

On Friday morning he had a long talk with a friend about his plans for the future.

However, a few hours later he suffered a fatal haemorrhage in a London hospital.

But illness had not dimmed George Orwell's enthusiasm for writing.

His last novel, 1984, published last summer was written in between periods spent in hospital.

The controversial book - like Animal Farm - was widely viewed as an attack on the Communist system.

However, it brought George Orwell widespread critical acclaim including the award of £357 by the influential Partisan Review for the year's most significant contribution to literature.

Pseudonym

George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in June 1903 into a family of relatively prosperous civil servants working in India on behalf of the British Empire.

He is said to have assumed his pseudonym, inspired by the River Orwell, near his parent's house in Suffolk, to spare his family embarrassment.

Orwell's early writings often drew on his own experiences of poverty which were in marked contrast to his privileged background.

He spent time living as a tramp in the East End of London and as a dishwasher in Paris - events which inspired his first book in 1933, Down and Out in London and Paris.

It was followed in 1934 by his first novel, Burmese Days.

And in 1938 after returning wounded after fighting for the socialists in the Spanish Civil War he wrote Homage to Catalonia.

But it was only five years ago that the book which made him world-famous, Animal Farm, appeared.

In reaction to the sudden glare of fame, Orwell moved to the island of Jura, off the coast of Scotland.

The move aggravated his tuberculosis which had developed after his return from Spain. ]
SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/21/newsid_2669000/2669789.stm



[
1966: Future of Monte Carlo rally in doubt
The Monte Carlo rally has ended in uproar over the disqualification of the British cars expected to fill the first four places.

The first four to cross the finishing line were Timo Makinen (Finland) driving a British Motor Corporation Mini-Cooper, followed by Roger Clark (Ford Lotus Cortina), and Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk, both also driving BMC Minis.

But they were all ruled out of the prizes - with six other British cars for alleged infringements of complex regulations about the way their headlights dipped.

The official winner was announced as Pauli Toivonen, a Finn who lives in Paris, driving a Citroen.

BMC and Ford have lodged protests but even if they are upheld, the reputation of the rally has been severely dented.

After the race, a British official said: "This will be the end of the Monte Carlo rally. Britain is certain to withdraw."

Timo Makinen said: "None of us dreamed that the stewards would turn the results upside down - and for such a stupid reason."


This will be the end of the Monte Carlo rally

British team spokesman
The British cars were disqualified because they used non-dipping single filament quartz iodine bulbs in their headlamps, in place of the standard double filament dipping glass bulbs, which are fitted to the series production version of each model sold to the public.

According to new rules introduced at the end of last year, any car entering the rally must come off a standard production line, with at least 5,000 cars being built to a similar specification.

The British cars were equipped with standard headlamps - but the only way of dipping them was to switch to non-standard fog lamps.

Richard Shepherd, from the BMC, said: "There is nothing new about the lights at all. They have been used in our rallies, on rally cars, including the Monte for two years now and we've had no trouble at all in the past."

The confusion arose because the rally organisers initially said the race would be run under the old rules - and only announced the switch after entries had been accepted.

The BMC says it spent £10,000 on preparing for the Monte Carlo rally - and is now considering withdrawing from next year's race. ]

SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/21/newsid_2506000/2506863.stm


[
1981: Tehran frees US hostages after 444 days
The 52 American hostages held at the US embassy in Tehran for more than 14 months have arrived in West Germany on their way home to the United States.

The former diplomats and embassy staff stepped from the plane onto the tarmac at Wiesbaden airport looking tired but elated after their 4,000-mile (6,437km) flight from Iran.

Some waved to the crowd of well-wishers who had gathered, others gave the V-for-victory sign.

Iran finally agreed to release the hostages after the US said it would release assets frozen in American and other banks, including the Bank of England, since the embassy was seized.

Presidential presence

Former president Jimmy Carter, appointed as President Ronald Reagan's special envoy, has flown in to welcome home the embassy staff he had hoped would be freed while he was still in charge at the White House.

Stories of the "abominable treatment" the men and women suffered at the hands of their Iranian captors are beginning to emerge.

Letters from home were burned in front of the hostages, there were regular beatings and some talked of games of Russian roulette.

The Americans were flown via Algiers to Wiesbaden, where they will now be cared for at a military hospital while their conditions are assessed.

The US government has tried to dissuade families from flying out to Germany for reunions with their loved ones until they have been confirmed fit.

Reporters were able to shout a few questions to hostages who appeared briefly on the hospital balcony. One man said they had had no idea they were about to be released.

