Name the year in which Freddie Mercury died, hostage Terry Waite was released and No. 10 Downing Street was mortar bombed?
Downing Street mortar attack Downing Street mortar attack The Downing Street mortar attack was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 7 February 1991. The IRA launched homemade mortar shells at 10 Downing Street, London, the official residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was an attempt to assassinate Prime Minister John Major and his War Cabinet, who were meeting to discuss the Gulf War. One of the heavy mortar shells exploded in the back garden of number 10, only yards from the cabinet office. Due to the bomb-proof windows, none of the cabinet were hurt, though four
Downing Street mortar attack 10 Downing Street, from the office where the cabinet were meeting. Had the shell struck 10 Downing Street itself, it is likely the entire cabinet would have been killed. On hearing the explosion, the cabinet ducked under the table for cover. Bomb-proof netting on the windows of the cabinet office muffled the force of the explosion, which scorched the back wall of the building, smashed windows and made a crater several feet deep in the garden. Once the sound of the explosion and aftershock had died down, John Major said, "I think we had better start again, somewhere else." The