21 November 2008

This day in history:
On 21st November 1974 the Provisional IRA plants bombs in two Birmingham pubs: the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town. Twenty-one people die and 182 are injured. A few minutes before the explosions a warning had been telephoned to the local newspaper, the Birmingham Post and Mail, but it was far too late. The first Birmingham bomb, at the Mulberry Bush pub in the basement of the Rotunda, a 20-storey office and retail complex and it exploded six minutes after the telephone warning. There was not enough time for police to clear the area. Earlier that year nine soldiers were killed when a bomb exploded on a coach on the M62 near Bradford, while two bombs in Guildford killed four soldiers and injured scores of other people. read more