IT HAPPENED TODAY
1547:
Coronation of nine-year-old Edward VI, only son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour
1653:
Admiral Robert Blake defeated the Dutch fleet under Van Tromp off Portsmouth.
1938:
Anthony Eden resigned as British Foreign Secretary, in protest over prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policy.
1947:
Lord Louis Mountbatten was appointed the last Viceroy of India — the same day the Government announced the British would leave India by June 1948.
1962:
Astronaut John Glenn became the first American in orbit when he circled the Earth three times in the Mercury capsule Friendship 7.
1978:
A judge indicted Isabel Peron, ex-president of Argentina, for fraudulent use of $8m from a state-run charity.
1985:
Contraceptives were first sold in the Irish Republic.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
A multiple sclerosis treatment which ‘resets’ the immune system was found to ‘freeze’ progression of the disease in nearly half of patients, scientists revealed.
Sidney Poitier, actor, 91; Jimmy Greaves, TV football pundit, 78; Mike Leigh, film director, 75; Ivana Trump, socialite, 69; Gordon Brown, former prime minister, 67; Phil Neal, ex-footballer and manager, 67; Patty Hearst, US newspaper heiress, 64; Imogen Stubbs, actress, 57; Ian Brown, rock singer, 55; Cindy Crawford model, 52.