The Northolt siege was a hostage situation which developed in Northolt, West London, on 25 December 1985. After a domestic dispute, Errol Walker forced entry into his sister-in-law's flat in Poynter Court (pictured). He killed the woman, keeping her daughter and his own daughter hostage. He released his daughter, but held the other girl hostage. After more than a day, he ventured onto the communal balcony to pick up an abandoned riot shield. Armed officers tried to intercept him but he made it back to the flat. They threw stun grenades through the windows, their first use by British police, and climbed through the kitchen window. One officer found Walker lying on a sofa, holding a knife to the child, and fired three shots, the first shooting by the Metropolitan Police's Firearms Wing. Walker was shot twice, and was later given life imprisonment for murder and other offences. One historian of the unit felt that the incident showed that the police had an alternative for crises that could not be resolved peacefully.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northolt_siege
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1879:
Angered by a controversial umpiring decision, cricket spectators rioted and attacked the England team during a match in Sydney, Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Riot_of_1879
1910:
William D. Boyce established the Boy Scouts of America, expanding the Scout Movement into the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America
1965:
After taking evasive action to avoid a mid-air collision just after taking off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 84 people on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_663
2010:
A freak storm triggered a series of avalanches that buried more than 3.5 km (2.2 mi) of road near the Salang Tunnel in Afghanistan, killing 175 people and trapping more than 2,500 travellers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Salang_avalanches
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
tufty: 1. Having the form of or resembling a tuft (“a bunch of grass, hair, etc., held together at the base”). 2. Covered in or having many tufts. 3. (obsolete, rare) Covered with tufts (“small clumps of bushes or trees”). 4. Growing in tufts. 5. (obsolete) Of a cow: seeking a bull to mate with. 6. (Britain, informal) The tufted duck (Aythya fuligula). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tufty
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Your honesty is not to be based either on religion or policy. Both your religion and policy must be based on it. Your honesty must be based, as the sun is, in vacant heaven; poised, as the lights in the firmament, which have rule over the day and over the night. --John Ruskin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Ruskin