IT HAPPENED TODAY
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (becoming wife number two of six) were married secretly by the Bishop of Lichfield.
1759:
Robert Burns Scotland’s national poet, who used the Scottish dialect in his poems and many songs — including To A Mouse, was born in Alloway, Ayrshire.
1857:
Lord Lonsdale (Henry Cecil Lowther), president of the National Sporting Club, who gave boxing its rules and Lonsdale Belts to its champions, was born in London.
1874:
W Somerset Maugham — master of the short story — was born in Paris.
1924:
Participants began taking part in the first Winter Olympics at Chamonix, France.
1938:
The aurora borealis (Northern Lights) were seen as far south as London’s West End and throughout western Europe. It was due to intense sunspot activity.
1947:
Al Capone Chicago gang boss, died of a heart attack aged 48.
1981:
The Gang of Four (Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers) left the Labour Party to set up the Social Democrats.
1990:
A Boeing 707 jet crashed on Long Island after running out of fuel, killing 73 people,including the pilot. More than 80 of the passengers survived.
2010:
One of Saddam Hussein’s closest allies, Ali Hassan al-Majid, the man known as ‘Chemical Ali’, was executed in Iraq.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Casting off clothes as well as cares may be the key to happiness and wellbeing, research revealed.
BIRTHDAYS:
Angela Thorne, actress, 79; Tom Paulin, poet and critic, 69; Emma Freud, broadcaster, 56; David Ginola, former footballer, 51; Jennifer Lewis, actress, 61; Ana Ortiz, actress, 47; Alicia Keys singer, 37; Francis Jeffers, footballer, 37.