Captive in US embassy

The hostage ordeal began in November 1979 when a group of radical Iranian students stormed the American embassy in Tehran. Everyone inside was taken captive.

The students were angered by American support for the Shah, who fled into exile in January 1979 and arrived in the United States in October for cancer treatment. They demanded the Shah's return to stand trial for alleged crimes in office.

They had the backing of the Iranian government, led by Ayatollah Khomeini. But their demands for the Shah's extradition were foiled when he fled to Cairo.

The students still refused to release their hostages, however, until President Carter was defeated in the US elections. This paved the way for fresh negotiations with the Algerians acting as intermediaries. ]

SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/21/newsid_2506000/2506807.stm


[
1992: UN threatens Libya with sanctions
The United Nations has ordered Libya to surrender intelligence agents accused of the Lockerbie and French airliner bombings.

The 15-nation Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution urging Libya ''immediately to provide a full and effective response'' to the British and American demand that the two men - Lamen Khalifa Fhimah and Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi - be surrendered to stand trial.

The resolution also ordered Libya to co-operate with France's investigation into the bombing of a French-owned UTA airliner over Nigeria in 1989, in which 171 people lost their lives.

Western diplomats said that they would seek selective UN sanctions against Libya ''in a matter of weeks'' if the two Lockerbie suspects are not handed over.

The pair are accused of conspiring to place a bomb concealed in a radio cassette recorder in a suitcase on board an Air Malta flight that connected to Pan Am 103 in Frankfurt.

The bomb exploded over Lockerbie on 21 December, 1988, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground.

Police in Scotland and the US originally suspected the Syrian-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) of having a role in the bombing.

But further evidence led the authorities to conclude that Libya ordered and carried out the attack in retaliation for the downing of an Iranian airliner by a US missile in 1988.

The resolution marks the first occasion the Security Council has told a country to extradite any of its citizens.

It is also the first time the UN has implicitly accused a fellow member state of being involved in state terrorism.

Despite the move, families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing criticised the United Nations resolution for being weak and inadequate.

"There is ample evidence that both Syria and Iran were involved," said Daniel Cohen whose 20-year-old daughter, Theodora, died in the crash.

"But, because of political reasons the United States and Great Britain have drawn the Pan Am 103 case very narrowly, accusing only two Libyans."

A senior Libyan official said that Tripoli had no intention of extraditing the men.

Jadualah Azuz Talhi, a former foreign minister who led a Libyan delegation, told the security council that the suspects were innocent until proven guilty.]

SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/21/newsid_4093000/4093347.stm


[
1997: Carers accused in child abuse inquiry
More than 80 people have been named as child abusers in statements to the North Wales inquiry into claims of abuse by children in care, which has opened at Ewloe near Mold.

This will be the biggest investigation ever held in Britain into allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children who passed through the care system in the former counties of Clwyd and Gwynedd over the past two decades.

Some 180 former residents of the homes are expected to give evidence to the hearings, which will last at least 12 months. They will be chaired by retired high court judge Sir Ronald Waterhouse.

Many of those accused of child abuse are former or serving care staff, social workers or teachers. At least two men who have been convicted of abuse in the past have also been named.

The largest number of complaints centre on the notorious Bryn Estyn home outside Wrexham, which has now closed. The deputy head of the home, Peter Howarth, was jailed in 1994 for 10 years for sexually abusing teenage boys.


We hope to be able to find out the substantial truth about what occurred

Sir Ronald Waterhouse
Other complaints involve the Bryn Alyn home in Wrexham and Ty'r Felin in Bangor. In all, 40 homes have been named in the investigation.

Speaking before the hearings began, Sir Ronald said: "We hope to be able to find out the substantial truth about what occurred and from the facts we find, to go on and make really positive recommendations."

Billhar Uppal, one of the victims' solicitors, welcomed the opening of the inquiry: "To those we represent it means everything. "To them it is justice, it is a vindication of everything they have said and it is in some way, some measure to silence those critics who have said that this inquiry and their allegations of abuse are compensation-led."

But critics say those accused of abuse will not get a fair hearing.

Nick Parry, who represents one of the accused, said: "Our concern at the start of this major inquiry is that perhaps public opinion has swayed the balance far too greatly in favour of those who make allegations of abuse and the understandable anxiety to look after their needs and care may outweigh justice."

Gerard Elias QC counsel for the tribunal told the hearing the allegations of abuse bordered on "wholesale exploitation" of the children in care.

He concluded the tribunals findings would be of significance for authorities throughout the country and for the safety and well-being of children in their care. ]

SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/21/newsid_2506000/2506835.stm