ON THIS DAY

1066 An angry mob storms the palace at Granada, a city in what is today Spain, crucifies Joseph ibn Naghrela, the Jewish vizier to the king of Granada, and then massacres most of the population of the city.

1460 The Battle of Wakefield is fought in West Yorkshire in Northern England, resulting in a victory for the Lancastrians and a severe blow to the Yorkists with the death of Richard the Duke of York.

1835 The HMS Beagle, with naturalist Charles Darwin aboard, sets sail from New Zealand to Sydney.

1905 Franz Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow premieres in Vienna. It will run for 483 performances and become a popular favourite around the world.

1916 The last coronation of a monarch in Austria-Hungary is performed for King Charles IV and Queen Zita. The monarchy would cease to exist in Hungary after World War I.

1948 Cole Porter’s musical Kiss Me, Kate opens at Broadway’s New Century Theatre in New York. It runs for 1077 performances and is the first show to win the Best Musical Tony Award.

1972 The highest wave measured using instruments was recorded at 26.3m in the North Atlantic by the British Weather Reporter.

1979 Broadway composer Richard Rodgers dies at the age of 77. He is best known for musicals such as Babes In Arms, written with Lorenz Hart, and The Sound Of Music, written with Oscar Hammerstein.

1999 Former Beatle George Harrison (above) fights off a knifewielding intruder at his mansion in west London.

2006 A huge funeral service is held for the late soul singer James Brown at the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia.