On this day: Forth and Clyde Canal construction starts 1692: The first of the 14 Salem witches was hanged. Bridget Bishop was one of the 150 respectable citizens accused of witchcraft by a hysterical band of young girls who, for nearly 20 months, mesmerised the strict, isolated Puritan community in Massachusetts in the US. 1719: The Battle of Glenshiel defeat of Scottish Jacobite and Spanish troops by Hanoverian forces. 1768: Forth and Clyde Canal construction started. 1829 The first Oxford and Cambridge University boat race took place, 2.25 miles from Hambledon Lock to Henley Bridge - and was won easily by Oxford. 1854: Queen Victoria opened Crystal Palace on its new site at Sydenham, south London. 1864: Over-arm bowling was legalised for cricket matches. 1909: SOS signal first used in an emergency. The SOS call, which replaced CQD emergency call in 1906, was recognised by two steamers that went to the rescue of the Cunard liner SS Slavonia, wrecked off the Azores. 1917: Sinn Fein riots broke out in Dublin. 1943: Ball-point pens, devised by Hungarian Laszlo Biro, were patented in the United States. 1967: Israel agreed to United Nations cease-fire with Egypt, with Israel holding conquered territory four times its own size. 1971: United States lifted 21-year-old embargo on trade with China. 1983: Margaret Thatcher won her second term as prime minister. 1988: Britain's last lightship was towed from its position north-west of Guernsey to Harwich, ending an era of 157 years for such vessels, which have been replaced by technology. 1989: 1,000 people arrested in Seoul, Korea, as radical students fought with riot police in demand for overthrow of president Roh Tae-woo. 1990: Former United States national security adviser John Poindexter sentenced to six months in prison for his role in Iran-Contra affair. 1990: BA pilot Captain Timothy Lancaster was sucked halfway out of his BAC 1-11 cockpit after the windscreen blew out at 23,000ft. The crew held his legs until the plane landed. 1992: The IRA continued its renewed terror campaign in London with a bomb in Victoria Street, near the House of Commons. No-one was hurt. 1996: Peace talks began in Northern Ireland without the participation of Sinn Fein. Bill Longmuir, golfer, 60; Duke of Edinburgh, 92; Linda Evangelista, model, 48; Faith Evans, R&B singer, 40; Gina Gershon, actress, 51; Melissa Gilbert, actress, 49; Arthur Campbell Hamilton, Lord Hamilton, Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice-General, 71; Elizabeth Hurley, actress, 48; Sir Simon Jenkins, columnist, editor of the Times 1990-2, 70; Jeanne Tripplehorn, actress, 50; Mark-Anthony Turnage, composer, 53; Helen Young, weather forecaster, 44. Births: 1688 James Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender; 1710 James Short, Edinburgh-born, optician and astronomer; 1840 Sir HM Stanley, explorer; 1901 Frederick Loewe, composer of My Fair Lady; 1922 Judy Garland, film actress and singer; 1926 Lionel Jeffries, actor, screenwriter and film director. Deaths: 1560 Marie of Guise, Queen Regent of Scotland; 1727 King George I; 1934 Frederick Delius, composer; 1967 Spencer Tracey, actor; 1982 Rainer Werner Fassbinder, film director; 1993 Les Dawson, comedian; 2004 Ray Charles, singer; 2004 Graeme Kelling, guitarist (Deacon Blue).